This is a targeted balance patch designed to address the dominance of the Annoying Gnat and give a boost to a couple of other, less-used cards.
Balance changes
Annoying Gnat
- Attack decreased from 2 to 1.
- Faeria cost decreased from 3 to 2.
- Can no longer harvest Faeria.
The monthly cup proved that Annoying Gnat’s value was simply too high, even after its first nerf. We want to focus on the Gnat’s synergy with effects that demand sacrifices or care about flying. Now that Gnat is a 1/1 that can’t harvest, it no longer can pick up huge value through creature combat or harvesting faeria. All of its value is focused on its unique nature as a creature that always comes back after being swatted.
This also increases the options for counterplay against the gnat, as you should now feel a lot better about attacking it with your creatures to deal extra damage to your opponent (compared to the old 2/1 version).
Rebel Glider
- Attack increased from 1 to 2.
Flying and Dash 2 on a neutral card allows for powerful aggressive land positions early in the game. All you need to do is dash your glider onto an enemy land, then build your own land deep in enemy territory (as early as turn 2 if you have the explore card).
Rebel Glider had far more powerful stats early in testing, and resulted in some shattering plays. We overnerfed the card before release just to be safe. Now that the 1/3 version has been proven far too weak to be usable, we’re giving it a boost again. We think 2/3 is a lot closer to the sweet spot.
Gabrian Commander
- Now also gains +1/+1 the first time you draw a card with base cost 7f+, in addition to flying.
After the nerf to Triton Banquet blue lost a lot of its old pandora power. Gabrian Commander has long been ignored in both Pandora and Battle mode, so we’re giving it a boost to help increase blue’s options in the 7+ base cost archetype.
Rarity Changes
We have some rarity changes planned for tomorrow that should help provide a more diverse Pandora landscape since the last 10 cards were added. However, we wanted to push these balance changes in as soon as possible in the week so as to give players as much time as possible to prepare for tournaments.
- The Faeria Team