Version 1.2 - Morellia the Lich Queen

Minion Masters!

We're so excited about this patch we don't want to delay any further, let's get into it:

New Master - Morellia the Lich Queen

Morellia the Lich Queen, Ruler of the Cursed lands, Queen of Souls, and Dragon Binder. Her magical power is rivaled only by her sister Milloween, but unlike her sister, Morellia uses her powers mercilessly in pursuit of her own ambitions. Wielding the Book of the Dead, she can call upon a host of powerful Death Magic to decimate her foes. However, the ancient soul trapped within the book is forever plotting its release.

In the end all will serve the Lich Queen.

Morellia will be available for 1500 Shards, or 775 Rubies.

Learn more about Morellia here, or check her out in-game!

Balance

• Commander Azali
  • No longer affects Flying Minions

• Developer Comments
  
• Azali’s ability to protect flying swarm minions, in particular Nether Bats produced by Bats Bats Bats, was a frustrating mechanic to play against due to their unpredictability and “backstabbing” of units played to counter the combination.

  One of the things Azali does well is providing a dream scenario you can build your deck around, but when you combine the shield mechanic with flying swarms, you get distinctly frustrating decks to play against. We wanted to maintain the dream, but make sure the opponent had a greater chance of being able to deal with the strategy without requiring an extremely specific deck counter.
  

• Guardian
  • Now only shields Crystal Elves
  • Mana Cost 6 > 5
  • Damage 60 > 80
  • Damage change also affects Crystal Construct

• Developer Comments
  
• Guardian is a card that has proven particularly problematic as the card collection developed due to its high potential to protect otherwise vulnerable, but powerful Minion combos from removal effects or general damage, creating strategies that often felt unfair to play against. We opted to have Guardian fit more of a faction-based niche to fit thematically with the theme of the Crystal Elf Constructs. Like the Azali change, this greatly reduces the potential for abusive combinations with the card, but still retains its core identity.
  

• Nyrvir the Fallen
  • Nyrvir Slumbers now does 80 damage over 4 seconds via 20 damage ticks once per second.
  • Health 1800 > 2200
  • Bug Fix: Fixed an issue where Nyrvir’s damage was significantly lower than intended during her first attack.

• Developer Comments
  
• Nyrvir Slumbers was a bit harder to pull off than we’d have liked, with effects such as Shield providing a hard counter to your ability to collect Spectral Essence from the card, as well as the small damage range not being effective enough to kill some desirable targets. Additionally, Nyrvir herself felt too easy to remove once you had managed to play her, so we felt a health boost was in order.
  

• Ratbo
  • Damage 5 > 6

• Developer Comments
  
• One of Ratbo’s weaknesses was his basic attack, with its total DPS being among the lowest in the game, often leaving him defenseless against medium or larger sized units if he wasn’t able to flood the board with his scrats.
  

• Snake Druid
  • Health 60 > 80
  • Root Duration 2 > 6 seconds

• Developer Comments
  
• Snake Druid, while a much beloved card of a small audience, suffered from how easily it could be picked off from small units, meaning that it often failed to get much value after its initial play. By increasing the HP he remains a bit more survivable, though easy to deal with on his own. More significant, however, is the increase of the Root Duration that will primarily apply once Snake Druid has been removed or forced to stop attacking, ensuring that the card will gain value.
  

• Stormy
  • No longer stuns himself
  • Range 8 > 6
  • Speed 3 > 5

• Developer Comments
  
• Stormy was particularly safe for how frustrating it could be to play against. By removing the self-stun (but not the self damage) it will no longer continuously retarget to the closest minion, while the range and speed nerfs aim to put him in harm’s way faster and make him easier to deal with by reducing the effective time he can stay in the radius of cards such as Priestess and Healing Shrine.
  

• Undying Skeleton/Cursebearer
  • Damage 50 > 60

• Developer Comments
  
• This change is mainly directed towards Undying Skeleton as we felt it has been underperforming, particularly in the new Toll of the Dead. Hopefully a small buff in damage will help give it the impact it needs.
  

• Xiao Long
  • Damage 25 > 20

• Developer Comments
  
• Xiao was a bit too effective at his job - Being an annoying ranged minion that could discourage the usage of spells and support a push effectively. This damage nerf aims to retain that discouragement while making him less effective in more general cases.
  

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