Update 78 - Guardians of the Crystal Spire

• Team Puffa - Apep, Ravager, Settsu
• Team PuffChamp - Ratbo, King Puff, Stormbringer
• Team WutPuff - Volco, Milloween, Mordar

Balance

• Screaming Scrat
  • Mana Cost 2 -> 1

  --- Developer comments ---
  Screaming Scrat, while definitely have an unusual design worthy of being a Legendary card. Unfortunately, it was much harder to use than expected, with the taunt not being able to achieve enough value to justify its mana cost. With this change it should be a fun and impactful small card you can use without being punished too much in terms of mana.
  

• Sun Burn
  • Mana Cost 4 -> 3

  --- Developer comments ---
  Sun Burn was simply too expensive to use in the majority of situations it was designed for, and its versatility was held back as a result as you would have to try and obtain optimal value from either of its effects. By reducing it to 3 it should make its abilities far more efficient to use.
  

• Stormbringer
  • Damage 40 -> 35

  --- Developer comments ---
  Stormbringer, while he was in need of a buff, was unfortunately overtuned and became very frustrating to play against as he either whittled down your midrange units or made a lot of small cards completely irrelevant in his matchup alone. Hopefully by reducing his damage a small amount, he can still be an effective master without being too oppressive to play against.
  

• Grenadier
  • Mana Cost 3 -> 2
  • Health 85 -> 60
  • Damage 50 -> 40

  --- Developer comments ---
  One of the oldest cards in Minion Masters, we’ve tried to buff it over time after it got phased out by better AoE cards like the Flame Imp, but ultimately this was unsuccessful. As such we have decided to redesign it and give it a new purpose as the cheap AoE with a major weakness.
  

• Clear Skies
  • Mana Cost 4 -> 3

  --- Developer comments ---
  A card that was initially perceived as slightly risky to add to the game, Clear Skies ultimately didn’t seem to have enough value for either the healing or the buff removal at 4 mana. Hopefully this reduction emphasises those applications.
  

• Banner Man
  • Mana Cost 2 -> 3
  • Health 100 -> 150
  • Damage 10 -> 15

  --- Developer comments ---
  Banner Man was a controversial card due to its ease of gaining value against spells in the hands of a skill player, with his instant effect blocking incoming spells with single damage instances. By increasing it to 3 mana you still retain the effectiveness of its ability to counter spells, but is less effective for cycling or bridge control.
  

• Empowered Soul Stealer
  • Souls gained from friendly minion having rage 3 -> 4

  --- Developer comments ---
  Empowered Soul Stealer saw some minor interest, but it overall failed to meet expectations in its performance. However, we don’t believe a major balance change is required to improve the card to be viable, so a minor soul increase should make its condition more impactful.
  

• Rabid Prowler
  • Now gains rage AND frenzy if you have a rage minion.

  --- Developer comments ---
  Frenzy was simply not worth it on a card that relies on its high impact damage to provide the basis for running the card, especially when locked behind a conditional effect on a high mana cost minion. By adding Rage to the card, it should be far more appealing to work into your deck.
  

• Ravenous Swarmers
  • Conditional effect now triggers upon any spell being cast

  --- Developer comments ---
  Ravenous Swarmers ended up being too specific with its relatively minor effect for it to be worth running over Swarmers. By greatly extending the rage of its Condition, the card should now be a great option in any deck that runs spells, but applicable in more situations.
  

• Demon Warrior - Health 400 to 450
  • Evolution health remains unchanged at +300

• Propeller Horde - Scrats 5(10) -> 6(12)
  

Battle Pass Changes

• The amount of Battle Pass Tiers have increased from 70 to 100.
• 200 Season Bonus can now be gained at Free Tier 5. This should help both new players and experienced players progress through the new tiers.
• There are now Weekly Quests where you win 10 games to earn 2 Battle Pass Tiers. The modes required for these quests will change occasionally, but for the first week it is set to 2v2.
• There is a start of Season quest for winning 15 games in any mode to earn 4 Battle Pass Tiers.
• If you have multiple tiers of rewards unlocked, claiming a tier will claim all unclaimed tiers at once. Multiple rewards of the same type will be consolidated into one chest - I.E. 3 Season Tokens will become one chest, rather than requiring you to open three.

Guardians of the Crystal Spire

• This content season will last for 2 months
• 8 new cards have been released! These are:
  • Crystal Archers - 3 mana Common Ranged Minion These Crystal Elves are deadly at long range, but fragile up close. Their Mana Surge (+50% Attack Speed while you have 6+ mana) enables them to empower their attacks even further.
  • Crystal Construct - 5 mana Common Melee Minion This relative of the Guardian acts as both the shield and stockpile for the magically dependant elven army. A huge chunk of HP with limited offense options, the Construct will grant its master +2 Mana when summoned.
  • Crystal Sentry - 4 mana Rare Ranged Minion A tough elite warrior that uses his fancy (and deadly!) glaives to cut the opposition down to size. He also comes with Mana Surge (+50% Attack Speed while you have 6+ mana), making him a semi-tank more than capable of defending himself from ground and aerial assault.
  • Crystal Arcanist - 3 mana Rare Ranged Minion A long ranged AoE caster with more fashion sense than practical combat clothing. She’s able to wipe out groups of enemies from afar thanks to her strong range and Mana Surge (+50% Attack Speed while you have 6+ mana) - Just make sure you keep her safe.
  • Mana Puff Madness - 2 mana Supreme Spell Summons 4 Mana Puffs at the Master Tower for each team. Mana Puffs are attracted to the flow of mana, but you can never know what they will do when they appear - besides look cute!
  • Armored Escort - 6 mana Supreme Spell Summons two Crystal Sentries to escort the next Ranged Minion you play. It’s good, efficient protection on the fly that can pack a serious punch.
  • Arcane Bolt - 5 mana Legendary Spell This powerful Elven magic will stun the highest health unit in its radius, or instantly kill it if it has less than 400 Health. Use it to dismantle pushes or take out annoyances before they get out of hand at a premium.
  • Lord-Sentinel Thelec - 10 mana Legendary Melee Minion Sworn to defend the Crystal Spire, Lord-Sentinel Thelec comes with his own legion of Elves. If you have 4 or more spells in your deck (including Master perks), Thelec will summon 6 Crystal Archers in a line directly behind him. It’s an all-in-one push package, but those archers are as fragile as ever. He also has the Mana Surge ability (+50% Attack Speed while you have 6+ mana) and can pack a serious punch.

• The new cards are available in Season Tokens found in the Battle Pass (see above)
  
• They can also be Recruited for 3x the normal shard value of other cards
  
• After 2 months, the cards will be part of the normal set, get their crafting costs set back to normal, and appear in normal Power Tokens
  
• 3 new skins and 4 new emotes are also available from the Battle Pass.
  

Wheel of Doom Status

The Wheel of Doom voted into the game in the Best Of tournament some time ago hit some pretty large snags we didn’t expect.
This meant we had to prioritize other things to make them ready for the upcoming Discord launch.
We’re sorry about the delay, but are happy to inform you that it will be coming to Minion Masters in Update 81, as the Twitch event ends!

Misc

• By popular demand, the old Emote menu is back! It can be accessed in-game just like before, so now you have the choice between carefully picking out the right emote for the situation or using the quicker Emote Wheel on the fly.
• The new card Lord-Sentinel Thelec will not be available in random Card Pools such as Draft or Future cards.
• Added some Grass to the Starting Arena - This can be turned off in the World Details graphics setting as part of Misc Objects, and doesn’t show up in a match.
• Added instructions to the emote wheel in the Emote tab.

Bugs

• Fixed Masters not showing on the Leaderboard.
• Fixed visual errors occuring when some Battle Pass chests were opened too quickly - Thanks Dimac!
• Fixed the Discord command’s text being incorrect.
• Fixed an issue with the Summoning Mayhem not spawning minions with buffs
• Fixed completed quests not disappearing properly - Thanks Steven!
• Fixed an issue with clicking the avatar in the profile screen taking you to the Emotes tab instead of Avatars.
• Fixed issues where the game would be stuck, or crash, when loading - Thanks Greywolf!
• Fixed an issue where the Subscribe to Unlock button on the Winter Holiday Arena didn’t do anything.
• Fixed an issue where you would be notified with a red dot when there is no news.
• Fixed an issue with Volco’s perk description - Thanks ks!
• Fixed the high resolution card art for Swarmers being missing - Thanks Edelweiss!
• Fixed an incorrect parameters issue if the host of a lobby leaves while the player is ready.
• Fixed a clipping issue with Shars’Rakk Twins.
• Fixed an issue with minions aiming at the wrong part of Settsu.

Cheers from BetaDwarf