Hello friends!
As is our custom, we will have a balance patch in the month following a big expansion. The intention with these patches is to address any major balance issues following the great upheaval that the big expansions are. This time around, we kinda sorted that already with the patch we did before the World Championship finals last December. The meta is fairly healthy, with many different decks and strategies viable and the best decks only being slightly better than the rest, allowing players to experiment more. That being said, there is always room for some slight adjustments and on the menu today we have 4 nerfs and 7 buffs, served up with some saucy banter. Let’s get to it.
First up is a slight nerf to Sea Embargo. Brit Air is one of the better decks hovering around and we want to lower its ceiling a bit. Sea Embargo is still playable after this, but offers less value, especially in the all important early turns.
The long distance member of the Sherman family, Calliope came out all tubes blazing with Blood & Iron. With a solid ability and body, it has been rocking it up in many different decks, a good indicator of a strong and versatile unit. But the fireworks are a bit too much, so we are making it slightly easier to deal with.
Several mill-style decks have been growing in popularity lately and do a good job of compromising many promising play styles. Many players would love to see this card disappear completely, but increasing the cost is hopefully an acceptable middle ground.
Hammer Home was a very ham-handed way to force Exile decks into existence. The good news is that it did succeed in this and Exile decks, while never very popular, have been very strong for the past year. The bad news is that it makes the deck rely on Hammer Home a bit too much, as it offers so much value. For this reason it is time for the deck to head home to roost.
Card Buffs
The T-34 decks are fairly popular and there is a strong indication that players enjoy playing this style of deck. But the power level of these decks is slightly below what we would like, and this change aims to put more fight into the deck by allowing you to start chaining fighting machines a turn earlier.
In a similar vein, here is another buff aimed to turn the fortunes of T-34 decks around. This one requires a more dedicated T-34 deck, but played at the right moment, this can take a win out of nowhere. Let’s see if this points the deck in the right direction.
One of the things that makes T-34 decks struggle a bit is that they can be slow out of the gate against very aggressive decks. The 845th has always been a solid tool for the Soviets against aggro decks, but it has been falling behind the curve slightly the last couple of years and is in need of a bit of a facelift. This change can also benefit various other Soviet decks.
The Throp deck is an interesting deck that plays out differently than most others. We hoped the additions to the deck in Blood & Iron would propel the deck into the limelight, but so far it has not really materialized. The 1st Cavalry Troop was always intended to be a strong inclusion to the deck, so to emphasize that even further we are throwing them the Blitz Bone.
Speaking of decks that play out in a unique way, the SKD deck certainly fits the bill. It stormed out of the gates last summer, to the point where it was hit by several nerfs. The nerfs turned out to be a bit on the harsh side, so we are re-evaluing them a bit. We are not fully rolling back the nerf to the 5th Regiment, but increasing the ability to +2+1 is a significant buff all the same.
One of the themes of Blood & Iron was the 4-attack theme, with Italy in the thick of it. The 49th Infantry Regiment is borderline a strong candidate for that deck, but is lacking slightly. Now that it is sturdier, it will be interesting to see if it makes its way into more played decks.
We are also refactoring one of the older Italian cards to fit better into the 4-attack theme, and just make it stronger in general. Getting this iconic Fiat into a playable state would be quite the feat. Triggering the ability is now more a bonus than a must and the card is less punished by being suppressed.
That is it for the January balance changes. The patch will go live on January 23rd and will also include various bug fixes, so look out for the full patch notes. Next on the agenda is the Spring Release in March and we have many interesting goodies for you that we can’t wait to show you. Until then, see you on the battlefield, commander!