Preview of Balance Changes for 2.90

[Ganjamus]

I would love for Raikka to keep her Fire and Ice theme (based on her art). The DT probably wants to keep her ability at 3 SE, so there's no changing that. They also seem to want to keep her focused on allies which is probably why they're not just making another board control mage like Majiya and Eladwen.

[Caitlyn0]

Hi Caitlyn,

As you've had a bit of exposure with Raikka, do you have any suggestions of an ability that would suit her niche of the 'fire theme' and make her competitive? Keeping in mind the design and development team have probably created a number of cards already in the next release that will centralize around a 'fire control deck'.

I would be interested to hear your ideas on this

easy

3se: friendly allies and weapons are +1 attack until the start of your next turn. damage is reduced by 1 for friendly allies and hero. enemy allies are set ablaze.

yes, that is similar to skevox but they arent disabled. you get the +1 to your allies and weapon and raikka will benefit from the -1 damage reduction.

[morbius]

easy

3se: friendly allies and weapons are +1 attack until the start of your next turn. damage is reduced by 1 for friendly allies and hero. enemy allies are set ablaze.

yes, that is similar to skevox but they arent disabled. you get the +1 to your allies and weapon and raikka will benefit from the -1 damage reduction.

Nice, but setting allies on fire might be a bit too much for the price of 3 se. I'm thinking they take 1 HP reduction instead.

[bobrossw]

easy

3se: friendly allies and weapons are +1 attack until the start of your next turn. damage is reduced by 1 for friendly allies and hero. enemy allies are set ablaze.

yes, that is similar to skevox but they arent disabled. you get the +1 to your allies and weapon and raikka will benefit from the -1 damage reduction.

yeah - also reducing all damage to hero by 1 for your turn (less damage from supernova) and opponent's turn (less damage from everything) is very strong...not the sort of thing that should be spammable in a burn deck.

Maybe a better question is, "what role do you envision for Raikka?" Your proposal here makes me think queen of the death race - completely rush and burn focused - can afford to be recklessly aggressive...My sense is the DT is going for ally focused mage.

I'm thinking burn and freeze effects also make sense, but if they were going to be included, her ability would have to be toned down in other respects - 3SE: Until the start of your next turn, when opposing allies deal damage to your allies, they are frozen for one turn, when they receive damage from your allies they are set ablaze.

[Romantic Gunner]

Being simultaneously frozen and set ablaze doesn't make sense, logically.

[jcbow]

Considering how mediocre skervox is I don't think making raikka so similar is a good option. Honestly i don't believe making a combat mage is viable in the current set. Maybe they have plans for her in the next set since it was stated somewhere I think that then DT like her current state but think she needs more cards that support her.

[Airact]

I don't know what Wulven can print that makes Raikka a better ally based hero than Majiya in non-aggressive decks. The more I think about that, the more impossible it seems.

[jacqui]

+2 attack and defender.

[Ganjamus]

+2 attack and defender.

For 3 SE? No.

4 SE? Unlikely

5 SE? Yes.

[Caitlyn0]

im thinking of her competatively without making her too powerful. and i wanted to keep her base ability the same. this isnt too powerful. and it might still be too weak but its a least a buff. what i would really like is a psuedo-moonstalker ability with her and her allies getting -2 damage reduction but also keeping the +1 attack.