Ban List for Rated in v3.60

[Sylnox]

Interesting move. You've essentially killed off two (or three if you count Prax and Zaladar separately) of the most powerful decks in the game. I think it's probably for the best - I hated playing them and there really is no good counter to either one - Gwen can almost always play more bows than you've got item destruction, and even if you can circumvent ITF with groundshift you've got to attack her with allies with >4 health or she'll just heal off of you if she's got a soul seeker. Prax and Zaladar being able to get up to full health with a 3cc card and draw card(s)/abilities that they'd be playing anyways (which throw stuff into the graveyard for soul reaper to use) is nuts. Couple it with energy discharge/that one location that exiles allies, AoA to soak up damage, and mimic in case soul reaper is discardeed and it's just bonkers how few weaknesses the resulting deck has. Plus Prax's version is a mill deck and Zaladar basically kills you slowly with his ability, so games against them take a long time, and you're almost guaranteed to lose in a lot of cases. Not much fun.

I'm not sure how I feel about the other two bans. Crescendo seems to be almost exclusively used in Millstalker decks, which have their weaknesses (Anarchic Looting, cards which resist the damage ping from evil ascendant plus a way to destroy crescendo, a well-timed groundshift). Millstalker is definitely not on the same level as the decks above. Lay low Lance isn't either, although it seems to have more good matchups than Millstalker and is annoying to face if you can't counter lay low. However, I've found Lance tends to take a decent amount of damage early in the game and ignore your allies late-game, meaning you can potentially play groundshift to kill him. Maybe the deck is bad because if you're not running a board wipe [not a hard counter but helpful since Lance has limited allies], focused prayer, hasted Eris, groundshift, or one of the two new epics you're pretty much screwed, but then again that's a decent list of weaknesses and the last two options aren't even class specific.

Lastly I'm a little surprised to see that stall Vess wasn't addressed as I've seen lots of complaints about that deck too. Maybe the Yari Marksmen nerf was enough to level the playing field vs ally decks? TBH I haven't played since that took effect so I don't know for sure.

[Shadow Mann]

Maybe the Yari Marksmen nerf was enough to level the playing field vs ally decks? TBH I haven't played since that took effect so I don't know for sure.

I think yari marksmen is stronger now than before.

[FinnTheConqueror]

I think yari marksmen is stronger now than before.

I totally agree -now instead of waiting for a 3rd ally to snipe something down, you just have to wait for two and that's already 3 damage. I if you have an ally on board well its almost guaranteed you will take out whatever you are sniping. Also, the reasoning for the "nerf" doesn't make sense. It was said that his power wasn't warrior-esque since he wasn't using combat to take down the enemy. Well...he's a marksman! It's in the name! Plus, he's still doing the same thing just not killing the creature outright.

[Shadow Mann]

I totally agree -now instead of waiting for a 3rd ally to snipe something down, you just have to wait for two and that's already 3 damage. I if you have an ally on board well its almost guaranteed you will take out whatever you are sniping. Also, the reasoning for the "nerf" doesn't make sense. It was said that his power wasn't warrior-esque since he wasn't using combat to take down the enemy. Well...he's a marksman! It's in the name! Plus, he's still doing the same thing just not killing the creature outright.

And now he's also much harder to kill himself, with 4 health

[phillipw123]

I like the changes to Yari Marksman. Makes the ally much more versatile and Yari tribal decks more interesting.

However I don't think enough has been done to address Stall Vess. The change to Yari marksman has done little to affect the playstyle. Need to stop attachments from being recycled or lythite coating banned.

[deathintheflesh]

Im a fan of stall decks. To each their own. But how about we just ban moonstalker too while we are at it? Lol. Jknk. Hunters are my fave and into the forrest is most always in my qwen decks. I do agree its too cheap.

Does this include meltdown?
And when/if you guys later replace any of these cards will foils be replaced as well?

[MrNice]

Does this include meltdown?

No. MD, unranked and single player campaign matches are excluded for now.

[Gondorian]

I'm bumping this thread to see how people feel about the Ban List after we've had more than three months of it in use.

As far as we know, it's been a positive thing for the gameplay environment, so we are retaining the Ban List for Rated Multiplayer in v3.61.

[TJ dubdub]

The bans are mostly fine. The reaper ban has killed 2 very competitive decks and really forced the elemental class into aggro. This is fine if there are cards coming to help them get back into control and mid range. There are several more cards you should consider adding but I'm not sure if that is an option

[jonmaciel]

Elemental class was balanced around the fact that they have Soul Reaper - that's why Antimatter is the way it is. If Soul Reaper is indeed gone, they will need many new control tools as well as a new draw engine. The tools they have now are centered around the fact that they can afford the loss of tempo and slow start because Soul Reaper will be used later. With that no longer the case, a heavy aggro build is the only way to play the Elemental class right now.

I'm fine with banning Armor of Ages - its only purpose was to stall - but they can't seem to afford losing Soul Reaper without negating most of the cards that were designed around it.