Here's a special sneak peek of the upcoming balance changes that will first go on the Test Server.

Crucial Balance Changes:


Chaos Engine
From: "When an item or support ability is targeted and destroyed on your turn, your hero gains +1 shadow energy and you draw a card."
To: "Once per turn, when an item or support ability is targeted and destroyed on your turn, your hero gains +1 shadow energy and you draw a card."
Reasoning: This card provides too much value for 2cc, particularly in terms of shadow energy ramp. We see this as a small nerf that can nudge things in the right direction without making Ter Adun too weak.


Wulven Tinker
From: "When Wulven Tinker is summoned, weapons you control gain +2 durability. When Wulven Tinker is killed, draw a card."
To: "When Wulven Tinker is summoned, weapons you control gain +2 durability. When Wulven Tinker is killed, draw a card if you control a weapon."
Reasoning: Tinker was intended to help Darkclaw and weapon based strategies, but ended up being widely used in all Wulven decks. We see this as a significant nerf that should make other comparable Wulven allies much more attractive to play in ally-based builds.


Layarian Knight
From: "All combat damage to Layarian Knight from allies with sword or claw attack is reduced by 1. All ability damage to Layarian Knight is increased by 1."
To: "All combat damage to Layarian Knight from allies with sword or claw attack is reduced by 1."
Reasoning: Layarian Knight has become obsolete due to the introduction of Frostflame Harpy and widespread ability damage. With this buff, Knight remains weak to Harpy but Harpy can no longer kill Knight on its own in one turn. We believe that this buff is a significant buff that should give humans a strong generic 2cc option.


Transporting Golem
From: 1SE: If an artifact has awakened this turn, seek an artifact with cost 2 or less. Transporting Golem gains +1 durability and if it has 3 or greater durability, it awakens.
To: 0SE: At the start of your next turn, draw two cards and Transporting Golem is destroyed, or if you control no other allies or items, Transporting Golem awakens and gains "when Transporting Golem is killed, draw 2 cards."
Reasoning: We believe that this new card can give players a new generic option for drawing cards at a well established rate of 3cc to draw 2. We believe that there is currently an over-reliance on class-specific draw engines and hope that slowly adding more neutral draw
cards to the game will give players more deck building options. It also serves as a "come-back" card because it additionally awakens if a player controls no other allies or items. We hope that this will encourage more back-and-forth gameplay while being difficult to abuse. We believe that a redesign is unlikely to hurt many decks because of the low usage rate of Transporting Golem. In fact, this change aligns it more closely with the original vision of the card.


Aldreides the Aged
From: "Shroud. Once per each player's turn, when an ability is activated with shadow energy, all opposing heroes lose 1 shadow energy. 2SE: Draw 2 cards and shuffle target card in your hand into its owner's deck."
To: "Shroud. Once per your turn, when an ability is activated with shadow energy, all opposing heroes lose 1 shadow energy. 2SE: Draw 2 cards and shuffle target card in your hand into its owner's deck."
Reasoning: Shadow energy drain is a powerful effect. The fact that Aldreides could do this on both players' turns meant that opposing players would be reduced to 0 shadow energy too quickly. We see this as a small nerf that will make Aldreides a little less oppressive if it stays on the field for an extended period of time.


Barrabus the Tainted
From: "When Barrabus is summoned, all heroes lose their stored shadow energy: target opposing ally takes 1 damage for each shadow energy lost this way. 2SE: All opposing heroes and allies take 2 damage."
To: "When Barrabus is summoned by a non-hero ability, all heroes lose their stored shadow energy: target opposing ally takes 1 damage for each shadow energy lost this way. 2SE: All opposing heroes and allies take 2 damage."
Reasoning: We do not believe that Barrabus is too strong, but we believe that some of his interactions are unintentionally oppressive. Barrabus is intended as a come-back card designed to take back control of a game, particularly against players that like to hoard shadow energy. Instead, Barrabus has a T4 interaction in which Bloodfang uses Shadow Font to summon Barrabus early and eliminate the opponent’s shadow energy stack while controlling the board. We find this interaction problematic because it can completely oppress heroes who have a shadow ability that costs 4 or more shadow energy. While Shadow Spawn theoretically has a similar effect, it lacks the tempo that this combo creates. We want to discourage combos that rely on luck to create a blowout victory, and so we see this as a slight nerf that will have a positive impact on a player’s enjoyment of the game.