Five new class allies

[Anurak]

What?

If I read right, it gets +1 attack for every time the ally (or hero) it is attacking as been attacked (or targeted by a spell) already your turn?

If so, that needs clearing up explanation wise. Confusing as fk.

You got it right. As BlanketEffect explained, the target benefits from other attacks distracting the target and deals more damage. If you're facing multiple opponents. you can't guard effectively against all of them. Some allies with the skill to deal critical hits, will deal more damage.
Notice that she would get Flanking only in a warrior deck. Since the warriors don't have abilities that target the hero, the bonus could only be the result of an ally attack. Allies however will have a harder time. So if the hero or an ally was attacked previously in this turn by Puwen and Kristoffer, Isabeau would become 4/4.

I first introduced the Flanking ability with Askaria Slasher. Back then the +1 bonus was given only when the target was dealt damage, but dndfreak suggested that I should change/try it for "... each time the target was targeted this turn". I thought I should give it a try, but I think I like better the original design since it has this 'combat tactics' feeling instead of 'general warfare tactics'. Nothing is final with the abilities or the cards. It a process than is in progress and changes may happen to achieve the best result.

I also think that having allies who can occasionally get big bonuses is a plus. It doesn't happen often, is an immediate result of skill at commanding your forces (sometimes luck too), and it will make the games faster and unforgiving (as is real life). I also think we should get more 5+ allies with attack of 4+. Right now it's like we are trying to protect the 3-cost allies from being killed, when they have an obvious advantage over the 3-cost allies. Aeon is OK with 3 attack because he draws all attacks to himself, and Raven is OK too because her ability is crippling the enemy allies, but I don't want all 4+ cost allies not being able to deal with Jasmine or Bad Wolf. It's like the attack of the allies is stuck to 3. Brutal Minotaur and Shadow Knight are cards towards the right direction. It would be good to see allies with 6+ cost having attack values 5+, or even lower cost allies who get conditional bonuses, instead of trying to find 10 different ways to give a hero who is overrun by enemies a second chance at winning at the last moment. You messed up your strategy, now you have to pay.

I'm not saying allies/abilities that can give a second chance shouldn't exist, but it shouldn't be what we're after if we want to make games fast. I'd prefer a fast, exciting game where I lose after trying everything I can, instead of playing a tedious, long game which lasts 30 minutes so I can run out of cards in the end. Control decks should have cards available who incapacitate allies or heroes, even controlling them (MC), but there should be counters for them too. If we want control decks to become a viable option in a game where the goal is to have fast games, then inevitably there should be a mill twist(discard or remove cards from deck) in them, and of course max duration of a game ~20 min.

[Anurak]

After some thought I think Flanking will be more balanced like this:
Flanking: When this ally attacks, it has +1 attack for each time the target was attacked this turn.

Isabeau will receive the bonus(es) only if attacks took place before her own attack. This means she won't get a bonus from abilities targeting her opponent, but she will receive it even if the previous attacks didn't deal damage. So 2 Puwen attacking a Sandworm would deal 2x0 damage, but Isabeau would become 4/4.

[razcrux]

Greta concept, I would say that once there are enough cards in the game [say another 100 to 200 cards], entire sets can come out with hero-specific Allies.

[Anurak]

Greta concept, I would say that once there are enough cards in the game [say another 100 to 200 cards], entire sets can come out with hero-specific Allies.

Thanks for dropping by. I found out that lower cost allies are very hard to balance because you can't play a lot with the values of their stats. I'm preparing another series of allies with costs of 5+. There we can play more with the values and give them great abilities.

[Anurak]

After having some matches with Isabeau (in my head), I saw that was way, way OP. I wanted to avoid changing her abilities, so the only other option was to increase her cost. Even at 4 she could be OP, so I may change something else in the future.



Flanking: When this ally attacks a target, it has +2 attack if the target was attacked this turn.

[Junk Style]

After having some matches with Isabeau (in my head), I saw that was way, way OP. I wanted to avoid changing her abilities, so the only other option was to increase her cost. Even at 4 she could be OP, so I may change something else in the future.

Flanking: When this ally attacks a target, it has +2 attack if the target was attacked this turn.

So you changed flanking for all of your new cards that have it?
I would keep Flanking as "When this ally attacks a target, it has +2 attack if the target was targeted this turn."

If that is too strong for a specific hero, give them the specific ability "When this ally attacks a target, it has +2 attack if the target was attacked this turn."

.
Next, i wanted to point out that Siberius is just a bad card. When you are dealing with 40 card decks, you don't want to put look at 3 cards, and have to put two of them at the bottom. More often than not you will be forced to put 1-2 really good cards at the bottom, just so that you know what you are top decking. That is incredibly risky. I would change it two put 2 on top and one on bottom. Select the order that they go on top as you pick, as in the first you select to stay on top goes on top, then second goes on top.

[Anurak]

Flanking changed not only because Isabeau was too strong; it changed because, as a military action, it has to be more efficient in warrior decks and decks who use allies, and I like it better when it depends on attacks. Notice that hero attacks count as attacks, so if your hero equips a weapon and attacks a target, allies with Flanking would get the +2 bonus against that target. Isabeau has only 2 attack because she has a second ability (Defender) which is really great. If she was a simple 3cc warrior ally, I would make her a rare 3/4 ally. Abilities like this will come in SE after we test them first in the design team, and then a second or even a third testing round with the PFG, so any weaknesses will be eliminated before they are available to the public.

Siberius has 2 abilities if you play him in a mage deck. Not only you renew 1 resource, which in a mage deck is great since you want to deal damage fast, but you also get to draw in your next turn the card you need the most. Yes, you place in the bottom of your library 2 cards, but you don't lose them; they are not discarded. And you get the two abilities on Siberious with an ally who has decent stats for 3cc. If you've read older posts of mine, you'll see I'm against allies that are auto include in decks and in sets of 4.
If you can't find a use for him, I'm sure someone else out there already has or will. It has happened to me too. Allies that I thought were simply good, proved to be OP because I didn't think of some possibilities mentioned by other players.

[abazigal]

This may be a little late (I just came to know of this game and said thread), but I am liking your creations very much (and still slowly digesting them). You appear to have put a fair amount of effort into thinking out their abilities so that they are fun, flavourful, add a later of strategy to the game without needlessly complicating things, yet avoid the arms-race (where cards are popular simply because they are obviously more powerful than the rest of the meta-game). I don't know how they will turn out in actual gameplay, but none jump out and scream "Broken!" as of the moment.

For Siberius, he is an interesting card. On one hand, he is a potent ally if played early, yet you may be tempted to hold off playing him until turn 4+, because that 1 free resource likely doesn't let you do anything on turn 3 (unless you have a 1-drop in your hand), while dropping him on turn4 frees up the resources for a 2-cost card (and a 3-cost card on turn5 and so on). Likewise, his cycling ability is a bit of a gamble. As mentioned, you may end up having to place otherwise useful cards at the bottom of your library, but it can also let you get rid of redundant cards like that 2nd bazaar or research, thus improving the quality of subsequent draws.

I like cards like these which present genuine dilemmas and encourage the player to ponder over the best move to make. Keep up the good work!

[glencocoe]

Isabeau should be 5cc...and Siberius...like what if you don't want cards placed on the bottom...many times spells are next. Fade the rogue card should be 3cc...nightshade as a bar.

Edit: Mmm then again I guess I see the logic of fade...kind of like DMT, on the human side.

[glencocoe]

Seriously though I'm not even a girl, but these card ideas make me WET...😌