Ahoy Blitzers!
Today, we’re thrilled to tell you about our upcoming “Frostfall” update for Tusk Tales, which includes:
- The new chilly region Frostfall with new landmarks and bosses
- Two new mercenaries: Wick [Fortune] and Piper [Balance]
- An all-new “Glorious Gourmet” [Balance] Archetype!
Eager Blitzers can already play this new update on the Cross Blitz Beta Branch![h2]Welcome to Frostfall[/h2]
A snowy mountainous region at the northern tip of the island. Places of interest include:
Finn Lochley- a lakeside fishing town established on Finn Loch Lake. Foodies flock here, cultivating a vibrant cooking culture. The town’s many chefs prepare magnificent dishes with delectable seafood freshly caught from the lake, or imported from the Northron Seas.
Frostfall Shrine - a great temple situated at Frostfall’s highest peak. Warrior monks are said to gather here, training relentlessly and practicing mediation. An elusive martial arts tournament is held every several years, where warriors from across the world gather at the shrine to prove their strength, fortitude, and honor.
[h2]Meet New Mercenaries Wick & Piper![/h2]
[h3]Wick - Fortune Mercenary[/h3]
A talented Littlefolk thief who works for the Bounty Brigade. You might recognize her from Quill’s Story Campaign(and Violet’s too, for a short appearance)! Her starter deck uses Plunder Mechanics and Brigade Traps!
[h3]Piper - Balance Mercenary[/h3]
A fledgling wizard and pupil of the great sorcerer Alatar Wingwood who you may remember from Violet’s story campaign. His starter deck uses Frost damage spells and Freeze mechanics.
[h2]Get cookin’ with the Glorious Gourmet Archetype![/h2]
In the Frostfall update, you’ll see a new [Balance] archetype, “Glorious Gourmet”.
[h3]Ingredient Cards[/h3]
This new Archetype uses Ingredient cards: 0-cost, 0-power, and 1-health Inanimate minions that you can place like normal minions on the board. There are 3 types of ingredient cards in the game.
You can play an ingredient card on another ingredient card placed on the board to combine them.
[h3]Sizzling Skillet[/h3]
When you combine ingredients, the combination is replaced with a Sizzling Skillet card:
0-power, 3-health Inanimate minion. You can add up to 3 ingredients total to a Sizzling Skillet. The ingredients added and the order in which they are added will create a unique dish for that combination only after you play a Chef class card on the board.
Important: You cannot combine ingredients of the same name. For example, you cannot combine 2 Grain Caches in the same recipe.
[h3]Chef class[/h3]
Chef is a new class type in Cross Blitz. When played while you have Sizzling Skillets on the board, they will cook all of them.
Cooking a Sizzling Skillet creates a dish dependent on the ingredients you place in it and the order in which you combine them.
[h3]Dish[/h3]
A dish is a type of spell card that can only be created through Sizzling Skillets. There are many different types of dishes. Dishes with three ingredients are more powerful than dishes with two ingredients. Some are situational as well. There are 12 Dishes in total. Try to remember how to create each one!
[h3]Cooking Archetype Details[/h3]
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Developer Note: The cooking archetype is by far the most complex archetype to date, but worry not, it's quite intuitive while playing but does require some knowledge!Ingredients: There are 3 ingredient cards in the game, these are Grain Cache, Spice Set & Seafood Spread. They are all 0-cost 0/1 minions with immobile and the Ingredient keyword. Ingredients can be played on the board or on top of another Ingredient or Sizzling Skillet. When an ingredient is played on top of another ingredient, it combines into a Sizzling Skillet.
- Grain Cache [Minion] (0/0/1): Immobile Ingredient
- Spice Set [Minion] (0/0/1): Immobile Ingredient
- Seafood Spread [Minion] (0/0/1): Immobile Ingredient
Sizzling Skillet: A Sizzling Skillet carries up to 3 Ingredients, these ingredients have to be unique, e.g. you can't play a Seafood Spread on top of another Seafood Spread or a Sizzling Skillet with a Seafood Spread inside of it. The Skillet can be COOKED by playing a minion with a Chef tag. When playing a Chef, it will cook ALL OF YOUR SIZZLING SKILLETS.
- Sizzling Skillet [Minion] (0/0/3): Immobile After you play a Chef, add a {dish} to your hand. ({dish} will be filled in with the currently cooking dish.)
Dishes: Dishes are powerful spells, there are 12 Dish cards total in the game. To get a certain Dish, you need to know what ingredients are used to make it AND have those ingredients added to a Sizzling Skillet IN THE CORRECT ORDER.
- Wingroast Noodles (2-mana): Spice Set + Grain Cache - Lifesteal Deal 3 Pyro Damage to a minion.
- Blazing Crabroll (2-mana): Spice Set + Seafood Spread - Draw a card. Deal Pyro Damage equal to its cost to a random enemy minion.
- Cluckie Fried Rice (2-mana): Grache Cache + Spice Set - Restore 4 Health. If the target is a minion it attacks immediately.
- Octo-Ramen (2-mana): Grain Cache + Seafood Spread - Redeem a copy of a spell in your deck, heal your hero equal to it's cost.
- Lemon Plumpshrimp (2-mana): Seafood Spread + Spice Set - Redeem a copy of a minion in your deck and give it +1/+2.
- Crispy Clam Linguine (2-mana): Seafood Spread + Grain Cache - Restore 4 Health. If the target is a minion, shuffle a copy into your deck.
- Sea Squid Sashimi (3-mana): Spice Set + Grain Cache + Seafood Spread - Lifesteal Deal 3 Frost Damage to a minion and every minion in its column.
- Dragontail Maki (3-mana): Spice Set + Seafood Spread + Grain Cache - Give a minion +2 Power. Deal Pyro Damage equal to its Power to all other minions in its row.
- Surf 'n Turf Curry (3-mana): Grain Cache + Spice Set + Seafood Spread - Give a minion -1/-1. Move it to the right, if occupied, attack the minion instead.
- Ruby Tuna Tataki (3-mana): Seafood Spread + Grain Cache + Spice Set - Restore 3 Health to a minion. Move it to the left, if occupied, attack the minion instead.
- Tempura Tonkotsu (3-mana): Grain Cache + Seafood Spread + Spice Set - Give a minion +2 Health. Deal Damage equal to its Health to all other minions in its column.
- Greedy Grouper Stew (3-mana): Seafood Spread + Spice Set + Grain Cache - Redeem a copy of a minion on the board. Give it +1/+2.
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Chefs: These are regular minions with the Chef archetype tag.
- Sous Chef [Minion/Chef] (1/1/1): Played: Add a random Ingredient to your hand.
- Coral Cook [Minion/Chef] (2/2/2): Guard After you play an Ingredient, give this and the Ingredient Barrier.
- Zealous Cook [Minion] (3/1/4): At the start of your turn, Redeem a random Ingredient.
- Spicy Broth Master [Minion/Chef] (5/3/5): After a Sizzling Skillet is cooked, Deal 3 Pyro Damage to a random enemy minion.
- Itamae Takonori [Minion/Chef] (4/2/6): Your Sizzling Skillets aren't removed after cooking.
Legendary Chefs: These are chefs that are outside of the balance faction but still function as chefs and can be added to your deck using the Grand Gourmet Trophy.
- Entremetier Kelpwort [Minion/Chef] (8/1/1): Sizzling Skillets this cooks create a Kelpwort Soup, instead. Played: Summon Pompom in front of this.
- Pompom [Minion] (6/2/8): After you play a minion that costs less than 5, Transform it into a Shrubasaur that costs 5 or more.
- Kelpwort Soup [Spell] (3): Transform a minion that costs 5 or more into a Shrubrex.
- Mawrona Roux [Minion/Chef] (7/0/7): The first spell you play each turn costs health instead of mana. Played: Summon a Horrific Sauce Pot in back of this.
- Gelatinous Nightmare [Minion] (1/1/1):
- Horrific Sauce Pot [Minion] (8/0/8): Immobile After you play a spell, add it to this. Death: Summon a Nightmare with stats equal to the cost of all spells added.
- Seraphina Sugarswirl [Minion] (5/3/3): After you play a Dish, Redeem a Sugarswirl Pastry. Played: Add all 3 Sugarswirl Pastries to your hand.
- Cotton Candy Cupcake [Spell] (1): Set the Health of all minions to 1.
- Dragontail Tart [Spell] (1): Deal 1 Pyro Damage to all minions.
- Pomkarot Cookie [Spell] (1): Give your minions +1 Health.
- Sizzle Queen Seara [Minion] (6/5/5): Pyro Damage +2. Played: Summon a Red Hot-Smoker in front of this.
- Red-Hot Smoker [Minion] (5/2/4): Immobile After you play a Pyro Spell, add a Pyreball to your hand.
Non-chefs: Some cards are part of the archetype but don't belong to any of these categories.
- Deepsea Delicacy Dealer [Minion] (8/8/8): Played: Summon 4 Sizzling Skillets with random Mythic dishes.
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[h2]New Bazaar Additions[/h2]
- Blood Sausage [Elder_Relic] (0): Once per turn: After a friendly minion Devours a card. Add it to your hand.
- Pyre Stone [Relic]: Your minions have Hothead.
- Tidal Bands [Relic]: Start of Game: Draw until your hand is full. You don't draw at the start of your turns.
- Stained Sculpture [Trinket]: +2 Damage.
- Spiked Helm [Trinket]: Relentless
[h2]Added more Masks to the Hollows Pool[/h2]
- Aristocrat's Mask [Mask]: Start the run with +300 gold.
- Avid Traveler Mask [Mask]: Landmark choices don't have trait requirements.
- Beauty Mask [Mask]: Enemy minions with 5 or more power have Fleeting.
- Bruised Mask [Mask]: You do not heal between battles.
- Mighty Mask [Mask]: Your minions that cost 3 or more gain +1 Health.
- Peddlers Gift Mask [Mask]: All relic nodes are relic caches instead.
- Stomp Mask [Mask]: Enemy minions that cost 5 or more have Trample.
[h2]Find these new relics and trinkets at Frostfall Landmarks![/h2]
- Aegis Talon [Trinket]: Costs 1 less for each armor you have.
- Dragonsteel Plate [Trinket]: Death: Gain 2 armor.
- Stomp Badge [Trinket]: Trample
- Forearm Guards [Trinket]: -1/-1
- Offbeat Bokken [Trinket]: +3/-1
- Weighted Boots [Trinket]: Immobile +1/+1
- Golden Chopsticks [Relic] (0): After a friendly minion loses Barrier, give it +1/+1.
- Trailhead Map [Mask]: Trinket Shops have increased rarity odds.
[h2]Card Changes[/h2]
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- Bitter Winter
Old: Deal 3 Frost Damage to all minions. Summon 4 Shiverbone Slimes.
New: Freeze all characters and Deal 2 Frost damage to them.
Developer Note: This spell felt too strong for an 8-mana Mythic so we gave its effect to Dark Scholar's Ritual and toned down this spell.
- Cindersoot Keg
Old: After you cast a Pyro Spell, summon a Cindersoot Monkey in an enemy occupied column.
New: Your Cindersoot Monkeys have +1 Power. After you cast a Pyro spell, add a Cindersoot Monkey to your hand.
- Pyreball
- Faction Changed: Balance -> Neutral
Developer Note: We felt Pyreball didn't fit the Balance class identity anymore, so we've shifted this to a neutral spell.- Rimepaw
Old: Before attacking, Freeze the target.
New: Before attacking a minion, Freeze the target.
- Shiverbone Dagger
Old: Before attacking, Freeze the target.
New: Before attacking a minion, Freeze the target.
Developer Note: These effects were updated due to the hero now being freezable, Rimepaw and Shiverbone Dagger function exactly the same.
- Shaofin Novice
- Faction Changed: Balance -> Neutral
- Shiverfin Siren
- Power Increased: 2 -> 6
- Health Increased: 2 -> 4
Old: Played: Give your minions, "Death: Summon a Shivershade".
New: Played: Give a friendly minion, "Death: Summon a Shivershade".
Developer Note: This effect was overpowered to compensate for lacking Shivershade support, it has now been toned down now that more cards are in the archetype. Its stats were updated to reflect its new effect.[h3]Devour Sub-archetype[/h3]
Developer Note: Devour saw an overhaul in effects for some of its cards in the sub-archetype. Most Devour cards no longer seek to mill the opponent but use Devour effects to gain advantage through buffs.
- Steel Chomps
Old: Combat Start: Devour a random card in your opponent's deck that costs 2 or less.
New: Combat Start: Devour a random friendly minion in the front row, give a minion in your hand its stats.
- Lobmasu [Minion]: After a minion is Devoured, give minions in your hand its stats.
- Gnawfin [Minion] (1/1/1): Death: Devour a random card in your deck, give a random minion in your hand +1/+1.
- Hangry Cluckie [Minion] (2/1/1): Played: Devour a minion with less Power than this. Gain its stats.
- Famished Fish [Minion] (2/1/1): Combat Start: Devour friendly minions in adjacent columns. Gain their stats.
- Blood Sausage [Elder_Relic] (0): Once per turn: After a friendly minion Devours a card. Add it to your hand.
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As always, we cannot wait to hear your feedback on the Frostfall update. Please share it on our Discord or right here on Steam! And as always, don’t forget to leave a review to help us out!
-The Cross Blitz Team
