Mage Tower: Call of Zadeus News

Balance Changes:
-Upgrading Poison Daggers now increases its Enflame damage by 1 instead of 3.

Bug Fixes:
-Fixed a crash bug that could happen if you shot arrows at an Intricate Web that's the only monster left on the monster board.
-Fixed a bug where Shooting Stars would display the incorrect damage values.

**Note: If your Mastery Levels for all classes were increased to 6 due to a bug in the previous patch, there is now an optional button on the title screen that allows you lower them all to any value you choose from 1-5.**

Huge balance patch! Here's a rundown of the philosophy behind this patch:

-There were a lot of cards that scaled way better than other cards, to the point that they were ruining the game's balance. I've rebalanced a lot of those cards. For example, Constellation Beast costs 5 energy, but as potentially a 12/12 it could deal around 19 damage for that 5 energy. (If you calculate out how many monsters it can kill as a 12/12, it could be around 19 damage.) That makes a card like Lightning Arrows that deals 4 for 4 damage seem useless. Cards like Constellation Beast had to be rebalanced so that other cards and strategies were playable, and so that monsters didn't need to be excessively huge to compensate. Constellation Beast still scales well, just not at a 5x multiplier.
-The game had a lot of A-Tier and S-Tier cards at Common. Fun for a couple of runs, but it got repetitive and lowered deck diversity. You could often grab 4-5 cards that were at least A-tier before your first battle, trivializing the run. If you got 3x Beetlemorph and 2x Enchanted Tome one run, and the next run you instead got 2x Beetlemorph and 3x Enchanted Tome, the runs felt very similar. And that happened all the time because those cards were at Common. Now with the changes below, like other deckbuilders, it's a lot more rare (and exciting) to grab awesome superpowered cards. Every card draft is more significant as a result, and card synergies are more rewarding.
-After I rebalanced the game based on the above two points, the game was too difficult. Those overpowered cards like Constellation Beast had been causing "monster inflation", i.e. they were driving up the stats of monsters who were trying to compete with them. (And failing... the overpowered cards still trivialized runs.) So after the rebalancing, I've made the last 2/3rds of the run easier. Every enemy has had almost all the stats of their monster cards reduced. So when you read the balance changes below, please note that the last 2/3rds of the run is significantly easier now!

The end result of these balance changes is: Less boring runs with overpowered decks, more strategic and tactical decisions, synergies matter more, and you'll be rewarded more for creative deckbuilding.

Note that the game is now much harder at the highest difficulty, about as hard as the highest difficulty of other roguelikes. This is intended, as the only reason it was so easy before was because a veteran player could identify all the overpowered cards and just throw them together for an easy win.

(By the way, Mastery 1 is just about the same difficulty level.)

New Content:

-13 new cards were added to the card pool: Backstab, Band of Heroes, Boulder Launch, Buckler, Byforthian Caesar, Cleanse, Council Mage, Gladiator, River Sage, and Shieldmage.

Enemy Changes:

-All enemies that spawn on Day 3 and above, after you defeat the Orc Warlord boss, have had their monster cards' stats reduced. As a typical example, Leptisaurs are now 4 for a 5/5 instead of 4 for a 6/6.
-Dungeon enemies now spawn 1 less points of monsters per turn on days 3+.
-Stone Golems now each have 2 more attack and health, but now lose 1 Attack per health lost.

Balance Changes:

(I was going to write explanations for each balance change, but they're basically all the same: these cards scaled too much better than other cards. Most of these cards still scale very well. Note that when analyzing Defenders, many Defenders on average can eventually deal total damage about equal to their attack + health. (Some less.) Also note that some Defenders who have never had their stats reduced from the tabletop Mage Tower have now had their stats reduced. Note that in tabletop Mage Tower the game defaults to 10-12 points of monsters per turn, whereas Call of Zadeus starts at 9, which is why these need to have lower stats before being upgraded.)
-Mana Eater lowered from a 3/4 to a 3/3.
-Royal Guard lowered from a 2/5 to a 2/4.
-Royal Treasury - Now instead of gaining gold equal to the number of your silver-bordered cards, only gains half that (rounded down.)
-Slay - Cost increased from 2 to 3.
-Bodysnatcher - Cost increased from 4 to 6. Health reduced from 5 to 4.
-Summon Reinforcements & Trade Routes - Now you can only choose to have them enter play with up to 3 Scheme counters, or up to 6 when upgraded. (Was 5 or 8 upgraded before.)
-Enchanted Tome - Now only draws 3 cards instead of 5.
-Constellation Beast - Now only gets +1/+1 per card gained instead of +2/+2, and can only gain a maximum of +5/+5 instead of +12/+12.
-Mercenary - Now a 2/3 instead of a 3/3.
-Stupefy - Cost increased to 4.
-Fireball - Now instead of dealing 3 damage per card discarded, it deals 2 damage +2 damage per card discarded.
-These cards were moved from Common to Uncommon: Perilous Shot, Stalwart Knight, Insight, Volley, Spectral Fish, Crossbowman, Assassin's Strike, Search, Enchanted Tome.
-Shooting Stars - Now instead of dealing damage equal to the cards gained, it deals half that amount, rounded down.
-Brotweird's Grimace - This will no longer appear as a card choice from cards like Astronomer, Lost Cities, and Starmap that let you grab a card from outside the game. (It can still can be bought like normal from towns/bazaars/etc.)
-Flameception - The opposite of Brotweird's Grimace... Flameception is no longer purchaseable or obtainable to add to your deck, but can still randomly appear for single-battle use from cards like Astronomer, Lost Cities, etc.
-Starmap - Now you pick from 10 cards instead of 20.
-Bow and Arrow - Cost increased from 3 to 6.
-Rage Mirror - Now adds an unplayable Spell Charcoal to your discard pile when played. (This is supposed to be a tactical utility card, not a card you grab five of because it's a freebie.)
-Mana Well - Now adds an unplayable Spell Charcoal to your discard pile when played. (Same reason as Rage Mirror.)
-Acolyte - Reduced from a 4/4 to a 3/3.
-Lost Cities now only gains 1 gold instead of 3 when you've gained 3 cards this battle.
-Marshknight reduced from 1/8 and 1/12 upgraded to 1/5 and 1/8 upgraded.
-The artifact War Banner now only gives +1 Attack to your Defenders instead of +2 Attack.
-The "Echo Shield" artifact was removed for now. The Achievement that unlocks it now instead gives 1 Bloodrune until it is replaced with something else.
-Toxic Flood no longer increases its Poison damage dealt from 2 to 3 when upgraded, but instead has its cost reduced from 7 to 5.
-Summon the Guard, which created three 1/3 Militia, now instead creates three 1/1 Militia.
-Brewmaster's Mark cost at the Bazaar increased from 600 to 750.

Other Gameplay Changes:

-+1 Health Regeneration after battle and on each new day at all Mastery levels.
-+1 Health Regeneration at Mastery 1.
-One Mine and one Guild Hall (buildings) were removed and replaced with an additional Blacksmith and Fountain (just to give more card upgrade and purge opportunities.)
-Magic Dust received at the start of the run and after a battle reduced at higher Mastery levels. (Allowed too much walking around to the point where the first one or two battles would be delayed forever.)
-Scorched Earth (the start-of-run boon) now only makes the first enemy have the size of its monster deck reduced, instead of the first two. (This boon was very powerful and made it so you didn't have to play the game for the first ~8 minutes which was boring.)
-Healing Herbs (the artifact you get from the Healer building) now only gives +1 life each turn for the first 5 turns, instead of on all turns. (Was trivializing battles and adding more "dead air" to the gameplay where you're playing a battle without much risk, especially if you grabbed two of these.)
-You now need 2 Coins (the trade resource) to skip a battle instead of 1. (There was just too much battle skipping to the point where you could practically explore the entire map within the first day.)
-Exalted Throne will now tell you what card you got in the game log.

Bug Fixes:

-Fixed a bug where duplicating a card at the Bazaar would not get rid of a Madness card in your deck.
-Fixed a bug where Contagion was counting as a Common card in some cases.
-Fixed a bug where Deep Dweller was counting as an Uncommon card in some cases.
-Fixed a bug where Magic Hammer and Platinum Anvil weren't purchaseable at the Bazaar.
-Fixed a bug where occasionally an enemy would appear visually as a red box.
-Fixed an issue where overlapping an equipment card would override overlapping other types of cards, making it hard to see what some cards do.
-Fixed an issue where the deck size warning for madness cards would appear on the Fountain screen, preventing you from seeing the "Back" button.
-Fixed a bug where Bribe's card reminder text said it removed 1 Scheme counter instead of 2.
-Thuridian Colossus was missing the text that indicated it could attack any number of times in a turn.
-Made it so cards would not appear behind the "incoming damage" graphic.
-Fixed a potential crash bug where Cosmigorius Tamer could crash the game if you played it on an empty monster board.
-Fixed a bug that would cause the Blacksmith to sometimes show the wrong stats on the "non-upgraded" card when comparing the non-upgraded version to the upgraded version.
-Fixed an issue where the game would show your Mastery Level stats on the character select screen even when you had no character selected, sometimes showing weird values.

(Small hotfix patch.)

Bug Fixes:
-Fixed a bug that could cause a soft lock if your only Defender had full Artifact slots but the game tried to give you an equippable Artifact.
-Fixed a bug where the reminder text about "Madness" cards was appearing on the Blacksmith screen and blocking the "Back" button.

Patch 2.1.2.0.3 Notes

(This patch is mostly a bunch of bug fixes and balance changes.)

Gameplay Changes:
-Fixed an issue that was causing a player's health regeneration to be 2 higher than it should be at Mastery 8. (It was an increase from Mastery 7 instead of a decrease like it should have been.)
-Black Markets (in Bazaars) generally spawn with less cards on average. They can still spawn from 0-3. The change is because Black Market cards were too ubiquitous considering they are supposed to be special cards you only use once in a while.

Card Changes:
-Beetlemorph moved from Common to Uncommon. (This was actually done in a previous patch but I forgot to note it. I updated its card image to show the Uncommon symbol. At Common it's way too ubiquitous for an arguably S-Tier card.)
-Marshknight lowered from 1/8 unupgraded and 1/30 upgraded to: 1/7 unupgraded and 1/12 upgraded. (While it was funny to give it massive health there are just too many synergies with it now that break the game and make runs boringly easy.)
-Soldak lowered from a 30/30 to a 20/20. (Too many new synergies cause issues with it being so large. It's frequently just a game-ender which can make runs repetitive when every game is just "play one Soldak and ignore all the enemy's cards." At least now you might need a secondary plan as well.)
-Stupefy cost increased from 2 to 3. (When it hit Giants it was far less consistent at getting high value for its cost. Fel Wyrms however appear way more frequently, so this card's cost was increased to compensate for the extra reliability.)
-Final Act reduced from a 10/10 to a 6/6. (Was dealing way too much damage, around 20, thus trivializing battles. Now its total damage dealt will be closer to 12.)
-Poison Daggers now just deals Enflame damage equal to the amount of Poison on the monster board, not double. (This card just did way too much for 4 energy.)
(Argatamos's Cards were completely overpowered, so they have all been rebalanced, and in the spirit of Black Market cards being a risky endeavor, you now lose 8 life when you play Argatamos's Bargain. Most of Argatamos's cards still have just about a Legendary-tier power level, they just aren't a 110% auto-win like before and you will likely need to consider your synergies with it more now.)
-Argatamos's Bargain now makes you lose 8 life when you play it.
-Argatamos's Hellspike cost increased from 4 to 6.
-Argatamos's Pet reduced from a 4/10 to a 4/6.
-Argatamos's Balloon now only slows the monster by 3 turns instead of 5.
-Argatamos's Command's cost increased from 1 to 3.
-Argatamos's Armament's equipment bonus reduced from +3/+7 to +3/+4.

Artifact Changes:
-Brewmaster's Mark price increased from 350 to 600. (This effect is so good that it should require a big commitment.)
-Ferocity Serum's price increased from 200 to 250. (More powerful than expected.)

Bugs Fixes:
-Fixed a bug where attaching multiple Argatamos's Armaments to a single Defender wouldn't gain you more than 1 life per attack.
-Rogue's Dagger card image now correctly has a Void Stone on its card.
-Attempted to fix a bug that could cause the game to crash in dungeons.
-Fixed a bug where Constellation Beast wasn't working with Magic Lantern (the artifact that makes it so its Void Stone is ignored.)
-Argatamos's Bargain now increases your cards gained count by 5 when you get the 5 Argatamos cards.
-Fixed a bug where Sea Skulk could sometimes soft lock the game if it was the last monster on the monster board after a Defender killed the other monster.
-Fixed a bug where Magic Scroll was able to be attached to any card instead of just Ability cards.
-Fixed a bug where Equipment would be invisible if it was on a Defender that was not in the leftmost inplay slot.
-Fixed a bug where The Tidebringer card could be damaged by Defenders.
-Multiple cards being destroyed at once will no longer be as loud.
-Fixed a bug where Constellation Beast's attack/hp numbers would go outside of its attack/health box while in hand, if its attack/health was 10/10 or higher.
-Fixed a bug where at the Bazaar if you bought all the Black Market cards then the frame that holds the normal cards would get shorter.
-Fixed an issue where Magical Barrage's text box was too big.
-Fixed a bug where if you got +25 Bloodrunes instead of a card at the Traveling Merchant, it would give you an incorrect notification window.
-Fixed a bug where Argatamos's Bargain would say that you need 7 cards to discard to it instead of 5.
-Fixed a bug where Argatamos's Bargain was costing 3 instead of 4.
-Made it so that a card you've grabbed from your hand will no longer appear behind the monster deck.
-Fixed a bug where upgraded Nova was giving you the +5 runes per kill for the entire battle, instead of just for the turn.
-Fixed a bug where "Level Up" cards would sometimes not have the current level value aligned on the card correctly.
-Fixed a bug where "End of Days" and "The King's Banner" could have the red/green reminder text disappear.
-Fixed a bug where the "Siege" prize card you get from Trebuchet sometimes had an empty text box.

Enemy Changes:
-Frost Dragon - Slightly lowered Frost Wolf's stats at Mastery 1-2 from 1/4 to 1/3.
-Irko - Lowered Zadeus Tentacle's stats at Mastery 1 and 2 from 4/12 to 3/12.
-Irko - Ichor Strider had its health reduced by 1 at Masteries 1-5.
-Spider Queen - Imp had its stats reduced from 2/4 to 2/3 at Masteries 1-2.

Hey all, Brett here! Exciting news - I've recently released a HUGE patch that adds "Bazaars", which let you customize your cards by attaching artifacts to them, and which give you access to forbidden "Black Market" cards. The patch also massively improves the New Player Experience. If you haven't played in a while or were thinking of trying out the game, now is the perfect time to get started!

So we'll get to this MEGA PATCH, but first let's talk about the game's NAME CHANGE.





I've changed the name of the game from "Mage Tower 2: Call of Zadeus" to just "Call of Zadeus". (Pronounced [Zuh-day-us].) I've had an issue with the name "Mage Tower" for a while as I find it too generic, and to be frank it sounds like the name of mobile game. Also, too many popular games have similar titles (Mage Knight, Mage Wars, etc.)

Also, "Mage Tower 2: Call of Zadeus" is a mouthful. And it being a sequel to an old 2013 game (with bad graphics) that was originally intended to be a demo for the physical game isn't doing the game any favors. Also, the lengthy sequel title adds confusion and extra homework for new players trying to figure out if they need to play the first game (they don't.) "Call of Zadeus" is more evocative, and sets the stage for a grand adventure where you ultimately encounter a cosmic horror - I think that sounds cooler than the generic "Mage Tower"!



This patch adds the crucial "Bazaar" locations which let you draft cards, buy rare "Black Market" cards, and (most importantly) modify your cards with artifacts. Bazaars allow a ton of deck customization! Let's get into the patch.

New Cards - There are 12 new cards added to the card pool! Many of these cards provide unique deckbuilding synergies, or challenge your decision-making skills by affecting the current game state in a unique way.



Bazaars are here!

Now you can find Bazaars scattered across the map!:



One of the best things about Bazaars is that you can purchase artifacts that attach to your cards and modify them. For example, take a look at Ferocity Serum:



It makes it so a Defender card can attack any number of times each turn. You can find varied uses for an artifact like this (or maybe you'll just attach it to a huge Defender so it can attack many times in a row.) There are 33 new artifacts that can attach to cards.

Bazaars also offer new unique and precarious "Black Market" cards, like Misery Dummy:



Black Market cards have outsized effects and are usually very odd, so you'll need to be creative when using them. Some even have interesting drawbacks that you'll have to work around. Of course, you can also purchase normal cards at Bazaars.

Improved New Player Experience

I've simplified the game IMMENSELY for new players. I've added two new easier difficulty levels, which makes the game a lot easier for a brand new player to get into. I've also simplified the basic monsters. For example, instead of having to keep track of 7 different Basic monster types with varied abilities in every battle, you'll only have to deal with 3, two of which have no abilities (like this Fel Wyrm here):



This lets each enemies' unique monsters shine, instead of the board also being cluttered with 7 types of basic monsters. It also makes the game state easier to track.

The image above also shows how the cards in hand are spread out more, and in-game they move around less and are easier to click on and play. You may also note that "angry" monsters no longer have their card images flipped vertically (instead they now have a red glow + "angry" symbol.) This makes angry monsters easier to identify by name and artwork, since the card image is no longer flipped. (Angry monsters being flipped vertically was a relic from the physical game.)

I've also given the player a card draft after every battle via the Traveling Merchant:



Players love this, as it enhances the gameplay loop simply by giving out more cards and ensuring that your deckbuilding is always progressing.

I'll note here that I also made enemies spawn less frequently. Players were complaining about being overwhelmed with enemies constantly and not being able to explore - that shouldn't be a problem now.

The "trading posts" system (something unlocked later on) has also been revamped. You will now pick a trade, which lets you draft cards of a certain type. You can also see all the buildings that you've built on the new screen for Trading Posts:



Here I've only covered the big things, you can find the full patch notes here: https://discord.com/channels/895516127076155412/930633654160486501/1196562419087056906

What's next?...

Mini-Roadmap:

• I am planning on adding difficulty modifiers for players who have already beaten the game on the highest difficulty levels. (Custom modifiers similar to a game like Hades.)

• I am theorizing about what big features I may add next. These might be things like a second card pool, or perhaps a new mode with a different combat system, or something completely different.

Now that Bazaars are out, I will start reaching out to streamers, Steam curators, and Let's Players to see if anyone is interested in covering the game. If you're interested, please email me at [email protected]!

Talk to you when I send out the backer surveys!

-Brett
supermegagames.net