September 12th - Balance Updates

The metagame has largely been settling into a time of peace. Arishem's play rate has steadily trended downward since our last change to Loki, and hasn't appeared to hit bottom yet as of these notes. Symbiote Spider-Man has shaken things up, but no decks new or old are presenting as outliers on win rate and cube rate at this time. As such, we're taking a light touch on the competitive changes and mostly pushing up a few older cards. 

• Sandman
  • [Old] 5/6 - On Reveal: Players can only play 1 card next turn.
  • [New] 5/7 - On Reveal: Next turn, cards cost 1 more. (maximum 6)

We've relied on Sandman to be a negative pressure against strong decks that can threaten several cards at the end of the game. However, we've seen over time that when the metagame provides Sandman with that kind of an opening, those decks tend to become a frustration unto themselves. In some ways it's reminiscent of Leech, and we're pursuing a similar adjustment. Softening the penalty on Sandman will make it less effective at locking down the game, while still meaningfully impacting enemy plans to play tons of cards. 

• Mockingbird
  • [Old] 6/10 - Costs 1 less for each of your cards in play that didn't start in your deck.
  • [Change] 6/10 -> 6/9

Mockingbird has been one of the strongest cards in a couple dominant decks lately, so we're taking away a Power here. It's not uncommon for some players to assume that a 6/9 may be stronger than a 6/10, due to the vulnerability to Shang-Chi, but this has never been the case in the past. If, by some chance, it proves true for Mockingbird, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. 

• Aero
  • [Old] 5/9 - On Reveal: Move the last enemy card played anywhere to this location.
  • [Change] 5/9 -> 5/10

We're aware one of Mockingbird's roles of late has been providing some amount of support for Skaar, so we looked for a few candidates near 10 Power that felt ripe to receive a buff. Aero was just such a card, and an ideal candidate among 5-Costs given the ability isn't strictly beneficial. 

• Black Cat
  • [Old] 4/9 - If this is in your hand after the turn, discard it.
  • [Change] 4/9 -> 4/10

Likewise, Black Cat's seen a big dip following adjustments to Hela and Black Knight, so we're adding a Power here as well to see how it impacts the play rate. 

• Ghost Rider
  • [Old] 4/3 - On Reveal: Bring back one of your discarded cards to this location.
  • [Change] 4/3 -> 4/4

Ghost Rider's an exciting card, and we'd like to find the right spot for it to feel like a fun miniature combo for decks to play. We know from the early days of the beta how strong 3-Cost Ghost Rider was, so we decided not to risk such a drastic change. We'll see how some Power goes and evaluate from there. 

• Moon Girl
  • [Old] 4/4 - On Reveal: Duplicate your hand.
  • [Change] 4/4 -> 4/5

Another card capable of fueling some unique combos, Moon Girl's time in the sun faded pretty fast once Loki hit the timeline. We'd like to explore pushing this card back toward some of that former glory, and in fact we started by trying a 3-Cost version internally… but it was totally cracked, so don't expect to see that change anytime soon. We might have considered more Power here, but given how strong decks with Mockingbird have been lately we erred more cautiously. 

• War Machine
  • [Old] 4/7 - On Reveal: Until the end of next turn, nothing can stop you from playing cards anywhere.
  • [New] 4/7 - Ongoing: Nothing can stop you from playing cards anywhere.

Many players noted that the new activate keyword had the potential to benefit War Machine. We also thought that might be true, but it turned out that even at 3/5 War Machine wasn't quite as effective as one would hope–a card that packs most of its punch leading into turn 6 just isn't an ideal home for activate. So we're going with the backup plan here, changing the On Reveal to an Ongoing. 

• Agatha Harkness
  • [Old] 6/14 - Agatha starts in your hand and plays your cards for you.
  • [New] 6/14 - Agatha starts in your hand. She plays your cards for you on even turns.

We're as excited as everyone else to see Kathryn Hahn back for Agatha All Along, so we decided to celebrate by letting our own Agatha out to play a little bit. You'll find Agatha more interested in an equal partnership these days, sharing turns with the player rather than keeping them all to herself. We haven't adjusted any other functionality–you'll still see her showing up in your hand as a bonus card, too! — That's all for this week. Until next time, happy snapping!