Huff and Buff and Blow the House Down

Hello friends!

The next balance patch will hit the live servers next Wednesday, September 22nd. As usual, the patch is a mix of adjusting some cards in decks that have become too powerful or popular, while giving some love to other strategies and under-used cards to compensate.

This time around we are taking aim at a couple of decks that have been a bit too dominating lately, namely German blitz decks (often called Fast Heinz decks) and Soviet value decks. Let’s start by taking a look at the changes for those two decks.

But first, remember that if you have created any of the cards that are changing, you can go back and get a full compensation for them for 30 days once the patch is live.

[h2]Cards We Are Nerfing[/h2]



For the Emperor was initially intended as a tool for Japanese air decks. Since then, the emperor’s favor has been thrown around in various shells, but the imperial court has declared that enough is enough and henceforth only Japanese natives can curry the favor of the emperor. This nerfs the card pretty severely in many of the most popular shells it is found in today, but it can still be a powerful tool in the right decks.



The old 158. Nachschub can give immense tempo swing in aggressive decks, but has limited utility outside those shells. We want to reduce its swinginess, but at the same time open it up to be of value in more varied decks. Triggering only once per turn is a downside, but the upside is that the unit-only restriction has been lifted, meaning that you gain the benefit when destroying a unit with an order. This makes the card quite a bit more appealing in more controllish German decks.



The Heinkel He 115 has become a popular choice in many German decks, not just aggressive decks. However, the German blitz decks have benefited more than most from the card advantage the Heinkel provides, allowing it to restock mid-game when needed. We want to retain its powerful ability, but make it slightly easier to deal with so it is not as dominating.





Ural Factories and Red Banner have been role-players in many Soviet decks for a long time. But as more cards get printed, there are more and more opportunities to use these cards for some really nefarious purposes. While it is possible to change some of the cards that benefit most from the interaction with these two cards, we decided to nip the problem in the bud, so to speak, and reduce the power level of Ural and Banner themselves. With this change, it is still possible to use Ural with Confusion, Mobile Defense, I-16 Chaika and so on, but the extra cost means it is often happening a turn later or forcing you to skip an attack that could otherwise be made, and that can matter a lot.



There is one exception we are making to not adjusting the cards benefitting with Ural, and that is 272nd Guards. Reducing the cost means that 272nd + Ural no longer gives double IS-2s. It can still be accomplished with Red Banner, but not as consistently. It is not all bad though, as a cheaper 272nd does mean it can often be played a turn earlier, which can be the difference between life and death in some scenarios.



We are sneaking in one more nerf - Italians have become very popular as an ally in control decks, mainly due to the power of Lion for a Day, Bologna and La Decima. Lion for a Day specifically is an extremely efficient removal order that frequently deals with threats with much higher cost. Raising the cost to 4 reduces this kredit disparity a little bit, but Lion is still a very solid card.

[h2]Under-Used Cards We Are Buffing[/h2]



Sea Patrol? More like Unsea Patrol, amiright? Ok, ok. Even in heavy air decks this card is rarely used today, due to the underwhelming effect. 3 damage offers quite a bit more punch so the card could finally find homes in some decks, I guess we’ll sea.



The card sees occasional play in Soviet self-damage decks, but is still a bit underwhelming. The new version doesn’t necessarily fit into any major Soviet archetypes, but it is a unique effect that we are sure some enterprising players will put into good use. Note that setting the defense does not count as damage or health gain.



This change is mostly for thematic reasons, the Exile nation is Poland, as the unit has the Polish air insignia. We’re reducing the operation cost at the same time to make the unit a bit more appealing and who knows, maybe some exile-matters deck exists out there that can put this to good use.



This card is already pretty decent in draft and will become even better now, but no one should be surprised if this starts showing up in more constructed decks as well. It has a good body for its cost and a solid ability.



We have an unwritten rule to try to make the most iconic units of WW2 be appealing and useful in the game, but so far the ME 262 has not met that criteria. So we are giving it an overhaul, adding a bit of shine and chrome. This may not make it an auto-include, but for German control decks, it now offers something extremely powerful in the right meta.

[h2]Cards We Are Buffing For Strategic Reasons[/h2]





These two changes are to make the niche deck focused around units that cannot attack the enemy HQ a bit more viable and competitive. It will most likely remain a niche deck, but at least have a slightly higher chance of taking off.



This change is intended to emphasize the French strategy of buffs with non-French units (see for instance 4e Brigade and 2e RMT). In decks focused around taking advantage of this, tokens for instance, the Hotchkiss can become quite a threat very fast.



Alpine are already making a bit of a splash thanks to their new best buddy Gebirgs-Pionier 95. The biggest issue Alpine decks have is how slow they can be, especially when the enemy manages to deal with the early onslaught. The changed Obice helps a lot in allowing the Alpine decks to come back strong and can easily propel Alpine into a tier 1 deck. Make sure to bundle up well after the patch, you will likely be fighting in the mountains quite a lot.



The retreat deck is also a deck we want to give a little bit of love, but not too much because these decks can be annoying to face repeatedly. The old Typhoon is quite a decent unit so we didn’t want to boost it too much, but now it is a bigger threat and can trade more favorably.



Last but not the least we are changing the Ginga to be a solid inclusion in the Japanese self-discard deck. Japan got a fine addition for this deck in Uprising with Matsue Regiment, so be prepared to see more Bettys on the horizon.

That is all this time around. We are in the middle of World Cup Qualifying tournaments and the season end is not far off, so put your theorycrafting hat on and be the first to crack the new meta. See you on the battlefield, commander!