Minion Masters Friday

Minion Masters!

We've got a bit of a shorter blog post this week as we're working on lots of awesome future content for Minion Masters, but that doesn't mean the news we have to talk about is by any means small.

No double Masters in Premades

Coming in Version 1.6, we'll be removing the ability for two players in a Premade 2v2 Lobby to queue with the same Master. A big part of what gives Premade teams a huge advantage over regular solo queue players is the ability to co-ordinate their deckbuilding perfectly, and with some masters synergizing too well with themselves (Double Mordar, Double Stormbringer, Double Ravager) it could often feel outright unfair as a result. When making a 2v2 lobby, an error message will come up if you try to Search while sharing the same master as your partner.

Re-Connect is coming to Minion Masters

After a small delay from Version 1.5, we're fairly confident that we'll be able to include the Reconnect feature in Version 1.6. Currently, when a player disconnects from a match, the game will instantly end - Giving the win credit to the player (or team) that were still present. With the new Reconnect feature, the match will continue until completion when a team dies. The disconnected player will be able to reconnect to the match as soon as their issues are over, and hopefully start mounting their epic comeback. 

In 2v2, this also removes the scenarios where a teammate disconnects during the win animation, and not being credited the victory as a result, or a game that you feel was still winnable by yourself resulting in you being thrown back to the main menu.

Between this and the Premades Double Master change, we're hoping the quality of the 2v2 game mode will be improved significantly in Version 1.6!

The Challenger League Schedule

After the successful first TCL tournament, we've been provided with a full schedule of their planned upcoming tournaments. You'll hear more details about them as they approach, but check them out:

• October, Saturday 12th - Official event.
• October, Saturday 26th - 2v2 Guild Wars.
• November, Saturday 2nd - Official event.
• November, Wednesday 13th - Casual event.
• November, Saturday 23rd - Official event.
• December, Wednesday 4th - Casual event.
• December, Saturday 14th - Official event / Season End.

Make sure to participate and get competitive experience with our awesome high level players!

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Minion Masters Friday

Minion Masters!

We've got some extra followup from last week's Apep redesign reveal and some details of Minion Masters for Steam China:

Redesigned Apep Skins

Last week we showed off Apep's brand new look. We're ecstatic at all of the positive feedback we received from all of you, and there were quite a number of requests to show off what all of his previous skins look like with the new model. Well, they've just been completed and we're ready to reveal our new Snake God's outfits:

The Molten, Toxic and Blood Apep skins will retain their animated emission vfx, which we'll hopefully showcase on the next Developer Stream. Which one is your favourite?

Minion Masters for Steam China

Minion Masters has always had a healthy Chinese audience, which is why we were super excited to be one of the first titles confirmed for the platform's release. We're hard at work making sure everything is in the right place for the future release, and while it's a significant time away before anything concrete happens, the possibility to spread Minion Masters to another audience is a fantastic prospect. 

For those who've already followed the news and voiced concerns, we want to emphasize that no existing in-game content will be affected by our plans for Steam China. While there will be alternative models, art etc. to meet Chinese regulations, they will be exclusive to the Steam China edition.

To those Chinese Minion Masters players who have been playing already, we want to thank you for showing your support and hope we can bring you an even better experience over the coming months!

The Deadline for the Emote Contest is approaching!

You've only got a couple of days left to get your entries in for the Minion Masters Emote Contest! Entries will be closing this Monday at 0900 UTC+2, at which point we'll be selecting 5 entrants to be polled by the community for the winners! We've got some fantastic entries so far - Will yours be among them?

The Challenger League's First Tournament Starts this Weekend!

Don't forget to tune into the brand new grassroots Minion Masters tournament happening on Saturday at 1300 UTC! It's a Sideboard Double Elimination format with over $200 in cash alone up for grabs as well as the brand new Dynasty Morellia skin! Join the TCL server for all the information on the event as it happens: https://discord.gg/qNCEtRG

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Minion Masters Friday

Minion Masters!

With the balance changes of Version 1.5 hitting the game, it's time to get to work on Version 1.6, and we've already got quite a bit to share. So let's not waste any time:

Apep Visual Redesign

As many of you no doubt saw on the roadmap, we've been tinkering away at a visual upgrade for Apep the Almighty behind the scenes for a while now to bring him up to the better standard of our other masters. The model he currently uses is from our previous game Forced Showdown, where his design was to be somewhat brutish and arrogant, resorting to direct approaches to a fight. A more modern Apep is a much more sinister and cunning figure however, manipulating his devoted followers for his own gain. Here's what our redesigned Slither Lord looks like:

As with the Slither visual upgrades, we've incorporated a healthy dose of Aztec mythology into this new look. We're looking forward to hearing what you think!

The Emote Contest rolls on

Don't forget to enter our second Minion Masters Discord Emote Contest! There's still plenty of time to enter, with the deadline being the 23rd of September. Three lucky winners will be having their emotes permanently added to our server, so if you think you've got what it takes to make some cool icons, check out our blog post here and read how to enter!

Contender in Review

1.4 saw the release of our new ranked league, the Contender League, a new height to reach requiring players to prove themselves in the Grand Master ranks by attaining 2000 Ranking Points without the aid of win streaks. It's been a lot of fun seeing those that push themselves above and beyond the others, and we've got some statistics to share from its first ranked season.

Of all Grand Masters in each rank, the following amount of players proved themselves to reach the prestigious rank of Contender:

• Solo 1v1: 1.74%
• Solo 2v2: 3.11%
• Premade 2v2: 4.42%

We're very interested to see how those numbers change in future seasons! Could you be skilled enough to be in that top percentile of Minion Masters players?

E-SPORTS: The Challenger League

A new Competitive Minion Masters League will be starting very soon! The Challenger League, headed by long time Minion Masters veteran Julaiwnl will be featuring its first Double Elimination Tournament on the 21st of September. Here's what they have to say:

Exciting news, Masters!

A few passionate community members are now going to be hosting monthly tournaments for all of you to enjoy, whether you are a casual player, or a really competitive one!

The Challenger League is now open to the public, and looking for its first champion!

The TCL: Volco Cup 1 will be hosted on September 21st, 13:00 UTC.

It will consist of a Double-Elimination Bracket (Best of 3 & Best of 5), with people submitting 4 decklists + Sideboard.

All participants must join the TCL Discord to compete: https://discord.gg/qNCEtRG

Prize Pool of $200 + In-Game Prizes, check on Rulebook below!

Take a look at the full rulebook of the event here: http://docs.google.com/document/d/1SpQc4yC4G0ngJVUwKMbWDZlAsNY68wO9xkpXBQVWS_A

Register to the TCL: Volco Cup 1 on challonge: https://challonge.com/TCLVolcoCup1

The TCL Staff wishes you all good luck!

We're certainly looking forward to more tournament play, and we hope you'll be there to support this new grassroots league!

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Version 1.5

Minion Masters!

It’s been a hectic month for Minion Masters after the release of Sand Wars with Version 1.4, and it’s time for a small spot of house cleaning with Version 1.5 bringing you balance changes and bug fixes. Initially we had planned to include the Reconnect feature as indicated on the Roadmap, but with vacations being taken to enjoy the last bits of summer we’ve had to push it back for now, though it’s still high on our list of ideas.

Balance

Bridge Shrine

• Health 250 > 300
• Now has Placement Aura (I.E. Caged Prowler, cannot be placed in the gap beside the Master Tower)

Chain Lightning

• Radius 8 > 7

Combustion

• Duration 2 > 2.5
• Cast Delay 1 > 0.5
• Targets are now stunned for the duration of Combustion
• Master damage 15 > 50

Crossbow Guild

• [BUG FIX] Production Speed now correctly displayed as 4.8 seconds
• Now has Placement Aura
• Spawn Radius 4 > 3

Crystal Sentry

• Damage 55 > 60

Cursebearer

• Curse Aura persistence after death 5 > 4

Dragon Nest

• Health 250 > 350
• Now has Placement Aura

Guardian

• Protection Range 8 > 9

Herald Ah’Mun

• Damage 175 > 200
• Sacrifice healing 50 > 75

Illusory Cleaver

• Damage on death 30 > 20

Morellia

• Book of the Dead cooldown 25 > 30

Rock Rivals

• Enemy Living Statue now spawns further away from the Master tower

Shars’Rakk Twins

• Mana Cost 7 > 8

Snake Druid

• Now has Call Slitherbound

Styxi

• Depression Time 6 > 5

Stun Blast

• Cast Delay 1 > 0.5

Swarmer Totem

• Swarmers spawned 2 > 3
• Production time 6.6 > 7
• Gets Placement Aura
• Duration 60 > 50

Wreckinator 9000

• Slam and bam damage 110 > 150

Misc

• Created new advanced tooltips for some Minion Abilities to better clarify their statistics. 
• Added a notification for a player coming online in the Guild Chat.
• A new House Event has started! This time you can collect keys for your house and earn your choice between a Radiant Morellia skin, 10 copies of Fire Imp, or 10 copies of an unknown Rare card. Additionally, for this event we’ve doubled the rewards from Twitch Drops!

Bugs

• Fixed the number of Total Wins not being displayed - Thanks everyone!
• Fixed Lord-Sentinel Thelec not properly having Mana Surge in his description - Thanks Steven!
• Fixed being able to purchase shop offers of cards you had at Max Glory - Thanks FFA!
• Various fixes to Localizations, including tooltips that were previously set to English to prevent bugs.
• Fixed Daily Quest progress being visually granted even if you lose
• Fixed an issue that could cause mass freezes.
• Fixed Caged Prowler Avatar’s “Z”s being too large on the leaderboard.
• Fixed being able to buy items you already own from the Shop.
• Fixed Lone Scout not being highlighted if she started the match in your hand.
• Fixed an issue where Call Slitherbound would sometimes display on a card, but not summon any additional units.
• Fixed a case where Wreckinator could continue attacking after death.
• Fixed Grand Master ranks not displaying at the start of a match.
• Fixed Cursebearer Aura particles becoming far too large when applied to certain minions.

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

King Puff Cup 37

KPC 37 is here! Bring your best decks with brand new cards to the King Puff Cup 37!

King Puff Cup 37 signups are open!
King Puff Cup 37 will take place on September 14th, 14:00 UTC, 7:00 PST, 10:00 EST, 15:00 CET

Read the full Rulebook:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BhSO2MTr31Z6HSkyGj0pZgfNLoQlZrBERqoZaxcdd9M/edit?usp=sharing

Register after Reading the above rulebook:
https://www.toornament.com/en_US/tournaments/2823861576204558336/information

The tournament will consist of a Double-Elimination Bracket with Sideboard. Players will submit 4 decks (Master + 10 cards), and an additional list of up to 8 cards, used to Sideboard in any of their games.
Winner's Semifinals, Finals, Losers Finals, and Grand Finals will be Best of 5.
All other matches will be Best of 3.

KPC 37 has Season Card Restrictions
Any Supreme or Legendary Season Cards released in the last twenty-eight days may not be submitted in any form. Registrations violating these rules will be rejected.
The following Season Cards ARE allowed:

• Slitherbound
• Poison Strike
• Sewer Scrat
• Caged Prowler
• Scratillery

The following Season Cards ARE NOT allowed:

• Slithering Summons
• Boom Buggy
• Ritual of Servitude
• Herald Ah'mun
• Wreckinator 9000

Minion Masters Emote Contest #2

Minion Masters!

It's time for the second Discord Emote Contest! We're bringing you a Community competition with the prize of having your work immortalized on the Minion Masters Discord Server! Here's how you can enter:

• Make a cool Minion Masters emote! They don't have to be just puffs, but the general guideline for an emote is a 1:1 ratio emoticon, like the ones you'd see in-game. Make sure that it looks nice as a downscaled emote, too, as that may affect your chances.
• Head over to the official Minion Masters discord at http://discord.gg/minionmasters and post your entry in the #emote-contest channel.
• Once the Contest ends on the 23rd of September, 5 candidates and their emotes will be presented to the community for voting. The three emotes that receive the most votes will be declared the winners!
• The winners will have their emotes added to the Minion Masters Discord for everyone to use, as well as a special credit in the FAQ!

• Emotes must be Minion Masters related and not use copyrighted material that isn't from BetaDwarf.
• Entries must be your own original works. Any medium can be used to create them.
• Entries must be new. Emotes from the previous contest are not eligible for this second one.
• Entries must be Safe For Work.

The contest runs until the 23rd of September at 0900 UTC. Good luck, Masters!

Cheers from BetaDwarf!