Version 1.11

Minion Masters!

The Zealots of the Burning Fist have made their way to the jungles of Jadespark to join the fight! Log on to Minion Masters within a week of this patch and receive a free copy of this brand new Supreme Card! We’ve also got a set of big balance changes coming up aiming to significantly shake up the metagame, primarily by way of targeting low-cost “cycle” cards.

New Card - Zealots of the Burning Fist

A copy of this card is available to all users for free if they log on from the 26th of March to the 2nd of April. Don’t miss out!

The Zealots of the Burning Fist are battle hardened soldiers of the notorious Order of the Burning Fist and are loyal to High Inquisitor Ardera, fighting with a reckless abandon that demonstrates little care for their own safety. This fervor allows them to hit harder than the regular Warrior, dealing 100 damage instead of the regular 70, but it comes at a price - With each attack, they lose 10% of their own health. But that's not all - If you only control one Zealot, it gains Rage and Haste, capable of outputting massive damage if they aren't handled with care.

Balance

Developer Comments

The main idea behind this set of changes is to re-balance the value of one drops. We currently feel that the mana slot offers far too much value for what should be primarily included in your deck for the cycling value, and we generally want 1 mana cards to be on the same power level as a Mana Puff.

There's a lot of interesting play space in both the control style and bridge grab metagames, and we believe that by removing the efficiency that most 1 mana cards have, we can create a more diverse spectrum of choices for players to make when it comes to those elements.

Additionally, these changes are going to help pave the way for an upcoming Wild Cards rework we’re planning to do. You can expect to hear more news about this very soon.

Illusory Cleaver

• Damage 20 > 10

Nether Bat

• Mana Cost 1 > 2
• Damage 20 > 35
• No longer has a reduced Aggro range

Screaming Scrat

• Mana Cost 1 > 2
• Damage 60 > 100
• Health 60 > 100
• No longer shares properties with Armored Scrats

Sewer Scrat

• Mana Cost 1 > 2
• Poison Duration 5 > 3
• Now an Armored Sewer Scrat. Turns into a regular Sewer Scrat once the Barrel Shield is broken (See: Armored Scrats)

Armored Scrats

• Rework: Turns into a Scrat instead of dying
• Damage 20 > 10

Developer Comments

Armored Scrats have always sat at an awkward position of being intended as slightly tankier, annoying minions to remove, but we felt they haven’t ever been able to fulfill that role. We took some inspiration from our previous game Forced SHOWDOWN for this change, giving them an identity as a group of pesky scrats that sacrifice damage potential for safety from spell removal.

AtG Drone x8

• New Attack: Shoots 6 projectiles at random targets
• Damage 30 > 10

Bats Bats Bats

• Mana Cost 4 > 5
• Duration 6 > 5

Developer Comments

This change primarily comes as a result of the significant increase in damage on the Nether Bat unit.

Blood Imps

• Mana Cost 0 > 1
• Damage 10 > 15
• Attack Speed 1.0 > 1.1

Boom Buggy

• Damage 210 > 240

Bridge Buddies

• Changed to “Summon a Scrat on both bridges. If you own a bridge, the Scrat gains Barrel Shield” (Barrel Shield is the new ability of Armored Scrats)

Developer Comments

Bridge Buddies was already a very strong card, particularly in spell-focused decks, and with the shift towards 2 mana cards being the predominant bridge capture methods, we felt that it would become too powerful of a tool in comparison to other options. As such, we’re reverting Bridge Buddies back to its original state, though the new mechanics of Armored Scrat should hopefully keep its buff relevant.

Call to Arms

• Mana Cost 2 > 4
• Also summons a Warrior by the Power Tower

Diona

• Decoy Trap Mana Cost 0 > 1

Developer Comments

Diona’s ability to place her traps directly on the bridges for a cheap capture was already a strong benefit to playing her, and we felt that if she still had a 0 cost trap that was capable of doing this with the wave of 1 drop changes, it risked her being too powerful.

Future Past

• Mana Cost 4 > 3

Gor’rakk Gate

• Mana Cost 2 > 3
• You can now see what minion Gor’Rakk Gate will summon in advance (like Raging Reinforcements).

Developer Comments

Part of what we felt was holding Gor’Rakk Gate back was the unpredictability of the summons. With Turncoat, it’s important you’re able to get as much value out of the affected minion as you can before your opponent gains control of the card, and not knowing its result made it too reliable to include in a deck. At the same time, we felt the card may be too dangerous if it remained at 2 mana with this consistency due to the huge mana advantage you could gain.

Grasping Thorns

• Now a Defensive Spell (No longer a Building, cannot take Damage)
• Total Damage 400 > 160
• Duration 20 > 8
• Slow 2 > 3

Developer Comments

We have two main objectives with this change - Firstly, to make it a spell and simplify its design while removing the awkward interactions the building could have with other game mechanics. Secondly, we wanted to remove the card’s polarising nature which came in way of frustration playing against it if you didn’t have any way to remove the card - Something that would have been a larger issue if it still retained its long duration while no longer being counterable.

Howling Moon

• Werewolves now spawn at the Master Tower, splitting between lanes.

Mal’Shar

• Mana Cost 6 > 5
• Also Nethersteps buffed targets in a random direction.

Propeller Horde

• Count 5 > 6
• Count when activated 10 > 8

Developer Comments

With the nerf to Illusory Cleaver, a card that long stood as the primary counterplay to Propeller Horde in King Puff decks, we wanted to rebalance the card such that it didn’t become as explosive, as well as potentially reducing the drawback of playing the card unactivated.

Ritual of Servitude

• Mana Cost 4 > 5

Developer Comments

With a lot of strong decks being hit by the changes to 1 Drop cards, we felt Ritual of Servitude may become too powerful as a knock-on effect of responses to their large minions taking longer to cycle to.

Spirit Infusion

• Accursed Ascension: Grant an extra Spirit

Blastmancer

• Mana Cost 5 > 4
• Effect Range: Global > 10 (Effect Range occurs from the killed target)

Spiritmancer

• Effect Range: Global > 10 (Effect Range occurs from the killed target)

Developer Comments

Regarding the Mancer cards, we felt that the global effect ranges of the cards could often feel too oppressive against swarm strategies, in particular Ratbo decks. We wanted to emphasise their utility as combo cards by reducing this range while still keeping it at a relevant amount. We opted to reduce the Mana Cost of Blastmancer to suit this, however we found that Spiritmancer in 2v2 game modes was already considered a significantly powerful card that often times did not need the global range of his effect, so reducing his Mana Cost felt like it would overly buff him.

Misc

• Warrior and Divine Warrior have received new models, animations and card art. Let us know what you think of them!
• Our promotion with Discord Nitro has ended. Users will no longer receive the All Masters Upgrade on Discord for free if you own Discord Nitro. Thanks to everyone that participated and enjoyed this feature!

Bugs

• Fixed Mal’Shar Shadowfork’s name not being translated.
• Fixed Call Slitherbound not working if you use a Morellia Book of the Dead spell on the same slot as a card with the buff - Thanks Nerzl!
• Fixed Haste visual effects not disappearing when the unit disappears.
• Fixed being able to find Stealthed minions by hovering over them with Arcane Bolt - Thanks Kripparian!
• Fixed Brother of the Burning Fist not having an indication as to when his effect is active.
• Fixed Succubus jumping away from Explosion effects - Thanks SoSiskodemon!
• Fixed Caber Tosser’s attack breaking if he was stunned at a very specific timing - Thanks SoSiskodemon!
• Fixed Jahun leaving rocks behind when hit by Trick Swap.
• Fixed Banner Puff not holding the Banner properly.
• Fixed Jahun being stuck in an attack animation if his target dies before he can attack.
• Fixed “egg” not being translated on Boomer cards.
• Fixed an exploit that allowed Settsu to jump into the Master Tower.
• Fixed Ardera being able to buff buildings - Thanks Thighlander!

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Zealots of the Burning Fist

Minion Masters!

Get your Free Supreme Card with Version 1.11!

You've likely seen it in the in-game news - We're offering all players a free Supreme Card with the release of Version 1.11. Anyone who logs in for the first week of the patch (from the 26th of March until the 2nd of April) will receive a copy of the new card, Zealots of the Burning Fist. But what is this card?

The Zealots of the Burning Fist are battle hardened soldiers of the notorious Order of the Burning Fist and are loyal to High Inquisitor Ardera, fighting with a reckless abandon that demonstrates little care for their own safety. This fervor allows them to hit harder than the regular Warrior, dealing 100 damage instead of the regular 70, but it comes at a price - With each attack, they lose 10% of their own health. But that's not all - If you only control one Zealot, it gains Rage and Haste, capable of outputting massive damage if they aren't handled with care.

Make sure to collect your free copy with the release of Version 1.11 on the 26th of March!

Warrior Re-Model

Also coming with this update is a new set of model and animations for the Warrior and Divine Warrior cards, to make their appearance more consistent with the Empyrean faction. Check them out and let us know what you think:

Full Card Art (Warrior)

Full Card Art (Divine Warrior)

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Upcoming Balance Changes & Free Twitch Prime DLC

Minion Masters!

Upcoming Balance Changes

Coming in Version 1.11 is a major overhaul to how we're treating low mana cost cards. The main idea behind the upcoming changes it re-balance the value of 1 mana cards in general. Currently, we feel that the mana slot is offering far too much value for cards that should be primarily included for their cycling value, and should not be able to out-value cards of higher mana costs. In general, we want to aim for 1 mana cards to be on the same power level as a Mana Puff.

Specifically, we feel that cards like Screaming Scrat and Sewer Scrat are two of the biggest offenders in this regard, frequently trading for cards that are of a much higher mana cost than them as well as offering cycle opportunities and easy bridge capture. Particularly at a high level, there is no real downside to including these cards in your deck, often limiting choice when it comes to deckbuilding.

So, what are the changes? In some circumstances where we felt a card was too powerful to be a 1 drop at a design level, we opted to re-scale them to a higher mana cost rather than harm the identity of the cards. An example of this would be Sewer Scrat, who becomes a 2 mana card with a slightly lowered Poison duration to 3 seconds, but now comes as an Armored Sewer Scrat instead.

There's a lot of interesting play space in both the control style and bridge grab metagames, and we believe that by removing the efficiency that most 1 mana cards have, we can create a more diverse spectrum of choices for players to make when it comes to those elements.

Additionally, there is a secondary benefit to the changes we wish to make - It helps lay the ground work for the upcoming Wild Cards rework we are currently planning. We'll have more news on this at a later date, though do note that this will not be included in Version 1.11.

Here are the changes we're currently planning to make:

Blood Imps

• Mana Cost 0 > 1
• Damage 10 > 15
• Attack Speed 1 > 1.1

Illusory Cleaver

• Damage 20 > 10

Nether Bat

• Mana Cost 1 > 2
• Damage 20 > 35
• No longer has a reduced Aggro range

Bats Bats Bats

(This change is being made due to the re-scaling of Nether Bat)

• Mana Cost 4 > 5
• Duration 6 > 5

Screaming Scrat

• Mana Cost 1 > 2
• Damage 60 > 100
• Health 60 > 100
• No longer shares stats with Armored Scrats

Sewer Scrat

• Mana Cost 1 > 2
• Poison 5 > 3
• Now an Armored Scrat

Additionally, there are some extra changes related to these that we feel are appropriate to share:

Armored Scrats

• Instead of dying, now turn into a regular Scrat
• Damage 20 > 10

Bridge Buddies

• Changed back to "Summon a Scrat. If you own a bridge, summon an Armored Scrat".

Propeller Horde

(This change is being made as Illusory Cleaver was a significant stopgap to the power level of the card)

• Unactivated Unit Count 5 > 6
• Activated Unit Count 10 > 8

Those aren't all the balance changes coming in Version 1.11, so stay tuned closer to the release of the update on the 26th of March!

Get Might of the Slither Lords DLC for FREE with Twitch Prime

Everyone's a fan of free DLC, right? For a limited time only, you can get a free copy of the Might of the Slither Lords DLC from Twitch Prime, usually worth $15, even if you already own the DLC!

Might of the Slither Lords gives you a wide variety of powerful Slither cards - From the humble Slitherbound to the ever-useful Daggerfall, it's the perfect set of cards to add to your collection, and comes with two exclusive Slither cosmetics. Don't wait - Get your free DLC now with Twitch Prime!

News regarding the Corona Virus

Due to measures being taken in Denmark regarding the Covid virus, we're switching to working remotely as much as possible for the next two weeks. There's no immediate risk to us, but we're doing our part to help stop the spread of the virus. Unfortunately, this may mean expectations of upcoming updates may be slightly lowered - A bug fix might take a bit longer, news might be delayed - But we don't think it will have a major impact unless it becomes more serious.

We just wanted to share the news so you know why the spring might be a little different from what we normally do. Now to figure out how we're the most effective when we're apart :)

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Version 1.10 - Saving Jadespark Jungle

Minion Masters!

The once-peaceful remote jungles of Jadespark of the Southern Jungles has come under attack by Empyrean forces. Lead by High Inquisitor Ardera, the Burning Fist are leaving a trail of destruction in their wake in their search for a dark secret.

New Adventure - Saving Jadespark Jungle

Team up with the Zen-Chi and help defend their home from the insidious High Inquisitor Ardera as you uncover her true schemes!

• Brand New Story - Tying mechanics closer to the story than ever before, build your troupe of cards from the ground up and take on the Burning Fist!
• Build your deck as you go. Start with a Master-specific deck and with each victory, you get a choice of cards to add to your deck.
• 6 unique masters, with new champions and old favourites lending their strength to the jungle!
• Powerful relics and treasures to empower your deck as you play, with some brand new ones made just for this Adventure!
• Rewards- Across all the chapters you’ll earn tokens, xp, exclusive avatars and even a Legendary card! Completing hard mode awards an exclusive rare and supreme avatar.
• Price - Chapter 1 is free, with Chapters 2 & 3 costing 1400 rubies as a package, or 1000 individually. You can play owned chapters as much as you want.

Also featuring 10 New Cards:

New Mechanic: Growthburst Shrooms
When you draw a card with the new Growthburst Shroom keyword, a Mushroom will spawn at a random point in your arena. When a Zen-Chi Minion walks over it, they’ll gain a powerful 25% Health and Damage buff.

New Mechanic: Holy Fire
An AoE holy flame that heals allied minions and damages enemy minions over time for 100 Health.


This Expansion will last until May
10 new cards have been released!
Two new skins have been released - Settsu of the Burning Fist and Apex Ravager
A brand new Legendary Arena has been released - Jadespark Jungle

Balance

Arcane Ring

• Damage 20 > 25 (Total Damage 160 > 200)

Black Hole

• Duration 6 > 1.5
• Minions will keep their original target from before they are affected by Black Hole
• Developer Comments
• Black Hole's change comes about as a response to the card simply being far too versatile for its intended usage. Black Hole has consistently been one of the most powerful cards in the game, and a lot of the meta has been defined by the potential to completely shut down a lot of counters. We didn't want to move it back to 3 mana due to the fact that the card massively underperformed the last time we made the nerf, so we opted for this change where the ability to dodge certain spells is still very much possible in the hands of a skilled player, but it no longer can completely shut down everything.

Bridge Shrine

• Health increased 300 > 350

Caber Tosser

• Damage increased 80 > 90

Crossbow Guild

• Health increased 400 > 450

High-Mage Leiliel

• Damage increased 35 > 40
• Attack Speed decreased 1.7 > 2.0
• Now has the AoE attack of Crystal Arcanist

Leiliel’s Vortex

• Mana Freeze 2 > 1
• Damage 100 > 80

Lord-Sentinel Thelec

• Damage 70 > 55

Morgrul the Swarmer King

• Health decreased 240 > 225
• Attack Speed increased 1.5 > 1.1
• Damage decreased 35 > 25 (Overall DPS is only slightly lowered)
• Developer Comments
• This minor nerf is primarily to consolidate Morgrul’s stats with Elite Swarmer.

Red Golem

• Reworked: Now summons a Blue Golem. If you have 50% or less life, summon a Red Golem instead.
• Red Golem has 50% more HP and Damage than Blue Golem
• Developer Comments
• Red Golem's change is a product of us trying to consolidate how we handle minion scaling in general to try and make it more consistent, and less volatile. We also feel the card has been very underplayed for quite a while, so we're hoping this change might also affect it in that area.

Spawn of Fury

• Damage & Health Reduction increased 25% > 33%
• Developer Comments
• Spawn of Fury has been largely dominant, so we believe a nerf to the stats of the units it produces should help keep it in line.

Swarmer Totem

• Production Speed increased 7 > 6

Wall

• Health increased 600 > 700

Woodsman

• Damage increased 80 > 90

Misc

• The Max Health indication has been changed when a unit’s health is buffed (i.e. Spirit) to make it easier to understand how much the card has been buffed.
• Some Buff names have been changed to shorter versions, or terms that are more indicative of their effect (Energized > Mana Surge, Enraged > Rage, etc.)
• A lot of cards have had their descriptions changed to better separate Flavour from Mechanics.
• Mayhems now appear in the carousel when they are available.
• Updated unit formations for 3 and 5 count minion cards.

Bugs

• Fixed High-Mage Leiliel not reducing damage from a minion that is dead - Thanks SoSiskodemon!
• Fixed the copy produced by Spawn of Fury having full health.
• Fixed an issue where you could not see your teammate’s hologram in 2v2.
• Fixed an issue where Gax could target Drone Buzzers.
• Fixed Nyrvir being pushed around by Leiliel’s Vortex.
• Fixed being able to use skins you don’t own.
• Fixed Gambler’s Ball odds being incorrect.
• Fixed Troubadour’s music still playing after being removed via Glenn’s Brew.
• Fixed Frenzied owls from Frostfeather Flyby not attacking units - Thanks SoSiskodemon!

Cheers from BetaDwarf!