Given the size of this patch, it almost feels like it would be faster to tell you what hasn’t changed, but that would be less entertaining to pore over than the stacked list below. Give that scrolling finger a workout by digging into balance changes that refocus the meta on tactical minion combat, crafting and rewards tuning, social features, and more stuff than is reasonable to synopsize!

Revamped Card Layout

The new layout has the burn indicator in the top-left corner instead of the middle-right corner in order to make the most relevant information visible in the hand while better matching cardlet slugs in the deck editor

A much larger art window and more neutral frame color to conflict less with the wide variation in card art color palette

Enlarged and cleaned up info area to make it easier to read the card text

(Note that this is still a work in progress and we expect to iterate on it further as we approach beta)

Features & Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue causing reconnecting to the server to occasionally fail

Artifact Durability (see independent section below)

Added ability to queue 2v2 with a preselected ally or queue with one ally and one opponent or enter a 2v2 match with all four players preselected (2v2 challenges)

Added Find Player button to the social panel which allows search for online and offline players by name. Also added a filter for the social panel views using the new filter... text box

Improved pack opening experience. Added sound effects and animation. The cards now flip automatically on mouse over except for the rare slot, which requires a click. Note this is still a work in progress

Made adjustments to ranked matchmaking and RP rewards. We’ve tightened the matchmaking window and lowered the amount of RP deducted for a loss, especially in the lower tiers. Furthermore, there is now a soft floor on ranks, where a loss will only deduct enough RP to put a player at 0 RP in their current rank -- falling rank will only occur if another loss is incurred

Added Maat rewards (see the fourth panel in your player profile). Earn wild cards (see below) and card material/trim by accruing maat. Maat is intended to be an additional reward track for social activities. Note: due to a bug that was discovered only at the last minute, gaining maat has been turned off for the current release. We expect to turn the system on in patch 0.14.1

Added a “good game” emote button which appears at the end of the match

Added wild cards, which can be used in place of essence to craft cards of a particular set, rarity, and faction. This system allows us to give more specific rewards, in cases where we don’t want to give out large amounts of essence at once. Due to the aforementioned bug, there will be no way to get wild cards until patch 0.14.1, at which point players should be able get wild cards from maat rewards and randomly in packs

Unmake value of mythic rarity cards raised from 500 to 625 essence

Added about 600 coins to the average value of the weekly chest, while also making its value a bit more random

Added a player guide accessible from the escape menu that contains a glossary, rules reference, and basic faction information. This guide will be expanded as necessary to help clarify keyword, ability, and gameplay rules

Fixed a bug preventing starter pack items from being displayed upon purchase

Story sequences now all have custom music and some additional sound effects

Added Puzzle 14: The Wall

Game mode panels now give more details about possible rewards

Challenge games (all players join from a challenge, none from the matchmaking queue) give half rewards.

Added adjustable ‘Ambient’ sound volume level

Tooltips now appear for card picks in draft

Added tooltips for level-up rewards

Added pie and curve details to deck histogram tooltips

Card material/trim reward text now specifies whether you received a material or a trim

Combat preview now properly hidden after using activatable abilities

Fixed 2v2 games not being counted towards multiplayer games achievement

Fixed a bug that could cause the hand to lock up

Improved selection for cards on the edges of hands that have many cards

Clarification pass on some card text (has vs gets)

Cards that are not picked during Divination are now shuffled (randomly inserted, not on top) into the deck instead of going on bottom This makes it slightly harder to dig for a specific card, but reduces the somewhat hidden weight of divination choices

Burning ephemeral cards banishes them instead of inserting them back into the deck

Players can no longer gain life from triggered effects after their life is reduced to zero

Minions on life support no longer die when replacing a sustaining enchantment with another one or moving from one sustaining enchantment to another

Fixed Desert replacing enchantments triggering off non-Deserts via Rainbow’s End

Fixed client crash when using Bragi Runesinger’s ultimate ability immediately after burning a lane enchantment

Fixed “divination and draw” not triggering “on draw” effects (specific reported bug was that the second draw from Peri at the Gates wasn’t triggering The Stretcher)

Fixed not being able to burn after casting Seal of Exile with a full mana bar

Seal of Exile now properly constrained to banish only the owner of the target’s minions in 2v2 and not their ally’s cards

Stairway to Hades can no longer revive ephemeral minions

The To Heaven and Back buff no longer persists when discarded or removed from play

“Permanent” buffs (such as To Heaven and Back and Blood Dolls) no longer fall off when a minion is stolen

Allfather’s Horn is now banished even if The Recursionist is in play

Playing Herald of War onto a Root of the World no longer leaves the Herald with the Root of the World active ability

Twin Junah and Twin Blanque no longer claim to have Overrun and Regen 3 by default

Orbital Jamming Satellite’s suppression effect should now properly expire at the start of your next turn as opposed to the end of your opponent’s turn

Known Issues

Due to a late-breaking bug, the Maat rewards system has been turned off until 14.1

Disk of Circadia is refusing to flip and will require a fix

The block feature on the Social panel doesn’t work yet

Vengeful Heirloom cast on an ally’s minion in 2v2 will not return to your hand

Artifact Changes

Many artifacts now have durability (shown on the card next to their emblem). When damage is dealt to a player, an equal amount of damage carries over to their artifacts, starting with the “outermost” slot. When the durability of an artifact is reduced to zero, it is destroyed. Excess damage automatically applies to the next artifact in line, and so forth.

Many of the artifacts are now stackable. Artifacts in a stack have independent durability.

High-value artifacts needed systemic counterplay that doesn’t require us to push an unhealthy number of hate cards into core.

Cards/Tuning

Heads Up - Text Changes

This patch we’re updating a lot of card rules text to make effects that work the same way share wordings, cutting down on individual cases where wordings differed for arbitrary or stylistic reasons. These tweaks shouldn’t be very disruptive and the functionality is unchanged, (otherwise they’re listed below!) hence this note rather than an exhaustive list.





Alchemical Key

NEW: Stacking

DURABILITY: 20





Alkonost

ACTIVE: ❷@: Give another minion Agile and ‘Is sacrificed after attacking → ❷: Give another minion ‘Sacrifice at end of turn unless it attacked or was just created’





Allfather’s Horn

TYPE: Spirit Spell → Valkyrie Spell

SPELL: Restore action to all your minions, refresh your mana, and draw a card → Restore action to all your minions, then refresh your mana and gems

To clarify, Horn has always refreshed your gems in addition to your mana as part of its “take another turn”-like flavor, but the additional card may have been a bit strong.





Blackened Jotun

NEW: Overrun





Black Hatter

NAME: The Black Hatter → Black Hatter

COST: 4[B]B → 3[B]B





Bold Omega

BREACH: Empower with +2/+1 and Life Tap → Empower with +2/+1

NEW: Life Tap





Bolt From the Blue

NAME: Bolt From the Blue → Brainstorm

COST: 1[B] → 3[B]B

SPELL: Deal 1 damage to a minion and draw a card → Draw 2 cards

One of the persistent tuning problems with blue as a faction has been that in addition to being good at area of effect damage and using enchantments to build threatening minions, containing cheap single target removal also makes Norden king of spell-slinging and card efficiency. Big changes like these have meta shaking impact, but are part of a larger effort to solidify faction identity and balance before beta and the wipe.





Bragi Runesinger

ENERGY: 3🗲 → 1🗲

ACTIVE: -2🗲: Give another minion Warded → -2🗲: Give another minion Frenzy

ULTIMATE: -5🗲: Choose and draw up to two enchantments from your deck → -4🗲: Choose and draw up to three enchantments from your deck





Breath of Wintertide

COST: 3[B] → 2[B]





Calliope Muse

SIZE: 3/3 → 3/2





Cataclysm

COST: 6[B]B → 6[B]BB

DAMAGE: 6 → 5

Unpacking the differences between a game like Mythgard and all the more open-fielded card combat systems out there comes with surprising little tuning revelations, and promoting positional, strategic play means that board clearing spells don’t get to be quite as crushingly competitive.





Chort Stag

PASSIVE: Reduces damage taken in combat to 2 → 3

NEW: Overrun

AWAKEN: Return a minion from your boneyard to your hand





Circle of Protection

SPELL: Give all your minions Armor 2 and Warded until your next turn → Give all friendly minions Armor 2 and Warded until your next turn

Extending the protection a bit in 2v2.





Crimson Pact

COST: 2[R]R → 3[R]R

SPELL: Banish a minion and you lose life equal to its strength → Destroy a minion and you lose life equal to its strength

As good a spot as any to talk a little about this big shift in the meta; Removal and deck cycling efficiency have a pretty chilling effect on tactical, board-presence-based play. With shifts like this, it should be a bit easier to make progress by playing minions and making smart trades.





Cyclopean Giant

FOCUSED: 4 → 5





Detained

SPELL: Stun a minion until your next turn → Give a minion -1/-0 and Immobile





Dragon’s Teeth

NEW: Stacking

DURABILITY: 10





Draupnir Band

NEW: Stacking





Dream Weaver

COST: 3[Y]Y → 3[Y]





Eir Healing

SPELL: Restore 3 minion health or grant 3 player life. Draw a card → Restore 5 health to a minion and draw a card

Increasing the odds that you’ll actually care for some poor wounded minions while healing your way through the deck using what was always a very stall-oriented spell.





Extract Life

COST: X[R]R → X[R]RR





Forge Elemental (created by the Fires of Creation path)

DEMISE: Deal 1 damage to your opponent → Restore 3 durability to all of your artifacts





Forked Lightning

Deal 2 damage to enemy minions in 3 adjacent lanes → Deal 1 damage to the occupant of an enemy lane and 2 damage to adjacent lanes

Now has a damage profile that’s actually “forked”!





Giant’s Stairway

NAME: The Giant’s Stairway → Giant’s Stairway





Godsblud Transfusion

SPELL: Give a minion +1/+1 and Regen 3 → Give a minion +2/+2 and Regen 2





Goliath’s Web

NAME: The Goliath’s Web → Goliath’s Web





Hacker’s Intuition

COST: 2[G]G → 2[G]





Hekate’s Wheel

ENCHANTMENT: Enchantments in the opposing three lanes are Suppressed → While occupied, enchantments in the opposing three lanes are Suppressed

Requiring occupancy reinforces the pattern that board control is more about contesting lanes and less about “fire and forget” effects shutting down parts of the battlefield.





Helm of Conscription

DURABILITY: 16





Ice Spike

SPELL: Deal 3 damage to a minion → Give a minion [Stunned] until your next turn and deal 1 damage to it





Ichor Feast

COST: 3[R]R → 3[R]RR





Infuse (power)

ACTIVE: Once per turn, give a minion +1/+1 until end of turn → Once per turn, give a friendly minion +1/+1 until end of turn





The Invisible City

SHARE: While occupied, draw an extra card each turn → While occupied, friendly players draw an extra card each turn

In 2v2, control over the center lane enchantment is usually a matter of who is playing into it or taking action at the moment, which unfortunately isn’t clear at the start of your turn, when the “Throne” cycle of enchantments are alternating controllers and handing out cards. This change makes an occupied The Invisible City, Odinthrone, Sacrificial Altar, Temple at Delphi, or Treasury of Petra high value in 2v2 regardless of where it’s sitting or who currently has control.





Ironbelly Wyvern

COST: 3[R] → 3[R]R

SIZE: 3/4 → 3/2

NEW: Rush





Leshy Greene

COST: 4[G]G → 3[G]G





The Long Winter

All non-occupying minions come into play Stunned until the end of their next turn → While occupied, all minions outside this and the opposite lane come into play Stunned until the end of their next turn

Given the degree to which it’s capable of slowing the game down, intent here is to increase counterplay and make The Long Winter’s position on the board more important and contested.





Matryoshka

DURABILITY: 12





Mend (power)

REMOVED: ...and gain 1 life

See the Smite change for additional context, would be a little silly for these two powers to negate each other that directly.





Meso Libre

COST: 3[Y] → 3[Y]Y





Misanthropia

SPELL: Destroy all minions → Give all minions [Blight 3]





Model of Duality

DURABILITY: 15





Mothmara

SIZE: 2/1 → 1/2

ABILITY: Agile → Deal 1 damage to your opponent when you cast a spell





Odinthrone

SHARE: While occupied, draw an extra card each turn → While occupied, friendly players draw an extra card each turn

See The Invisible City change for context.





Ollama Ring

NEW: Stacking

DURABILITY: 12





Orbital Jamming Satellite

DURABILITY: 13





Ourania Muse

COST: 3[R]R → 3[R]





Panic Raider

COST: 3[R]RR → 3[R]R





Pit Fiend

ABILITY: Demise: Banish the bottom 4 cards of your opponent's boneyard → Awaken: Banish the top 4 cards of your opponent's boneyard





Quicksand Hourglass

NEW: Stacking





Radiant Vessel

ACTIVE: Consumes remaining O gems to get +1/+0 for each O until end of turn → your next turn





Raid the Tombs

COST: 2[G] → 2[G]G





Sacrificial Altar

SHARE: While occupied, draw an extra card each turn → While occupied, friendly players draw an extra card each turn

See The Invisible City change for context.





Sapo, the Devourer

AWAKEN: Devour an enemy minion in the opposing lane as well as your minions in adjacent lanes. Is created with 2 more strength and health for each minion destroyed in this way → Destroy an enemy minion in the opposing lane as well as friendly minions in adjacent lanes. Gets +2/+2 for each minion destroyed in this way

In the mind of a godlike amphibian, devour and destroy mean the same thing, but it’s probably better to be clear about things like this (and the way it works in 2v2). Additionally, making dat belly a buff instead of a base size increase means that it can be suppressed.





Samosek, the Living Sword

NEW: Stacking

DURABILITY: 7

ABILITY: After your opponent's minions deal combat damage to a player they take 1 damage → 2 damage





Sandscale Wurm

NEW: Overrun





Sea Lord’s Trident

DURABILITY: 16





Serpent Den

COST: 4[Y] → 3[Y]Y

REMOVED: (Temple Snake) Awaken: Gets a free move action

The value-over-time proposition is obviously the point of serpents, but the den self-solves its own potential lane clogging problems too well for interesting options like the Impel power to combo with it.





Shroud of the Pit

DURABILITY: 15





Singing Stone

NAME: The Singing Stone → Singing Stone

NEW: Stacking

DURABILITY: 14

ARTIFACT: All your enchantments give occupying minions +1/+1 in addition to their other effects → All your minions have +1/+1 while they are occupying enchantments

This doesn’t change the stone’s functionality much, but doing it this way simplifies it somewhat and gets rid of a lot of noisy/redundant text all over your enchantments.





Smite (power)

DAMAGE: 2 → 1

Not just a test of the “how much impact can a single number going down by one have?” system, but a necessary change to support a world where player damage erodes artifact durability.





Spear of Destiny

NEW: Stacking

DURABILITY: 18





Spellflux Cauldron

NEW: Stacking

DURABILITY: 13





The Stretcher

NEW: Stacking

DURABILITY: 9





Tailroot Wurm

COST: 4[B] → 4[B]B





Temple at Delphi

SHARE: While occupied, draw an extra card each turn → While occupied, friendly players draw an extra card each turn

See The Invisible City change for context.





Timberland Troll

COST: 4[B]B → 4[B]





Treasury of Petra

SHARE: While occupied, draw an extra card each turn → While occupied, friendly players draw an extra card each turn

See The Invisible City change for context.





Triassic Kraken

REGEN: 1 → 2





Vilja Windfury

COST: 7[G]G → 6[G]G

SIZE: 6/6 → 4/5

ABILITY: Armor 1 → Swift, Frenzy





Volcanic Risi

BLAST: 3 → 4

NEW: Awaken: Deal 4 damage to your opponent





Xerxian Saboteur

ABILITY: @: Destroy an artifact and disable this ability → Awaken: Deal 6 combat damage to opposing player's artifacts





Yana Virus

NAME: The Yana Virus → Yana Virus

Art/VFX

New draining visuals for Life Tap

Card art updates for Alchemical Key, Lavish Proxy, Matryoshka, Fey Plagiarist, Desertification Engine, and Faceless Construct

24 new wild card designs







