OPEN BETA SEASON 8: FEARLESS STRONGHOLD // PATCH 0.55.2

Patch 0.55.2 Now Live

TL;DR

• In-Game Tournaments

• Card Changes

• Bug Fixes

In-Game Tournaments

The duration of the sign up window before a tournament start has been increased.

OLD: Sign ups open 5 minutes before tournament start.

NEW: Sign ups open 10 minutes before tournament start.

Card Changes

It’s time for another TCG balance pass!

We’ve been monitoring the metagame for the last two patches, and while some of our changes have shifted what cards and decks look like, we’ve also heard the feedback that they didn’t do enough to actually change what the top decks were, or what Parallels/Paragons were having the most success.

Our goal with this set of changes is to make some substantive changes to the top decks in the metagame without totally removing their ability to win, while also future-proofing some of the strongest decks away from getting too much of a boost with Aftermath.

The two decks we are primarily going to impact are the Marcolian Unit deck, as well as the All-Universal deck. With all that in mind, here are the changes for the current patch:

Ingrid, the Right Hand & Freydis, Echelon Kingpin

The first elephant in the room: Ingrid and Freydis were leading the all-universal deck to just have much too high of a win rate. When we looked at the data, players who cast either of these cards would win the game 80%+ of the time - and while we would expect top end build-around units to have a high win rate, this was higher than we were comfortable with.

While we want to support this deck, those two cards were just generating too much value without any restriction other than a deckbuilding one, and that restriction is less restrictive over time as we release more cards. Planetfall brought a lot of power, and we expect Aftermath to do the same. Moreover, players had no real way to counter Ingrid and Freydis other than hoping their Universal opponent didn’t draw it. These new versions are intended to retain the high amount of card and board advantage of the old versions, but also force players to have some kind of board presence to get the most out of them, allowing for more counterplay options. We will be monitoring these changes closely to ensure the cards remain playable, but are not having 80%+ win-rates.

Astel’s Glaive

While we are happy with the overall power of this card on the offense, the fact that players were effectively unable to attack it to remove it without losing units made it too frustrating to play against.

Miasmancer

This unit is having its intended effect of creating some tempo against decks with a lot of keywords/muster, and allowing decks to preemptively cast it to prevent big plays like Ingrid/Freydis from taking over the game, it had also become ubiquitous in decks and was winning more than we’d expect for a reactive card like this. We’ve reduced its health to retain its primary functionality, but to lower its secondary value of often being able to survive multiple rounds of combat against decks with small units.

Catherine’s Rallying Cry

The other elephant in the room, Rallying Cry was just providing too much value for its cost, both getting up in cards and in energy value. We had initially nerfed Fleet Support, which was frequently used to get two casts of Rallying Cry, but after its nerf, players just started playing a lot more 3 drops to get extra value out of the 1st cast. After looking at both the card’s win rate, and the makeup of Marcolian decks, we felt this would retain the card’s purpose for Catherine decks, but not prevent the other Paragons from being competitive in Marcolian.

Bug Fixes

Desperate Measures / Ammo Hauler

Fixed an issue where playing Desperate Measures while Ammo Hauler was on the field would result in a desync.

Formidable Presence / Idaian Decoy

Fixed an issue where selecting Idaian Decoy from your bank using Formidable Presence would not create Bulwark Seeds.

Soft locks

Fixed an issue where the following cards would potentially cause soft locks during gameplay:

• Rend from Earth
• Second Chance
• Master Poisoner
• Ruin Tinkerer
• Memento of the Fallen
• Brand, Steward Eternal / Kill Switch
• Honored Steward
• Synchronicity / Vigilant Patrol
• Black Market Fixer / Gilded Healer
• Amperage

Patch 0.55.1 Now Live

Patch 0.55.1 will feature Open Beta Season 8: Fearless Stronghold. This season’s Battle Pass introduces a new Earthen Rare Card Merciless Bulwark, alongside exclusive cosmetics and additional rewards. Updates include: Player Inventory Refresh button, Balance changes, UI / UX improvements, several additional bug fixes, and info regarding the outstanding raffles. Let’s dive in!

TL;DR

• A new Battle Pass featuring a new playable card, exclusive cosmetics, and additional rewards will be starting on October 2nd @ 00:00 UTC.

• Added a Player Inventory refresh button

• Game Field UI/UX Improvements

• New Store Items

• Card Changes

• Bug Fixes

• Known Bugs

• Open Beta Season 7 SE + MP Raffle Update

• Open Beta Season 8 SE + MP Raffle

Open Beta Season 8: Fearless Stronghold

Fortify your command. Deploy Merciless Bulwark and dominate the battlefield.

New Playable Earthen Rare Card - Merciless Bulwark

Open Beta Season 8 will introduce one new playable card: Merciless Bulwark

New Cosmetics - Paragon Skin, Card Back, Card Frame, Title

Open Beta Season 8 Title Achievement: “Bulwark”

Title: “Bulwark” can be earned by reaching Level 33 within the Open Beta Season 8 Battle Pass.

Each Season we will continue to offer new cards and cosmetics exclusive to the Battle Pass.

Prime Variants

Two new Prime Variants have been added, these variants have been earned from our Parallel League events.

• Wong, Purveyor of Curiosities

• Lord Harf, Cartel Treasurer

Player Inventory Refresh Button

We've added a button to automatically refresh the Player Inventory. When refreshed, the most up to date data regarding Cards, Glints, Prime, Decks, and Keys will be fetched and reflected within the game. (Cosmetics pending next release)

Previously, these items required a full game restart to receive the most up to date information, if actions taken outside of the game client were made that impacted the Player Inventory.

The Refresh Button can be located in the General tab of the Settings menu.

Game Field UI/UX Improvements

Improved readability of the Game Field through various changes including but not limited to:

• Removed unnecessary noise

• Adjusted positioning of various elements

Card Changes

Message from Game Team

It’s time for another TCG balance pass!

We’re excited to share that most of the changes in this pass come from our newly formed internal Meta and Balance team. This group of employees is composed of dedicated players and designers hoping to make the format better and better over time.

This patch we’re primarily concerned with the all-Universal deck, but we’re also tweaking some quality of life issues and buffing some underperformers.

First, buffs:

Since you’re waiting for the token condition to become true anyway, letting it be impactful the turn it transforms seemed fun. Additional copies of it (or the first one if you’re already behind) having Battle Ready should give this card more punch.

Now we’ll get to the nerfs and tweaks:

While this technically does make the card weaker, what we’re hoping it actually does is to make the mirror match of Shroud vs Shroud feel less awkward with banish removal causing your enemy’s units to get bigger. This should only affect a small percentage of the games in which the Steward gets played, but ideally for the better.

Since his debut on the Battle Pass, we’ve seen quite the performance from this vile Baron. We still want him to provide epic moments and dramatic turns, but we don’t want him creating the sheer amount of value he was generating.

Bug Fixes

Ritual Markings / Nehemiah, Defender of Earth

Fixed an issue where Ritual Markings was not working as intended when used on an upgraded Nehemiah, Defender of Earth

Miasmancer

Fixed an issue where Miasmancer’s muster effect was still activating when played when muster effects were disabled through another previously played Miasmancer.

Tvastar, Arak’s Flagship

Fixed an issue where Tvastar, Arak’s Flagship’s ability would not properly apply the selected upgrades to units.

Tabula Rasa / Triumph of Europa

Fixed an issue where Tabula Rasa’s muster would use the incorrect energy when played from Triumph of Europa.

Avenging Gamma [Token] / Ritual Markings

Fixed an issue where the Avenging Gamma [Token] would gain the incorrect stats after being targeted by Ritual Markings.

Virulent Spores

Increased the resolution speed of Virulent Spores damage animations. (Continuing to Investigate Further Improvements)

Importing Decks

Fixed an issue where players were unable to type within the text field after pressing “Enter” on the keyboard.

Open Beta Season 7 SE + MP Raffle Update

If you’ve minted or purchased the First Edition [FE] version of Logistics Support Cruiser during Open Beta Season 7 and continue to hold the cards in your wallet during the snapshot on October 8th @ 00:00 UTC, you will be automatically entered for a chance at both the Special Edition [SE] and Masterpiece [MP] of Logistics Support Cruiser. Winners will have their SE or MP automatically sent to their wallet. Each card represents a chance at a Special Edition [SE] or Masterpiece [MP]. Please note the claim period for Logistics Support Cruiser closes on October 8th @ 00:00 UTC. Please claim and mint before this deadline.

Open Beta Season 8 SE + MP Raffle

Open Beta Season 8 will include a Special Edition, Perfect Loop, and Masterpiece raffle for Merciless Bulwark. More details for this raffle will be provided at the end of Open Beta Season 8.