We've got a patch confirmed for next week and with it comes two card nerfs headed towards Mages. Hmm, I wonder if we'll be seeing an expansion pre-order and maybe a new game mode then next Thursday...
- Evocation now costs 2. (Up from 1)
- Solarian Prime now costs 9. (Up from 7)
Both cards will disenchantable for their full value for 2 weeks. For Solarian Prime, this means Astromancer Solarian.
Quote From Kerfluffle Hey everyone,
We’ll be making the following balance changes in a patch to be released towards the end of next week:
Evocation
- Old: [Cost 1] → New: [Cost 2]
Astromancer Solarian
- Old: Solarian Prime [Cost 7] → New: Solarian Prime [Cost 9]
Both cards will be eligible for a full dust refund for 2 weeks after the patch has gone live.
Additionally, Alec Dawson had a few words to say about the changes.
Quote From Alec Dawson Very very excited for the news next week (see the teaser if you haven't yet). Balance changes will also be coming next week (before the MT).
While looking at the current environment and future metas, Evocation helped enable a lot of early game swings that could feel insurmountable. We want to smooth that out. At 2 mana, it's not as fluid with Sorcerer's Apprentice and won't be generated from Wandmaker/Spellkin.
For Solarian Prime, we stepped back and evaluated where it stacked up compared to the other Primes. With that and some of the power spikes it can generate, moving it to 9 mana felt appropriate.
On our side, we are continuing to discuss opportunities to bring up some of the weaker classes and/or touch up other play patterns in the near future. Thank again for your feedback, we read all of it (no matter how long that twitlonger is).
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Comments
As someone who istantly concede as soon as Solarian Prime enter the battlefield at turn 7, i'm happy
The change to Evocation is very good as it prevents two direct sources from generating it. The nerf to Solarian Prime is fine as it slows the card down significantly. I feel like the card is highly overrated but that's just me. Nerfing Sorcerer's Apprentice isn't something they want to do, it seems. It's probably because the card enables several archetypes and other cards. If they nerf the card too much, it's going to drag a bunch of other cards with it to limbo. Mozaki, Master Duelist effectively can't function without that kind of support. Also, they can't change Apprentice's effect for the sake of wild and ignore Radiant Elemental as it's pretty much the same thing. It's not causing problems now but it could become a problem in the future.
I expect them to do something about Sorcerer's Apprentice with the classic rework. I at least hope lol
I would've preferred a Change to Sorcerer's Apprentice.
But, honestly, can't really complain about those Nerfs. I hope this'll put a Stop to this „Oh, look! I generated another Evocation, which gave me another Primordial Studies, which gave me another Astromancer Solarian!" -BS.
so it doesnt addres the problem the nerfs, its to much random generation and mage not ahving relaly any good consistent stuff in Standard.
Just yesterday I had a game I would win when opponent cast Solarian which cast YoggBox which cast another Yoggbox. Not a great feeling to lose just because of RNG
Yogg Box Cannot cast another Yogg Box, Solarian just casted Yogg Box twice
Never knew that, after 10+ spells in I lost count.
Cards cannot generate themselves...
Sure, but casting is not equal to generating
Well Box had that asterisk that it cannot cast itself even before the generation change... but random casting was always included in this rule, just so that cards like box cannot go infinite...
I know the Pain of getting RNG'd into Oblivion. Couple of Days ago I played against an Opponent who managed to generate 5 Primes from 5 randomly generated Primordial Studies. Guess who won.
But at least I got a little Karma later on. Another Guy managed to stack his Board with Spellpower, and when he played another Solarian Prime -BOOM! Drew like 5 or 6 Fatigue Cards because of Cram Session.
6 years in, I guess I should give up waiting for the day Sorcerer's Apprentice is identified as the root problem. I'm guessing they don't want to kill the Exodia mage dream. Hopefully she is moved to the Hall of Fame in the big Classic set overhaul next year.
As for Solarian Prime: Good, I guess. I don't feel particularly strongly about the power of the card, but I do group it with Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron and The Amazing Reno as the trio of cards that pull undeserved wins out of nowhere by casting random spells with no control. It's because of those three cards that I really dislike the state of mage at the moment.
Plus I have a golden Solarian, so that's another reason to be happy about it.
Before I reply more in depth. Are you saying that the RNG from cyclone mages in standard is "more acceptable" then the RNG from highlander mages?
I enjoy playing mage right now because it's just that RNG. It's why Casino Mage got it's nickname back in the day. Yes, there's a high level of RNG, but the variance hurts mage players just as often as it helps. Because you tend to remember the times you lost to those multiple discovered Primes, doesn't mean that the mage didn't go on to lose 3 times after that cause their YoggBox cast 4 draw spells and burned and fatigued them.
I am indeed saying RNG in Mana Cyclone (and Evocation for that matter) is more acceptable, at least to me. There's a huge difference between RNG putting something into your hand and RNG doing something straight onto the board, particularly with regards to:
I guess you could put it on a spectrum of RNG: card order in deck -> RNG in hand -> RNG on board.
None of this is a comment on power, and I am well aware the trio of cards I listed can be as harmful as they are good. It is more about whether I feel the player using these cards (myself included) earns it when they win with them, and if I ever answer 'yes' to that, it is entirely based on the other cards they play. The issue is not helped by there being 3 of them in Standard at the same time, so to beat highlander mage with a slow deck it fells like you have to survive 2 waves of possible BS from PuzzleBox and Solarian, then deal with Reno casting anything between Totemic Might and Plague of Death each turn.
Edit: I'm a burgle rogue player much more than a cyclone mage player. Both are based in RNG in hand, but the mana cost and 'when to play them' comments do apply a little differently. Mostly that's Sorcerer's Apprentice's fault, which is outside the discussion on types of RNG, so I chose to ignore her here.
YES.
I am both surprised and disappointed that they didn't nerf Sorcerer's Apprentice.
Seems like she is just getting HoF treatment... RIP Wild
Why RIP Wild? She's always been there and is the fuel for some truly disgusting turns. Luckily Wild has the Tools to nuke a Mage before they can get going. But Sorcerers Apprentice really needs to get Nerfed. Really.
That is exactly why RIP Wild, because she will still enable those disgusting turns of course...