I’m pretty happy with this patch. The nerfs are mostly fair, the Cryo and Mana Vortex nerfs might be a bit harsh, but I’m glad they adjusted these cards, Spellhai won’t get as many crazy turns without Vortex and Faie gets a bit tuned down in Gaunlet. I wonder if Scorn is still playable, if it’s not we’re going to see Jax and Chrystalis Burst a lot more.
Duelyst Patch 1.76 – Duelyst
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The fact that it keeps those other cards in check means it is inherently playable; that is what tech cards are for.
My thoughts:
Mana Vortex: this changes drastically decreased the power of this card. Now, playing it sacrifices a card, which makes it significantly worse. However, I still think that Spellhai will be viable, but slower. I can see Twin Strike being played instead of this. Who knows, maybe Spellhai will revert to that balance of control and aggro that I originally fell in love with
Lantern Fox: Still really good. Initially, you could potentially get 3 Phoenix fires from it if you protected it well or used Inner focus. Now, it punishes 2 attack minions while still being releatively powerful by itself.
Spelljammer: This is huge! Now, Jammer competes with L’Kian for the 4 cost draw spot. It is still remarkably powerful, having significantly better stats than before, but is less agressive. I still think that this will see a lot of play, but I midranged decks instead of aggro.
Cryogenisis: I have mixed feelings about this one. It still seems strong if used to fetch combo pieces. However, it now competes with both L’Kian and Spelljammer as 4 cost card draw. Personally, I would much rather run more cheap removal (maybe even altered beast!) and the aforementioned 4 cost draw than this card.
Rite of the Undervault: I preferred sojourner to begin with. The main thing with this card was that it allowed you to run few copies of finishers such as Revenant and Obliterate and play more low curve cards. Now, it still curves into Revenant, so it might still see play. Higher curve creep decks without this card are still just as good.
Blistering Scorn: Gauntlet players Rejoice! One of the best 3 cost neutrals is now a strong 4 cost neutral. Since the 3 cost spot is so crowded in gauntlet, this card will be far stronger there.
However, Magmar has taken a hit with this change. Now, Magmar has lost both of their most commonly played 3 cost minions and their 3 cost spot has historically been horrible. Furthermore, it no longer combos with metamorphosis.
Premium Maps: The first and third one looks gorgeous. The second and forth don’t appeal to me as much. I like this new feature a lot. Also, why do all the maps show crystals? Personally, I would like to see more mechanical elements or vegetation in maps.
Progression Changes: At first, I was a bit weary, but now I like this a lot. This new system removes the frustration of having extremely limited play times in order to earn decent gold. For someone busy with work or school, this new model seems much better since this rewards less frequent, longer sessions over short sessions each day. For those especially dedicated fans, longs sessions each day earns even more gold!
With all that said, I broke my Laptop, so I can’t experience these changes for now :r
Oh, and I should probably change my icon into something happier now 
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GAAAAAAASP INCOMING NEW EXPANSION THEORYCRAFTING DENIZENS OF CRYS’TAL
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The new quest system still does nothing for people who don’t have time to play EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Seriously, I don’t understand how they haven’t addressed this first. Now it’s more of a grind to actually complete them. Just add one or two more set of slots for the next day’s quests. There, fixed.
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Thank you devs, for hitting Spellhai without murdering Kaleos. Now Reva gets to suffer in not-tier-S with me… guess I’ll wait for the Kaleos buffs… one day… one day.
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Time to go deep!
The expansion has to do with Bloodborn spells and crystals, so the logical thing to do is to look for crystals in blood. This conditions is called Cystinosis and occurred due to a mutation on chromosome 17. Therefor, the expansion will be released on December 17. Wait, which faction has the greatest emphasis on genetics? Magmar of course! This means that Magmar will be getting a lot of interesting cards including a playable 3 drop!
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Think you went a little too deep on that one.
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Last patch (see my analysis of it here) was “Aggro Unleashed,” this patch might be called “Leashing Card-Draw”, as most changes are regarding cards that help keep your hand-size large.
I’m going to provide analysis. I suspect Songhai haters, of which there’d been a lot around might disagree strongly with some thoughts, but the aim is to provide some more analysis, and consider longer-term ramifications, not just the cards outside of context.
Well, let’s get started.
1) Mana Vortex: It’s true, there’s not a lot that could’ve been done to change the card without throwing it out of whack or redesigning it entirely. So what they did was change one of the things the card provided, which left it worthless in most decks. I’d still run it in Cranky-hai, or the Spellhai variations that run 12 or less minions, but for most lists, the card is worthless now. I know it sounds weird, but Mana Vortex was always semi-unplayable, while also being obscenely strong at the same time. The thing most people miss about Mana Vortex is that the card-draw not being immediate was huge. If you didn’t replace it, you essentially had one less option less during your turn. It wasn’t actually a card, but “half a card”, which could pay dividends when you had a full hand to combo it with, but the absolute worst card in the game when topdecked, basically.
I don’t like this change, because even if I think many Songhai lists will do fine without this card (see more next section), I still hate when a card is essentially taken out of the card-pool, turned from an auto-include to an almost never include.
2) Spelljammer: Sideways change, mostly a nerf. Aggro lists don’t want to spend 4 mana, certainly not on a tempo-losing minion, such as this one. Aggro lists want to drop Spelljammer and something else, which this will stop. This is the goal. But for lists that want to play multiple cards per turn while being fine with games lasting into mid-range and slightly more, a Spelljammer that can deal 9 damage to the opposing general rather than 4, might be worthwhile. I think it’s a nerf to aggro lists in that it’ll slow them down, or they’d cut Spelljammer, and be more coin-flippy. I do hope the latter doesn’t exist, because some people will keep on playing aggro, as they should, because it’s a long-standing archetype. And lemme tell you, nobody will enjoy these “coin-flip” games, not the aggro players when they lose them, nor their opponents, which would be even more frustrated when an aggro player who topdecks for 2-3 turns in a row still ekes out a win. I’m not a fan of this change, overall.
3) Lantern Fox: Err, ok? This like the Saberspine change has me scratching my head a bit. The only clear winner from this change is Abyssian, now that Ooz kills Fox in one hit, so you can’t get two procs off of it. The other “winners” are 1 attack minions, which Fox could hit, and still generate two more phoenix fires. Yes, a nerf, but I don’t really see this changing too much, though one would attack 3 attack minions such as Hearth Sister or Ki Beholder with Fox before, and might not now. I mean, whatever? 3 HP isn’t a breakpoint.
4) Cryogenesis: I used to say Cryogenesis is the strongest spell in the game. I also used to say before Taygete’s HP was reduced to 4 that it was by far the strongest minion in the game. Well, Taygete after her nerf is viable, but not even “Very strong”. Cryogenesis was one of the reasons for that, cleanly dealing with her. I expected Cryogenesis to change to dealing 3 damage, which would’ve still made it a tool to clear most turn 1 plays, as either player 1 or 2. But with 4 mana, when exactly do you get to use it? The effect is still strong, being a tool to remove some of this game’s very strong 4 HP minions (4 Winds Magi, for instance), but now it’s no longer a tempo gain, you usually remove a 4 cost minion for 4 mana, while replacing the card. This makes Cryogenesis from a tempo and value-gaining card to just value-generating. Except, this game isn’t really one where ending your turn with a clear board is a winning move, you have to also develop tempo while removing the opponent’s board.
All in all? Cryogenesis is now a fair card. Duelyst has no room for fair cards. I don’t see it getting played much, unless the game moves much more to control, where it’d still complement the Vanar suite of removal cards, and longer games allow for a 4 mana value-generator that doesn’t lose you tempo (unlike Heaven’s Eclipse or Rite of the Undervault, which generate value at the cost of complete tempo loss, here you basically go 0-for-1, smaller value gain, but you at least don’t “lose” tempo).
You know what other card at 4 cost is now a non-tempo loss that gives value? L’Kian. Might see L’Kians replacing Cryos where they didn’t before. I’m more curious if (and it’s a big if) people cut Cryogenesis, does it also mean they’ll cut out Vespyrs? If so, the cries over Vanar being the “Neutral Faction” will rise even more, as even the few Vespyrs ran would have no reason to grace decks.
5) Rite of the Undervault: I’ve seen Sibon go down to 1 Rite of the Undervault and 3 Spelljammers. I was about to say this is clearly the way to go, except for Jammer’s change, heh. I don’t think this change is huge. You empty your hand, then you refill it, still in time for Revenant on 7 mana. It’s not like Abyssian had too many plays on 6 mana anyway, aside from Rite + 1 mana card. Maybe this just means Abyssian have to make it to 6 mana instead of 5 before emptying their hand? I really am not sure how much of a change this will make.
6) Blistering Skorn: I dislike this change for the same reason I didn’t like the Kron change. Shim’Zar did a lot to introduce in-faction 3 drops, but not all factions got good 3 drops to run (especially Magmar). This, especially combined with the Jammer change (just as last patch had Zen’Rui removed from the 5 drop spot alongside Kron), leaves a gaping 3-drop hole for some factions. As to Skorn itself, I know Addi stopped playing Abyssian when Skorn was introduced, and Solafid took a break from walls, but, with Shim’Zar’s plentiful 3 drops in general, most lists stopped running Skorn as is, and the lists that ran it ran it mostly because they lacked 3 drops and/or AoE. The 3 drop hole is now made bigger, and the AoE situation becomes more all or nothing. But I’m mostly hoping Magmar and Abyssian get more good 3 drops. And that there are more good neutral 3 drops coming.
Songhai early game discussion: Ok, I’m going to take an aside and explain the trade-off Songhai, specifically Spellhai, could make, and how Spelljammer and Mana Vortex played a big part in it. Spellhai in most variations ran very few minions, which also meant very few 2-drops. This in turn meant Spellhai missed Turn 1 as Player 1 a lot. And you know what happens in such a tempo-based game when you skip T1? You tend to lose. Mana Vortex, Inner Focus, and 3-drops all coincided to let Songhai recoup this missed tempo, at the cost of inconsistency, or value (Inner Focus is basically trading value for tempo epitomized). Spelljammer no longer being a 3 drop and Mana Vortex taking this hit mean recouping tempo will be harder. And it does mean that if you do recoup the tempo, you lose even more value, since Mana Vortex won’t cycle, and you’ll have to use 3 drops that won’t replace their cards.
You can still do it, obviously, but going “Skipping turn 1” > “Drop 3 drop on mana-tile + Mana vortex + PF” which was a way for Songhai to get back in the game on T2 (rather than get way ahead when used as player 2 on T1) will be much more expensive/rare. That’s not necessarily a negative, but it does mean Songhai will not be able to give up on T1 as often, meaning they’ll need to use more 2 cost minions. Spellhai will live, but it’ll become more similar to non-Spellhai lists. Alternately, lists will double-down on spells, planning to never have T1 plays as player 1 anyway, such as Crankyhai. If you build for it, you can still recover from it. I think the cries over Songhai hand-dumping and filling back up ignored the opportunity cost of many of these half-cards and skipping T1 as is, but ok.
Overall Thoughts: This patch basically nerfed aggression indirectly, by nerfing how quickly you can dump your hand, or recover from it. Most of the changes seem to only do so lightly, which I appreciate, because aggro is an important deck archetype. But while they do it lightly, they sort of do it in a way that makes aggro non-aggro. The changes mostly don’t reduce the number of cards you draw, just push them later. I don’t think the meta will change much as a result of these changes. If anything, the biggest take-away would be that 4 health minions will be stronger, minions such as Taygete will get a new leash on life, Kron might be worth testing again (not really, still dies to general + 2 drop), but rear-line 4 hp minions such as Decimus and 4 Winds? That’s a buff. Shadowdancer might be seen more, which will help Swarm alongside the nerf to Skorn, which again, wasn’t even ran much.
Again, I don’t really agree with most of these changes, in severity if not in direction (sure, change Cryo, but why this way?), but the overall take is “Meh, whatever”.
There is one other meta-shift I see, which is especially relevant when you look at Cryogenesis and Siphon Energy together. The change is one that makes rearline minions harder and harder to threaten. This forces people to try and rush to the other side, where the other player just body-blocks them, and they lose to frustrating minions they can’t reach/remove cleanly. Sure, it’s not really a problem for Vanar with Hearth Sister, Aspect of the Fox, and Chromtic Cold, but it still seems like a direction of “Place unanswered minion in background and win off of unanswered value,” which is a degenerate playstyle, and the reason replace decks aren’t allowed to truly be competitive - people complain about Songhai, which is hard to play, imagine how it’d be to lose to a list that wins by just replacing cards. Likewise, expect losses to Decimus/4 Winds/Whatever to become more frustrating, if this trend continues.
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For those curious about the gold change, comparing the two systems is complex. Here’s how the math works out as far as I can tell, including the changes to quest gold and assuming you finish everything.
As you can see there’s actually two breakeven points. You make more gold if you play a small number or a large number of games, and less in between. But it’s not a huge difference really.
(Note that these charts are not actually valid for under 5 games played since you can’t finish quests, I just didn’t bother truncating them.)
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Nice write-up. What do you think about including Spelljammers in Aggro Songhai (not specifically Reva) / Spellhai lists now? Still worthwhile? Clogs up 4-drop slot too much? I’m debating whether or not I’m going to dust my Spelljammers (probably not all of them, but I can’t see including 3x of them in non-control Songhai lists now).
I’m not sure. I think the 4 cost is a big issue, but I’d definitely give it a try. My preliminary post-patch list is going to include 2 Owls, which means no Jammers, alas.
Mana Vortex - I don’t play songhai so I can’t properly evaluate it. But fuck it, I’ll do it anyway. It’s not like lack of game knowledge ever prevented anyone from posting their thoughts, lmao.
Anyway, the card is probably dead. Sure having a zero mana spells is good due to all the synergystic cards songhai has and it’s effect is hardly insignificant but I doubt it’s good enough.
Fox - The card still seems good, it’s just not bullshit good anymore.
Spelljammer - Was only a matter of time it got changed. I like this change a lot. It’s clean, simple and with a straight forward idea behind it.
Cryo - Well fuck me. When exactly did people start feeling uncomfortable playing 4 hp minions due to this oppressive card? That’s news to me.
Rite - When people run three of those you know there’s a problem. Justified nerf, the card is probably still fine though.
Skorn - Eh. This one is probably one of the most overrated cards in the game, right in there with the old zen’rui. And it was going to get change eventually regardless of it’s real power just because people complained.
People will give swarm a try once again, they will get destroyed by skorn eventually upon which they’ll return to complaining about how the archetype is dead because of it and will never touch the deck again.
All in all: reva_got_fucked/10
edit: nerfing songhai without touching inner focus, lmfao. CPG you so silly 
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I like alot of these changes but… you’re giving us way too many 4 drops, man. Blistering Skorn was like one of the only 3 drops I had in some decks D:
But yes, I’m enjoying the gradual nerf to Songhai. Inner Focus hopefully won’t escape your notice though.
Also more lore yasssssss
Great nerfs/changes this time, everything looks more or less acceptable to me. Well, except the Mana Vortex overnerf, which is as terrible as the Siphon one - it renders the card useless atm, gets rid of the primary Songhai card cycle engine and there were surely better nerf targets, such as Bloodrage Mask or Juxtaposition.
Not a big fan of mission changes as a more casual player, but at least there’s no “Play 8 games with faction X” bullshit. Also, I hope people will stop conceding 10 seconds before lethal now, otherwise Ultimate Aggressor will be an insta-replace for me.
I was actually quite content with all the changes, except for this. This has happened again. Like the changes to Zen’Rui and Taygete, the vocal community was listened to and got what they wanted. Overrated good cards get the nerf hammer again. Good work.
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I don’t want to speak load this time. Let’s see, if the patch fixes Songhai somehow. Then it did something good.
I don’t think Spelljammer had to be nerfed and I absolutely disagree with the Skorn nerf at the moment.
Spelljammer was nerfed just because of Songhai (I don’t see any other legit reason) and other decks will suffer for it. So I don’t think it was a good idea. Skorn is the next card (after Taygete, Edit: forgot Zen’Rui - @jeezboozxd you’re so right again!) that is only nerfed because of some complainers out there but for no good other reason.
Seeing both now in the overfilled 4-slot and leaving the 3-slot more empty then before is not good for the game in general I think.
Well - that’s how I feel. But I was wrong with past patch-complaints a few times. Maybe this time again. I hope so.
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I totally agree. There were just no reasons to nerf it. Or did I miss something and Vanar suddenly became overpower fraction and it must be stopped until it is too late?
In a word, it was pointless, IMO.
Nerf of Skorn looks also a bit weird for me. I think, it’s not what meta needs now.
But I like changes with gold quests.
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Excellent patch guys! You are doing a great job =)
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Hi, do you mean that Spelljammer is still playable? I am new in game and I dont know if save Spelljammer for later deckbuilding or not… Than what you mean? 