It was OP at 1mana–
So you not only returned it to 1 mana
But ontop of giving you a mana crystal it now also heals
Fanmade Vanar Patch (Expansion + Balance changes)
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I left it at 2 mana sorry if it wasn’t clear.
Only difference is that now it can target friendly minions and it heals.
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It thins the deck for free. Even if people don’t intend to use the card’s effect, playing two of them and replacing the third copy would basically allow people to play a deck with less cards with no draw backs. That would increase the chances of the deck being able to draw into other cards for/at the right time. Replicant does it as well but it costs 2 mana to do so, with a weak 2/2 body, so usually you have to build a deck with it in mind to take advantage of drawing into other Replicants. But with your new Polarity, you don’t have to build a deck around it. As soon as either player has a minion on board that doesn’t die to its effect (like obelsyks), you can cast two of them to thin the deck. Also that’s not including how it would be quite a sizeable buff to Arcanysts.
I haven’t had the chance to read all of the changes that you would make, so maybe there is other changes to Arcanysts that I haven’t read yet. But being able to thin your deck alone, can be quite a big advantage.
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You’re right. I think it should be a 1 Mana card. At any rate I would much rather have it be a 1 Mana can tripping card than a 0 Mana card with an odd effect that only sees use in arcanysts.
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You’ll have to excuse me for being the lazy that I am.
I can’t for the life of me find the power to write so much that much.
First - the new cards I don’t really care about, they are mostly nice.
The changes however.
Polarity - this is the text book definition of broken.
Polarity is not a ping or trigger spell it is a tool for utility.
Meaning you should lose something when using it.
Aspect of ego - it does not really matter what comes out of it as long as it comes out, since it is sort of pseudo removal.
Chromatic cold - this is a strict need to an already nerfed card.
Vanar does not heal in the conditional way, vanar’s heal comes in the form of health managed by position and stalling.
Meaning the way you play vanar you should either position or stall for the unavoidable lethal combo or play aggro while not being so much on your face.
This card means that you dispel a minion but also need to either kill it by yourself taking damage/kill it via minion and lose footing.
I prefer the ping more then the draw.
Mana death grip - vanar doesn’t need heal, if you give them 4 hp heal this is a major broken card.
You basically create a sloppy gameplay based on healing, no thank you.
Boundless - good, I like.
Frigid - good.
Shimzar - the same as ego, the transformation is irrelevant.
Endless hunt - now this night seems as a good change but endless hunt is not only a draw engine but a minion genarator. meaning that you get the value of a minion for whatever use you need.
Back in the day me and flygon had a long discussion about it, we came to the conclusion that 4 Mana is a fair price to pay.
Spirit of the wild - this is a need that basically ruin the card, this is a finisher and should close games, if it’s not for going face there’s no need for this card.
Vanar has enough tools to clean board, this should not be one of them.
Frostburn - keeping in mind the existence of ramp at vanar 6 Mana is not that much to pay.
I would just give it intensify +1 dmg.
Since the first one can’t really kill any game breakers.
Ice age and wake - this tells me you either didn’t play much walls or don’t know how bad the Nerf is.
This is a huge Nerf.
You basically threw out the wall aspect of the game.
The 8 Mana has a very specific reason for it so you will be able to drop it after a few walls at 7 in order to survive or hit for a kill at 8.
The reason 8 is important comes from the average ramp game, you’ll usually ramp twice (if you play well) this is the best bet for your hand size.
Ramping twice meaning that you hit wake at 8 when your enemy is at 6, which cuts emp from the equation.
Ice age and wake at 9 means you basically get hit with emp 100% of the time. When I don’t include the fact that removing ice age is pretty easy but you need to be ready to face it.
In other world, if the dude runs wall deck and you don’t save aoe for the final showdown - git gud.
Snowchaser - refreshing.
Crystal wisp - why? What’s the reason? This is basically an early game minion that clutter your deck in mid game to late game.
On one hand - you ruined the effect by letting him sit until it get dispelled.
In the other hand if the opponent kill it he get punished out of proportion, with 3:1, they will never get hit, they’ll just get dispelled.
Cryo - good.
Elemental - good.
Myriad - good.
Snow rippler, wolf, sleetdasher, voice of the wind - good.
Ghost sheraphim - this is broken my man.
Embla - where’s the blazing spine? She’s a end game minion, you’ll want that 7 damage potential.
I see what you did there but I must tell you that the way you play vanar is kinda different then other factions.
the normalization of a faction is not always a good things.
I like vanar as a very challenging faction with defined weaknesses and an unapproachable side. Meaning you’ll actually need skill to run it well.
Vespyr should have more back to it. but walls are great the way they are - a strong archetype with a very defined weakness which need a good knowledge of the faction and the game to use well.
The only thing (one of them haha) that keeps vanar as vanar is the no heal policy. If you give vanar heal it will become a dumb faction like the abyss mhaev trail (ohh shit I misplayed, better heal for 5).
Thank you for you hard work;)
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I guess you’re right about healing. I don’t want Vanar to have heal either but how else would you buff MDG? I don’t want to put it back to 1 Mana. I want it to do slightly more than it does right now and keep it at 2 Mana.
I agree with you on Embla too. I’ll change it to 2 Blazing Spines, 2 Gavity Wells, 2 Luminous Charge and 2 Bonechill Barrier.
Crystal Wisp I hate. I hate the card and the hyper ramp decks that run it. Now it can actually be used alongside walls and Vespyrs and as long as you keep it on the board the enemy has to rethink using their Tempests or Rebukes.
I guess this comes down to preference.
Ice Age and Wake, again two more archetypes I really dislike. I know they are weak and I run EMP in practically every deck and by they time they wall I usually have it. I just feel like idk it’s lazy and it doesn’t feel like you’re playing duelyst when you’re playing Ice Age + Wake. It’s just ramp ramp ramp and Ice Age then pray they don’t have an answer (which they always do)
Besides the new combination of Ghost Seraphim you should be able to still run walls the way you do now but you need one more combo piece.
To be honest I just want walls to go away so Vanar can play all the other cool things it has.
In the case of Choroma I prefer the draw and I think it makes it more flexible. But I think you’re right I will reconsider the change.
I already had a discussion about Polarity and nerfed it to use 1 Mana. I prefer it using 1 more mana for it to be a can tripping card and if you compare it to first wish it’s not broken at all; 1 mana to switch attack and health and draw a card.
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“not playing duelyst”?
There are many decks that are fairly uninteractive and iceage is certainly very low on that list. You can save answers for it and your opponent needs a 2nd card to turn it into a lethal.
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Agreed and if it were up to me I’d recklessly nerf those decks as well but I’m not a Songhai expert and wouldn’t know how to.
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You would be nerfing half of the stuff that is commonly played
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I guess so hehe 
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At this point I’ll say I’m credible when I talk about wall decks or vanar in general. and I can assure you - this is not a walk in that park, even for an old wall dude like me.
The depth of knowledge you need for wall deck to wreck up wins is immense.
Some cards are good as aggressive some as defensive.
The way to prepare for ice age as the wall player is different then the way to embla.
Embla is more of a defensive card - used for more gradual kill (either by reflection or wake).
Ice age is all out war card and if you don’t play right before you drop it you will usually die the moment you do drop it.
Ramping without losing hand size and hand answer management is also hard since you got a limited deck.
The draw engine, position and approach against different decks is on the polar ends of the spectrum.
The reason being - you need to survive long or you need to kill fast and your machine is very well performing but usually heat slowly.
You usually got answer for everything but you’ll need to stretch your game plan.
I guess it looks like a block of ramp and boom from the outside but it is a hard hard deck to run with a good win rate.
This is what makes it so fun btw:)
On a different note - decks that run both (embla and ice age) will struggle more in the early and mid game then decks that build for only one since the approach as I understand it is different.
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Ok, I’m convinced. I guess I was a little too harsh on these late game win cons because I don’t personally like them.
I guess we can keep Seraphim, Ice Age, Winters Wake and Finality as they are. I guess we can also leave Crystal Wisp as it is now.
As someone who’s played walls (although never made it past diamond 3 with walls) I know what you’re talking about. I know how difficult it is to manage your handsize and think ahead for answers while ramping.
I just personaly don’t like playing them and don’t like how they overshadow most Vanar decks but you’re right. Ultimately I should try not to let personal bias affect my decisions.
I still like my idea for Crystal Wisp as a seperate card however perhaps not a 3:1 but a 2:1 instead that punishes the enemy player for playing board clears without clearing this minion first (with dispel as you mentioned)
I’ll add it in as a new card
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I guess we’ll leave it for the personal rest of style and gameplay. They overshadow most vanar decks because the other decks (vespyr, infiltrate) doesn’t seem as a limited case.
So players will usually lose their minds trying to figure out what goes where in a vespyr deck and what’s the different between card a and card b.
Wall deck seems on paper as the easier of the 3 for the exact limited space where things are a little brighter.
The funny thing is I use to see a few wall/vespyr players.
These days I usually see aggro faie, which I hate.
Personal bias are part of the game, I hate Magmar and if they make the faction into a bunch of battle pets I will be almost happy.
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I guess it’s because the former requires 100500 IQ to play while the latter is highrolly but inconsistent. Aggro trumps it all, and has pretty fast games suitable for hyperclimbing as a nice bonus.
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Seeing many wallnar players was mostly due to walls beeing completely broken.
Players were not realy playing wallnar-they were playing the deck that was most powerfull at the time.
Today these players are playing wanderer rag and fault vet
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Yep the case exactly and the main reason why I like it that way:)
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Back when wall was a thing people didn’t know how to play wall decks (excluding a few vanar mains and some veterans).
Just like the people who play fault does not know how to play vet (excluding…) , which I just got into and it is amazing and complex.
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Agreed, played fault, just felt dumb. I mean, it’s strong but it doesn’t feel right
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some of these changes are good.
some of these changes are awful.
lets go through the noteworthy ones
Im a sucker for new tiles, but dispel doesnt seem very in character for vanar due to walls vanishing upon being transported to the tile.
Unforgiving Wisp feels unnecessary due to the similarities to crystal wisp
Spirit Walker seems OP due to being a hearth sister that gained the powers of a cryptographer. a combo which was already strong in vanar now gives you double of both, which is nuts.
Frostborn ward is strong and might be what it takes to bring stun decks into the meta. especially with silver fang giving you a more reliable stun.
Shimmering Pixie… i imagine as quite similar to bloodbound mentor and is just as strong, if in slightly different circumstances. This is more like a mentor for kara instead of faie.
Frostfire Lynx reminds me of a mixture of dancing blades and an old version of sunsteel defender. While i like there being more positioning rules, this is quite strong and likely needs 1 more mana to remain balanced. personally i would like this minion to deal damage to a minion behind it as some vanar infiltrate flavor.
Ghostly striker is very strong and i dont think that the phantom needs rush. it could be without rush and still be quite playable and even strong in certain situations, especially with the rest of this expansion.
Cordial Colossus seems… bad… its so expensive and demands the opponent use a spell or opening gambit form of removal to play around. its a big “answer or do nothing” card and thats not fun.
Cryogenic Figure also seems useless. its a big minion yes, but by the time you play it whenever its effect procs, your opponent is also at 9 mana. or 8 mana, which isnt really that different. unless it also permanently reduces the mana cap permanently since mana is gained every turn. if thats the case then it needs a slight wording tweak and its worth its 9 mana price tag.
Cryogenic Wipe Out feels overtuned. It’s only purpose is to detonate all your luminous charges and nothing else. And for that, razorback is just better… unless youre trying to do that instantly out of hand for a quick 8 mana 10 damage aoe.
Frostburn needs a tiny buff, but transforming all enemy tiles is not the way to do it. That just ANNIHILATES Abyssian shadow creep decks. a 6 mana card that just deletes your enemies entire deck is bad. Perhaps it can spawn chromatic tiles under minions that it killed? that still feels a little strong. Something to think about.
Snowchasers do not need a buff. they are fine as they are.
Myriad doesnt really need the nerf, but i can see what youre doing trying to reduce the RNG.
wolfraven sleet dasher and voice should have been vespyrs all along.
I dont think embla needs to be changed but you still need to think of what the description means when the enemy general cannot be surrounded by 8 walls. either by being on the edge of the field or having minions nearby. it also gives no indication whether the location of each wall is static. will the bonechill barriers always be in the upper corners? will each one be opposite its pair? just think of the poor spaghetti code.
Khanuum-Ka needs rewording. that dying wish is wordy and longer than it needs to be.
Thank Aeperion that rae is getting nerfed. 0 cost minions are OP. this is why slo was nerfed.
I think Wanderer can stay at 6 mana with the nerf that only non-token minions from the action bar get the buff. nerfing it to 7 mana on top of that seems overkill.
flash reincarnation and darkfire sacrifice dont need that significant a nerf. choose one - decreasing the cost by 1 OR limiting it to the next card played. not both. doing both makes the cards cost outweigh their benefits 90% of the time. most other ‘decrease cost by 1’ cards are attached to minion bodies AND are re-usable AND otherwise have no cost
Abjudicator doesnt need this change. we already have this card. its called manaforger.
I’m realizing that you just nerfed all forms of ramp across the board, and that just makes vanars ramp, which you buffed, even more oppressive. you should really mention that in the “what im trying to do” section. “buff ramp for vanar and nerf ramp for everyone else”
The BBS updates seem nice, but Shidais seems overly complicated in its new iteration. especially since literally nothing else counts turn numbers besides buildings. and those are just a start of turn countdown.
Liking the change to wild inceptor. it makes eggs less bursty but easier to hatch, so you can get those eggs hatched ASAP without contributing to a one turn finisher
Your math on decispikes is a little off
spikes draws 3 cards. deals 3 damage. then they start their turn for 1 damage. that equals 7 damage. and only if they end their turn before dealing with it does that turn into 8 damage as they draw a card at end of turn.
The sarlac change seems a little strong. given that after its first death, every subsequent death on that turn will have it merely respawn on the same tile every time. effectively creating an impassable square.
Your “RNG” change token summon list seems… wrong…
1 - Sky Phalanx allows the player to place those things and what it summons are not tokens.
2 - you forgot to mention the original token summoner. Bloodmoon Priestess, who would be nigh unkillable with this change.
3 - You also forgot Nimbus
4 - this also massively changes the balance on these things and how they play. it makes the token generators much harder to kill (or more offensively powerful when talking about obelysks) as well as not protecting the summons in the case of juggernaut, locust, or kron.
5 - also gate of the undervaults summons are not tokens. neither are the majority of echo deliverant or deceptib0ts summons.
And that nerf makes blue conjurer completely useless outside of niche arcanyst decks but way too reliable in songhai decks that rely on such consistency.
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I disagree with you on dispel not fitting the theme of Vanar. Vanar is the go to faction for dispel decks thanks to Moose and Malicious Wisp. It’s only going to get stronger with the new Fridigon.
You’re right about Spirit Walker, Frostfire Lynx and Ghostly Striker.
I nerfed the stats on all of them. Spirit Walker is now a 1:3. Frostfire Lynx is a 3:1 so it dies to plasma storm despite the forcefield and I nerfed Ghostly striker’s stat like to 3:3.
Now it’s basically a 5 Mana investment for a 3:3 body + a chromatic cold on a nearby space which seems fair to me. Compare it to Sandswirl reader which is a 3:3 body + Hailstone Prison on a nearby tile + a token generator for 5 Mana.
Cordial Colossus and Cryogenic Figure are basically there to supplement the change to Aspect of Ego which transforms a minion to a Vespyr of the same cost. I think Cryogenic Figure could still be playable? Maybe if you ramp it super duper early and it sticks a few turns before it gets removed?
You’re right about Cryogenic Wipe Out as well. If you’re only using it for damage, Razerback is just a better card. But sometimes you really want to destroy your walls. For example when you’re playing against Shadow Creep or when they put a Thunderhorn down, those Gravity wells left behind from the first turn become your biggest enemy. So its nice to have a card that allows you to combo it with Luminous while dodging all those threats at the same time.
You’re right about Frostburn and I like you’re suggestion. I changed it.
I agree with you on Flash Reincarnation and Darkfire Sacrificed. I made it limited to the next card but I made a simple change. They cannot affect the cost of cards with Mythron Rarity. So no more turn two Flash Wanderer or DFS Xor. What do you think?
I disagree with you on Abjudicator. It’s the most highroll card in the game. Changing its stats to 3:2 make it so that it’s not a tempo loss like Mana Forger and still a very good turn one play. I don’t see why it couldn’t replace a card like Healing Mystic in certain spell heavy decks.
Also the change makes it so that it has great synergy with cards like Inner focus, Assassination Protocol or Cryonic Potential.
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