I think this thread rather vexing- as I’ve always been opposed to how Faie’s BBS functions, but I think the OP attributes that to the power-level of it; and that’s a mistake (where I may argue that Argeon or Vaath have a BBS that is actually too powerful.) The issue of Faie’s BBS, is that the game is already incredibly pressure oriented, and a BBS which encourages a player not to utilize 2 spaces important spaces around their General creates a constant opening. Further, Warbird encourages Faie to try and “range” the enemy in rather absurd ways and focus on cards that specifically put the opponent back by multiple turns (like Gravity Well) without any sort of setup. The result, is an oppressive clock that lies entirely in stalling without any significant effort into building a Control shell- because Faie can perform the “Death by 1000 tiny cuts” so easily. Thus, I feel that opposition to Warbird should just be on honest basis that Warbird creates actively lame games, where positioning or clever decision making are nullified by topdecking the right stalling tools.
Thing is, rather than taking away Vanar’s cool toys (though, I def. feel that certain nerfs were well justified,) I think the better design approach would just to give the other factions a greater variety of cheap cool spells- or to simply reevaluate ones that already exist. For example, why doesn’t Energy Siphon hit tiles, or at the very least, Generals too? Being restricted now to the General’s immediate surroundings- there are a number of tweaks to Siphon that I think should be considered (Tile dispel, “My General is Lightbender” etc.)
Also, while Sentinels are by-in-large weak cards, is it really our place to hold judgment on people who can find roles for them to play? I don’t want to stir the pot, but I like to watch Terrarius’ replays- and his usage of Bound Tormentor as a mini-Reaper makes considerable sense, given the texture of his Cass decks (though, I haven’t seen many games of him playing Vanar.) The sentinels are all just sortof- roleplayers in a similar way to Blaze Hound- and it’s sortof foolish to value them in the way that one would a regular beatstick or spell-on-legs. They need individual consideration with the texture of an overall strategy. I’ve seen Hundred-Handed Rakushi at high levels, to soften up high health minions that Songhai struggles with, or outright shutdown a Saberspine Tiger in a deck softer to burst.