SunWu

I wanted to finish the explanations for the new player rating section and update the free PvP deck pictures before announcing the update. Will catch up on that 😄

That's a good thing isn't it? I rather have 4 or 5 topplayers running the balance department than 300 random players voting on whatever their mood is. Btw even if you can't personally decide on what will be done, you can always take part in the discussions on discord or here. Even OPs brilliant input will be heard, i'm sure.
Edit: deck diversity in pvp got muuuuch better wich to me is proof that overall they're doing well

That's a good thing isn't it? I rather have 4 or 5 topplayers running the balance department than 300 random players voting on whatever their mood is. Btw even if you can't personally decide on what will be done, you can always take part in the discussions on discord or here. Even OPs brilliant input will be heard, i'm sure.
Edit: deck diversity in pvp got muuuuch better wich to me is proof that overall they're doing well

I made that exact same argument years ago when the discussion was about who gets to run the balancing: Topplayer doesn't mean good balancing managing.
BUT the players they chose to me seem like the most level headed, reasonable and knowledgeable people they could find. WIth the risk of sounding a little elitist: Most of the pvp players don't know what the f they are talking about, me too, sometimes. But they really do.
Edit: And nobody's perfect, what's 1 minefield compared to 100 positive changes?

That's a good thing isn't it? I rather have 4 or 5 topplayers running the balance department than 300 random players voting on whatever their mood is. Btw even if you can't personally decide on what will be done, you can always take part in the discussions on discord or here. Even OPs brilliant input will be heard, i'm sure.
Edit: deck diversity in pvp got muuuuch better wich to me is proof that overall they're doing well

I made that exact same argument years ago when the discussion was about who gets to run the balancing: Topplayer doesn't mean good balancing managing.
BUT the players they chose to me seem like the most level headed, reasonable and knowledgeable people they could find. WIth the risk of sounding a little elitist: Most of the pvp players don't know what the f they are talking about, me too, sometimes. But they really do.
Edit: And nobody's perfect, what's 1 minefield compared to 100 positive changes?

Card Balance Changes
 

Global Balance Changes
Ranged attack delays standardized: 
   - Towers and ranged units are now assigned a standard 0.5 second delay on spawn instead of a semi-randomized number between 0.1-1 second in 0.1 second increments. This only modifies cards affected by the bug, many ranged units and towers will be unaffected by the change. 
If a tower or ranged unit's attack has a longer resolve timer than its attack speed, a number is assigned to said tower or unit on spawn between 0.1-1 seconds, which is permanently added to its attack speed. For examples, this means that while a certain tower might be capable of attacking every 2 seconds, if it is affected by this mechanic any particular instance of this tower spawned has an actual attack speed of between 2.1 seconds and 3 seconds. This means all affected towers are not created equal, even among towers of the same kind, and can have widely varying performances. Ranged cards with high attack speeds are impacted more strongly than ranged cards with low attack speeds, but all affected towers and units are inconsistent. Given that we have already begun to balance around the average attack speed of each ranged attack after we previously discovered the discrepancy, we did not want to simply remove the attack delay as it would potentially require us to once again rebalance all affected cards. Instead, we have opted to standardize the delay timer to 0.5 seconds, which is on average a slight buff to all affected cards, and which will henceforward make all ranged cards consistent with themselves. 
Card attack speed descriptions do not currently reflect the change. We will work to slowly remedy this over time as we continue our work to fix existing descriptive issues.

PvE Balance Changes
While changes are split here between PvE and PvP sections, many of the changes have important consequences for both game modes. Our PvE and PvP balance teams work closely together to ensure that the impact of all changes are evaluated for both game modes. Below, we have listed both the changes and our reasoning behind them. 
[ Tier 1 ]
 Nightguard:
1. Damage: 60 damage (450 dp20)  ➜ 90 damage (675 dp20)
2. Add "Swift" ability to both affinities.
3. Gifted affinity ➜ Infused affinity:
   A.  Add "Infused Fury" - Deals 50% more damage against elementals. 
Give swift to both affinities and make their difference be in species damage type. Substantially increased combat stats to make the unit more valuable when unable to immediately swap, but still primarily useful for swapping.
 Amazon (g):
1. Wildlife Protection healing amplification: 50% ➜ 65%
Minor buff intended to make combinations like Amazon(g) + Werebeasts more rewarding.
 Strikers:
1. Remove "Looter" ability
2. Add new passive "Gang Up!": When being surrounded by at least 3 friendly orcs in a 25m radius, all incoming damage will be spread among all gang members relative to each unit's current life points. Additionally, affected units take 15% less damage.
3. Add new passive "Group Pressure": Unit is immune to Unity and its effects.
We are giving Thugs' "Gang Up!" passive to Strikers and changing both Strikers and Thugs' abilities to work based on friendly orcs instead of just friendly Thugs. This will allow Strikers and Thugs to form a gang together, creating a new Fire T1 combo. Additionally, we are fully removing "Looter" from Strikers. 
Our balance team is currently in the beginning stages of reintroducing a rebalanced Looter ability to the game for higher tier units as part of a project to allow each faction to have a power acceleration mechanic. Shadow's Resource Booster is the most obvious example of such an acceleration mechanic. Nature also has existing acceleration tools in the Breeding Grounds effect (unit cost reduction) and Promise of Life (unbinding units). We think Looter could be a good tool to enable a unique acceleration mechanic for Fire. More details will be announced on this topic when proposals become more concrete.
[ Tier 2 ]
 Earthkeeper:
1. Back Up ability rework:
   A. Can now be knocked back while ability is active.
   B. Duration: 30 seconds ➜ Until interrupted
   C. Power cost: 0p ➜ 25p
Earthkeeper has a very powerful ability, particularly the blessed (b) affinity. By making it last indefinitely absent interruption, Earthkeeper can be used by Stonekin decks to set up incredibly durable defenses that do not need to be constantly maintained. We removed immobile to allow Earthkeeper to be knocked back, requiring good positioning, and added a 25p cost to increase initial set up cost in exchange for the indefinite duration.
[ Tier 3 ]
 Abyssal Warder:
1. Power cost: 250p ➜ 240p
2. Crystal Spikes ability damage: 725, up to 2175 in total ➜ 800, up to 4800 in total
3. Class change: Giant Destroyer ➜ Ancient Destroyer
Abyssal Warder has been much more viable since the buff to Promise of Life. Players can send Abyssal Warder on a suicide mission, cast Promise of Life just before death, and be rewarded with 2 L-sized warders and a new XL-sized one. This same Promise of Life can then be used in T4 to quickly unbind the player's initial Forest Elder. Even so, Abyssal Warder remains a weak option, and it struggles greatly against masses of weaker enemies. We are over doubling the total damage of its Crystal Spikes ability to allow it to clear crowds of weak enemies quickly and slightly decreasing its power cost to make it more efficient. 
 Deepfang:
1. Damage: 150 damage per second (3000 dp20) ➜ 165 damage per second (3300 dp20)
2. Life points: 3200 ➜ 3500
3. Stonekin Critter (unit):
   A. Damage: 60, up to 90 in total (500 dp20) ➜ 72, up to 108 in total (600 dp20)
   B. Life points: 550 ➜ 750
Deepfang is currently underwhelming, particularly as a good portion of its strength relies on the continued existence of two weak support units. Once they die, Deepfang has worse stat efficiency than the almost pure support unit Rageflame. We are giving a general buff to the damage and life points of both Deepfang and its Stonekin Critters. In the future, we also intend to rework the unit's summoning mechanic and to allow Deepfang to cast Union even if its Critters have died.  
 Rageflame:
1. Frostshower (both affinities):
   A. Now able to target air units.
   B. Freeze duration: 10 seconds ➜ 15 seconds
2. Blessed Frostshower (b) new affinity effect: Units frozen by this ability will receive full damage when attacked. 
3. New passive, "Shatter Ice" (both affinities): The unit is able to ignore the usual damage reduction of frozen targets.
Rageflame is meant to be a hybrid damage and support unit, but it does neither well. We are leaning more into its support aspects, while also removing the card's built-in anti-synergy by allowing it to always deal full damage to frozen targets. The unit's freeze duration has been increased, and it can now target air units, removing one of its major weaknesses. Additionally, the blue affinity's freeze allows all units to continue dealing full damage, giving players a choice between ignoring freeze's damage reduction or disabling buildings when choosing between affinities. 
 Unity:
1. Gifted Sharing (g) regeneration: 40 life points every 2 seconds ➜ 50 life points every 2 seconds
2. Blessed Sharing (b) damage reduction: 25% ➜ 20%
After the recent Fire changes, Unity(b) has proven too strong. The damage reduction double stacks (once when the initial unit is attacked, once when the remaining damage is transferred). This means that the actual damage reduction granted by the blue affinity is often substantially more than 25%. On the other hand, the green affinity has been the weaker of the two since the beginning. We are giving it a slight boost to hopefully make the decision between which affinity to bring more meaningful. 
 Ward of the North:
1. Units under the effect of this spell can no longer be knocked back.
Minor buff to the card to give players a reason to use it over its competitors Revenge and Stone Shell.
[ Tier 4 ]
 Batariel:
1. Stage Duration (both affinities):
   A. Stage 1: 4 sec ➜ 5 sec
   B Stage 2: 4 sec ➜ 5 sec
2. Stage Threshold Value (both affinities): 
   A. Stage 1: 1200 damage ➜ 800 damage 
3. Damage per Stage Batariel (fire affinity):
   A. Stage 1: unchanged (100 dmg)
   B. Stage 2: 150 dmg ➜ 200 dmg
   C. Stage 3: 200 dmg ➜ 300 dmg
Follow-up on previous changes which left Batariel's fire affinity too weak.
 Death Ray:
1. Leech Guns ability:
   A. Damage buff: 100% more damage ➜ 150% more damage
   B. Stored life point cost: 1 additional damage per 1 stored life point ➜ 1 additional damage per 0.66 stored life points
Death Ray is a well-designed card which currently demands a substantial amount of deckbuilding cost and in-game micromanagement to make it work. While decent, Death Ray should give more to justify its high investment costs. This change increases Death Ray's damage buff while charged with life points, without otherwise increasing the amount of life points required to be harvested via Leech Guns. This should leave the current experience of the deck unchanged, except that it is now stronger. 
 Fire Sphere:
1. Cooldown: 10 seconds ➜ 20 seconds
The last round of buffs left Fire Sphere too strong. Instead of taking away from the aspects of the card that have quickly made it a top tier option, we are reverting a previous change to its cooldown. This should reduce the ability to spam the card, making its initial 10 second wind-up a more important factor to account for when using the spell.
 Forest Elder:
1. Pest Plants is now a basic ability that exists on both affinities of Forest Elder.
   A. Radius: 30m ➜ 20m
   B. Damage: 30 damage per second ➜ 40 damage per second
2. Forest Charm ability rework:
   A. No longer applies an effect to allies. Now functions more like a mobile Regrowth.
   B. New ability description: "Activate to release the power of the forest, creating a regenerative zone of 30m radius. Every 2 seconds, friendly units within restore up to 300 life points, up to 3000 in total. Also affects the caster. Lasts for 30 seconds. Reusable every 60 seconds." 
3. Gifted Flower Power: The +25% damage buff now also applies to Forest Elder itself. Also affects Pest Plants.
4. Shadow Affinity (p) ➜ Frost Affinity (b): 
   A. Blessed Flower Power effect: Friendly units now ignore slow caused by unit collision in a 30m range. Also applies to Forest Elder itself. 
5. Class change: Beast Dominator ➜ Beast Commander
Our testing found that Pest Plants was an essential component of Forest Elder's ability to clear early T4 camps and for all melee army compositions to succeed. As such, we added it to both affinities as a basic ability and adjusted its power level accordingly. To enable the all melee deck styles that arose during our testing, we added the ability for the new blue affinity Forest Elder to enable its allies and itself to ignore unit collision based slows. This makes melee armies substantially more dynamic. In general, the green affinity Forest Elder works best combined with Primeval Watcher, while the blue affinity Forest Elder works best when combined with Colossus and Grimvine. Finally, we reworked the Forest Charm healing ability. It is now substantially stronger than previously, as well as much more consistent in terms of expected healing. With these changes, the changes to Mind Control, and the release of Sanctuary, Pure Nature should be comparable in strength to other pure deck archetypes. 
 Gemeye:
1. Damage: 550, up to 825 in total (2750 dp20) ➜ 650, up to 975 in total (3250 dp20)
2. Tainted Spit (p):
   A. All damage is now piercing
   B. Contamination damage: 55, up to 165 in total every second ➜ 50, up to 150 in total every second
3. Gifted Spit (g):
   A. Paralyze targets: 4 ➜ 5
   B. Paralyze duration: 10 seconds ➜ 15 seconds
Minor buff to Gemeye in general. Gemeye's two affinities widely vary in usefulness. The purple affinity can deal up to 3300 additional damage over 20 seconds, increasing its actual attack value to 5450 dp20. This damage also stacks if there are multiple Gemeyes. By contrast, the green affinity can paralyze up to 4 targets after a 5 second wait period for up to 10 seconds. 10 seconds is already a short duration for crowd control in T4 and the 5 second wait timer makes it even worse, as it is actually much longer when accounting for Gemeye's attack animation and projectile travel time. Additionally, paralyze effects cannot stack, and they quickly run afoul of crowd control's diminishing returns penalty if the player casts spells such as Curse of Oink or a freeze effect. Overall, this leads to the situation where in the vast majority of situations the purple affinity is far superior. 
The goal here is to break the two affinities into two different deck paths. By allowing the purple affinity to always pierce through damage reduction, it means that its damage will not be reduced when attacking frozen targets. On the other hand, the green affinity's built-in crowd control will synergize with splash options lacking CC and Noxious Cloud which deals a lot of damage but needs time to work. The changes should also allow the green affinity to do a better job when utilized as part of static defenses for its built-in crowd control.
 Grimvine:
1. Strangling Vines ability radius: 20m ➜ 25m
Quality of Life change intended to make Grimvine's ability slightly better. 
 Mind Control: 
1. Power cost: 300p ➜ 250p
2. Charges: 4 ➜ 8
3. Takeover limit: 300p ➜ 350p
4. Allow to be used past population limit
5. Now cleanses all debuffs and makes mind controlled unit immune to all major debuffs for 15 seconds after cast. 
Mind Control is one of those cards which initially seems awesome because it enables you to take over your favorite enemy units, but soon after results in frustration. NPC enemies mostly lack abilities making them no more than stat sticks, charges are extremely limited, the card becomes useless when you hit population cap, your ally's Incredible Mo permanently debuffs the unit even when it becomes yours, and taking over major threats inside a camp usually results in almost instant crowd control into death. We have tried to address all of these issues at once. After the changes, Mind Control should provide a strong incentive to use 3 Nature orbs as well as provide a means by which Nature can bolster its unit-based strategy without binding power in the process. 
 Shadow Worm:
1. Damage: 400, up to 600 in total (4000 dp20) ➜ 440, up to 660 in total (4400 dp20)
2. Life points: 3500 ➜ 4400
3. Mass Disintegration ability targets: May only disintegrate units ➜ May now disintegrate units and buildings
4. Earth Dive ability damage: 250, up to 1000 in total ➜ 325, up to 1300 in total
Shadow Worm is the only T4 Pure Shadow unit in the game. While the previous buffs helped the card a lot, Shadow Worm remains by itself an insufficient payoff to give up a splash orb. It also, despite the buffs and its high orb restrictions, remained one of the lowest stat efficiency units in T4. With these changes, we are both giving a general buff to Shadow Worm's stats and making some changes to enable the two unique aspects of the card, its Mass Disintegration and its Earth Dive mechanic. 
Mass Disintegration will now be able to target buildings (but not spawns which have building immunity), giving the ability much needed flexibility. Shadow Worm's life points increase will also allow the unit to survive 5 seconds longer when disintegrating the maximum number of targets simultaneously. Additionally, the 30% damage increase to Earth Dive damage will enable a particularly unique playstyle given that Life Stealer also affects Earth Dive. 
 Thunder Wagon:
1. Remove "Tainted Death" from shadow affinity
2. Change Shadow affinity (p) ➜ Frost affinity (b)
   A. Blessed Flamethrower (b): Now able to target air units.
[ Building Changes ]
It is the general principle of the faction design team not to change abilities or introduce complex mechanics needlessly. Cards should generally perform a single function and perform that function well. A lot of the buildings in the game are already well-designed, but lack sufficient stats or possess too strict of requirements. As such, we have opted wherever possible to introduce simple changes to bring the tower to the appropriate power level. If you would like to learn more about our thought process behind the tower changes, please head to Skylords Reborn Documents to read our design Deep Dive on Towers, as well as other design documents. 
 Artillery:
1. Range: 50m ➜ 60m
2. Increased turret turn speed.
Allow Artillery to damage siege units even when placed behind a wall.
 Bandit Launcher:
1. Flame Arrow splash radius: 5m ➜ 8m 
2. Life points: 1500 ➜ 800
3. Add "Fast Construction" - Construction time is reduced by 50%.
4. Firebug:
   A. Radius: 20m ➜ 25m
   B. Power cost: 20 ➜ 25 Energy
   C. Infused Firebug damage: 400, up to 1200 in total ➜ 600, up to 1800 in total
   D. Tainted Firebug damage: 600, up to 1800 in total ➜ 800, up to 2400 in total
Differentiate Bandit Launcher from its more defensive oriented brother Rioter's Retreat by focusing it around attacking and using its suicide ability to quickly and cheaply clear enemies.  
 Deepgorge:
1. Cold Clutch radius: 25m ➜ 30m.
Deepgorge has substantially increased in strength since the most recent changes, particularly in connection with North Star(b) with which it naturally synergizes. Unfortunately, due to the tower's large size, its ability radius is still too small when the tower is placed behind a wall making it difficult even for a well-placed Deepgorge to hit all melee attackers on long walls. 
 Fire Bomb:
1. Damage: 715 up to 1650 in total ➜ 720, up to 1800 in total
2. Add "Fast Construction" - Construction time is reduced by 50%.
3. Allow to hit air units & enable splash overflow fix.
Small buff to Fire Bomb that should allow it to be used more aggressively. 
 Hammerfall:
1. Increase turret turn speed.
2. Breeze of Life (g) / Breeze of Strength (b):
   A. Maximum capacity: 1500 ➜ 3000
   B. Recharge rate: 15 per second ➜ 40 per second
   C. Radius: 20m ➜ 25m
3. Breeze of Strength, Ice Shield cost: 495 capacity ➜ 600 capacity
Increased turret turn speed should increase damage output due to faster target tracking. Change to affinity effects: Higher maximum capacity should make both affinity effects better, but especially Hammerfall (g) which is only drained as required. Higher recharge rate means that a new Ice Shield can be bestowed every 15 seconds instead of every 33 seconds, even with the higher cost. Radius increase will make it easier to place units around it. Total charge time is now 90 seconds. Additionally, Hammerfall's shields do not decay while within the aura. This makes them a stable source of extra health for allied units. Hammerfall's recharge and healing is still less than Healing Well's, a T2 60p card, with the same maximum capacity.
 Howling Shrine:
1. Essence Bolts damage: 600, up to 900 in total (3000 dp20) ➜ 750, up to 1125 in total (3750 dp20)
2. Crowd control duration (both affinities): 10 sec ➜ 15 seconds
Howling Shrine is feeling better after the buffs both to itself and to the root network in general. When the initial changes were proposed, some people suggested larger buffs to the card, but we urged caution due to the difficulty to account for how things would change once the full set of root network changes came through. Now that we can evaluate the changes more fully, it appears that Howling Shrine is still on the weak side. To remedy this, we are giving it a +25% damage increase and increasing the duration of both its root and paralyze to help it keep dangerous melee units at a safe distance. 
 Infected Tower:
1. Damage: 114, up to 172 in total (1215 dp20) ➜ 138, up to 207 in total. (1466 dp20)
2. Splash Radius: 5m ➜ 8m
A +20% damage increase and small splash radius increase. Changes to Infected Tower's ability have been postponed until we can properly rework it.
 Lost Converter:
1. Add Soul Splicer's "Soul Suction" ability to the card, allowing it to gather corpses outside its passive range.
2. Corpse cost to freeze: 200 ➜ 250 stored life points
All corpse support buildings should have a way to gather corpses from further away. As such, we are adding Soul Splicer's Soul Suction ability to both Lost Converter and Waystation, as well as any future buildings of this type. 
 Morklay Trap:
1. Enable splash overflow fix
2. Explosion Blast total damage: 2640 in total ➜ 4400 in total
Increase total targets from 3 to 5 and enable splash damage properly transferred even when units die. This should make Morklay Trap a viable option to clear T3 camps or defend against incoming waves. 
 Stone Hurler:
1. Damage: 100 damage, up to 150 in total (834 dp20) ➜ 120 up to 180 in total (1000 dp20)
Align actual damage with stated damage on the card through an approximately +20% damage increase.
 Twilight Bombard:
1. Remove "Siege" from Infused affinity
2. Add "Rage" to Infused affinity. 
   A. Stage 1: +25%; Stage 2: +50% damage
   B. Attacks per stage: 3
   C. Reset timer: 10 seconds
3. Increase turret turn speed. 
The red affinity of Twilight Bombard has Siege as its affinity effect, which is largely useless. By changing it to Rage instead, we make the choice between the two affinities one of increased damage versus crowd control.
 Waystation:
1. Add Soul Splicer's "Soul Suction" ability to the card, allowing it to gather corpses outside its passive range.
2. New passive, Fast Construction: Construction time is reduced by 50%.
3. Infused damage buff: 30% ➜ 40%
4. Tainted poison damage: 30 life points every second ➜ 40 life points every second
5. Corpse storage: 2500 total ➜ 4500 total
6. Corpse cost per potion/poison (both affinities): 180 ➜ 400 stored life points will be used up.
7. Radius: 25m ➜ 30m
The first step in what will eventually be a full rework of Waystation. For now, the addition of fast construction means it can be set up offensively as its name suggests and the addition of Soul Suction means it should be able to easily gather corpses to fuel itself. Gave a small boost to both affinity effects and increased the radius to require ranged units to enter its effective radius to damage it.
 Worldbreaker Gun:
1. Life points: 4500 ➜ 5400
2. Descriptive: Add "Has a long range of 50m" to its Ground Attack description.
WBG is the best defense in the entire game, but that is achieved primarily through its Heavy Snowball ability augmented by Skyelf Sage. In terms of functions as a tower, it is still good, but has uncharacteristically low life points for its cost and tier. We are giving it a slight bump in total health, which should help it when functioning as a tower, while leaving it unchanged as a long range artillery piece. 

PvP Balance Changes
[ Twilight Follow-up ]
After the first round of Twilight buffs and the new introduction of Twilight Crawlers, the faction did not reach the level of performance for which we had hoped. Making good use of Twilight cards and transformation mechanics in a dynamic environment turned out to be too difficult. We will buff some cards to add further incentive of mastering Twilight decks. This might not be the last Twilight iteration as we will continue to monitor the situation moving forward.
 Slaver:
1. Life points: 780 ➜ 820
Increased durability to make Slaver better when used on open ground, where the unit is prone to kiting.
 Twilight Brute:
1. Life points: 780 ➜ 820
2. Bloodlust ability duration: 20 seconds ➜ 25 seconds
Increased stat efficiency and also extended buff duration upon Transforming, making it a little easier to utilize.
 Twilight Crawlers:
1. Damage: 940 dp20 ➜ 1000 dp20
2. Chitin Shell ability damage reduction: 20% ➜ 30%
Whereas Twilight Crawlers scale decently well into high energy game stages, they don’t provide enough stability in early game. They had problems dueling some units they were supposed to counter making it incredibly difficult to play from behind. Increased stat efficiency and higher absorption rate on their passive should settle this and make Twilight Crawlers a worthy S-counter.
 Twilight Minions:
1. Incentive ability duration (both affinities): 20 seconds ➜ 25 seconds
Extended buff duration upon Transforming, making it easier to make use of the effect.
 Vileblood:
1. Power cost: 130p ➜ 120p
2. Damage: 1400 dp20 ➜ 1250 dp20
3. Life points: 1350 ➜ 1250
4. Transformation ability cost: 111p ➜ 102p
5. Infused Liquids (r) ability: 130 damage per wave (520 total) ➜ 150 damage per wave (960 total)
6. Gifted Liquids (g) ability: 250 healing per wave ➜ 300 healing per wave
Reduced unit cost and adjusted stat efficiency to reward multi-unit set-ups and transformation effects. The decreased damage ratio will limit the impact Vileblood has on its own, but with less bound power, there are many more options to combine it with other cards and abilities.
[ Tier 1 ]
 Executor:
1. Burnout ability:
   A. Damage buff: 60% more damage ➜ 80% more damage
   B. Damage debuff: Now 60% less damage on all upgrades
   C. Damage buff duration: 20 seconds ➜ 30 seconds
   D. Damage debuff duration: 30 seconds ➜ 20 seconds on all upgrades
After Nightguard received nerfs, Executor's performance as a compensation tool has been a bit underwhelming. These changes should address early L-counter issues and diversify Shadow’s defensive options in T1.
 Forsaken:
1. Frenzy ability initial cooldown: 0 seconds ➜ 7 seconds
With this patch, we intend to distribute the power of Shadow T1 more evenly and improve faction design overall. Shadow T1 is very Forsaken centric against Fire T1 and in the mirror matchup. The Frenzy ability allows them to be good in skirmishes, defense, and siege at the same time. While this can’t be changed fundamentally for slot reasons and due to available design options, we can shift a bit of Shadows' defensive strength from Forsaken to Wrathblades and Executor. This should add a bit more depth to the mentioned matchups and goes more in line with what would be expected from the counter system. 
 Thugs:
1. Damage: 720 dp20 ➜ 750 dp20
2. Gang Up! ability: Now works based on nearby friendly orcs, not just friendly Thugs.
As newly buffed Wrathblades will have a certain impact on skirmishing against Fire T1, Thugs will receive a slight damage increase as well.
 Warden's Sigil (g):
1. Gifted Sigil Ice Shield regeneration: 25 strength per second ➜ 35 strength per second
Providing clear identities to both Sigil affinities and granting more reasons to pick anything besides the frost one.
 Wrathblades:
1. Burnout ability:
   A. Damage buff: 60% more damage ➜ 80% more damage
   B. Damage debuff: Now 60% less damage on all upgrades
   C. Damage buff duration: 20 seconds ➜ 30 seconds
   D. Damage debuff duration: 30 seconds ➜ 20 seconds on all upgrades
[ Tier 2 ]
 Moon:
1. Necroshade ability cost: 50p ➜ 40p
Moon has access to fairly strong abilities, but very high upfront costs put her into a very niche position, especially for a legendary card. Necroshade cost being reduced should add more room for skill expressive gameplay and reinforce her identity as an assassin type unit.
 Ripper:
1. Cannibalize ability regeneration: 25 life points per second ➜ 35 life points per second
Buffed the corpse interaction for increased card value in extended combat and better survivability of dazed summons. This change will also affect the Rippers spawning from Nox Carriers.
 Viridya:
1. Damage: 90, up to 135 in total (750 dp20) ➜ 108, up to 162 in total (900 dp20)
2. Unit's attack radius now applied around the unit hit instead of the squad's center.
Viridya’s autocast is nothing but frustrating to use. Attacks apply such a widespread knockback against squad units, to the point where she stops dealing any damage to them after a single attack. These changes should alleviate the mentioned issue and add a fair reward for utilizing her as an S-counter overall.
[ Tier 3 ]
 Amii Ritual:
1. Power cost: 150p ➜ 80p
2. Duration: 20 seconds ➜ 25 seconds
3. Cooldown: 60 seconds ➜ 100 seconds
In the past, Amii Ritual has been underwhelming as its high cost made it fairly difficult to use the spell when needed the most. With this change the drawbacks of the card will be shifted to a long cooldown instead. This puts more emphasis on good strategic usage. Payoff can be significantly higher, but additional time between activations makes it easier to punish a mistimed use.
 Mo:
1. Mo's Better Blues ability:
   A. Duration: 20 seconds ➜ 30 seconds
2. Group Hug ability:
   A. Minimum healing: 500 life points ➜ 1000 life points
   B. Maximum healing: 3000 life points ➜ 4000 life points 
Whenever Mo sees occasional play, it is due to Stampede being one of the most valuable abilities in the game. More often than not, the cost and cast animation of his remaining abilities make it better to just not use them at all. These buffs should address this without reinforcing his base-nuke oriented play pattern.
 Nox Carrier:
1. Power cost: 180p ➜ 80p
2. Charges: 8 ➜ 16
3. Life points: 1500 ➜ 1050
4. Necro Strike ability (both affinities):
   A. Initial cooldown: 10 seconds ➜ 15 seconds
   B. Damage: 3400 damage ➜ 900 damage
5. Tainted Necro Strike (p) poison duration: 15 seconds ➜ 10 seconds 
Nox-Carrier has been fairly problematic due to its one-dimensional design. The ability to destroy full health orbs turned the unit into a raw stat check, especially when combined with cards that can remove the downside of heavily reduced movement speed. In order to buff this card to a viable state, we needed to get rid of this pattern. As a result, we strictly nerfed the siege ability followed by a drastic cost reduction. This puts higher emphasis on Ripper spawns instead of ability damage. With Rippers also getting buffed, this should add a lot of room for creative card usage and remind everyone that Nox Carrier is actually carrying something.
 Queek Queek:
1. Damage per attack: 76 (610 dp20) ➜ 80 (640 dp20)
2. Attack range of normal Queek Queek: Now always 9m
3. Superpig ability damage buff: 120% (1340 dp20) ➜ 150% (1600 dp20)
Pushing unit stats to at least match other flying units in T3. The opportunity has also been used to clean up damage numbers.
 Shadow Insect:
1. Soul Shock ability damage: 500 ➜ 600
Shadow Insect is a strong unit with a rather unique ability design, but often requires too much micromanagement to outweigh the cons of having weaker stats compared to most other T3 units. We will strengthen the ability a little for that reason.
 Vulcan:
1. Conflagrate ability cost: 50p ➜ 30p
With buffs to many T3 units across the board, Vulcan was left somewhat behind in comparison. With lowered ability cost, it should be easier to make use of his strong damage spikes.

Patch #400039
Welcome to our newest patch. This update contains our seventh balance patch for the game, brand-new cards, and many other changes, enjoy!

Patch Preview
- Four new cards are now available as well as our first ever promo building! Jump in-game to collect Raven Archwalker, Sanctuary(b), Sanctuary(g), and promo Worldbreaker Gun.
- Added player cosmetics! In addition to your avatar, you can now change your border, title, and banner; earnable through achievements. 
- 32 new achievements and changes to several existing endless achievements to go alongside our new cosmetic player system. 
- Our second balance pass on towers, a large number of buffs to well-designed but underperforming cards, and a substantial amount of changes to Nature and Twilight cards.
- New quality of life features including a longer Market Place option, more advanced filtering options, an import/export deck function, and a new advanced filtering in-game guide!

General Changes
There is now an option to list cards in the Market Place for 5 days (120 hours). We hope this will benefit those players which cannot play as frequently, as well as maintain a larger stock of cards in the Market Place to prevent scenarios where there are 0 copies of a card currently listed.  You can now use the chat command /exportdeck to generate and automatically copy a shareable deck code based on your existing deck, which can be shared and imported by other players using /importdeck DECKCODE (i.e. /importdeck MgE9DiF8KhK7FfE) in the in-game chat. We hope this makes sharing decks both on the forums and on Discord easier for everyone. The icon for the final tier of PvE ranks has been changed from the speedrunning shoe to a new ember crown. Since the final rank is Master of the Forge, we think this homage to Brannoc is better fitting. The speedrun shoe might see a return in the future, but as part of speedrunning, not a general rank. A new advanced filtering tooltip has been added to the card menu. It includes a list of commands and operators, alongside examples of how to combine them, to help players be able to utilize this powerful filtering system. Additionally two new commands have been added: rarity and power. Achievement tooltips have been expanded greatly. You should now be able to see all maps required to complete an achievement from the tooltip. Achievements have been reorganized into a general progression list and the achievement type is now listed on the banner to give players a better understanding of which achievements are appropriate to their current skill level. The dropdown menus have also been updated accordingly. Current time in queue is now shown in the ranked PvP lobby. Allowed for custom extensions for advanced filtering.  Loading screen will now be displayed bigger for higher resolutions (added support up to QHD 2560x1440).
 
New Cards
Sanctuary - 80p T4 Nature  (Frost and Nature Affinity)
You will find the upgrades for this card on the maps The Soultree and Titans

When rebalancing Pure Nature, we determined the faction lacked sufficient tools to counter several existing threats, such as Willzappers. Given Nature's unit-focused strategy and that Mark of the Keeper's effect is a well known and uniquely Nature mechanic, we thought it would be more fitting for a Pure Nature spell than another standard CC or rejuvenation effect. Sanctuary can turn off ranged units and buildings, giving Nature a way to deal with difficult Lost Souls and Twilight camps. For more information, check out Community Update 30.
Raven Archwalker - 300p T4 Legendary   
You will find the upgrades for this card on the map Mo.
Raven Archwalker is our next addition to our developing Raven legendary deck. Just like Ravenheart, Raven Archwalker speeds up when near other Raven units. Like the walker it is based off of from the campaign map Mo, Archwalker has the ability to fire a corrupting aura capable of damaging both units and buildings. Given the way Aura of Corruption works, and the fact that legendary units are fully splashable, this means players will even be able to use healing spells to deal damage. For more information, check out Community Update 29.
Worldbreaker Gun (promo) - 250p T4 Fortress 
The promo version of Worldbreaker Gun will be unlocked by completing the achievement "Urban Planner" detailed below.
While debating which promo card to release next, we thought it would be a good idea to release our first ever promo building. The decision of which building was an easy one. We wanted a tower which was both widely used and widely loved. Worldbreaker Gun fits the bill in every sense, and it seems right to make a Frost card the first promo building.
 

Player Cosmetics 
A major part of the upcoming update is the addition of new cosmetic options. These new options include banners and avatar borders. Additionally, there are several new avatars from which to choose and players can now customize their player titles. Players will now be able to pick between any titles they earned, whether from PvE, PvP, or achievements. 

[ New Cosmetics ]
Progressive Faction Borders
Each faction, excluding Amii and Fire/Frost, will be receiving progressive avatar borders. For now there are only two levels, but eventually we plan to add at least a third level. Level 1 borders can be earned by winning 10 games in ranked PvP or 25 wins in any PvE mode with the respective faction. Level 2 requires winning 25 ranked PvP games or 50 PvE games. These rewards are retroactive.
Progressive Random PvE Avatars
Both level 9 and level 10 rPvE will have new progressive avatars.
Faction Banners
Each faction primary faction (Fire, Frost, Nature, and Shadow) will receive a single banner inspired by that faction. 
Individual Avatar Borders
There will be three non-faction avatar borders added: Shield, Burlap, and Gold borders.
New Avatars
Seven new avatars will be earnable via achievements: Silver Lock, Human Brannoc, Fortification Wall, Gift, Banzai Bird, Crossed Swords, Mask, and Gold Coin avatars.
Individual Banners
There will be three non-faction banners added: Cannon Holes, Shield, and Jorne banners.
Combo Cosmetic
There will be one combo cosmetic set: A New Sun Avatar + Banner
New Titles
There will be seven new titles to earn: "Makeshift Defender", "Tutorial Master", "Anxious Traveler", "Moneybags", "Eagle Scout", "Day Trader", and "Monopoly Man"

New Achievements 
32 new achievements. A majority of these achievements were taken from previous community suggestions.
[ Miscellaneous Achievements ]
Bladestorm Street Trader  [Title: Day Trader & Title: Monopoly Man]
Buy or sell cards in the Auction House. [100 & 1000 cards]
Dragon's Hoard  [Title: Moneybags & Border: Gold]
Earn gold. [5.000.000 & 10.000.000 gold]
[ Advanced Achievements ]
A New Sun  [Avatar: New Sun; Banner: New Sun]
Complete all initially released campaign maps on advanced difficulty or higher playing only cards from the Twilight Edition.
Burning Crusade  [Banner: Fire]
Win the 2-player scenario Crusade on advanced difficulty or higher with all players in your team playing only Fire cards.
Frost Rescue Team  [Banner: Frost]
Win the 2-player scenario Slave Master on advanced difficulty or higher with all players in your team playing only Frost cards.
Gotta Go Fast  [Avatar: rPvE 9 progressive]
Win a 4-player randomly generated PvE scenario of difficulty 9 within X minutes (Progressive achievement).
I Believe I Can Fly  [Title: Eagle Scout]
Win a 1-player randomly generated PvE scenario of difficulty 7 or higher without playing any ground units.
Ruthless Green Plague  [Banner: Nature]
Win a 1-player randomly generated PvE scenario of difficulty 9 or higher playing only Nature cards.
The Nightmare's Nightmare  [Banner: Shadow]
Win the 2-player scenario The Nightmare Shard on advanced difficulty or higher with all players in your team playing only Shadow cards.
[ Veteran Achievements ]
A Need For Speed  [Avatar: rPvE 10 progressive]
Win a 4-player randomly generated PvE scenario of difficulty 10 within X minutes (Progressive achievement).
An Ill-fated Expedition  [Avatar: Crossed Swords]
Win the 1-player scenario Ocean on expert difficulty without playing any flying units.
Brannoc's Surprise Party  [Avatar: Gift]
Win the 4-player scenario Titans on expert difficulty after successfully freeing all civilians before Jorne arrives.
Build Bridges, Not Walls  [Avatar: Fortification Wall]
Win the 2-player scenario Sunbridge on expert difficulty without activating the Amii Devices.
Cheapskate  [Border: Burlap]
Complete 10 different campaign maps on expert difficulty, playing only cards of common rarity.
He Made the Trains Run on Time  [Banner: Jorne]
Win the 4-player campaign scenario King of the Giants on expert difficulty after successfully destroying all walls in Rogan's path before he arrives.
Makeshift Defender  [Title: Makeshift Defender]
Win the 1-player scenario The Treasure Fleet on expert difficulty without losing a wagon and by playing only cards from Tier 2 and below.
No Human Left Behind  [Banner: Shield]
Win the 1-player scenario Siege of Hope on expert difficulty without losing any refugee units and the 1-player scenario The Soultree on expert difficulty without losing any of the Lyrish Defenders.
Protection Racket  [Avatar: Banzai Bird]
Win the 4-player scenario Bad Harvest on expert difficulty with all players in your team playing only Fire, Shadow, or Bandit cards while successfully destroying all guild cannons.
With Your Shield, or on It  [Border: Shield]
Win the 1-player scenario Mo on expert difficulty, playing only unit cards.
[ Virtuoso Achievements ]
Codebreaker  [Avatar: Locked Page]
Win the 4-player scenarios Dwarven Riddle and Guns of Lyr on expert difficulty solo without using buildings or building walls.
Corporate Downsizing [Avatar: Gold Coin]
Win 2 different campaign scenarios on expert difficulty with all players in your team using decks containing no more than 5 total cards.
It's the Player, Not the Cards  [Title: Tutorial Master]
Win any campaign scenario on expert difficulty with all players in your team using the Tutorial deck.
Lone Ranger  [Avatar: Mask]
Complete 4-player scenario maps solo on expert difficulty.
Teleportation Anxiety  [Title: Anxious Traveler]
Win the 2-player scenario Crusade and the 1-player scenario Ocean on expert difficulty without activating any Amii Devices.
Too Heavy to Carry  [Banner: Cannon Holes]
Win the 4-player scenario Blight on expert difficulty, destroying all bandit garrisons before they launch their attacks.
Urban Planner  [Card: Worldbreaker Gun (Promo)]
Win the 2-player scenario The Sunbridge and the 1-player scenarios Mo and Ocean on expert difficulty, with all players in your team playing only building and spell cards.
[ Leaderboard Achievements ]
Master of the Forge  [Avatar: Human Brannoc]
Achieve rank 1 in any leaderboard at the end of the month.
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger  [3x General Booster, repeatable]
Achieve rank 3 or higher in any leaderboard at the end of the month.
A Legend Among Gods  [100.000 gold, repeatable]
Achieve rank 10 or better in the PvP 1v1 leaderboard at the end of the month.
Hero Among Lords  [50.000 gold, repeatable]
Achieve rank 25 or better in the PvP 1v1 leaderboard at the end of the month.
Skylord Special Forces  [25.000 gold, repeatable]
Achieve rank 50 or better in the PvP 1v1 leaderboard at the end of the month.
Skylord Enforcer  [10.000 gold, repeatable]
Achieve rank 100 or better in the PvP 1v1 leaderboard at the end of the month.

Got about 700 nature uncommons ready to be forged, nice!

• Patch date: 14-01-2023
Greetings Skylords,
We have a patch date!
Our upcoming patch will be releasing next Saturday, January 14th! This patch will release the new cards Sanctuary and Raven Archwalker, as well as our first promo building: Worldbreaker Gun. There will also be new achievements to complete, the introduction of player cosmetics, and a ton of balance changes.
You can find the patch notes here.
Alongside the patch, we will also release a special recap video of everything that was added to Skylords Reborn since the release, voiced by Dreamlord. Catching up on Skylords Reborn should be easier than ever, and we hope we can count on you to spread the word about this great game.
We hope you are looking forward to it!

cool

Happy new year, Skylords!
A new year; a new Community Update! It's time to bring you up to speed with everything going on in Skylords Reborn!

• 2nd Anniversary Stream

The 18th of December marked the 2nd Anniversary of Skylords Reborn! Two years ago, after many years of internal development and open stress tests, BattleForge was playable once again. We are very grateful for all your continued enthusiasm and support! 
On the anniversary, we hosted a celebration stream. If you missed it, you can view it on our YouTube channel. We will also cover most of the announcements in this Community Update.
Please note: The Anniversary Card Creation Contest ends today. If you want to participate, do so now! 
 



• Upcoming Content Patch

Sadly, our upcoming Content Patch which was planned for December didn't make it in time. The combination of many things to review (including our new feature Cosmetics) and the busy holidays proved to be a bit too ambitious. 
Since the upcoming patch will break replays due to the many balance changes deployed alongside it, we know it's far from ideal for events to not have a set patch date. We are doing our best to release the patch as soon as possible in early January, but sadly can't lock in a concrete date yet.
Please keep an eye on the Discord and the forum for more information in the coming days. 


• Upcoming Feature: Cosmetics

For our first anniversary patch, we had Reforging as our big new feature, focusing on improving the economy. 
For our second anniversary, Cosmetics will be introduced as a way to provide more challenges and collectibles. 
Players will be able to collect new borders, banners and titles, further customizing their experience. Here is a look at the new borders:  
 

 
Borders are the part of your profile that surround your character portrait. With the patch release, there will be two borders to choose from for each of the different elements/factions in the game. The first border is a simple but clean colour scheme, where the second level expands on the theme of the faction a bit more, like more vines for Nature or infestation for Twilight. 
Borders can be combined with Banners, here is an example: 
 

 
Banners, borders, and profile pictures can be freely combined to make unique combinations. There will also be new titles to unlock. An example of a title can be seen in the picture, above the name, in this case "Game Master". 
Your cosmetics will show up in the lobby, and when hovering over players in the chat list.   
 

 
Those new banners, borders, titles (and a few new profile pictures), are tied to new Achievements, which provide a variety of new challenges. Some will be rewarded simply by playing games with your favourite action, while others might ask you to complete the campaign using only cards from the Twilight Edition. 
We hope you are looking forward to a bunch of new challenges to explore, and new bling to show off! 
 
• Upcoming New Promo: Worldbreaker Gun

While our new cards Sanctuary and Raven Walker had already been announced in previous Community Updates, we had one more surprise in store in our stream: our next promo card and the first promo building: Worldbreaker Gun! 

In this year's feedback survey, people let us know loud and clear they would like to see buildings get the promo treatment. The newly buffed Worldbreaker Gun felt like the perfect candidate for being the very first promo building. 

You will be able to unlock this new promo by completing the upcoming achievement Urban Planner.

-- Please note: this achievement is not yet live! --
Urban Planner
Win the 2-player scenario The Sunbridge and the 1-player scenarios Mo and Ocean on expert difficulty, with all players in your team playing only building and spell cards
-- Please note: this achievement is not yet live! --
As with Mana Wing Promo, the promo will not drop from boosters, but will be tradeable. If you don't want to do the challenge yourself, you can buy the card on the market, or trade it with other players. 
 
• Advanced Filtering

We greatly expanded the search function in both the inventory and marketplace during the time of our first anniversary, which was probably overlooked by a lot of players in the new-patch-hype. Our developer Kubik wrote an in depth document about the way the new (and old) function worked, with handy shortcuts to find just the cards you need. 
But even the players who were aware of the new tools at their disposal, had a hard time remembering the search commands. Our UI designer Ult and Skylord of Honour Kapo worked together to provide a handy new ingame tooltip that should make searching for cards a lot easier for everyone. 
 

 
• Future Development Focus

We spend the last two years on improving and balancing many, many cards. We currently feel the balance of the game, while not perfect, is in the best place it has ever been. The campaign and rPvE are playable with every faction right now, and while PvE changes will continue, we intend a major pivot next patch cycle to map/game content with many of our balance developers and team members. 
This means we will put more focus on providing more map-based content, like our alternative Halloween map Spooky Encounters, the upcoming Nature rPvE faction, Defensive rPvE, tweaks to the difficulty levels of rPvE and new campaign maps. Basically, we want to focus on creating content that will lure back old players, and invite new ones in. 
This has proven challenging. While every player automatically has access to the map editor, map making is a long and patient process. We are very aware people are looking forward to new campaign maps, but their design is a huge undertaking, and due to the volunteer nature of the project, mapmakers don't always stick it out till the end. 
If you want to help out in the map department, please take a look at our open positions:
• Map Designer
• Map Developer
• Map Artist
We are also looking for an Audio Editor to help us with processing voice acting takes. Want to help out in another area? Check out our open positions.

 
• Tournaments / Events

Since Community Updates are posted on a monthly schedule, events might come and go in between them. Be sure to keep a close eye on the ingame event-tab and the forum calendar to not miss any events! 

• CLOSING SOON – Official Card Design Contest - UNTIL 01.01.2023 23:59 CET
A contest like this has often been suggested: create your own card! Entries will be judged by a jury of Designers and there are tiered prizes, including boosters and promos. Maybe your design will even make it into the game! Today is the last day to join: More information.

• Host your own tournament / event
Want to host a tournament or event yourself? Please reach out to our Event Organizer, Metagross! We can help you out with various topics and are glad to discuss potential ideas. We can also sponsor the prize pool for your event. If you have a cool idea for a PvE event, or want to host a PvP tournament, please don't hesitate to reach out to us, we will gladly assist you.

• Newsletter

While we do our best to make it easy to follow Skylords Reborn by providing monthly news through these Community Updates, we are limited to the Forum and our Social Media channels to reach you. You can now sign up to our newsletter, which we will use to give you a heads-up about a new patch release or Community Update. Don't worry, we hate spam as much as you do and won't use your data in any other way. 

 If you provided your e-mail during our summer survey to stay up to date, you are automatically subscribed. 
 
• In Conclusion

And that's it for this Community Update, thanks for reading! 
As is tradition, this community update comes with a scratch code. 
The code will reward you with a General-booster: HAPP-YNEW-YEAR-2023

The code is valid until February 1st, when we will bring you another Community Update. 
As always, we are open to feedback, so please let us know if you have any questions, suggestions, or comments! 

Archive
• Skylords Reborn Documents (Deep Dives, Behind the Scenes, PvP Guide)  
• Overview Community Updates
• Community Update #30

Welcome to the Official Anniversary Card Design Contest!

 
 
THE CONTEST HAS ENDED.
To see all winning entries, CLICK HERE
 
 
 
 
Anniversaries are special opportunities – and we like to take this head-on and really show that Skylords Reborn is for the Community, by the Community! A contest like this has often been suggested, now is the time to ask you for your card development ideas.
 
In this contest, you are called to submit your idea for a new card,
which will be presented to high-ranking jurors for judgement.


The jurors for this will be the designers @Hirooo, @RadicalX and @WindHunter – for those who don't know, these are the guys who are calling the shots in the SR Team about what makes the cut for new content.
Important note: Of course, there is no obligation for the SR Team to make any entry into a real card. But, a good idea that really fits into the game has a lot of power, and your idea will be heard, seen and judged anonymously and without any barrier of entry.
The contest starts with the reveal of this post and ends on the 1st of January 2023, 23:59 CET. Submit your entry through Discord (DM to Kapo#0116) or the Skylords Forum (DM to @Kapo). I will anonymize the entries, present them to the jury, and after a voting phase the winners will be revealed.
 

Rules:
Your idea must be a new card (NOT a rework of an already existing card or a Promo card) Units and buildings must be fitting for an already existing model (this is a technical limitation, but re-texturing can do wonders) Unfortunately, we also can't allow for Fire/Frost or Rainbow-cards (or any other outside the known factions, due to technical limitations) You are asked to create the fully upgraded version (see below: Things you don't need to add) By entering, you are giving away your card idea with permission to modify it  – the final design may differ from your submission here You are limited to a maximum of TWO entries - if you win on both, you will recieve the higher price You are asked to use the following template:
 
Things you don't need to add:
Rarity Upgrade Levels (submit a fully upgraded design) Number of Charges Artwork for the card At the end of the contest, we may make a compilation of the entries – by participating, you automatically agree to be included in that.
 
Suggestions:
In preparation for this contest, we asked the jurors to drop some hints on what is needed for a good design.
You might not want to create a new super-powerful card, but a card that's interesting. Maybe it fills a special niche case in a faction (like Burning Spears), or it is special, or meme-worthy (like Easter Egg). Balance is important! The best cards are useful, fill essential roles, and are not overpowered. If you design a T1 or T2 card, think about PvP implications. Fit the card to the faction: Think about the intentional strengths and weaknesses of each faction. Potentially, you see an extremely missing card in an arsenal, but that could be part of that faction's design. Also, breaking core rules of the game requires a very, very, very good reason. For both topics, see: Design Philosophy Document. You are allowed to submit a legendary (neutral) card, but please note those are much harder to design and balance properly. You may present some optical aid to the jurors: On https://smj.cards/creator you can easily create your own card-mockup:
 



Voting and Prize Tiers:
PLATINUM TIER
Platinum tier are creations that REALLY could be considered to be added to the game. They must not be all-around perfect, since someone who is not on the SR team cannot know about every problem faced when implementing cards. Platinum entries are cool, captivating and would be a great addition to the game.
Platinum tier winners will win a low-grade promo of choice (e.g., Fallen Skyelf, Lyrish Knight or Rogan Kayle) or Ultra-Rare of choice of similar value (Infect, Forest Elder etc.). Should your card some day make it into the game, you will get it for your own collection.
 
GOLD TIER
Gold tier suggestions are cool and interesting suggestions, but are lacking significantly in ONE (but only one!) way:
Unbalanced design with no way to repair that Clearly impossible to implement  Too niche to be worth the implementation Not fitting for any faction or into the game Not really a fitting, existing model in the game etc. Gold tier winners will win a Booster, accompanied by an (good) Rare or (medium) Ultra Rare card.
 
SILVER TIER
Silver Tier suggestions are solid suggestions, but are lacking in more than one way to make it into the game. For examples of what could cause issues, see the mentioned list above.
Silver tier winners will win a Booster.
          

We are looking forward to your designs! If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Best regards,
Skylords Reborn Team

 

Undead army and bloodhealing is usually enough.
gives you access to winterwitch and she's pretty strong, so i don't know if it's weaker than . Still one of those or would be the orbcombos i would try to avoid in most cases, so i'm thinking in the same direction as you as what might be the weakest. A solo shadow orb is always wrong in my book (unless you wanna spam LSS), a second shadow orb simply quadruples the potential (resource booster!). makes me notice im a 2x/2x guy (or 4X), never really play anything 3x/1x...

Undead army and bloodhealing is usually enough.
gives you access to winterwitch and she's pretty strong, so i don't know if it's weaker than . Still one of those or would be the orbcombos i would try to avoid in most cases, so i'm thinking in the same direction as you as what might be the weakest. A solo shadow orb is always wrong in my book (unless you wanna spam LSS), a second shadow orb simply quadruples the potential (resource booster!). makes me notice im a 2x/2x guy (or 4X), never really play anything 3x/1x...

Seems like some pvp players didn't get the message because ranked 1vs1 is pretty popular at the moment.

With the playerbase as low as it is it would make more sense to compare active players in ranked for example (people who had matches in the last weeks). Comparing those you see that there are more players in pvp than 1 month ago, much more than 3 months ago. Nobody claims its a superpopular mode. But you claimed it's dead, wich is definetly not the case.

With the playerbase as low as it is it would make more sense to compare active players in ranked for example (people who had matches in the last weeks). Comparing those you see that there are more players in pvp than 1 month ago, much more than 3 months ago. Nobody claims its a superpopular mode. But you claimed it's dead, wich is definetly not the case.

Since some of the discord user asked me directly if I can share my … “unique card drawings”,
I though why not make a post in the forum where people can fine all at one place.
Also, the newer ones have a speed drawing video on Youtube.
(If you want an image of the unit without the card around and in a better resolution, just PM me)
Promo Juggernaut
 
Promo Harvester
 
Promo Razorleaf
Speed Drawing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm-gbnl7d2Y
 
Promo Lyrish Knight
Speed Drawing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7ePLaWtQiM
 
Promo Swamp Drake
Speed Drawing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIqbTFv0yxA
 
Promo Rogan Kayle
Speed Drawing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1pSzZryvxg
 
Promo Firedancer
Speed Drawing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLCA-knvuT0
 
Promo Grinder
Speed Drawing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeVJRF6eDP0
 
Promo Worldbreaker Gun
Speed Drawing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcDg5c8y7h8
 
Promo Viridya
First of April Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kIP6QhVM9g
The gif version can be found: here
 
 Promo Fallen Skyelf
Speed Drawing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oZKyvGrR-Q
 
Promo Ravenheart
Speed Drawing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJaxHDE2MrI
 (Promo) Moon
The gif version can be found: here
 

What is Advanced Filtering?
Your card collection has clickable filters like rarity, orb colour, and more. But there is also an extremely powerful search bar that accepts special commands to filter your cards. Below you will find a list of all those commands with some explanations. (Please note, due to the necessary formatting, this article will look weird on mobile devices.)


 
Basic Filters
Command Example promo: + 1 or 0                                                        `promo:1` (Instead of 1/0 you can also use: true/false, yes/no) flying: + 1 or 0    ranged: + 1 or 0   melee: + 1 or 0       name= + exact card name   e.g.: `name=Mo` (exact match) name: + part of card name  e.g.: `name:enli` name? + approximate card name   e.g.: `name?abonimation` class name= e.g.: `class name=Soldier` (exact match)   class name: e.g.: `class name:Archer` class name? e.g.: `class name?Dominatrix` ability=  e.g.: `ability=swift` ability:   ability?       class: + ID (or SR assigned name)                              e.g.: `class:female` rarity: or rarity= + rarity name  e.g.: `rarity:rare` affinity: or affinity= + affinity name   e.g.: `affinity:shadow` edition: or edition= + edition name (or ID)   e.g.: `edition:twilight` colors() e.g.: `colors(nature, !fire, !shadow)` to see only nature, and Stonekin   `colors(fire, !other)` to show only fire cards colors=() exact match, e.g. `colors=(fire, nature)` to see only Twilight size: + type e.g.: `size:XL` counter: + type e.g.: `counter:XL` Affinity names: `shadow`, `nature`, `frost`, `fire`, and `-` or `none` for cards without affinity
Edition names: `3` =`twilight`, `4` = `renegade`, `5` = `lostsouls`, `6` = `amii`, `7` = `rebirth`
Color names: `fire`, `frost`, `shadow`, `nature`, `neutral`, `other`
Size and Counter types: `S`, `M`, `L`, `XL`, `special` (special is used for buildings or magic)

Number Range Filters
Operators:
     
power + number range                                       e.g.: `power>300` damage + number range  e.g.: `damage>500` health + number range  e.g.: `health>500` upgrade + number range e.g.: `upgrade<3` to show cards that are missing an upgrade charges + number range  e.g.: `charges<3` to show cards that are missing a charge copies + number range  e.g.: `copies>4`  to show what to reforge ID + number range (mostly for internal/development use and for the search in market feature)
Combining Filters

Operators:
      
      
Logical OR matches at least one of the filters. If one is matching and the other is not, it will return a result.
Logical AND has to match both filters. Only if both conditions apply will it return a result.
Logical NOT inverts the result. Beware that not all filters can be inverted, that's why it may be advisable to use !(filter).
Wrapping the filter with `( )` does not change it in any way, but allows easier organization.
 
Error Tolerance

? Name
?<number> Name
The question mark will help you to search a text with error tolerance. If you know the card name, but you are not sure about spelling, you may use this. You can also use ?<number> to specify the error tolerance you want, e.g. 'name?5' for up to five typos in the name. If you do not specify the tolerance level, level 3 will be used.

“?Light blade” will find “Lightblade” even though the search input had a space in it – “?1Light blade” would also work (because it only contains just one typo).
 
Custom Filters
*name*
You can create any custom filter you want, `Documents\BattleForge\custom_filter_extensions.json` contains some examples.
In-game you can use `*name*` (where `name` is the name of the custom filter), e.g.: *shiny* 
Note: Numbers [0-9] are not allowed for naming custom filters.
 
Market Place Filtering
Advanced Filters also work on the marketplace – for example, if you want to see all cards that you do not own yet, you can use 'copies<1' to find out:

 
Filter Examples
class:Dragon                          Finding dragons for the Draconic Desolation achievement
class:Female                           What works with Girl Power?
charges=3 & copies>1          Something you might want to sell on the market
charges=3 & copies>4          Something you might want to Reforge
charges<3 & copies>1          All cards not fully charged, but you have additional copy, so you might want to apply it
rarity>2                                To see only rare and ultra-rare cards

Suggest your best filters in the comments, so we may add them to the examples!

Keyword List – Languages and Synonyms
 


Final Notes
There is an always up-to-date version of this information in your Skylords Reborn\docs folder.
Additionally, for more information about why this system was created, and how it works, feel free to read HERE.

A special thanks goes out to @Kubik, who made this awesome feature possible and keeps on developing more features for it.

The question is: Do you want this game to succeed or not? The old EA-version was utterly broken, and yes, a few people are having fun with it in this state for nostalgic reasons. If you think the SR team can just flick on a switch and there is a second, old version of the game available, you are mistaken. You need to pour resources into such an undertaking – manpower better spent on making the current (objectively better!) version even more awesome.
It's a fool's quest to make the same 20-30 people happy, and not develop the potential for this game to make 1000 happy – or much, much more. Yes, maybe those "would have played it for many more years", but the game will never have any appeal to new players.

Yeah this feels like a post from 2018, the progress is totally there and also done with a a holisitc approach. For example take pure frost: they made a formerly useless 4th frost orb really great by dreadnougt healing shielded units. Wich also makes him an unatractive target for enlightenment cause his synergy is mostly in his pure deck.
About the thugs nerf: that had to be done cause of pvp, people literally stopped playing because of that card, same for strikers.

Yeah this feels like a post from 2018, the progress is totally there and also done with a a holisitc approach. For example take pure frost: they made a formerly useless 4th frost orb really great by dreadnougt healing shielded units. Wich also makes him an unatractive target for enlightenment cause his synergy is mostly in his pure deck.
About the thugs nerf: that had to be done cause of pvp, people literally stopped playing because of that card, same for strikers.