[i]"Turn your magic tomes to page 133, and read the patchnotes carefully, as there will be a test on this at the end of the semester."[/i] Hey folks, I'm rolling out some spell balance changes in the Beta Branch today. If things look good, they'll touch down in the main branch shortly alongside the enemy difficulty rebalancing. [h2]Gameplay Changes[/h2] [h3][u]Level 2 Spells[/u][/h3] [b]Lethal Fallout[/b]: Whenever you deal Magic damage, apply that much Poison as well. Was: level 2 Now: level 3 [b]Gaseous Guts [/b]Was: Whenever one of your minion dies, apply 1 Poison to all enemies. Now: Whenever one of your minion dies, apply 4 Poison to enemies in its lane. [b]Explode[/b] Was: Combat Start: Kill a friendly minion, then apply 3 Poison to enemies in its lane. Now: Combat Start: Kill a friendly minion, then apply 4 Poison to all enemies. [b]Exalt [/b]Was: Combat Start: Give a minion +1/+1 this combat for every Related minion. Now: Combat Start: Give a minion +1/+1 this combat for every Related neighbor. Its Related neighbors gain +1/+1 and Defender this combat. [b]Toxify [/b]Was: Combat Start: Apply 4 Poison to an enemy. Now: Combat Start: Apply 4 Poison to an enemy. Poison on this enemy does not decay. [b]Rain of Pain[i] (Watchlisted)[/i][/b] Combat Start: Deal 1 Magic damage to ALL minions. Watchlist. This spell has a low winrate, but I haven't lost hope. [h3][u]Level 3 Spells[/u] [/h3] [b]Monster Mash [/b] Was: Combat Start: Your minions get +1/+1 for each Species among friendly minions on the battlefield. Now: Combat Start: Your minions get +3/+3 if there are 3 or more Species among friendly minions on the battlefield, and another +3/+3 if there are 6 or more. [b]Bifurcate[/b] Passive: If summoning a minion triggers a friendly ability, trigger it twice. Was: level 3 Now: level 2 [b]Augury[/b] Quest: Sacrifice 4 minions. Reward: Increase your Magic Mastery by 1 permanently, then reset this quest. Was: level 3 Now: level 2 [b]Super Summoning [/b]Was: Whenever you summon a minion, give it +5/+5 for this combat. Now: Give the first minion you summon each turn +2/+2 permanently. [b]Overmind [i] (Watchlisted)[/i][/b] This may become level 4. This is on my watch list for two reasons: 1. Randomly getting Overmind as your level 2 quest reward can actually be frustrating 2. Winrate is a standard deviation above the norm, with a relatively even pickrate. [b]Undying Dedication [i] (Watchlisted)[/i][/b] This is on my watchlist, but most likely will be affected when/if shields get nerfed. [h3][u]Level 4 Spells[/u] [/h3][b]Oath of Servitude [i] (Watchlisted)[/i][/b] This spell is above 1 standard deviation from the norm in both pickrate and winrate. When something has both high winrate AND pickrate, that's dangerous for a drafting game. Only reason why I am not changing this yet is because winrate variance in lvl 4 spells is rather low (std is like 8% win rate, and this data was collected pre-area 4 buffs. [b]Corpse Implosion [/b] Minions in your shops have +1/+1 for every minion you've sacrificed this turn. Was: Level 4 Now: Level 3 [b]NEW: Dark Syzygy[/b] Passive: Your Magic damage is empowered by Poison Power. Your Poison damage is empowered by your Magic Power. [b]NEW: Revenant's Revenge[/b] Whenever a friendly minion is attacked and survives, double its Attack for this combat. [b]NEW: Compostable Corpses[/b] Whenever you sacrifice a minion, give a random minion in the shop its stats. [h3][u]Level 5 Spells[/u][/h3] [b]Grotesquerize [/b]Was: Combat Start: Kill a friendly minion, then give Related minions their Attack and Health this combat. Now: Combat Start: Consume a friendly minion permanently, then give Related minions their Attack and Health this combat. [b]Endless Ranks [/b]Was: Whenever you summon a minion, give Related minions +1/+1 permanently. Now: Whenever you summon a minion, give Related minions +2/+1 permanently. [h2]Bug Fixes[/h2] At difficulty 7, Gamble, Training, and Rival shields are unaffected by curses.