The Insight On 5 Mana Cards

This will be my 3rd post on the analysis series for cards collection grouped based on mana value (you can find the previous post here and here), and its about time we take a look at the bigger boys.

Cards with 5 mana was supposed to bring bigger arsenal, whether in term of health, armor, damage, or even abilities. They are on the border between low and medium mana cap. On battle limited to low mana cap, they have important roles as the main arsenal (take for example Tenyii Striker, a powerful melee which will strike down any back rows). But on the other side, where battle limited to medium mana cap (lets say around 30 - 45 mana), these cards will be your primary (minimum) cards to fill and create the full formation. So what would we found in the 5 mana level, we shall see on the next section!

List of Cards

I will not retold the guide on how to read the listed table, you can find the guide from my previous 2 posts. In total there are 39 cards which available for modern battle format (1 cards extra if compared to the 4 mana collection). Each cards type are only differ by 2 cards, started with 10 magic cards, followed by 12 melee cards, and ranged the most one with 14 cards. Its a big shift from the 4 mana collection, where melee cards have become the dominant type, this time its ranged cards being the one. Non-attack type still become a minority cards, although their consistent number keeps the presence of this type on all mana levels.

Magic Card

Magic cards are still dominated with Legendary, Epic, and Rare type, with no Normal type at all.

The starting health started to treading up toward 5 health as the median. A few cards like Regal Peryton and Void Dragon, both consecutively started with solid 6 and 7 health. Although there are quite number of health growth, there are also a number of drawback, leading to insignificant real growth for health. Armor are still nowhere to be seen.

Speed started quite low around 1 - 2; except for Regal Peryton and Void Dragon which started with huge 5 speed. These two cards become very notable for their similarities in term of huge health and speed, but also both inherit Flying ability! On starter Void Dragon are somehow stronger considering the extra health and the Void ability.

The collection have have started to show several cards starting with 2 damage. And the most significant is how most of them gained two growth, reaching a median of 3 damage, and a handful already reached 4 damage.

My verdict on this groups:

• Drawback still affect almost all of the cards, which solely come from health drawbacks, hindering the max health could be reached. Dual growth still very limited, so far only available on Void Dragon and Tortisian Chief.

• Abilities are surprisingly less available than the 4 mana collection. And yet there are very few Support Abilities. Only Scavo Technomancer and Spirit Druid Grog which bring a multiple buff/debuff abilities.

• There's a very contrasting status parameter between cards, which seemed to create an imbalance between cards. Some cards with very high status parameter, have more limited abilities and damage (take for example Regal Peryton and Void Dragon); and then for some which have the highest damage stand with average parameter (Djinn Apprentice and Temple Priest); and finally those with the most support abilities seemed to fall behind (Venari Wavesmith, Scavo Technomancer, etc.).

• Following my 2nd and 3rd points above, I believe the 5 mana show very different profile than the 4 mana collection. There are less difference in parameter between cards having Support (especially buff/debuff) with only Tanker or Striker abilities. Meanwhile in my opinion, lower mana cards should have better efficiency in term of buff/debuff benefits to their mana costs. The higher the mana, the less valuable the Support should be, so there should be less parameter discrepancies here.

Melee Card

Melee cards gained quite a jump on health, where previously the average health for 4 mana cards is 3 health, now its averaging at 5 health. There's also extra value on the health growth. While mostly gained 2 health growth; some cards like Lichen Beast, and Harvester gained 3 health. Gloridax gained the most starting at 4 health and reached 8 health at the highest. Although the higher growth is fair and justified to balance the diminishing return. And as far as I saw, the growth scale up much better than the offset from the mana value.

Armored cards are very limited and somehow more dedicated. Both Chain Spinner and Ever-Hungry Skull not only started with huge armor but boosted beyond two digits. Speed looks fair with no particular exception, and some cards started on 3 speed which should grant better evasion and accuracy.

Damage increase steadily with most cards now possessed 2 melee damage. The maximum melee damage have been set to a new standard of an average 4 damage, while cards with 2 damage cease to exist.

My verdict on this groups:

• There's still quite a number of drawbacks happened and the count is in par with 4 mana value (yet this collection have fewer number of cards). Most of the drawback still on the health aspect. Cave Slug is very unfortunate to be affected by dual drawback at Level 6. And while most cards suffer from drawbacks, Gloridax Soldier is distinguished for having 3 dual growth. But even so, Gloridax Soldier started with low parameter and didn't show much excellence on max level.
• Cave Slug (as previously mentioned) is affected very much by the drawbacks, and have the lowest status parameter compared to others. But Cave Slug so far (and might be) the only melee card to possessed Slow which is very priceless. And the addition of Scavenger ability might be the only reason the low starting parameter could catch up during the battle run. Orc Sergeant also possessed buff ability, Inspire. But considering Inspire bring less leverage than Slow, it seemed fair to have Orc Sergeant with better starting parameter.
• There's more number of Flying and Enrage in this mana value. Enrage needs to be triggered by damage, thus its in synergy very well with high health such as Lichen Beast and Harvester.

Non-Attack Card

Not much to talk on Non-Attack card. They still hold their typical profile as pure Support cards, while their parameter status are on balance between health, armor, or speed. Noa The Just so far might be the strongest Non-Attack card, it has parameter jump compared to the best Non-Attack with 4 mana, and having comparable parameter to Evelyn Aurora but with better Speed. But in terms of abilities, Thane Newsong bring the most leverage from its full buff/debuff abilities (especially Swiftness which is quite rare).

Ranged Card

The ranged cards bring a lot of surprise. Not only there's more number of them but also there's more from the Epic type rarity. The starting health are very similar to the 4 mana collection, averaging at 4 to 5 health. But there are less health growth resulting in lesser average health on max level. There's a stark gap between cards, where some cards like Runeslinger, Sniping Narwhal, and Vampiric Blossom, reached 7 to 8 health; but the rest only managed to reach 4 to 5 health. Compare this to the 4 mana collection, where 5 out of 10 cards ended with 6 health.

A total of 3 cards gained minimum armor which gained a very limited single growth. The armor are only possessed by cards with lower health, creating a balance against the cards with higher health. Speed looks decent and indifference compare to 4 mana collection. Starting speed are very various from 1 up to 5 speed, and the final speed also various from 3 up to 6 speed. Fire Elemental and Blook Maker are the only cards to reached 6 speed, with their high speed seemed to balance their lower health.

Ranged damage scale up normally. Most of the cards would start with 2 ranged damage, and then on max level, cards with 4 damage become more populated than the 3 damage.

My verdict on this groups:

• Although the Legendary and Epic type will be more costly, there's still quite number of the remaining cards which is of Rare and Epic types.
• Drawbacks could still be found in several cards, but in overall its fewer than the 4 mana value. Firecaller is notable for affected by 2 speed drawbacks. But the cards itself gained a net growth of 3 speed, attributable to most of its progression is dedicated to speed growth. Dual growth are almost nowhere to be seen, except on Sniping Narwhal, which seemed placed there to offset the two health drawbacks on earlier level.
• The most distinguished aspect might come from the rich variety and number of abilities. Clearly there's a lot of cards gained up to 3 abilities on max level. This extra abilities come mostly from the Target Altering Abilities, where we will find 3 cards with Snipe and 3 cads with Scattershot. Status Ailments Abilities, like Stun, Cripple, Affliction, and Shatter are distributed equally among the cards. Several minor buff/debuff could also be seen. Scale Doctor might be the only ranged cards to have a full scale Support Abilities, which have to be paid with no growth at all on its parameter.
• There's less inequality on the status parameter. Even with all the various abilities, all the cards seemed to have better balance between health, speed, and damage. Runeslinger and Blood Maker, and Vampiric Blossom might have the better overall parameter than the rest. But there are also cards like Firecaller, Fire Elemental, Ferexia General, and Venari Seedsmith which seemingly have lower final parameter. But it could be justified from their leveraged abilities.

Final Words

I've found some of my early most favorite cards from the 5 mana level. The first reason is blatantly come from the melee cards, which damage value scale up normally for this level, but also the health have gained huge jump compared to the 4 mana collection. Thus this melee is not only damage dealer but also survivor. Ranged which seemed to scale up normally from the 4 mana gained extra benefit from the variety of abilities.