[Gods Unchained] Balance Patch Review - Preparation For The New Expansion = Nerfs Left & Right

Hey guys! Yesterday we've got a new balance update that is going to address some issues that are currently present in the game and also prevent some future problems with the introduction of the new expansion set, Trial of the Gods. We are going to go over each change and see how this will impact the current meta but if you are interested in reading the official Gods Unchained patch notes and see their reasoning behind them, take a look at the original post on GU subreddit.

Death changes:

Raise Dead changed from "Summon a creature from any void." to "Summon a creature from any void. Give it soulless."

Raise Dead definitely needed some toning down, although this seems a bit too soft considering that Raise Dead is so powerful for many reasons. You can cheat out a really expensive creature that was discarded early in the game or just resummon a strong creature, also since you can target the opponent's void too, this gives it a lot more flexibility to revive a specific creature that is perfect for the current situation in the game. All of that for ONLY 5 mana. I think there is the problem, the cost, not the possibility to resummon the same creature, because you have only 2 Raise Dead spell in the deck I don't see how repeatedly using it on the same creature is such a big issue. Okay, it prevents you from "re-cheating" the same creature in the early-midgame if your opponent was able to remove it and will this help a bit in those scenarios for the player defending. But again, if it was like 6 mana, this wouldn't be such a big issue in the first place and the spell would still remain powerful, and hopefully, less played.

Runed Asp pick one option Venom Salve changed from "Afterlife: Both gods unlock two mana lock" to "Afterlife: Both gods unlock a mana lock".

Hundred percent right decision. This card was too strong for a ramp card, skipping two turns is just too much for a 2 mana creature that can also trade really well thanks to the burn effect. This problem would be only amplified with the introduction of the new set that gives a new option for mana ramp (Ataraxia), which will most likely be problematic by itself so if Runed Asp becomes less played this issue won't be as big of a concern in the early meta stage. This still remains an okay card but might be something that cripples control death enough so that players restructure their decks with a bit more early-game cards to survive until the late-game.

Light Changes:

Devoted Follower changed from 2 strength and 3 health to 3 strength and 2 health.

This one was a bit over the power curve, there's no doubt about it. But this change just seems rushed and lazy. We all know that this was such a nice counter play to things like Skeleton Heavy and Pyramid Warden and it can be a bit frustrating on the receiving end of this. Even though the change was needed, this one just seems to destroy the way this card was supposed to be used. I'm not saying that now the card is garbage or useless but its identity is completely changed and the controlling aspect of this card is almost non-existent. Now it feels more like tempo/aggro card that helps you trade up rather than stopping early high-value cards (those already mentioned) from taking over the board. The reason behind this change was to prematurely lower the power of the upcoming Light Mystic archetype so I guess they really needed to make this card as bad as possible to keep the Mystic tribe tag.

War Changes:

Deadly Arsenal changed from "Give a creature +2/+2" to Give a creature "+2/+1".

Tartessian Improviser changed from "Roar: Give a random creature in your hand +2/+1." to "Roar: Give a random creature in your hand +2 strength."

Finally! The two most unfair early game cards in War that were used in every Aggro archetype are getting hit with the nerf bat. In the last Balance Patch Review I've already mentioned what I think about those cards and pointed out the problem that comes with them. This is now a lot better. The cheesiness of hyper-aggressive War decks is definitely going to have a lower potential with this change so that you don't already lose the game on turn two when your opponent buff their Pyramid Warden with these cards. I gotta say, good job on this one!

Neutral Changes:

Spartan changed from "Roar: This creature gets +1/+1 for every 2 Olympians in your void." to "Roar: This creature gets +1 strength for every 2 Olympians in your void."

Yeah, this had to happen at some point. Especially now that we will be getting more Olympians introduced into the game. Is it just me or they went a little too harsh on him? Okay, it is definitely great that health doesn't scale anymore but then it would look appropriate to give him one more base health so that he isn't too easy to remove, 3 health is pretty weak and isn't threatening enough for a card that you want to hold on as long as you can to make it worth it. With 4 health, it would be as good as Dune Cavalry once you get two Olympians into the void so the strength of the card will be equal to a pre-nerfed version and after this point, it is getting less relevant. That said, being a 3-drop it will find its place in most Olympian decks so it's nice to see Spartan getting preventively toned down.

Overall nice update, it's good that they aren't outright nerfing cards to the ground but rather go for smaller changes since it gives better data that can then show the real problems with the cards or maybe that this is the right spot for them. If this enables a more diverse meta, it won't be so bad that a couple of these cards don't see much play after all.

Gods Unchained Official Roadmap:
https://trello.com/b/GpDgnYPZ/gods-unchained-roadmap

Useful tools for Gods Unchained statistics, meta, deckbuilding, leaderboards, etc. :
https://unchainedstats.com/
https://gudecks.com/

Current List of Cards in Sanctum Decks:

Markets:
https://gu.cards/
https://tokentrove.io/GodsUnchainedCards
https://opensea.io/assets/gods-unchained

Raffle:
https://www.mythictitan.com/raffle/?place=marketplace

Custom cards generator tool:
https://www.gucustom.cards/

Gods Unchained discord channel:
https://discord.gg/G8YAWcX

Thank you for reading!

,z3ll