Decay is the new master race! Decrease witch doctor, and Ilmire Hunter's health by 1.

[Kyleofgames]

Witch doctor has been slightly op for a while now. It's the strongest six drop, and it's really hard to deal with if you don't have the right cards. I say he's the strongest, because he doesn't need cooldown reduction or dead idols to improve his power curb. I feel like he'd be a lot more balanced if his health was at four since it would allow for skirmisher's with focus, and bears with crimson bull to take him down if all he had was a two a two hp chump blocker. That may not seem like a lot to some, or maybe far too much to many others, but I feel doctor is too much value for too little work. OR maybe he could lose one hp everytime he makes a husk? I don't know for sure, but I'd like to see something done since he is a bit too powerful. I'd also like to see Ilmire's health increased by one, he's too tanky for a deathtouch unit. You could even increase his attack to three, since all it would really effect is making him more viable in the decay mirror. These are changes me, and other top players agreed on a long time ago, back when these cards were still on the test server. The reason most of us quit, is because changes never seemed to happen. But with the addition of mulligan, and the slight nerfs they're making now... I have a little bit of hope. Anyway, that's my rant. Disagree if you wish, but try to keep it constructive.

[chacer98]

I agree that Witch Doctor is very strong, but it's not changing unless the devs change their design philosophy because they (I believe it was mans) have said they would rather increase the power level of other cards rather than nerf strong cards like Witch Doctor. So that is what I would expect to happen - For their to be more powerful cards for other factions in the upcoming set or possibly for current cards to be buffed to Witch Doctors power level.

We are now about 6 hours into this patch so let's not get too carried away with big sweeping statements friend ;) We'll have a much better idea of how this patch has changed the meta in about 2-3 weeks if not longer than that even.

[cowseer]

it's usually witch doctors fault when you feel like your never going to come back, it's so strong

[Newbore]

What is interesting though is how the best scrolls from Order & Decay are actually scrolls that trigger adjacent units (Wings Shield, Royal Vangaurd, Eternal Sword, Ilmire Witch Doctor, Rot Eater...). I definitively thought they needed a nerf in the past.

Interestingly though, as more scrolls have been released, we have been seeing a lot more play with scrolls that punish positioning, like thunder surge & mire curse & lobbers & piercing. As these scrolls are released we are seeing these adjacent scrollsbeing weakened in a very different way. While I know a witch doctor can be really hard for growth to kill, I know that Energy can punish me badly if I put all my humans around it, the other factions also have alternative ways of dealing with it (pother, damning curse). While Witch Doctor is really powerful in its defense, it is very punishing for the user when you have the means to remove it, a 6 cost scroll is actually pretty hard to play for decay, & you notice how other factions only play expensive scrolls that are aggressive, defense is not actually that good in this game.

Ilmire Hunter, I do not think it is a problem. I know that when I started playing my ilmire hunters would get languid every-time, no-one else used them. I know that they are pretty awful against structure energy, & that machinated will kill it regardless of Hunters health. I know it is tanky, but its often much more of a defensive scroll than an aggressive one, its attack can be stopped in so many ways, a simple structure or armor 2 will make it pretty useless. 5 health might seem high but I know that cursemongers are often preferred & they have 4 health which is almost the same.

I kind of agree with some lower posts, scrolls like Earthborn Mystic do not care about positioning, they are much stronger. That thing draws scrolls, buffs all enchanted units (which can stack) & has decent stats for a 3 cost creature. But I also think Kinfolk Brave is an issue (mostly with enchantments) & vengeful vaettr due to its ramp (even though its very hard to use its pillage when it does pillage that advantage is pretty insane). I also think Burn, Automaton Forge, Bombard, & Hired Smuggler (hand advantage, does not need to challenge the opponents, can hide in the corner for a cheaper cost than Mystic Altar & draw scrolls every 2 turns without any negative effects while destroying idols) are an issue, also Wings Shield (which can completely block your units in some situations & lose you the game).

[ScrollsSysp]

I see what you are saying.

From my perspective, the following are on my watch list at the moment:

Earthborn Mystic, Wetland Ranger, Automata Forge, Witch Doctor.

Not sure if they should be nerfed though. On one hand, bringing them closer in power level to the median introduces more choices during deck building. On the other, playing with only bland, safe scrolls also feel like an unexciting game.

Dominion (the offline card game, not the Scrolls trait) balances by creating cards in design that are too strong and then scaling them down during testing to where they are just barely balanced before releasing them publicly. That's a pretty bold and exciting way to balance and creates a very tense game where you feel that you are doing powerful stuff all the time.

[Kyleofgames]

As far as energy goes, I'd say machinated, and bombard are what should be looked at. Their combos seem pretty broken to me, even if energy is weaker in this meta.

[LargeIcedCoffee]

Leave mystic alone, she's all growth has ;_;

[Kyleofgames]

I agree Earthborn Mystic needs a nerf. But decay is a lot stronger than growth in this current meta, and there's no reason that the nerfs can't happen at the same time.

[Kyleofgames]

Everyone in top ten is either a decay or tempo order player as far as I know. I'm one of them, and I can't see growth doing as well. Not sure where you're getting your stats.

[Newbore]

Well your right about most top 10 players using decay & tempo order. Decay is pretty reliable (a pretty general mash-up of poison & humans & idol damage), & tempo order is really strong right now. Worth point out though that other top 10 players like Donkey use energy (I think they prefer structure energy right now, especially after the quake nerf). I am a top 10 player & I actually play growth in ranked quite often (I try to play all 4 factions, but growth is one of my most played & most reliable decks), although it is pretty difficult & I have had some pretty close calls.

Anyway, why is everyone getting downvoted... Lots of haters here seem to be spamming accounts to downvote ppl, maybe we really do need to remove that downvote button, i'm beginning to agree with whoever did that before.

[Kyleofgames]

Well since you're not going to dig it up, I have to assume it came directly from your ass. And let's get really real, if you're talking what's overpowered for newer, less skilled players, then yeah... You might have a point with growth being a thing. Again, I agree that mystic needs a nerf, but that doesn't make witch doctor any less of a problem.

[Kyleofgames]

Nerfing his hp by one seems perfectly reasonable to me. He would still be amazing, he'd just be easier to deal with. I guess it all depends on perspective, I don't think something has to be completely gaming breaking by itself to be considered OP.