[Gods Unchained] Balance Patch Review - Etherbot Set Getting Buffed

Hey guys! Another week, another balance patch. This time it is about underplayed Etherbot cards that are getting buffed. Not only that but Slayer god power is getting a nerf, kinda expected but was this the right way to go about it? You can find the full patch notes on Gods Unchained subreddit. This time around there were no changes to Sanctum or the Favor system.

Changes To Slayer:

Slayer changed from "If you have a relic equipped, give it +1 durability. If you don't, equip a 2/1 Hand Axe with godblitz." to "If you have a relic equipped, give it +1 durability. If you don't, equip a 2/1 Hand Axe with blitz.".

So the change here is from godblitz to blitz on the relic equipped by the god power. Is this gonna change that much? I don't think so. One thing that got affected by this change is the surprise burst on 5-6 mana from hand where you use the god power to get a relic and buff with Sharpen and/or Whetstone for massive amounts of damage. Even though I see this as a positive change I don't think that this was the main problem of Slayer deck dominance.

From my experience, the problem is in the early game buffs and if they lend on Pyramid Warden or Skeleton Heavy, you have something like a 4/7 or even a 5/9 on turn two, which is absurd and sometimes just impossible to get rid of before you take like 20 damage and the game is almost over on turn 4-5. Tartessian Improviser is one of the best enablers of these insane early tempos. It is a 1 mana 4/2 worth of tempo. Deadly Arsenal looks innocent because it provides a 2/2 worth of stats for 1 mana but in reality, these stats are worth so much more when added on a healthier body or a creature with protected.

We gonna see if the current change will have a good enough effect on toning down the dominance of Slayer decks but if not I would really like to see Tartessian Improviser on 2 mana and/or Deadly Arsenal giving +1/+2 instead.

Changes To Etherbot Set:

• Arcane Sphere changed from 1 health to 2 health.
  
• Magic Missle Launcher changed from "Godblitz. Afterlife: Deal 2 damage to two random creatures. to "Blitz. Leech. Afterlife: Deal 2 damage to two random creatures."
  
• Atlantean Rex changed from 8 strength to 9 strength.
  
• Protected Daemonbot changed from 4 strength to 5 strength.
  
• Nethersaur changed from 5 health to 6 health.
  
• The Iron Horse changed from 4 health to 5 health.
  

Arcane Sphere 1 health buff is actually pretty huge. It doesn't necessarily make it a competitive card now but now it has such a higher chance to burn a creature before getting removed. 1 health is so easy to deal with so many creatures/spells, for example with already widely played Athenian Archers and Ranger Firstbow. Now that it will be so much easier to make contact we might see this card tried in Deception because Sleep effects go really well with burn and also, the Atlantean tag was popular with this god as well.

Magic Missile Launcher got the Leech effect. With that added on this relic, it is for sure going to pop up in the Control style decks for sure. Having removal and sustain in the same card is a premium thing so this one getting on a competitive list won't be such a big surprise.

Atlantean Rex got 1 extra strength. Nothing special, the problem with this card is health. It is so easy to remove so the extra damage isn't enough to compensate for this weakness. Maybe a 10/4 would be enough for someone to consider running this card. Even then I doubt it.

Protected Deamonbot also got 1 extra strength. This is a much better buff because now it is strong enough to trade any 4-drop and many 5-drops as well so now your opponent will be punished enough if they aren't able to ping off the Protected and Onslaught decks could possibly consider this for their 6 mana plays.

Nethersaur got 1 extra health. With this health point it will be so much easier to make value trades in the midgame so this card is actually significantly stronger. One problem is that Deception doesn't really need this type of the card, at least currently so this buff won't make this card any more played unless we see some kind of Midrange style deck getting into the meta.

The Iron Horse also got 1 extra health. I don't really see this as a buff, it doesn't help the card in any meaningful way. I don't know what to say about this one. Surely 1 more strength would be much better but probably the balance team didn't think that would be a good way to go about this card.

This is it for today's review. Most of the buffs were really minor but could potentially make these cards worth playing. Magic Missile Launcher is the biggest winner here and I really think we are going to start seeing it on a competitive level because it will provide so much packed into one card. What do you guys think about the Slayer change? Was that the right decision and is it enough to tone down its power to a reasonable level? The balance team should definitely reconsider Tartesiann Improviser and Deadly Arsenal for any future problems that these type of decks could bring.

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,z3ll