The problem with tech cards that are universally good and the new mardroeme
If we go back a couple patches, we had the release of mardroeme. It gave a target +4 or -4 base strength and it was run in basically every deck because regardless of the matchup or board state (barring a last round draw with nothing on the board), it was never a bad card. SK + NR could always use the base strength for their revives, monsters could use it for their foglets (consume wasnt any good yet) or ST could play it out with bouncable mercs which made it a good tempo play regardless. Everyone could also just run roach/olgierd or just debuff their opponents units (alot of would be good cards were at 4 strength) to make it universally a great card. It was obviously problematic as everyone was running at least 2 of them, so it got nerfed by 1 strength value and as it turns out that modifying base strength is such a strong mechanic that the 1 point nerf was enough to push it to a fringe tech card. Which Im going to argue is ok, because again, modifying base strength is such a strong mechanic that when those cards are strong, they dictate the entire meta.
With the new mardroeme incoming, we have the old + or - 3 base strength, but the card now gets dshackles old effect of resetting a card to base strength before it does so. So if we compare it to old marderome, it lost 1 base strength to be able to generate huge swings against certain decks. This is again going to push mardroeme into the realm of being a tech card that is universally great, and as such its going to oppress any deck that relies on buffing big cards while still being at least an ok draw against other decks. Every faction has some form of deck that buffs big units (impera brigade\spotters, pirate captain\axemen, siege towers, hawker support/smuggler/eleyas, lots of consume targets) and those decks already have strong counters in the form of gigni, scorch, dbomb etc. Throw in a great tech card like mardroeme and these decks are going to struggle even more. New mardreome is still going to be an ok play if you are running a deck with revives/roach etc or if you are running new rag (which also looks amazing).
To be clear, I think there should absolutely be a card that resets bronze strength, and there should be cards that modify base strength, but combining too many of these effects together in one card creates a situation where the card is run regardless of your deck's strategy/win condition and that oppresses too many other cards/decks. The only other really universal tech card in the game right now is first light (option between shutting down weather or playing a unit/maintaining tempo), and that would be problematic as well if weather wasn't so oppressive itself in its current form. You could argue new dshackles is also universally good, but it at least provides you with zero strength/tempo so it has some downside. Mardroeme still provides you with either mediocre (but not awful) tempo, or it gives you a massive swing.
If we go back a couple patches, we had the release of mardroeme. It gave a target +4 or -4 base strength and it was run in basically every deck because regardless of the matchup or board state (barring a last round draw with nothing on the board), it was never a bad card. SK + NR could always use the base strength for their revives, monsters could use it for their foglets (consume wasnt any good yet) or ST could play it out with bouncable mercs which made it a good tempo play regardless. Everyone could also just run roach/olgierd or just debuff their opponents units (alot of would be good cards were at 4 strength) to make it universally a great card. It was obviously problematic as everyone was running at least 2 of them, so it got nerfed by 1 strength value and as it turns out that modifying base strength is such a strong mechanic that the 1 point nerf was enough to push it to a fringe tech card. Which Im going to argue is ok, because again, modifying base strength is such a strong mechanic that when those cards are strong, they dictate the entire meta.
With the new mardroeme incoming, we have the old + or - 3 base strength, but the card now gets dshackles old effect of resetting a card to base strength before it does so. So if we compare it to old marderome, it lost 1 base strength to be able to generate huge swings against certain decks. This is again going to push mardroeme into the realm of being a tech card that is universally great, and as such its going to oppress any deck that relies on buffing big cards while still being at least an ok draw against other decks. Every faction has some form of deck that buffs big units (impera brigade\spotters, pirate captain\axemen, siege towers, hawker support/smuggler/eleyas, lots of consume targets) and those decks already have strong counters in the form of gigni, scorch, dbomb etc. Throw in a great tech card like mardroeme and these decks are going to struggle even more. New mardreome is still going to be an ok play if you are running a deck with revives/roach etc or if you are running new rag (which also looks amazing).
To be clear, I think there should absolutely be a card that resets bronze strength, and there should be cards that modify base strength, but combining too many of these effects together in one card creates a situation where the card is run regardless of your deck's strategy/win condition and that oppresses too many other cards/decks. The only other really universal tech card in the game right now is first light (option between shutting down weather or playing a unit/maintaining tempo), and that would be problematic as well if weather wasn't so oppressive itself in its current form. You could argue new dshackles is also universally good, but it at least provides you with zero strength/tempo so it has some downside. Mardroeme still provides you with either mediocre (but not awful) tempo, or it gives you a massive swing.
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