Braathens

[Iuliandrei]

Several months ago this card got changed, personally i think it was a bad change that made little sense.
Originally this card was able to spawn any of the three bronze spies without any condition and when the change happen the reason given was:
"We would like Braathens to be a card that supports Assimilate and Spies archetypes, rather than just a good midrange card that can be put in any deck."
The funny thing is that every dominant NG deck since then, all the metabreakers as people call them, were all midrange and all had Braathens in them.

It's obvious that the devs failed to achieve their goal so the question, should Braathens change again to specifically support for Assimilate and spies archetypes or should it revert to the previous, more straight forward state?

 

[Guest 4375874]

Several months ago this card got changed, personally i think it was a bad change that made little sense.
Originally this card was able to spawn any of the three bronze spies without any condition and when the change happen the reason given was:
"We would like Braathens to be a card that supports Assimilate and Spies archetypes, rather than just a good midrange card that can be put in any deck."
The funny thing is that every dominant NG deck since then, all the metabreakers as people call them, were all midrange and all had Braathens in them.

It's obvious that the devs failed to achieve their goal so the question, should Braathens change again to specifically support for Assimilate and spies archetypes or should it revert to the previous, more straight forward state?

I don't se how reverting the change would change that. He basically had a limited pool that ensures you draw the card you want. It gives insane flexibility and consistency no matter what so it will still be an auto include..

 

[Draconifors]

The change killed Mage Infiltrator because she isn't worth including just for him, so it can be called a bad change.

But Braathens has also received a buff (or two?) since that major nerf. Which of course made him an overall better card than he already was.

Spies might be getting support with the upcoming card drop, judging by the NG description, so Braathens might become more of a card like they wanted him to be. Seems unlikely though because he's just that good in various decks.

I think he's fine the way he is.

 

[Barracuda88]

Braathens is basically a better, more mid-range Saskia for one less provision.

 

[Iuliandrei]

I think he's fine the way he is.

He got a 1 point buff to compensate for the nerf but i'm not saying he's not fine now, i'm saying the suffered a pointless change for no reason. He was fine, actually better, before the change aswell.
The question is why have a fine card, when a better designed version of it exists.

I don't se how reverting the change would change that. He basically had a limited pool that ensures you draw the card you want. It gives insane flexibility and consistency no matter what so it will still be an auto include..

Yeah so it was changed for no reason, that's my point. While his power is still the same, from a design perspective it's slightly worse now.

 

[EduFerraz]

He got a nerf from 4 to 3 base power and than He gets a buff and back to 4 power

 

[Kessman]

Braathens is basically a better, more mid-range Saskia for one less provision.

This is not Braathens fault that Saskia is just bad tho.

 

[quintivarium]

True, but Braathens and Saskia have a very similar structure — I think it is useful to analyze why the former is a mainstay of most NG decks while the latter is rarely used. Is it the one provision cost difference, the relative difference in usefulness of the harmony vs. assimilate tag, the value of playing rather than spawning, that bronze spying units are better than buffed tokens, that ST has better options at 10 to 11 provisions, or something else I missed?

 

[Barracuda88]

This is not Braathens fault that Saskia is just bad tho.

Nobody's "faulting" Braathens. He didn't get to be better than Saskia by his wits and hard work. The point is Saskia is to Harmony what Braathens is to assimilate, and the devs seem to be OK with where both cards are, yet the difference in balance - and in usage - is pretty clear.

Post automatically merged: Jul 20, 2021

True, but Braathens and Saskia have a very similar structure — I think it is useful to analyze why the former is a mainstay of most NG decks while the latter is rarely used. Is it the one provision cost difference, the relative difference in usefulness of the harmony vs. assimilate tag, the value of playing rather than spawning, that bronze spying units are better than buffed tokens, that ST has better options at 10 to 11 provisions, or something else I missed?

Pretty much all of that, except the bit about better options at 10-11 . Though I would say it's the provision cost AND the fact that Braathens can double proc himself and ALL other Assimilate (AND deploy engines, AND status engines) engines already on the board in the same turn, while Saskia only procs existing harmony cards once and has to spawn a token with a tag that's already on the board or risk screwing up the relative harmony proc. And while Braathens - after double proccing - can copy any of the opponent's bronze cards, including their best engines, Saskia can only create one engine, which is generally useless in a harmony deck.

 

[Kessman]

I think provision cost is the least of Saskia's problems. Braathens also can lock some interactions by a spy, can protect by boosting. While Saskia is just an expensive engine with an additional, mostly useless token. They should evolve her deploy into something more useful.

 

[Barracuda88]

I think provision cost is the least of Saskia's problems. Braathens also can lock some interactions by a spy, can protect by boosting. While Saskia is just an expensive engine with an additional, mostly useless token. They should evolve her deploy into something more useful.

It's pretty easy: she should create AND play a harmony bronze.

 

[Riven-Twain]

Moderator: Braathens is the topic here. Please, leave Saskia for another thread.

 

[jmoyano92]

Mage Infiltrator is dead now. She was useful against Endrega Larva, but the recent nerf/buff of that card killed Mage Infiltrator. Same happened with Sandstorm, wich is 1 provision more expensive and completely useless in terms of value.

At least Braathens is good enough to play it. Other cards (tons of them) are useless an need buffs. Priorities.

 

[Philido]

Another thing we have to say to defend good old Braathens is that you actually need to have the units he creates in your starting deck. Without playing full Assimilate the Informant can be very awkward against certain factions. And Emissary is just overall pretty bad. Dead Man's Tongue now at least lets you banish the most useless cards for each match-up.