Season of the Dryad is here!

[RyanSchou]

The new season of the Dryad has arrived and with it the latest Update 7.2!

This includes a big overhaul of the leader abilities in the game and the regular balance changes to existing cards.

This season will last until October 1st, 10:00 a.m. CEST.
Seasonal mode: Seesaw
On the end of the player's turn:

Damage player's odd power units by 1

Boost player's even power units by 1
Patch Notes:

• When returning to Play Menu after a match the last played game mode will remain selected.
• Progression of contracts related to removed abilities will transfer to newly introduced contracts.
• Bugs related to progressing in contracts connected to Journey 1 and Journey 2 (i.e. not every Ciri's outfit was counting)
• Fixed the issue with acceptance of Pro Rank Regulations in game settings.
• Fixed issue with sometimes missing description of abilities when creating new deck.

Neutrals:

• White Frost card renamed to Blizzard.
• Ciri ability changed to: Deploy: Damage 3 enemy units by 1. Whenever you lose a Round, return this unit to your hand.

Developer Comment: Ciri will now let the player choose which units to target. This part of the ability is still meant to give Ciri additional value only when board state allows it and picking where those pings go will make that more reliable against Armor and similar effects.

• Ethereal provision changed from 9 to 8. Ability changed to: Doomed. Deploy: Gain Zeal. Order: Transform unit to the right into base copy of self.

Developer Comment: Ethereal's ability is now triggered by Order and it can get Zeal if it is played from hand. Limiting the ability in this way will make it possible to play around at all, since all Ethereals being active at all times required just one trigger to stop any interaction with the opponent unless they have a very specific counter. Since it's a pretty steep drop in power, the Provision cost was lowered.

• Oneiromancy provision changed from 12 to 13.
• Watchman power changed from 4 to 5.Highwaymen power changed from 3 to 4.
• Iron Falcon Knife Juggler power changed from 1 to 2.

Developer Comment: All of the leader abilities that allowed you to pick a specific card and play it as an extra in a turn have been rotated out. As the pool of cards have been growing with every expansion, so did the number of cards you could play with those abilities, leading to them dominating the game with sheer power and versatility. Every faction have been compensated with brand new Leader ability for this loss.

Monsters:

• Carapace leader ability changed to: Order: Boost an allied unit by 3 and give it Veil. Charge: 3. Provision Bonus changed from 16 to 15.

Developer Comment: As Shield can be a source of extra points, since stopping any random damage effect is extra points, the number of charges was increased to roughly match this power lost. Veil is a little harder to get value out of than Shield, but should do a better job at protecting the Boost provided by the ability.

• Force of Nature leader ability changed to: Order: Spawn and play Woodland Spirit. Provision Bonus changed from 16 to 15.
• New Token - Woodland Spirit: Power 9, Doomed. Category: Relict, Token

Developer Comment: Now instead of putting all the extra power on one card, making it doubly vulnerable to removal, Force of Nature will spawn and play Woodland Spirit. While this token does not have any abilities on their own, it will trigger Thrives and start at 9 Power.

• Rotated out Death's Shadow leader ability from the game.
• New leader ability - White Frost: Order: Move an enemy unit to the other row and Spawn Frost on its row for 2 turns. Charge: 2. Provision Bonus - 15.

Developer Comment: This brand new ability lets the player establish first Frost on the board, or shuffle opponent's units around to take a better advantage of existing Frosts, while adding to their duration. It should work well with existing Wild Hunt cards or be a tech choice for other decks that lack ways to control their opponents, as it makes quick work of card abilities locked to specific rows.

• Auberon King, Invader and Conqueror power changed from 6 to 5. Provision changed from 11 to 12.
• Alpha Werewolf power changed from 5 to 6.
• Arachas Behemoth power changed from 2 to 3.
• Caranthir Ar-Feiniel provision changed from 8 to 9.
• Wild Hunt Rider power changed from 3 to 4.
• Foglet power changed from 3 to 4.

Skellige:

• Rotated out Sacrificial Vanguard leader ability from the game.

Developer Comment: Sacrificial Vanguard did not play additional cards in a turn, but Discard as a mechanic strictly builds carryover so making any abilities that work with it or attaching any extra value to it ends up putting power in 2 rounds, which is why we prefer it being a thinning tool instead of something players would build their decks around, which is why the ability is rotating out of the game.

• Rotated out Second Wind leader ability from the game.
• New leader ability - Battle Trance: Order: Spawn and play Mardroeme. Whenever you play an Alchemy card, Heal a random allied unit by 1. Provision Bonus - 16.

Developer Comment: In addition to playing a decent Alchemy card as an Order, Battle trance will also heal a random ally by 1 when an Alchemy is played, making picking Alchemies over cards that shrug off being damaged a viable way to build a deck.

• New leader ability - Rage of the Sea: Order: Spawn Rain on enemy row for 1 turn and Deafening Siren on the opposite row. Charge: 3. Provision Bonus - 14.

Developer Comment: Rage of the Sea is a rather straightforward way to put wounds on enemies, using Rain to do so, while also spawning Beast tokens on player's side of the board in the form of Sirens, ensuring that all the effects that do require Beasts on board have targets.

• Ursine Ritual Tooltip Update: Order: Damage an allied unit by 1. Charge: 5 Once all Charges are used up, Spawn a Bear Abomination on a random allied row.
• Holger Blackhand ability changed to: Deploy: Damage a unit by 2. Whenever you play a Ship, boost it by 1. Whenever you play a Pirate, damage a random enemy unit by 1.

Developer Comment: Holger Blackhand has received a 2 Damage Deploy to bump up the points you can expect from playing him, without making him very hard to remove from the board.

• Brokvar Hunter ability changed to: Zeal. Order: Damage a unit by 1. Cooldown: 2. Whenever you play a Beast, reduce Cooldown by 1.

Developer Comment: Brokvar Hunter will now react to Beasts being played instead, because he is a hunter and hunters hunt Beasts.

• An Craite Greatsword power changed from 4 to 10. Ability changed to: Deploy: Damage self by 5. Whenever an enemy units takes damage, Heal self by 1.

Developer Comment: Greatsword has lost his ability to Boost indefinitely and will be healing back the Damage he inflicts on himself as part of the Deploy. This re-imagination of his ability sets a clear point ceiling for the card, while also creating new synergies with self wounding archetypes or cards that bypass Deploy abilities like Sigrdrifa's Rite.

• An Craite Raider ability Bloodthirst fixed to work when Played or Summoned.
• Harald an Craite, Warmonger and The Cripple provision changed from 11 to 12.
• An Craite Marauder power changed from 2 to 3.
• Tyrggvi Tuirseach provision changed from 11 to 10.
• Crow Messenger power changed from 3 to 4.
• Blood Eagle provision changed from 11 to 12.
• Birna Bran power changed from 5 to 6.
• Tuirseach Skirmisher power changed from 3 to 4.

Northern Realms:

• Mobilization leader ability changed to: Order: Spawn a base copy of a bronze allied Soldier on its row and boost it by 3.

Developer Comment: Mobilization remains similar in it's effect, but it no longer plays the card you target, or requires you to keep a copy in your deck, making it more versatile and easier to use. To make sure it stays close to its current power level, it is limited to Bronze Soldiers only, which still leaves players with a sizeable pool of targets and makes Cintrian Royal Guard dream a possibility.

• Pincer Maneuver leader ability changed to: Order: Draw a Northern Realms card of your choice, then shuffle a card from your hand back to the deck. If the drawn card was a unit, boost it by 5. Provision Bonus changed from 12 to 15.

Developer Comment: Pincer Maneuver retains a similar effect without the "play a card" component. Extra consistency for card combos and 5 point boost for the drawn card should keep it very impactful in the round it is played in.

• Rotated out Vicious Slash leader ability from the game.

Developer Comment: Vicious Slash did not play additional cards in a turn, but because it hardly fits with what Northern Realms as a faction wants to accomplish and does not have any existing synergies, it will also be rotating out.

• New leader ability - Shieldwall: Order: Boost an allied unit by 2 and give it Shield. Charge: 3. Provision Bonus - 14.

Developer Comment: For a while we thought that the previous version of Carapace would find a better home in Northern Realms, as protecting their engines and existing Shield synergies would make it feel right at home. Shield Wall is exactly this, with a little better distribution of charges, it should make it quite tricky to deal with players engines, or make a reliable setup for King Roegner.

• Siege Master power changed from 3 to 4. Ability changed to: Order: Boost an allied unit by 2. Resupply: Boost adjacent Siege Engines by 1.

Developer Comment: Siege Master's Deploy ability was changed to Order so he can now be played before the Siege Engines, making it easier to take advantage of his Resupply. His power was raised to make that play a little safer.

• Rivian Pikeman power changed from 3 to 4. Ability changed to: Order: Damage an enemy unit by 2. Resupply: Boost self by 1.

Developer Comment: Similar to Siege Master, Rivian Pikeman's Deploy became order and he got extra Power as a compensation. Northern Realms have a couple of synergies with Orders which should make him easier of a consideration for some decks.

• Field Medic power changed from 1 to 2.
• Dun Banner provision changed from 5 to 4.
• Blue Stripes Commando provision changed from 6 to 5.

Scoia'tael:

• Mechanic Update - Harmony: Boost self by 1 or the specified amount whenever you play a Scoia'tael unit whose primary category is unique among all of your other units.

Developer Comment: Harmony is going back to working as it did before the change, it will trigger regardless of the row the unique tag is played in. Our change to it made it a little bit more awkward to use than we wanted and with main ways of abusing the mechanic are gone, so it seems fair to restore it to the original state.

• Call of Harmony leader ability changed to: Order: Spawn and play Dana Meadbh.
• New Token - Dana Meadbh: Power 6, Doomed. Category: Relict, Token. Harmony

Developer Comment: Call of Harmony will spawn and play Dana Meadbh, that in addition to having Harmony herself, has a unique Relict tag which will always trigger all the Harmony cards already on the board.

• Rotated out Mystic Echo leader ability from the game.
• New leader ability - Nature's Gift: Symbiosis. Order: Give an allied unit Vitality (3). Charge: 2. Provision Bonus - 15.

Developer Comment: Nature's Gift makes it so every Nature special played spawns at least 1 Wandering Treant, thanks to it's Symbiosis. Straight Boost with charges could be hoarded to be a last play in a mostly spell based deck, which is why Vitality seems like a better fit for it, in addition to matching the theme better and having some existing synergies.

• Guerilla Tactics provision bonus changed from 15 to 16.
• Zoltan's Company ability changed to: Spawn 3 Rowdy Dwarves on an allied row. If you control Zoltan, give 1 Armor to all Dwarves on that row.

Developer Comment: If you control any of the 3 Zoltan cards that exist, Zoltan's company will make every Dwarf on the chosen row hardier. While this does not rise the power of the card much, it just makes sense for it to react to Zoltan in some way.

• Vrihedd Brigade ability changed to: Deploy: Damage an enemy unit by 2. Whenever moved damage a random enemy unit by 2.

Developer Comment: Vrihedd Brigade's Deploy and passive abilities were split so the player can now choose where the first ping goes, but the passive remains random. It should make playing the card out of hand feel better overall.

• Duen Canell Guardian power changed from 3 to 4. Ability changed to: Veil. Symbiosis. Order: Damage an enemy unit by 2.
• Mahakam Volunteers power changed from 3 to 4. Ability changed to: Deploy: If you control a Dwarf, Summon all copies of this unit from your deck to this row.

Developer Comment: Mahakam Volunteers can now be played on any row and will trigger as long as there is a Dwarf on board, giving the player a better choice on which row they want to have more Dwarves in.

• Eithne Young Queen, Mother and Wrath of the Brokilon provision changed from 11 to 12.
• Dol Blathanna Sentry now has 1 Armor.
• Dwarven Chariot power changed from 3 to 4.
• Dol Blathanna Bomber power changed from 1 to 2.
• Dwarven Skirmisher boost changed from 1 to 2.
• Brokilon Sentinel provision changed from 5 to 4.

Nilfgaard:

• Tactical Decision leader ability changed to: Order: Spawn and play Morvran Voorhis.
• New Token - Morvran Voorhis: Power 6, Doomed. Category: Human, Soldier, Token. Deploy: Draw up to 3 cards, then put same number of cards on the top of your deck.

Developer Comment: Morvran is back and playing him will let you draw up to 3 cards from the top of the deck, then place the same amount back in the order you choose. Listing all the things one could do with this ability would take a while, so let's just say that you should make sure you have space in your hand first to take full advantage of it.

• Rotated out Strategic Withdrawal leader ability from the game.
• New leader ability - Imprisonment: Order: Lock an enemy unit and damage it by 3. Charge: 2.

Developer Comment: To the dungeon with them! Imprisonment is a simple and effective way to control what your opponent does on the board. On the surface it might look that the ability is only 6 points, but value of the status is hard to predict, and Nilfgaard has multiple ways to benefit from applying and maintaining Locks, which should make it a great addition to some decks.

• Imperial Formation leader ability Charges reduced from 4 to 3. Provision Bonus changed from 15 to 16.

Developer Comment: Imperial Formation has lost a charge and gained 1 Provision bonus in return. That change should make it a little bit less explosive when combined with some of the Soldiers while keeping most of its power intact.

• Impera Brigade power changed from 3 to 4. Ability changed to: Deploy: If you control a Soldier, Summon all copies of this unit from your deck to this row.

Developer Comment: Let's be honest, Playing this card on Melee row, that was also highlighted when you were holding it, was not really a condition, so now Impera Brigade will require any Soldier to be on board anywhere before triggering, but provide more points if they do.

• Nauzicaa Brigade ability changed to: Deploy: Damage an enemy unit by 1. If the enemy unit is boosted, damage it by 3 instead.

Developer Comment: Nauzicaa Brigade now has a contingency plan for when none of the enemies are buffed. This change should make it a little safer to include in the deck, as it now can finish off severely wounded units.

• Imposter provision Bonus changed from 14 to 15.
• Braathens power changed from 4 to 3.
• Vivienne de Tabris provision changed from 10 to 9.
• Vincent Van Moorlehem power changed from 5 to 3. Provision changed from 11 to 10.

Developer Comment: Vincent's stats were adjusted to closer match raw removal power he provides. He has slowly started becoming infamous, as his trigger condition turned out easier to fulfil than it was when the card was introduced and most people that encounter him probably saw this change coming.

• Usurper Officer, General and Emperor provision changed from 11 to 12.
• Battle Preparation boost increased by 1.
• Ffion van Gaernel power changed from 2 to 1.

Developer Comment: Because of Ffion playing Battle Preparation as part of his Deploy, the card ended up having a bit lower power on it's own than you'd expect from a Bronze. We have adjusted the Tactic to be more competitive and Ffion lost one point to stay at the level he is now.

• Ard Feainn Light Cavalry power changed from 2 to 3.
• Hunting Pack power changed from 3 to 4.
• Added Siege Engine category to following cards: Hefty Helge, Rot Tosser, Fire Scorpion, Mangonel

Syndicate:

• Rotated out Wild Card leader ability from the game.
• New leader ability - Pirate's Cove: Order: Spawn a Sea Jackal on an allied row, then gain 4 Coins. Provision Bonus - 15.

Developer Comment: If you have ever been caught in a situation where you have all the coins with nothing to spend them on, here comes the Pirate's Cove to fix it, providing a spender and a handful of change on demand.

• Sacred Flame ability changed to: Deploy: Spawn a Firesworn Zealot on both sides of this card. Order: Boost all allied Firesworn units by 1.

Developer Comment: As Sacred Flame is an Artifact and thus it takes a space on the row it used to boost, now it will boost all the Firesworn allies instead, raising the potential points you can get from its Order by a lot.

• Ewald Borsodi power changed from 4 to 5. Provision changed from 8 to 7. Ability changed to: Deploy: Damage an enemy unit by 2. If Horst Borsodi is in your graveyard, damage an enemy unit by 4 instead.

Developer Comment: Ewald's ability stays Damage, but he will now deal a set amount of it, which will change depending on the status of his brother.

• Horst Borsodi provision changed from 8 to 7. Ability changed to: Deploy: Gain 3 Coins. If Ewald Borsodi is in your graveyard, gain 6 Coins instead.

Developer Comment: Horst will now provide you with coins and his Profits will change depending on the status of his brother.

• Whoreson's Freak Show power changed from 5 to 4. Provision Changed from 6 to 8. Added 1 Armor. Ability changed to: Profit 2. Fee 2 (Melee): Damage an enemy unit by 2.

Developer Comment: Post it's ability adjustment, Whoreson's Freak Show seldom sees play outside of Arena, where it breaks the game. For this reason, the old ability was retired and it will now do exactly what Ewald Borsodi did, leaving the brothers to be rebalanced separately with emphasis on their bond.

• Jacques Miraculous Child, De Aldersberg and Grand Master provision changed from 11 to 12.
• The Sausage Maker provision changed from 10 to 9.
• Casino Bouncers Fee changed from 2 to 1.
• Sewer Raider power changed from 3 to 4.
• Cleric of the Flaming Rose now has a Cleric category.

Developer Comment: Game is now once again playable.

 

[Draconifors]

I can't remember whether this seasonal was the same last year, but either way it will require some tactic to take full advantage of.

Vincent's stats were adjusted to closer match raw removal power he provides. He has slowly started becoming infamous

Putting it lightly.

The NR evolving card apparently wasn't changed to 12 Provisions while all the others were. Hmm.

 

[Jollyrogerxberg]

• Brokvar Hunter ability changed to: Zeal. Order: Damage a unit by 1. Cooldown: 2. Whenever you play a Beast, reduce Cooldown by 1.

Developer Comment: Brokvar Hunter will now react to Beasts being played instead, because he is a hunter and hunters hunt Beasts.

Not much game on Skellige, though.

 

[4RM3D]

Fixed the issue with acceptance of Pro Rank Regulations in game settings.

Better late than never, though

Developer Comment: Game is now once again playable.

 

[4RM3D]

I can't remember whether this seasonal was the same last year [...]

It was the same.

 

[Jollyrogerxberg]

I can't remember whether this seasonal was the same last year, but either way it will require some tactic to take full advantage of.

yes it was. I remember it has some fun interactions with engines and vitality. You can double the boost or stall your opponents engines completly with one ping at the right time. Ping Leader Time. (One of the 2 or 3 stockpile seasons)

Patch Notes:

• Bugs related to progressing in contracts connected to Journey 1 and Journey 2 (i.e. not every Ciri's outfit was counting)

New Bugs added?

 

[Gyg]

Some additional changes compared to Dev Stream for a couple bronze cards (all buffs).
Dun Banner and Blue Stripes Commandos cheaper!

 

[InferiorityCX]

When returning to Play Menu after a match the last played game mode will remain selected.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! It's a tiny change but it was a little annoying to keep having to reselect this.

Progression of contracts related to removed abilities will transfer to newly introduced contracts.

I wasn't too fussed about having to likely start new contracts, so to have progress transferred is a bonus!

Rotated out Second Wind leader ability from the game.

Sorry to see it go, but it is much more balanced when no faction is able to play/replay a second card during a turn.

New leader ability - Rage of the Sea: Order: Spawn Rain on enemy row for 1 turn and Deafening Siren on the opposite row. Charge: 3. Provision Bonus - 14.

This is a nice replacement for Second Wind, which I usually used as the Leader ability for a Beast-based deck. This allows me to basically continue using those decks with a more appropriate Leader ability. I look forward to playing with it.

Tuirseach Skirmisher power changed from 3 to 4.

After mulligans, having Skirmishers left behind in my hand was quite a disappointment if I didn't have the likes of Birna to be able to discard them. Now, with 4 power, this card feels better as a playable card.

 

[C4RMINE]

not changing viraxas, who was probably the most played evolving card (mostly due to many players playing NR), while u changed all the rest evolving cards, just blows my mind

 

[Slizzl]

Just had my first match and it was against Shieldwall. It was about as fun as one would expect.
I also realized Saskia only spawns an unit so it doesn't actually trigger Harmony which I found odd. I thought she was supposed to be Harmony support.

 

[Rizlazz420]

So when will the update be out for iOS?

 

[RazaroQ]

[...]

Anyway you just killed MO faction with this lazy ass development style - thanks a lot cdpr

 

[DarianDelFord]

I do not understand the changes to monsters, I really do not. Especially the total removal of Death's Shadow, one of the few leader abilities that were versatile.

Someone will need to explain to me the change for Auberon a complete nerf for a card that was used to establish dominance early in the round for monsters, this is an utter nerf.

The few decent playable and more importantly competitive decks for monsters, just got even slimmer.

 

[DC9V]

Store is still showing 11 Prov-Auberon after patch 7.2

 

[Nimbul66]

When update on mobile?

 

[DrShoe_Gwent]

Anyone else not have a Seasonal Reward Book?

 

[RazaroQ]

I do not understand the changes to monsters, I really do not. Especially the total removal of Death's Shadow, one of the few leader abilities that were versatile.

The Change to Carapace, basically removes any synergy with a viable Insectoids / Organic Deck.

Someone will need to explain to me the change for Auberon a complete nerf for a card that was used to establish dominance early in the round for monsters, this is an utter nerf.

The few decent playable and more importantly competitive decks for monsters, just got even slimmer.

No one does. MO wasn't OP but got nerfed as hell. All factions have leader abilities that allow them to replay a card in some way but they decided that for MO it is OP on top of other nerfs

 

[Slizzl]

All factions have leader abilities that allow them to replay a card in some way

Did you miss the memo?

 

[Breli]

All in all I like the changes and I am looking forward to experiement with the new abilities. I share the concern about the MO changes. Death Shadow could have stayed as it was IMHO.

What I absolutely don't understand is the nerf on Eithne: From all evolving cards Eithne clearly was the one that saw the least amount (as in "none whatsoever") of play before because she clearly was too weak and not up to the level of Harald, Auberon, Usurper or Viraxas or Jacques.

How many players brought Eithne to the last open again? Did any of the ST decks last season play her? And Viraxas stays at 11 although he was almost auto include in all relevant NR decks last season?

I don't understand the rationale here. That doesn't make sense.

 

[DarianDelFord]

So now

I share the concern about the MO changes. Death Shadow could have stayed as it was IMHO.

Aye this really concerns me. DS is one of those abilities that was very very versatile. Especially if a draw or mulligan did not go your way. It was by no means OP as some other leader abilities that were/are out there. I mean this really really hit monsters the hardest I think.

This patch overall took a chunk out of their competitive decks.