I want to see points on the board! Why don't they nerf removal for Christ sake. Sick of that shit..
Problem was that you were almost required to run the artifact removal to combat specific decks. That's warping, and we don't want that in a game without sideboarding. Reducing the strength, or at least the popularity of artifact decks won't punish you for running Bomb Heavers/D'ao or other options just for the sake of surviving the meta. But they'll still be good options if you have some toolbox cards to find them.
Of course they are. Look at Cahir and Nilfgaardian Knight. They require an ability to buff the opposite board part, that's a strategy behind Cahir.
Not sure, but personally, I like the strategy and the flexibility it gives.
You don't want engines running rampant anymore than you want every engine being shutdown immediately. Trying to balance this is a nightmare, though. Giving more tools to protect certain cards could be a solution, like Avallac'h. Regardless, you still need to play smart. With artifacts, that means bait out the removal first. Ping artifacts are a paradox here because they serve as removal tools while they themselves are susceptible to it. Ironically, this actually balances itself out, if not for the Artifact Control decks. This all leads back to that every artifact deck now pays the price because of the Artifact Control meta.
Pitfall Trap trades card for a card, and it takes skill to know when to play it and when to play around it. Basically, CDPR nerfed a high skill cap card while leaving RNG reveal cards (14 points spotter and 17 points Xarthisius, all that) untouched. Not cool.
Solid quick fix. A few thoughts....
1. Zoltan probably did not need changed.
2. Froth should probably be gold. The card has plenty of counters (Yrden, Gigni, Scorch, preemptive Lacerate/Stammel/Toruvial/etc.). It's primarily a problem because it can be chain cast. For prov cost a 10-12 might be reasonable if it were gold.
3. The prov cost on Tainted Ale seems excessive. It's 6 value so 8-10 prov seems reasonable.
4. The rest seems reasonable.
1. Zoltan probably did not need changed.
2. Froth should probably be gold. The card has plenty of counters (Yrden, Gigni, Scorch, preemptive Lacerate/Stammel/Toruvial/etc.). It's primarily a problem because it can be chain cast. For prov cost a 10-12 might be reasonable if it were gold.
3. The prov cost on Tainted Ale seems excessive. It's 6 value so 8-10 prov seems reasonable.
4. The rest seems reasonable.
So does direct removal, which hasn't been nerfed.
As I've mentioned earlier in this thread, Pitfall Trap can be a win con when you do not have CA in the final round, knowing that the opponent probably saves his strongest unit for last, which is usually the best time to play Pitfall Trap. For the opponent, there is no way to tell if you are holding Pitfall Trap, which means it's usually still the best play to save the strongest card for last. The point is, it might not require as much thought or skill.
Changes to Froth effects were nerfed because they will be even better now that the artifacts that enable Gigni/Schorch for high value is now nerfed. So I believe CDPR actually did an excellent pre-emptive nerf in what could've been the next dominant thing.
I agree that Ale was excessive tho.
Wait until december, The Balance patch Will fix The witchers. Forgive me but i saw you always complain on this forum.
2. Yes. This card is better than Commanders Horn.
3. Unlike other artifacts, Tainted Ale doesn't have zeal. Even if they changed that in this fix, it's basically a 2 + 2 + 2 point removal with no body attached, so not that great (unless you ress it with Caretaker for 9 points play).
The only direct unconditional removal I can think of is Korathi Heatwave (who even plays that?) and O'Dimm (basically, limited to Foltest decks). The rest of removal is not so direct (Scorch, Epidemic, Waylay, etc) or has limited damage (even fully buffed Sweers usually can't take down a 14 points ghoul, which is bronze).
So what is the problem to have a Pitfall Trap as a win con? It's an expensive gold card which can be played around. It's not a neutral card, you can often tell when something like that is coming.
Btw, does this trap trigger when the opponent plays Sigdrifa's rite or priestess resurrection spell? If not, that's one example when you just can't play it before your SK opponent plays the last card.
Not sure, actually. Purely based on the description, no. But, that's not a guarantee.
It's a gamble, you might want to play Serpent Trap against SK instead for that reason.
That's what Gwent used to be like, for those who can still recall the beta. With 8-10 cards played per round, you shouldn't be seeing empty boards. This isn't a problem specific to artifacts, as you've astutely observed, sir.
Need more tools instead; lock artifacts, more silver mages, proper tutors, etc... this doesn't alter the binary nature of the meta. It's a nerf to engines, mixed decks, and even increases the disparity between artifact cost and removal cost; thus making it even more binary that before...
This makes me rather skeptical of future design plans.
I'm not sure how to say this, but I don't think you understand the scope of the problem this generates, and neither does CDPR. This is a design flaw, and makes gameplay highly unpredictable. You don't want this to be a casino simulator.
Greatswords were rampant for 6 months. Not that it was a major problem, if a bit imbalanced; def better than empty boards. They could be moved, locked, etc... to disrupt the opponent, but they couldn't be shut down completely by movement, nor removed easily. They weren't unbeatable.