Cards That Should Be Buffed/Nerfed In The Beyond the Bandlewood Balance Patch
Hey, everyone NicMakesPlays here!
We’re due for a big balance patch sometime soon, so today I’m going to cover my personal wishlist.
For nerfs, I’ll be discussing Nami, Lost Soul, Poppy Bandle City Mayor, and Aloof Travelers. There are also two cards I have classified as “optional nerfs” – Eye of the Dragon and Ravenous Flock.
For buffs, we’ll take a look at Herald of the Dragons, Nocturne, Diane, Stalking Shadows, The Fangs, Kindred, Lux, and Katarina.
If you disagree with my suggestions or think I missed some cards, let me know in the comments!
To start off, let’s dive into the nerfs.
Nerfs
Nami
Nami is a bit too powerful when drawn in the Nami Zoe deck. She often wins the game on the spot since she’s hard to remove early in the game.
Even when removed she usually trades well with the removal or has a ton of protection via Sunblessed Vigor, Pale Cascade, and Guiding Touch.
I would make her level condition go up to 9 to make her take longer to level.
Now you can’t pass the first few turns and play a leveled Nami on turn 4.
Lost Soul
This card gets a bit too much value since you can summon it over and over again to grind the rest of the game.
I would make it a 3|3 so the value you get overtime is diminished and it doesn’t trade as well.
Poppy
It’s not a surprise that Poppy is one of the best performing cards in the game right now and enables tons of tier 1 decks.
I would make it so Poppy only buffed the allies that attack with her, so your backrow units don’t gain tons of stats as well.
Bandle City Mayor
The value Bandle City Mayor gives you is a bit out of control since it gives you a free card along with tempo for the rest of the game.
I would make it so it only discounts the first multi-region unit you play each round.
Aloof Travelers
Aloof Travelers gives a ton of card advantage since you draw extra cards and your opponent loses one. I would make it so this card is a 3/3 so it is more of a commitment to play for tempo.
Buffs
Herald of the Dragons
Dragons have been significantly nerfed due to their rough matchups against the new cards, as well as overall being power-creeped.
of the Dragons being a 1|2 would be a slight buff and allow them to potentially have somewhat powerful openings.
This could give them a chance to be higher tier 3 deck or even tier 2.
Nocturne
Nightfall is one of the most well-received decks in the game and a fan favorite of many.
Currently, the deck is low tier 3 and in one of the weakest states, it’s ever been.
On top of this Nocturne is one of the weakest Champs in the game right now.
Nocturne giving an enemy Vulnerable and all enemies 1-0 on play for his level 2 form(like his level 1 form does) would be a nice buff.
Diana
Another nice quality of life buff for Nightfall would be making it so she gains Challenger on level up.
Currently, you have to level her up and then use another Nightfall effect for her to gain Challenger for the turn.
This makes it so Nightfall often falls short of getting this effect off – it would be a nice buff to Diana and the archetype.
Stalking Shadows
A lot of people, including myself, were surprised this was nerfed.
At the time of the nerf, the top Shadow Isles decks weren’t playing it (Nasus Thresh) as well as it being a good card for the game.
It enables a lot of homebrew archetypes and is fair for a 2 mana card because it doesn’t affect the board and gives an ephemeral copy.
I think this is the exact type of card you want to be good for your game. I would revert Stalking Shadows to 2 mana.
The Fangs
Targon is in a weak spot right now and with the Serpent being a 1|1, The Fangs can be a 3|2.
The Serpent can’t go back to being a 1|1 because you can get it off Loping Telescope and it’s powerful with Poppy.
So with that being said, I think buffing The Fangs to a 3|2 is the right way to buff Targon.
Kindred
Kindred is another fan favorite and is one of the weakest cChamps in the game.
They are afraid of buffing Kindred because if they were better they would be too good of a backrow cChamp, which I understand.
That being said, I think giving Kindred one more health would make them viable but reasonable.
This allows Kindred to survive cards such as Ravenous Flock, Black Spear, and Screeching Dragon among other things.
Lux
Lux is a hard one because if she costs too low with Barrier she may be too good.
She would have to be reworked or her support could be buffed.
I’m not sure what I would propose for her specifically but she definitely needs to be looked at.
Katarina
I think Katarina needs a full-on rework to be viable. She’s been one of the worst if not the worst Champ since Legends of Runeterra’s release.
She really has no home or deck that fits her well. The fact that she self recalls makes you lose a ton of tempo by playing her.
She either needs a rework to remove this or a bigger payoff when resummoned.
An interesting idea that Rubin Zoo, one of the devs had, was to make her level 2 form say “Damaged units can’t block.”
I think that would make her interesting and it is a change I would love to see.
Optional Nerfs
Eye of the Dragon
This is one of the most polarizing cards in the game and is extremely overturned for its cost.
Eye of the Dragon is a net 1 mana card that is a 1|3 and summons 2|1’s with lifesteal the rest of the game.
This stops any deck that wants to attack outright or is just straight up a 1 mana auto-win a lot of the time.
The decks that run this card are also packed with protection and if you even can try and remove it you usually trade down in mana.
The reason this card has dodged nerfs for so long is that it was assumed the decks like Lee Sin and Ez Karma needed the extra attune to help in the early game.
I don’t think this is the case anymore with Lee Sin/Ez Karma being tier 1 for multiple formats and even being one of the best decks in the game to perform at Seasonals this last weekend.
I would remove Attune to balance the card so it is a bit more reasonable for its cost.
Ravenous Flock
Ravenous Flock is one of the most game-defining cards in the game and a lot of Runeterra revolves around it.
A lot of champs and decks in Runeterra lack viability due to being easily killed by Ravenous Flock. Cards like Garen, Kindred, and Renekton are 4+ mana cards that just die to a 1 mana spell.
This makes them extremely risky to play and often game losing when this happens.
Each season a lot of the meta is defined by Ravenous Flock decks being tier 1, while other archetypes fade into lesser viability due to the sheer power of this card.
Ravenous Flock should deal 3 damage since it would still be an insanely powerful card for its cost but more reasonable.
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, feel free to ask NicMakesPlays during his streams (usually 6PM-1230AM EST).
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