Doomlord of the Abyss’s on-fusion cost change will now be 7PP instead of 6PP: this nerf is definitely a heavy hit to Vengeance Bloodcraft, albeit a little on the surprising side, given Wrath Blood’s strong rise in popularity over the month.
Memento, the Grim Teacher has seen her cost reduced to 2PP. She’s still a fringe addition to Burial Rite Shadowcraft, although we may see an increase in decks running her as the player base discovers new synergies that the deck can have.
First off, let’s start with the buff to the Evolve effect of Anne & Grea, Royal Duo. The evolve now does 5 damage to all enemy followers and restores 5 defense to your leader, which means that there are very few turn 4 boards going second or turn 5 boards going first that can survive the Evolve effect alone—the additional defense also helps shore up Mysteria’s matchup into any remotely aggressive decks.Next, let’s look at the buff to Majestic Sorcery. The only follower affected by the change at the moment is Anne’s Summoning, which has a couple of sources: the primary source is Anne, Brilliant Mage, which has been noticeably absent from Mysteria lists. This change most likely reintroduces Anne to Mysteria lists.
Sin Hunter has already started seeing play in some of the most recent iterations of Burial Rite Shadow, and the buff to add the alternate “if you’ve performed Burial Rite… at least 5 times this match” condition will only solidify his place in future builds.
Orchid’s Examination Hall is one of the more versatile cards printed in Academy of Ages, and the buff makes it much easier to set up for later swing turns. Despite this buff, I believe Elluvia’s issues will still be present, and we will have to see if the new meta is favorable for her.
A number of the new cards from Portalcraft have had their conditions changed to include Academic followers alongside Machina followers. This allows the class to more efficiently run cards like Goblin Genius and Arriet, Luxvoice Learner and still advance the quest of 10 destroyed Machina or Academic cards. Additionally, Lyleth, Immaculate Idol and his Lyleth’s Marionette token both aid in advancing the the number of Academic followers destroyed.
Gretina, Champion Fighter underwent the same treatment as the previous Portal cards did, but she received an additional buff: her Strike condition has been reduced to 10 followers. This change lets her guarantee 6 damage on her Invoke, which opens up more plays when Invocating on turn 6.
There are notable changes to three current meta decks—Vengeance Blood, Mysteria Rune, and Burial Rite Shadow—that look to shake up the ladder after the balance patch.
As for Elluvia Haven and Machina/Academic Portal, once players start testing these more, we should start to see how exactly these two archetypes fit into the meta. I personally expect Elluvia to remain somewhat static, while Machina/Academic Portal will see a significant consistency boost—but we’ll have to see if the latter can withstand the upcoming meta of Wrath Blood, Discard Dragon, and Mysteria Rune.