Elemancer v9.5: Getting Close

In terms of balance, I really like how the Elements are performing. Time/Chronomancy in a vacuum overperforms, and it is capable of a lot of damage, so I’ve nerfed a few cards slightly. I want Chronomancy to be fiddly, lots of actions to take to maximize your damage.

This update also changed around some of the boss cards, partially to move reward abilities that give effectively free damage (i.e. Hydromancy and Aeromancy) to Dragon bosses, which are immune to most other Elements. This prevents players from just fighting those bosses regardless of the build they’re going for. I also nerfed the passive Time boss reward to only allow you to cycle one card per turn for free, down from two. I can revert that pretty easily if Chronomancy somehow severely underperforms between the boss adjustment and handful of card changes. Electromancy had a couple of cards that looked a bit too strong, so I’ve dialed those back a bit.

Update/results from testing: The major updates only really affected Time and Electricity, and the numbers now look to be in-line with other Elements. End-game damage looks to be between 40-45 per hand on average, and I think that’s just where I want it. With no major adjustments to cards, my next immediate step is to create a physical prototype and spruce up the visual appeal of cards. I don’t plan on having extensive art on cards like a Magic, Pokémon, or even Dominion card. The majority of the card will be the text box, but I want to add something to make each Element distinct and enjoyable to look at.

My next step will be the 4.0 era of Elemancer and lots of physical playtesting. I’ve decided to reuse my original cardstock and use stickers to cover up my crude writing. I’m excited. I’ll also be working on some minor art assets as noted above.