Burning Bog Blog

## Welcome to the first ever Scourge Brawl progress update blog!

Welcome to the Burning Bog Blog! These blog posts are meant to share progress updates on balance changes, expansions, etc. on the game Scourge Brawl. Without further ado, let's get right into this one:

### From Enjin to Fandom

We've begun our conversion from the Enjin website to the Fandom powered by Wikia website. The change is being done in order to keep as many JdotGames games together as possible. Currently, no downloads are available on the Fandom website, however we do not recommend downloading anything from the Enjin website. Why, you may ask? Keep reading to find out!

### An ULTIMATE Balance Update is On Its Way!

That's right. We are finally getting everything right, and oh, do I mean EVERYTHING! This is truly an ULTIMATE balance update. When deciding to return to our roots after years of work on our Fahrlend series, we found Scourge Brawl to feel incoherent, incomplete, and inadequate. These three "i's" are what we are attempting to fix with this new update. Over the past month, our team has been hard at work in trying to revamp the game into something new, while still keeping its roots the same. Here are some issues we've identified and the changes that we are making to them:

#### The Standard Sets Issue

Ever since the beginning of Scourge Brawl, the standard sets (Classic, Wolf, Dragon, Void, and Jungle) have created some unexpected issues. The most annoying and impactful one has been that each player had to choose from the same pool of standard cards. This means that if both players wanted a card in their decks, it meant that they would either have to fight over it or give it up. To create conflict was NOT the intention of the standard set.

As time passed, we introduced two special sets of cards in the "Battle of Garagzhan" expansion. We split the classes up into two teams, giving them six cards each that only heroes of each team could use. Numana, Hagg, and Lyfos could use Invurdi cards, but could not use Garagzhan cards, which were used by Irilla, Jordan, and Veragonda, and vise-versa. While this worked temporarily, we eventually found the need to require that heroes from the same team could not play each other in a match. This is because the team-specific cards were basically a smaller standard set, creating a similar and even larger issue.

#### The Standard Sets: Our Solution

With the release of our upcoming Ultimate Balance Update, we are making changes to heroes, matches, and the standard set. To start, each hero is assigned to a team, the same ones as before. Numana, Hagg, and Lyfos will be Invurdi, and Irilla, Jordan, and Veragonda will be Garagzhan. Like before, heroes can only play a match together if they are on opposite teams (Irilla vs. Numana, but not Hagg vs. Numana). Garagzhan can only verse Invurdi.

All cards in the standard set (Classic, Wolf, Dragon, Void, and Jungle) are being assigned a team, and can only be used by heroes in said team. No longer will players need to fight over which standard cards they want in their deck. Because you can only play against a hero of the opposite team, each player has their own pool of cards, both hero-specific and standard sets, to choose from!

All cards from the Classic Set will be renamed to the Basic Set. These cards will NEVER discontinue unless they are "Hall of Famed." When a card is Hall of Famed, it means that the card was too strong to be balanced, and therefore must be discontinued. Hall of Faming will happen rarely to never.

On the other hand, the Void and Jungle expansions will be discontinued overtime. *As of June 30, 2019, we have decided to discontinue all cards from the Wolf and Dragon expansion as an effort to limit the amount of new cards that must be printed by players.*

Lastly, to be specific, here is how we outlined and created the Basic Set:

 Void Set
 Jungle Set

In total, both the updated Garagzhan Set and the Invurdi Set includes 26 cards EACH!

But what are we doing with the cards from the "Battle of Garagzhan" expansion that were originally team-specific? These cards will remain in accordance with their team and will be the first **Neutral Expansion**.

#### Neutral Expansions

Neutral Expansions are like regular expansion: they are themed and include cards. However, these cards will be team-specific only as opposed to hero-specific. The first neutral expansion will be "Spirit of the Battle" and will release along with the Ultimate Balance Update.

The "Spirit of the Battle" expansion includes a total of 12 new, yet familiar cards originally from the "Battle of Garagzhan" expansion. Each team will be receiving 6 cards total. Keep an eye out for card previews on the wiki *Discuss*section ahead of its release!

#### The Excess of Cards Issue

There are getting to be A LOT of cards in Scourge Brawl, which is great for choosing, but horrible for finding ways to store them all! While we have discontinued cards in the past, the introduction of our Hall of Fame system will help remove unhealthy cards from the Basic Set. But what about an excess of expansions?

#### The Excess of Cards: Our Solution

Every couple of months or so, we will begin discontinuing all cards from older expansions. While this may seem like a waste for some players, we will only be discontinuing expansions if they have been available for **at least 6 months.**And that does not even mean we will be discontinuing them immediately after that timer runs up! If we like how an expansion is playing, we may keep it in the game up to **a full year.**

In addition to a discontinue rotation cycle, we will also be updating our cycle of expansion and how we create them. Firstly, **we will no longer be printing bad cards as fillers**. Expansions will be more concise and more useful and exciting than ever before! Because of this, **expansions will include less cards, but take longer to create**. Lastly, **we will be creating two different types of expansions: neutral expansions and hero-specific expansions**. Neutral expansions include cards that entire teams of heroes can use, while hero-specific expansions include cards that only one hero can use. We will attempt to alternate the releases of these expansions.

#### The Balancing Cards Issue

We've balanced our cards too much. Our team felt like it was our duty to analyze cards closely, and overall **decrease the power level of the game as a whole**.

#### Balancing Cards: Our Solution

Our upcoming Ultimate Balance Update will include the most amount of balance updates ever seen. **Virtually every card that is team-specific is being redone**. Some cards are getting simple tweaks, while others are getting totally redesigned. A few hero-specific cards are also being redone, so keep an eye out for those as well.

## Save For Later

Example of a newly balanced Secret for Numana!

### Expansion or Set

Battle of Garagzhan

The Ultimate Balance Update is not just solving issues, it's also revamping some stuff that aren't an issue but wouldn't mind a simple bettering. Here are a few examples of what we're changing:

#### Secrets

Secrets have been a perfectly fine mechanic in Scourge Brawl, but we want them to feel less clunky and more obvious to all players reading them.

To change the secrets mechanic, we are ruling that **secrets can only trigger on your opponent's turn, or at the start of your turn**. For this reason, a few secrets are being balanced to fit this new rule.

One example of these newly balanced secrets is on the right: "Save For Later"! "Save For Later" previously was a 2 energy secret that read "Secret: When you destroy an opponent's card in play, add a copy of it to your hand." This text was confusing on when the Secret could trigger, and is no longer as obvious as when it should trigger in accordance to our new rule.

Because of this, "Save For Later" now reads "Secret: When your opponent plays a minion, instead add it to your hand." Not only is it more obvious when this Secret can occur (on your opponent's turn), but it is also much more impactful. Which brings us to...

#### Spells

Previously, spells have had only a minor impact on the game. Only a few heroes (mainly Numana and Veragonda) used spells heavily, and it was only because they had benefits to using them. For this reason, **most spells are either being buffed or reimagined into a new version**. We want all heroes to have spells that feel as impactful as spells from other classes.

## Trained Archer

Example of a Garagzhan Team-Specific card!

### Expansion or Set

Basic Set

Hero-specific cards aren't changing their appearances that much. In fact, current ones won't change at all. However, when releasing new expansions, we will now be changing the logo behind the card text in theme with the expansion, rather than in theme with the hero. This is in order to better organize which cards are from which expansions which can make it easier for players to follow up on discontinued expansions.

#### Card Appearance: Team-Specific

Team-specific cards may appear a little different, as you can see on the right!

To start, team-specific cards will follow hero-specific cards in representing what expansion they are apart of by the use of a newly themed logo behind the card text.

The most important change we are making to team-specific cards is how you can tell which cards are team-specific, and what team they are for. Below the energy crystal on the card is a blue banner with a radial symbol. This color and symbol stands for a team-specific card for Garagzhan heroes. Other cards may have a red banner with a mechanical symbol. That color and symbol will stand for a team-specific card for Invurdi heroes.

### Sounds ULTIMATE, Huh?

This balance update will cause all cards in the standard set, team-specific cards in the "Battle of Garagzhan" set, and some hero-specific cards across multiple expansions to become discontinued. As we approach release, we will continue to update you through the *Discuss* tab on the wiki on newly balanced cards and hero-specific cards that will be discontinued.

One last thing:

**The Ultimate Balance Update will FINALLY be released for download on July 19, 2019. Stay tuned, and get excited!**