This week DC Dual Force patch has arrived delivering sweeping balance changes to bring Might and Tactics down and more buffs to the Green Lantern recruits. We also get big changes to Wonder Woman which make her a real deck building consideration rather than a Jill-Of-All-Trades!
For more information see the full patch notes:
So who are the big winners and losers from the patch? What changes could make the biggest difference to the game and what should you explore. Read on for reaction and thoughts on the patch notes and a deck to try with the changes.
The Changes
Wonder Woman (Leader): Now says “[2]: Wonder Woman gets +3[POWER] this turn. Give the Recruit in front of Wonder Woman +1/+1.”
wonder-woman-leader needed big changes and this could be considered a full rework of the leader. Wonder Woman was pairing too well with almost any other Leader as her ability provides the key buff of +1 health to all recruits. The way the powers work allowed you to fill your board prior to the effect and then use the power to clear a recruit. This board swing and ability to stabilise all your recruits is what made her a powerhouse. This drops the power on the attack to 3, making the power less likely to clear but also changes the buff to only the card in front.
This synergises well with the Might kit still as, the recruits are well rounded and it helps keep them alive, but doesn't translate as well across to some of the other factions. Many of the cards you want to buff to keep alive in other factions you are disincentivised from playing them in front of Wonder Woman. This changes what she pairs with significantly but she is still very strong as she can set up a big recruit early game and swing the board still.
Leader health changes
- batman-leader Now has 18 Health (had 19 Health)
- the-flash-leader : Now has 19 Health (had 17 Health)
The design of the game allows for individual leaders effectiveness to be adjusted with the health as well as the powers. These two leaders feel health changes more than most as the Leader ability often is used to clear recruits and taking damage in the process. Both seem like reasonable changes, making Batman less effective at clearing whilst allowing The Flash to survive longer and act as a way to keep the early game board clear.
Lex Luthor (Leader): Now says “[4]: KO a Recruit. If they were friendly, sacrifice them to draw two cards and charge Lex Luthor three times.”
The lex-luthor-leader change seems to be trying to encourage using the ability to activate Parting Shots. To this point using Lex Luthor's ability has been focused on clearing recruits on the other side of the board. This change means you can activate on your own Recruit every turn after the first activation. This is excellent as you no longer need to hold charges on Lex Luthor for opponents big threats, you can keep it at the ready.
Might Early Game
- superman-robot : Is now a 2/1 (was a 2/2)
- amazonian-bracers : Now says “Give a friendly Recruit +3[HEALTH] and AURA.”
Positive changes which are just more hits on the early game for Might. The health on the recruits in the game is the most important stat and this shows they are working towards the right balance around this.
Truth and Justice: Now says “Give your Recruits +2/+2 and SHIELD.”
Of all the changes this one was the biggest surprise. The truth-and-justice change seems to be trying to balance with the loss of early game stabilisation through Wonder Woman by giving you a later game swing. Adding Shield also synergise with cards like Supergirl and Kong Kenan as you can apply the Shields then gain the benefit from these cards. This card could already swing a game back around without the Shield and exploring Shield based builds will be encouraged here.
Gadgets
- upgraded-bandage-created : Now says “Heal 3 damage from a friendly character and give them +1[HEALTH].”
- alfred-pennyworth : Now says “DEPLOY: If you have Batman Leader, draw a card. START: Create a Bandage in your hand.” and is now a 2/2 (was a 1/1)
- batwing : Is now a 3/3 (was a 3/4)
The gadget package has been central to the game for some time. Alfred Pennyworth has been one of the biggest offenders as it allows you to skip a turn charging Batman, swinging the board with the attack and banking the ability to heal later. Dropping the draw from the Upgraded Bandages makes it harder to use Batman as a way to draw cards in the mid game (now needing the Batman recruit to draw from the Gadgets). With how much value draw can have with 40 cards this change should not be underrated and should lead to lots of consideration whether Batman is really the Leader to pair with for your deck.
Tactics Mid-Game
- commissioner-gordon : Is now a 2/1 (was a 3/3)
- batman-created : Is now a 4/4 (was a 6/6)
These two changes bring the cards in line with the impact they have. Commissioner Gordon will still have evade when placed as a defender and still has the clear potential, just less of an ongoing threat. Batman from the Bat-Signal still clears mid game and creates a threat but it may not be a game ending clock. Both are still great cards which should be considered in every Tactics deck, but they are more reasonable now.
Devil’s Night: Now says “Give your Recruits +2[POWER].”
Making devils-night a permanent increase keeps the burst potential but also allows for setting up threats on board which must be dealth with.
Man-Bat: Is now a 4/1 (was a 3/2)
This is a gigantic buff given how man-bat operates. When played on the first turn, your opponent has to clear it or they know next turn you have 4 attack once again and every turn it returns it is 4 more damage. It can now be a clear or 4 damage to the Leader, every single turn. This is a 33% increase in attack and given it returns every turn the loss of health only makes it easier to clear. Most times the 2 health could be cleared so the 1 health change is not as impactful as the attack buff.
Parasite: Now says “DEPLOY: Deal 2 damage to two random enemy Recruits. Parasite gets +1/+1 for each damage dealt.” and is now a 1/1 (was a 2/2)
Nice buff to the firepower package as should pair much better with punchline as one example. These can both come down now to do 3 damage to 2 recruits and buff parasite +6/+6. This makes 7/7 whilst potentially clearing two recruits.
Early Game Clears
- whack-a-man : Now says “Deal 5 damage to a random enemy Recruit.”
- lightning-arc : Now says “Deal 5 damage to an enemy and 1 to each adjacent enemy.”
The focus on balancing around the early game clears is welcome. Here is another example of pushing the Bronze resource to be able to help stabilise as you go into Silver resource turns. In other games this would seem oppressive but in DC Dual Force with how the resource system works it's important to balance power throughout the curve
Green Lanterns
- chp : Now says “DEPLOY: You may pay [BRONZE] to give Ch'p and a random Green Lantern in your hand +2/+1 and AURA.”, is now a FREE cost (was BRONZE), and is now a 1/1 (was a 2/2)
- simon-baz : Now says “DEPLOY: You may pay [BRONZE] to give Simon Baz and a random Green Lantern in your hand +4[HEALTH].” and is now a 4/1 (was a 3/2)
- jessica-cruz : Now says “DEPLOY: You may pay [BRONZE] to give Jessica Cruz and a random Green Lantern in your hand +4[POWER].” and is now a 1/4 (was a 2/3)
- john-stewart : Is now a 5/4 (was a 3/5)
The balance of power changes here is great. The power and health being front loaded on Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz more allows for the extra resource pay off to create above rate cards which combo better with Ch'p. Jessica Cruz in particular now feels much better as the health makes her a better target for the buffs from other Lanterns also. John Stewart has an ability based around the attack, so more attack is very welcome.
Solstice: Is now a 5/5 (was a 5/4)
Slight adjustment to solstice , card focused on comboing with other cards dealing damage. More health = more chances it will survive to pull off these turns.
Supersonic Sucker Punch: Now says “Give a friendly Recruit +4[POWER] and INVINCIBLE this turn. Draw a card.”
Adding Draw to supersonic-sucker-punch is always welcome, especially in a card which your looking to use to clear aggressively.
Lasso of Truth: Now has a FREE cost (was BRONZE)
The first true cost change. Unfortunately for the impact of the effect lasso-of-truth this is unlikely to make this a staple in many decks.
Metron: Is now a 4/10 (was a 2/10)
The ability is what you play metron for, but he sometimes felt like a road block rather than a threat. The 2 attack was making very little impact on the cards trading in and this makes clearing Metron a bigger cost for your opponent.
Deimos: Is now a 2/3 (was a 2/2)
This makes deimos a very strong card as it is now more likely to stick around and the ability already cleared or helped clear many early game recruits.
Shadow’s Blade: Now says “Give a friendly Recruit AMBUSH and LETHAL this turn.”
shadows-blade gains Lethal, now making any recruit potential clear of any opponent recruit it can Damage AND it will stay alive. Worth exploring as a clear option for all Tyranny decks and especially ones filling the board with Arkham Inmates.
Indoctrinate: Now says “Put a non-[GOLD] enemy Recruit into your deck.”
Lastly, indoctrinate . Pulling Silver resources from your opponent guaranteed was very strong but the power was placing them on board with Guard. Now you take a resource frok the board but you simply add it to your deck. It's significantly worse this was as it provides no tempo on board and is no longer guaranteed to Guard you but can be ok removal. It also adds to your deck making further draws diluted. The previous card was very strong so the change makes sense but this new card doesn't appear to be as strong but will find uses as a removal tool at times.
Deck to Try
This week, the deck focuses on an experiment I have been working on, focusing almost entirely on Bronze Resources. The plan is to aggressively mulligan, aim to cease the board immediately and never let go. We have ways to make our cards survive longer through escape-tunnel but the reality is we just want to hit the Leaders wuick. man-bat change provides extra reach and can combine well with black-mask and the-penguin to buff our cheap boards also.
Last Page
What are your thoughts on the changes? Let us know in the comments below.
Good Luck, Have Fun and Stay Safe!
