Heya everyone, Sorry here! I'm excited for the upcoming Patch 4.10 and hoping for a lot of changes to shake up the current meta and bring new decks into the mix.
Janna
Nilah
, Jax
Ornn
, and Gnar
Jarvan IV
have been dominating the scene in Patch 4.9. I wrote an article where I listed potential nerfs that I'd like to see in the upcoming patch.
In this article, I'd like to focus on potential buffs that could breathe new life into underplayed cards.
1- Swain
Swain has been tough to level up due to the nerf in Patch 4.8, going from 12+ non-combat damage to 16+ non-combat damage. For the Standard format, this has killed any chance of Swain existing outside of the Illaoi
package, as he's been heavily reliant on Watchful Idol
to level up.
Lowering that 16+ damage down to 14+ is a balanced middle ground, giving him the opportunity to level up sooner and start setting up the Swain + The Leviathan
stun-lock combo.
2- Viego
Viego has been in a tough spot since the Nerf back in Patch 3.16. Now we mostly see him paired with Evelynn
to give him a boost with her Husk generation. Even the Evelynn version has been struggling to perform for a while now. Viego can be too slow, and by the time you set him up, you'll actively be trying to keep up with the opponent's board development.
As for other Viego decks, like the Ionia and Shurima versions, they have been nonexistent due to their slow playstyle and heavily depending on Viego as a win condition.
A cost revert to 5 mana can give a boost to both those versions of Viego; however, I'm unsure what that'll mean for Viego Evelynn. It'll push it back into the meta, but it might overshadow the other versions and even become one of the top-performing decks.
3- Kayle
Kayle has been in a weird spot where we rarely see her level up due to how long it takes to buff her stats and keep her alive until the end of the round. One change to Kayle's level-up condition that can make it easier to fulfill is to change the condition to round end instead of round start.
This will allow "this turn" buffs like Pale Cascade
, Elixir of Wrath
, or Prowl
to count toward her level-up.
4- Perfidious Promoter
Daylton proposed a buff to Perfidious Promoter, basically giving it the Attune keyword. Currently, it struggles to find a place in decks due to the randomness of the value it provides. Adding Attune would activate its effect immediately upon play, allowing players to create a 1 or 2-cost unit on turn 5 or 6.
This might be a huge buff to Perfidious Promoter, so it's understandable if a health nerf down to 3 is needed to keep it in line.
5- Swole Squirrel
Swole Squirrel fits in combo-oriented archetypes, but even in meme decks, it never really shined at all. The card wants to gain more Power and start setting up strong attacks, but without the right keyword like Overwhelm or Elusive, it can't take advantage of that stat buff.
An Empowered keyword that gives Swole Squirrel Overwhelm can turn it into a win condition without relying on other cards to gain the Overwhelm keyword.
I'm not sure what the exact Power you'd need to activate Empowered without making it too strong, so something around 8-9 Power might be ideal.
6- Pack Attack
I somewhat forgot this card was even released. Pack Attack is basically a Parallel Convergence
but only creates an attacking Ephemeral copy of units with the Cat subtype. However, it has yet to find its place in the meta. Reducing its cost to 1 mana could potentially make it more appealing and enable synergies with Cat subtype units like Nidalee
, Nyandroid
, Bonehide Tri-tail
, and Alpha Wildclaw
.
7- Powder Pandemonium
Powder Pandemonium was a key card in Fizz
Samira
decks that dominated the competitive scene but has since received two nerfs, removing Vulnerability and increasing its mana cost by 2.
Since then, players have tested out different Fizz Samira versions that don't rely on Powder Pandemonium as a win condition. I am a bit biased here since I'm a huge Fizz Samira enjoyer. Adjusting its mana cost back to 6 instead of 7 could make it a more viable late-game option while also allowing for additional plays on a specific turn.
An alternative buff is to add back the Vulnerability to the spell while keeping its cost ay 7 mana.
8- Petty Officer
Petty Officer was once a powerful Bilgewater follower, and it's time to bring it back! A +1 health will shut down ping spells like Pie Toss
and Group Shot
from killing it on the spot.
Aggressive decks haven't been quite popular in the Standard format, so a buff to Petty Officer would give a boost to Bilgewater decks' early game. Additionally, Swain Bilgewater and Scouts will most likely take advantage of Petty Officer.
9- Nami
Nami hasn't seen much play after her level-up rework, mostly because her level-up is difficult to achieve. Dropping her level-up condition down to 5 should give her more room to start buffing up the board earlier.
Closing Words
There are a lot of underplayed cards that deserve a buff; however, it can be difficult to find the correct approach to buffing a card without breaking it.
I tried my best to keep the buffs as small as possible so as to not over-buff the cards but, at the same time, give them a better chance at joining the upcoming meta decks.