I’ve been thinking about how I’d balance Core 2.0 for quite a while. Recently it occurred to me that I could put that time to good use by running a Core 2.0 tournament with my balance tweaks. I’ve accumulated quite a bit of FFG swag over the years since I live near them, so I could easily just put up my own prize support and have a reasonable prize pool. Naturally, I’d just TO and judge, not play.
Of course, I can’t just rebalance Core in a vacuum – the entire post-Core card pool has been released with consideration given to Core 1.0 cards. I think the most notable example is the power level of Cyberdex Virus suite.
Proposed constraints:
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Only Core Set cards can be rebalanced. No changes to Caprice, NAPD, etc.
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This is to keep the balance changes simple so people don’t have to remember 50+ rebalanced cards.
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However, the Core Set balance changes have to be made with the entire card pool in mind! For example, any change to Nisei Mk II has to account for the fact that Caprice will not be changed.
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Only nerfs, no buffs.
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I’m not set on this one, but almost all of the ideas I’ve come up with have been nerfs, and the buffs haven’t been super useful (e.g. removing the unique constraint on Ice Carver, because I have a huge soft spot for ONR Clown decks, and resource trashing is powerful right now anyway).
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As with the first point, I want to limit the number of cards that change.
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It’s hard to come up with good buffs. For instance, I spent a while thinking about how to buff BABW, but with the constraint that only Core Set cards can be changed (so nothing like turning Subliminal into a transaction), it’s hard to do.
Here is my current slate of nerfs, of course subject to further balancing:
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AstroScript Pilot Program
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Add “This token cannot be used to advance another copy of AstroScript Pilot Program.”
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This makes the decision to use the token more skill testing, but keeps the token powerful. You still want to run 3 AstroScripts, but you can’t chain them from your deck with Fast Track and a rezzed SanSan, or topdeck them one after the other and score from hand without other tools.
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Scorched Earth
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5 influence.
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Meat damage flatline is too easy in NBN, and we can’t change Traffic Accident. This is intended to push the drip tag / non-kill uses for tags that are all over the place in NBN, but that no one plays because once you land a tag, it’s better to just win the game with Traffic + Scorch. This makes it even harder to fit Traffic + Scorch in the same deck, and reinforces Weyland’s primacy as the Scorch faction to the extent that I think this can be done with only Core Set changes. (I mean, maybe SEA could be 1 influence, but I’m not sure how much that would actually help.)
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Engineering the Future
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“The first time you install a card in a server each turn, gain 1.”
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Working on both server installs and ice installs is way too good. This moves EtF out of Stronger Together’s design space.
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Kate “Mac” McCaffrey
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Link 0. Lower the install cost of the first program or piece of hardware you install on your turn by 1.
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Kate isn’t that far ahead of other Shaper runners; she just needs to be brought down a peg to make it easier to choose Hayley, Kit, or CT.
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Desperado
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Install cost 4.
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At 3, almost no other Crim consoles see play. This opens the door just a little.
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Account Siphon
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5 influence.
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This is the card that makes me think hardest about my current position on nerfs / buffs. Trying to indirectly buff Crim by nerfing one of their best cards when used in another faction is awkward.
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Parasite
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3 influence.
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This is step 1 of “Anarch cards for Anarchs.”
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Datasucker
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2 influence.
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This is step 2 of “Anarch cards for Anarchs.” If I could also change cards outside the Core Set, I’d rebalance this in a more fundamental way, but since CVS is going to remain untouched, Datasucker should retain its power level. If you want more than 1 copy, though, you should have to chew up some real influence.
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Mimic
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2 influence. Install cost 4.
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This is step 3 of “Anarch cards for Anarchs.” Mimic at 3 is also by far the strongest killer in the game, even if it needs support. It should be slightly less of a no-brainer to have Mimic as your killer if you aren’t an Anarch or playing stealth.
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Yog.0
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2 influence. 1: Break up to 3 code gate subroutines.
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Breaking for 0 is way too good; Yog should come with some minimal cost. It could be break unlimited subs for 1 given the code gates in the game, but this allows for tricks like Midway + Merlin to work even with Yog and sucker tokens (only +1c, but better than breaking the entire thing for 0). Even in this form, Yog is still very strong, so the influence cost goes up.
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These are by no means final, and I’ve given a lot of thought to their implications in their current form:
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The Anarch changes hurt Criminal somewhat, although not quite as much as in the past – straight up AndySucker may be impossible, but Crims like Leela and Geist aren’t splashing a ton of stuff from the Anarch suite these days. The Parasite change probably hurts the most.
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The Anarch changes more or less put an end to Prepaid Kate in its current form, but as we saw at Worlds, there are powerful alternatives without fundamentally altering the deck. Currently, Kate can have it all – Clot, Legwork, Datasucker / Parasite, and Mimic. I don’t think all that stuff should fit in one non-Anarch deck, so I’m fine with that.
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If I were doing buffs, Account Siphon could be: Make a run on HQ. If successful, instead of accessing cards you may force the Corp to lose up to 3, then you gain 5 and take 1 tag for each credit lost. 5 influence. That would be bananas in terms of power level and still enable denial decks when paired with Vamp.
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I haven’t helped Weyland beyond making Scorch harder to splash in NBN. I’m not sure how feasible it is to “fix” Weyland with Core Set nerfs alone, and this is one reason I considered allowing buffs, but then I couldn’t think of any well-balanced, tidy buffs to Core Set Weyland cards that would actually address the problems the faction has.
As to the last two bullets, though, I’m not sure it’s my job when rebalancing the Core Set to fix the downstream power level issues that have left Criminal and Weyland in the places they’re in now. Ultimately this isn’t intended to reshape the existing meta, just tweak it and see what new decks rise when current powerhouses are toned down just a touch.
I’m interested in both general thoughts on the concept and execution as well as specific proposed Core Set 2.0 balance tweaks for a hypothetical Core 2.0 tournament!