BAN AND ERRATA UPDATE 04/02/2025
UVS Games Game Design Team
There are a few changes to the UniVersus Ban and Errata list this month. We are just past the recent standard rotation and release of Critical Role: Heroes of Exandria! In early play we have seen a few deck archetypes creating play patterns that we try to minimize at all levels of play.
Banned Card Update
Immortal Shapeshifter
Card Errata Update
Combined Firepower
Immortal Shapeshifter
Over the course of the last year, there has been a lot of support for the health gain deck archetype. To power the payoffs of this archetype we have created some cards that give you a benefit for each time you gain a health regardless of amount. Cards like False Visage and Recuperation Time being the key players. Immortal Shapeshifter super charges these strategies, turning every trigger into an extra trigger for each copy in play. Outside of these interactions, Immortal by itself can create game states where players facing down multiple copies of the card feel like they can’t progress the game state. While we still have our eye on Recuperation Time, we would like to see how it fares without the aid of its powerful partner that we felt required more urgent action.
Combined Firepower
OLD:
Response [Discard Pile]: After you remove a card to pay a cost, you may try to play this card during this attack.
NEW:
King Ghidorah Response [Discard Pile]: After you remove a card to pay a cost, you may try to play this card during this attack.
Combined Firepower has been a point of conversation ever since its release. Its early use was mostly confined to King Ghidorah and Rodan. After the first Attack on Titan set came out, Risky Encounter and a group of cards that triggered after being milled entered into the fray. This created some powerful decks that required action at that time. We banned Risky Encounter and the competitive success of the Combined Firepower fell significantly all the way up to and during the Nationals and Worlds tournament season. With the release of Critical Role, we have seen many decks effectively utilizing Combined in a way to try and accelerate their game plan to win games as early as possible. This gameplan got a large boost from the foundation Science Bros. This interaction provides a ton of stats as early as turn 2 as you milled through multiple possible remove triggers from Combined’s mill. The number of decks utilizing Combined Firepower this way effectively has reached a breaking point. That leads us to today's action. Combined within the confines of its original play pattern is a unique and interesting card, but we need to heavily restrict its access to prevent some of the interactions causing negative play patterns.
The meta is currently undergoing a huge shake up, with the release of Critical Role booster set, new champ cards and the standard rotation. We want to be careful as we take action on cards as the meta game develops. That being said, we intend to be as active as necessary in the upcoming months to ensure a healthy metagame in the months moving forward as results pour in from events.
Our Card Errata and Legality Document is here.
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Keep an eye on our site https://www.uvsgames.com/ for official news and next month's Ban and Errata update!