Changed card cost to 6
| 5
for both balance and niche reasons, as I'll explain below:
Cards can be very close to each other in role but still play very differently.
Compare
and
Despite both being Fire-Element 'unkillable midhitters', one is more rushy and combos with Immolation while the other is a dedicated beatstick that encourages
/
duos.
It's difficult to compare Minor Phoenix to Seraph in the upgraded enviroment because the two cards are now playing completely different roles. (Seraph remains the midhitter beatstick while Minor Phoenix is now an Immorush weenie.)
To separate them further, Seraph and Phoenix have different casting costs to split them into different cost niches. (A more subtle example of how casting costs affect card roles is Giant Frog and Cockatrice - one is the signature rush weenie while the other adds support with its extra toughness).
With Exalted Dragon's new cost, Light's midhitter lineup looks like this:
Against Archangel, Exalted Dragon tends to be less efficient in non-swarm decks - it usually won't come out at full strength and lacks the Heal ability to protect it against CC; in fact, Exalted Dragon has an increased weakness to CC since you can kill ally creatures to make it weaker. As a result, Archangel would still see play for having a more stable/combo-potential 'body' than Exalted Dragon does. At 5
, however, Dragon begins to compete more directly with Crusader instead of Archangel as a midhitter, with the difference being more clear: Crusader is a combo/duo-favoring card that encourages weapon decks while Exalted Dragon is a beatdown card that encourages swarm decks.
The result is that each card gets its own role:
Pegasus : Aggressive Dive Creature, most rushy of the 4 in exchange for restriction to
.
Crusader : Mostly duo creature that encourages mono decks.
Exalted Dragon : Conditional mono creature that is extra-weak to CC.
Archangel : Resilient hitter that plays best in control decks and doesn't suffer the weaknesses of any of the other cards.
