…until Poisonous Murlocs are removed, or until better counters are introduced. I’ve reached my breaking point.
The rant:
Let’s start with the basics: There is nothing enjoyable going up against someone playing Poisonous Murlocs. Nothing. And that, in and of itself, is an issue.
The whole concept of the Battlegrounds is to build up a strong army by leveraging minion type symbiosis, applying buffs, smart gold spending, timely tavern upgrades, and a good use of your hero power. Being the best strategist you can be with what you have to work with.
It’s a fun challenge, and often this is easier said than done. Some games, the cards offered just don’t work out, and that’s fine. But some other games, they do, and you end up building a strong board and you boost your minions properly, and you start getting the feeling that hey, maybe you can win it all.
…And then someone comes along with Poisonous Murlocs that nullifies everything you’ve built for the past 7-8 rounds. It’s a cheap strategy that requires minimal build-up, a few well-placed Taunts, and a bit of luck. That’s it. There’s nothing strategic about this.
When you’re halfway through the game and you already know who’s most likely to win, there’s something wrong. I’ve stopped counting how many times I’ve watched the first round of an opponent’s SI:Sefin, knowing that there’s nothing I can do to prevent what’s to come. It’ll be hidden behind a few basic diversions that only serve to get the death counter up and activate SI:Sefin’s very easy Avenge, granting another Murloc Poisonous, or casting it on himself in the very least. And then it goes downhill from there.
I’m tired of that feeling of being powerless because there’s no way to force my minions to prioritize killing SI:Sefin. I’m tired of knowing that regardless of the other opponents I’ll face after, I’ll probably end up losing to that person eventually.
It takes the whole game to build an army and this is a mechanic that you can’t adapt to in a round or two. If you’re not playing Mechs with Divine Shields to soak at least one attack and ideally get more Shields, or powerful Dragons with Divine Shields from Nadina the Red, with or Beasts with Leapfroggers and Rat Packs to refill the board, then you’re usually screwed over by a very crappy mechanic. And even the counters I’ve just mentioned requires early dedication, and some very specifics cards to be obtained.
Overpower with brute force? Murlocs are some of the easiest type to boost and they can be challenging to kill, even without the Poisonous buff.
Each minion type should be able to be competitive in the end game, when played correctly. But when high-stats Quilboars, Elementals, Pirates, or Demons are dealt with like they were nothing, then you know there’s something fundamentally flawed with the idea of Poisonous.
There, the rant is over.
Possible Solutions?
I understand that coming here and writing a post complaining about this mechanic opens the door to criticism. But I’ve also given this some thought and I’ve put together a few ideas that could potentially fix this. This is just a brainstorm and I’m not saying they would work as plug-and-play solutions, but maybe they could be explored.
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1. Getting rid of Poisonous altogether.
Simple enough, I think that would be the most viable solution. Rework Murlocs if the imbalance feels too great without this mechanic, but I think it needs to go. -
2. New game mechanic: “Treatening”.
This would act as a secondary level Taunt. Minions with Taunt retain their top priority but once they’re removed, “Treatening” minions come next. Other minions with this mechanic could include Soul Juggler, Khadgar, Rat Pack, Impatient Doomsayer, Dazzling Lightspawn, Mechano-Tank, Baron Rivendare, Palescale Crocolisk, Dread Admiral Eliza. -
3. Minion type with passive immunity to Poisonous.
There’s a lack of a straight-forward counter to Poisonous, and I think every mechanic should have something fairly simple to use against it. A bit like Unstable Ghoul is a simple solution to get rid of the Divine Shields when playing against George the Fallen, Mechs, or Dragons with Nadina the Red. Or like Zapp Slywick can take care of a Soul Juggler, Baron Rivendare, Mama Bear, or Palescale Crocolisk. Having a minion type immune to Poisonous may be a viable solution. Either a new type or perhaps an existing one, like the Quilboars? -
4. New game mechanic: “Toxic”.
It’s a bit complex but the goal would be to convert the Murlocs’ mechanic into a lesser version of Poisonous, while allowing the 1/1 Deadly Spore, and the 2/3 Cobra from the Venomstrike Trap secret to retain their full Poisonous effect.“Toxic” could be something like “Reduces the opponent minion’s Health by half, and deals X damage.”.
The first part is a compromise between the regular fighting of two non-Poisonous minions, and losing a 70/70 minion to a nothing/nothing Poisonous Murloc.
The second part is the solution to a problem. The Attack value of a minion with Poisonous is irrelevant since it’s a one-hit-kill. Because this new mechanic would already reduce the opposing minion’s health in half, the full Attack value couldn’t be added to that, as it would be too steep. It can’t be ignored either because we’d end up with defending minion going from 4 Health to 2 Health, then to 1 Health, and having no way to kill it.
I suggest that once a Murloc obtains the “Toxic” buff, the Attack value doesn’t apply directly but is used to determine the “deals X damage” part, after the reduction. Maybe something like 25% of the minion’s Attack value? So a 20/30 Toxic Murloc would reduce the opposing minion’s Health by half and then deal 5 damage to it (25% of 20)? Something like that. This would obviously require a lot of testing.
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5. SI:Sefin cannot cast Poisonous on himself.
At the very least, it should require two Murlocs for this strategy to work. -
*6. Remove some of the Health buffs for Murlocs *
The moment SI:Sefin is in play, it’s only Health that’s important. Currently, 4 Murlocs grant Health from Battlecries, 1 grants Health from playing more Murlocs. Add the neutral cards, Deathrattles (i.e. Impulsive Trickster), end of turn boosts, and/or Blood Gems, and/or Bananas… It’s too easy for Murlocs to gain Poisonous AND a massive Health pool. -
7. Increase the Avenge count on SI:Sefin
It’s not much, but at least it would help a little bit with the balance.
Conclusion
So as of this moment, I think I’m done with Battlegrounds, and that’s unfortunate because I like this mode. I’ve been playing since it got launched and my current record is 284 first places and 2113 top-4, so I’d like to think that this post and the way I’m seeing this situation is backed by a good chunk of experience playing this mode. Right now, it’s hard to enjoy new elements added to the game. Stuff like the shields to balance the heroes, or discovering new heroes, or playing around with the buddy mechanic, all of that is overshadowed by the annoyance of seeing at least one person playing Poisonous Murlocs every game the minion type is in the rotation.
So many times I’ve wanted to come on the forums and express my frustration with this, but I never went through with it. Well no more. It’s done. I’ve reached my breaking point.