Minion Masters!




You've likely seen it in the in-game news - We're offering all players a free Supreme Card with the release of Version 1.11. Anyone who logs in for the first week of the patch (from the 26th of March until the 2nd of April) will receive a copy of the new card, Zealots of the Burning Fist. But what is this card?



The Zealots of the Burning Fist are battle hardened soldiers of the notorious Order of the Burning Fist and are loyal to High Inquisitor Ardera, fighting with a reckless abandon that demonstrates little care for their own safety. This fervor allows them to hit harder than the regular Warrior, dealing 100 damage instead of the regular 70, but it comes at a price - With each attack, they lose 10% of their own health. But that's not all - If you only control one Zealot, it gains Rage and Haste, capable of outputting massive damage if they aren't handled with care.

Make sure to collect your free copy with the release of Version 1.11 on the 26th of March!


Also coming with this update is a new set of model and animations for the Warrior and Divine Warrior cards, to make their appearance more consistent with the Empyrean faction. Check them out and let us know what you think:




Full Card Art (Warrior)
Full Card Art (Divine Warrior)

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Minion Masters!




Coming in Version 1.11 is a major overhaul to how we're treating low mana cost cards. The main idea behind the upcoming changes it re-balance the value of 1 mana cards in general. Currently, we feel that the mana slot is offering far too much value for cards that should be primarily included for their cycling value, and should not be able to out-value cards of higher mana costs. In general, we want to aim for 1 mana cards to be on the same power level as a Mana Puff.

Specifically, we feel that cards like Screaming Scrat and Sewer Scrat are two of the biggest offenders in this regard, frequently trading for cards that are of a much higher mana cost than them as well as offering cycle opportunities and easy bridge capture. Particularly at a high level, there is no real downside to including these cards in your deck, often limiting choice when it comes to deckbuilding.

So, what are the changes? In some circumstances where we felt a card was too powerful to be a 1 drop at a design level, we opted to re-scale them to a higher mana cost rather than harm the identity of the cards. An example of this would be Sewer Scrat, who becomes a 2 mana card with a slightly lowered Poison duration to 3 seconds, but now comes as an Armored Sewer Scrat instead.

There's a lot of interesting play space in both the control style and bridge grab metagames, and we believe that by removing the efficiency that most 1 mana cards have, we can create a more diverse spectrum of choices for players to make when it comes to those elements.

Additionally, there is a secondary benefit to the changes we wish to make - It helps lay the ground work for the upcoming Wild Cards rework we are currently planning. We'll have more news on this at a later date, though do note that this will not be included in Version 1.11.

Here are the changes we're currently planning to make:

Blood Imps

• Mana Cost 0 > 1
  
• Damage 10 > 15
  
• Attack Speed 1 > 1.1

Illusory Cleaver

• Damage 20 > 10

Nether Bat

• Mana Cost 1 > 2
  
• Damage 20 > 35
  
• No longer has a reduced Aggro range

Bats Bats Bats
(This change is being made due to the re-scaling of Nether Bat)

• Mana Cost 4 > 5
  
• Duration 6 > 5

Screaming Scrat

• Mana Cost 1 > 2
  
• Damage 60 > 100
  
• Health 60 > 100
  
• No longer shares stats with Armored Scrats

Sewer Scrat

• Mana Cost 1 > 2
  
• Poison 5 > 3
  
• Now an Armored Scrat

Additionally, there are some extra changes related to these that we feel are appropriate to share:

Armored Scrats

• Instead of dying, now turn into a regular Scrat
  
• Damage 20 > 10

Bridge Buddies

• Changed back to "Summon a Scrat. If you own a bridge, summon an Armored Scrat".

Propeller Horde
(This change is being made as Illusory Cleaver was a significant stopgap to the power level of the card)

• Unactivated Unit Count 5 > 6
  
• Activated Unit Count 10 > 8

Those aren't all the balance changes coming in Version 1.11, so stay tuned closer to the release of the update on the 26th of March!




Everyone's a fan of free DLC, right? For a limited time only, you can get a free copy of the Might of the Slither Lords DLC from Twitch Prime, usually worth $15, even if you already own the DLC!

Might of the Slither Lords gives you a wide variety of powerful Slither cards - From the humble Slitherbound to the ever-useful Daggerfall, it's the perfect set of cards to add to your collection, and comes with two exclusive Slither cosmetics. Don't wait - Get your free DLC now with Twitch Prime!


Due to measures being taken in Denmark regarding the Covid virus, we're switching to working remotely as much as possible for the next two weeks. There's no immediate risk to us, but we're doing our part to help stop the spread of the virus. Unfortunately, this may mean expectations of upcoming updates may be slightly lowered - A bug fix might take a bit longer, news might be delayed - But we don't think it will have a major impact unless it becomes more serious.

We just wanted to share the news so you know why the spring might be a little different from what we normally do. Now to figure out how we're the most effective when we're apart :)

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Get the new $15 Zealous Inferno DLC 100% off this weekend!

Ardera, High Inquisitor of the zealous Order of The Burning Fist, is carving a path of death and destruction through Jadespark Jungle, seemingly searching for something. The Zen-Chi must stave off Ardera’s crusade on their home and save Jadespark Jungle!

Featuring 10 Brand new cards, a new Adventure, a new Legendary Arena, and more!

Read all about the new expansion on the update site, or just jump right into the game!

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Minion Masters!

The once-peaceful remote jungles of Jadespark of the Southern Jungles has come under attack by Empyrean forces. Lead by High Inquisitor Ardera, the Burning Fist are leaving a trail of destruction in their wake in their search for a dark secret.


Team up with the Zen-Chi and help defend their home from the insidious High Inquisitor Ardera as you uncover her true schemes!

• Brand New Story - Tying mechanics closer to the story than ever before, build your troupe of cards from the ground up and take on the Burning Fist!
  
• Build your deck as you go. Start with a Master-specific deck and with each victory, you get a choice of cards to add to your deck.
  
• 6 unique masters, with new champions and old favourites lending their strength to the jungle!
  
• Powerful relics and treasures to empower your deck as you play, with some brand new ones made just for this Adventure!
  
• Rewards - Across all the chapters you’ll earn tokens, xp, exclusive avatars and even a Legendary card!
  Completing hard mode awards an exclusive rare and supreme avatar.
  
• Price - Chapter 1 is free, with Chapters 2 & 3 costing 1400 rubies as a package, or 1000 individually. You can play owned chapters as much as you want.

New Mechanic: Growthburst Shrooms
When you draw a card with the new Growthburst Shroom keyword, a Mushroom will spawn at a random point in your arena. When a Zen-Chi Minion walks over it, they’ll gain a powerful 25% Health and Damage buff.

New Mechanic: Holy Fire
An AoE holy flame that heals allied minions and damages enemy minions over time for 100 Health.

• This Expansion will last until May
  
• 10 new cards have been released!
  
• Two new skins have been released - Settsu of the Burning Fist and Apex Ravager
  
• A brand new Legendary Arena has been released - Jadespark Jungle

Arcane Ring

• Damage 20 > 25 (Total Damage 160 > 200)

Black Hole

• Duration 6 > 1.5
  
• Minions will keep their original target from before they are affected by Black Hole
  
• Developer Comments
  
• Black Hole's change comes about as a response to the card simply being far too versatile for its intended usage. Black Hole has consistently been one of the most powerful cards in the game, and a lot of the meta has been defined by the potential to completely shut down a lot of counters. We didn't want to move it back to 3 mana due to the fact that the card massively underperformed the last time we made the nerf, so we opted for this change where the ability to dodge certain spells is still very much possible in the hands of a skilled player, but it no longer can completely shut down everything.

Bridge Shrine

• Health increased 300 > 350

Caber Tosser

• Damage increased 80 > 90

Crossbow Guild

• Health increased 400 > 450

High-Mage Leiliel

• Damage increased 35 > 40
  
• Attack Speed decreased 1.7 > 2.0
  
• Now has the AoE attack of Crystal Arcanist

Leiliel’s Vortex

• Mana Freeze 2 > 1
  
• Damage 100 > 80

Lord-Sentinel Thelec

• Damage 70 > 55

Morgrul the Swarmer King

• Health decreased 240 > 225
  
• Attack Speed increased 1.5 > 1.1
  
• Damage decreased 35 > 25 (Overall DPS is only slightly lowered)
  
• Developer Comments
  
• This minor nerf is primarily to consolidate Morgrul’s stats with Elite Swarmer.

Red Golem

• Reworked: Now summons a Blue Golem. If you have 50% or less life, summon a Red Golem instead.
  
• Red Golem has 50% more HP and Damage than Blue Golem
  
• Developer Comments
  
• Red Golem's change is a product of us trying to consolidate how we handle minion scaling in general to try and make it more consistent, and less volatile. We also feel the card has been very underplayed for quite a while, so we're hoping this change might also affect it in that area.

Spawn of Fury

• Damage & Health Reduction increased 25% > 33%
  
• Developer Comments
  
• Spawn of Fury has been largely dominant, so we believe a nerf to the stats of the units it produces should help keep it in line.

Swarmer Totem

• Production Speed increased 7 > 6

Wall

• Health increased 600 > 700

Woodsman

• Damage increased 80 > 90

• The Max Health indication has been changed when a unit’s health is buffed (i.e. Spirit) to make it easier to understand how much the card has been buffed.
  
• Some Buff names have been changed to shorter versions, or terms that are more indicative of their effect (Energized > Mana Surge, Enraged > Rage, etc.)
  
• A lot of cards have had their descriptions changed to better separate Flavour from Mechanics.
  
• Mayhems now appear in the carousel when they are available.
  
• Updated unit formations for 3 and 5 count minion cards.

• Fixed High-Mage Leiliel not reducing damage from a minion that is dead - Thanks SoSiskodemon!
  
• Fixed the copy produced by Spawn of Fury having full health.
  
• Fixed an issue where you could not see your teammate’s hologram in 2v2.
  
• Fixed an issue where Gax could target Drone Buzzers.
  
• Fixed Nyrvir being pushed around by Leiliel’s Vortex.
  
• Fixed being able to use skins you don’t own.
  
• Fixed Gambler’s Ball odds being incorrect.
  
• Fixed Troubadour’s music still playing after being removed via Glenn’s Brew.
  
• Fixed Frenzied owls from Frostfeather Flyby not attacking units - Thanks SoSiskodemon!

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Minion Masters!




Looking for some real-time previews of in-game Jadespark Jungle content? The BetaDwarf Developer Stream is the place to be! On Thursday the 27th of February at 1900 UTC, join Community Manager That Sprite as we guide you through all of the new Battle Pass Expansion content. Here's what you can expect to see on the stream:

• Reveals of upcoming Balance Changes in Version 1.10
  
• Gameplay of all the previously announced cards
  
• Exclusive reveal of the new 10 Mana Legendary card - Jahun, Keeper of Jadespark
  
• A small showcase of our new Adventure
  
• Discussion of other patch features

Tune in here at our Twitch Stream to catch the action live, engage with the community, and ask us questions!




To support our XBOX friends in the community, TEAM MANA FRENZY is proud to host a large-scale Minion Masters Organized Play opportunity that will be run on XBOX!

PRIZES for this event include a $200 cash prize pool and the extremely rare Dynasty MORELLIA Skin!

This event will be held Sunday, February 23, 2020. Space may be limited, so be sure to register in advance!

Stream and matches start around 12 Noon EST, be sure to check in early to avoid losing your slot.

If you're an XBOX Player and you'd like to learn more details and register to participate in this event, sign up to play at: https://www.toornament.com/en_GB/tournaments/3226163098131259392/information

We look forward to seeing you... at The Battleground!

-Sinobii
TEAM MANA FRENZY

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Minion Masters!



The latest hotfix we released just today regarding gameplay bug fixes and an adjustment to the balance of Legionnaires is part of a re-evaluation of how we doing patching. We're always looking for ways to improve, especially when you provide us with all the excellent feedback about the state of the game. In particular, we're examining how we maintain a smooth production with the regular updates, and whether they could be more frequent, or if smaller in-between actions like this are more appropriate.

We can't make any promises about this at the moment - But we still feel it's important to communicate with you about the internal thoughts at BetaDwarf. Thanks for all of your patience.

In the interests of being as transparent as possible with new card reveals, we'd like to talk about some changes we've made to Ardent Aegis behind the scenes since the reveal of the card. Typically cards continue to be balance tested behind the scenes after their reveal, and we're now trying to make a conscious effort to incorporate the feedback we receive from the community when particular cards are shown off as well. As such, we've made the following adjustments to the card, which will be reflected on our Update Site with today's reveals:

• Mana Cost 3 > 4
  
• Summons 2 Crossbow Dudes instead of 1
  
• Defensive Spell; Can only be cast in your arena
  
• Units summoned have no Summoning Sickness
  
• Delay 4 > 5

Have you been keeping up with our latest Expansion reveals? We've shown off six brand new cards, two awesome skins, and a new Legendary arena so far - And we're not even close to done yet. Tomorrow, we'll be revealing Smite and Shen's Shock Stick, as well as announcing the imminent return of an old friend. Make sure to check it out and get hyped for Saving Jadespark Jungle!



The fine people at The Challenger League are hosting another 2v2 Tournament this weekend! The tournament is a Double-elimination format that will be livestreamed at their twitch channel, with competitors fighting for real money. There'll be plenty of giveaways throughout the competition from the staff, so stop by for your chance to win a wide variety of prizes.

Make sure to check the tournament out for their high quality coverage. Or if you'd like something a little more relaxed, why not check out their new Podcast? The first episode of the TCL Podcast aired this Tuesday with Westlin & MrSquid, so check it out and give them some feedback!

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Masters! We're deploying a hotfix to address some gameplay issues, as well to revert the buff that Legionnaires received in Update 1.9.

We decided to revert this change as it is clear that it proved to be a far bigger buff than intended. We're looking for other changes to the card but haven't found the perfect solution yet, and we want to make sure we take our time so we don't break it again.

Here are the changes in this Hotfix:

Legionnaires

• No longer has an Empyrean Army buff.

• Fixed Guardian reducing the damage of other Guardians.
  
• Fixed Arcane Golem having more HP than it should have when duplicated via Spawn of Fury.

The version for this hotfix is 1.9.38223. For Xbox users, it's 1.9.38262.

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

We've chosen to push back the release date of Version 1.10 and Saving Jadespark Jungle by one week, to the 5th of March. The in-game timers for this should be updated soon to reflect the new date. Much like before, this comes as a result of us trying to ensure we can have the optimal promotional window to attract new players to Minion Masters. For example, making the schedule work with a certain big streamer ;).

Moving forward, it's likely that future expansion dates will be changed closer to the time as well as the most valuable dates to release big updates on become more defined. In the future, we want to stay flexible with our release dates - But we will work towards confirming dates as early as we can, or at the very least sharing the newest info. We know it's a bother (Our producer has a hard time planning it too!), but we think it's worth it to give Minion Masters the best chance of growing its player base.

Not long ago, we released our first short film, Enter the Guild! It offered a little look behind the scenes of the chaotic Minion Masters battlegrounds. Today, let's go down another layer and watch some of the footage from production!



We're super happy with how the final video came out, and we're glad you enjoyed it too! What would you want us to do next? Be sure to let us know!



BadAsAFish80's Minion Masters Tournament 1v1 #9 - $100 Prize Pool - Supported by BetaDwarf

https://www.toornament.com/en_GB/tournaments/3269853242384138240/information

I'm really excited for this 1v1 tournament and I hope that you all can join me in this and future events to have a lot of fun, to support the community and of course win some prizes! Please reach out to me on Discord if you have any questions (BadAsAFish80 🐟#0275).

Many thanks and best of luck

Fish

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Minion Masters

Today's blog post releases to coincide with the latest set of reveals from our Update Site, and we have quite a bit to showcase. Let's not waste any time and get straight into the juicy details:

As previously announced, Saving Jadespark Jungle comes with a brand new Adventure to help enthrall you and develop the narrative of the Empyrean invasion of the once-peaceful Zen-Chi realm. It's up to you and your new allies to defend the jungle from High Inquisitor Ardera and uncover her true motivations for the sudden attacks. You'll quickly come to realise that not all is as it seems...

Of your allies in this adventure, we have some returning favourites - Milloween in particular will be making her way through the jungle to learn more of the foreboding events she witnessed previously. But there's plenty of new Masters to play with too - You can check our Update Site to learn all about the Slitherbound Master Akáal the Unbroken, and here we'll be previewing Ting, Teng & Tung, the Mu-Hou trio.



Ting, Teng & Tung are three young mischievous Mu-Hou siblings. Renowned acrobats, they are known far and wide in the jungle villages for their great acrobatic performances and trickster ways.

Normally they travel the jungle, going from village to village to show off, but now they have turned their skills against the new threat towards their beloved jungle.

Ting, Teng & Tung are all about using the powers of nature and their strong bonds with the locals to overcome any threat. The trio use their bouncing berries as their primary attack, just like the card.

Their first perk, Green Fingers, plants Growthburst Shrooms in your arena every 10 seconds. Growthburst Shrooms can be picked up by Zen-Chi minions to grant them a 25% Health and Damage buff. There's a second part to the perk, however - Whenever you cast a Spell, you convert up to two active Growthburst Shrooms into a Shi-Hou minion. This Shi-Hou minion has the same stats as Battle Shi-Hou, but without the effect that enables it to attack faster based on the surrounding amount of enemies.

The second perk, Growth Burst, grants all Minions in a 5 range radius Giant Growth whenever a Growthburst Shroom is spent - Including those from the first perk!

Their final perk, Call the Steward, has the group call upon their most powerful ally - Someone you might recognize...

We're also revealing our second Legendary Arena - Jadespark Jungle. We love the idea of building worlds with our arenas and using them to really show off in great detail the kind of environments their respective factions come from, so check out these screenshots of the new arena our artists have been hard at work with:




With this arena, we're aiming to make you feel right at home amidst the bustling Zen-Chi forests. As you may have noticed from the screenshot above, this new arena will also serve as the backdrop for this expansion's new Adventure. We hope you'll enjoy it as much as we've had fun making it!



The hard workers at The Challenger League are back with exciting upcoming tournaments! Coming up this weekend is the Volco Cup 6, which promises huge rewards for players that participate in multiple TCL events in their upcoming season. Just for playing their tournament this weekend, everyone will be receiving an Exclusive TCL Avatar! Volco Cup 6 will be played live on stream this Saturday at 1400 UTC - Check out their site here for all the details on signing up, and stay tuned for more announcements on their site or on this blog.

Cheers from BetaDwarf!

Minion Masters!

Last Friday, we launched our new Update Site for our upcoming expansion, Saving Jadespark Jungle! We'll have lots more to talk about it in the upcoming weeks, but for now keep your eyes tuned to the site for more reveals tomorrow.

Additionally, we're making an effort to be more active on our Twitter account - Give us a follow for more giveaways, highlighting special shop offers, and more!




We're looking for the best and brightest of Minion Masters players to join our PTR group and help us through feedback on future expansions and content!

As a PTR tester, you will test new content on the PTR and provide feedback for the Minion Masters design team through questionnaires and discuss feedback with the team directly in the Discord channel. Responses from the PTR testing group is an extremely important part of creating new content for the game.

To join, you must be able to write in English, be open-minded, and have time to test and discuss new cards, masters and other content with us. It is a requirement that you are open to testing new cards/masters through rigorous playtesting. You must also have a Steam account and be able to play the game on PC (you will have the full collection of cards at your disposal).

You can find the sign-up form here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScnkymGl6wf9yLl2qO1PhEUUti6D60pLyDFe5_BFAxDxkFnGQ/viewform?usp=pp_url

Thanks in advance for helping Minion Masters!


BadAsAFish80's Minion Masters Tournament 2v2 #3 - $100 Prize Pool - Supported by BetaDwarf

The addition of a 2v2 format to our tournament scene has proved very popular and as such we are going to be running one each month!

https://www.toornament.com/en_GB/tournaments/3229271296241369088/information

I'm really excited for this 2v2 tournament and I hope that you all can join me in this and future events to have a lot of fun, to support the community and of course win some prizes! Please reach out to me on Discord if you have any questions.

Many thanks and best of luck

Fish


To support our XBOX friends in the community, TEAM MANA FRENZY is proud to offer the next Tournament in the XBOX SHOWDOWN Series!

XBOX Showdown #5 will feature a $200 Prize Pool, and be held this Sunday, January 26th, starting at 12 noon EST!

Tweak your decks and hone your skills, then join the battle to become the reigning XBOX Champion!

Space is limited, so don't delay! To register for this event and learn more, visit:

https://www.toornament.com/en_GB/tournaments/3223169104039796736/information

Cheers from BetaDwarf!