May 2021 Balance Team Update

by Benjamin Liebich, 2E Balance Team Lead

3rd May 2021

Hello everybody and welcome to the first official 2E Balance Team update.

 

Today 18 cards are going to receive errata. 9 of these cards will receive active changes while 9 Virtual Promo cards are going to be updated to reflect the correct, errata'd gametext on their original counterparts.

 

Missions

Secure Strategic Base (12 U 42) and Commandeer Prototype (14 U 52) are going to get their title updated to get the cards in line with their recently released VP counterparts.

Mine Nebula (2 U 101) will change it's title to McAllister C-5 Nebula, Mine Nebula to get it in line with a persona of the card which is going to be released with the next set Heroes and Demons.

 

Balance Changes

The Balance Team has decided to make changes to four of the most commonly played cards in order to better the gameplay experience and make room for other cards to possibly be played in their stead. Those four cards are James T. Kirk, Original Thinker (11 P 17), An Issue of Trust (10 R 2), Hard Time (6 P 6) and Unexpected Difficulties (2 C 69).

OT Kirk loses his Earth icon. One of the most powerful cards in the game, we felt the Earth icon made him accessible to a variety of different decks which he was not intended to show up in. While we felt no particular need to tone down his power, he is now going to be restricted to TOS Earth.

An Issue of Trust is going to increase in cost from 3 to 4. One of the mainstay cards in 2E dilemma piles for decades, AIoT has always been a safe bank when it comes to stopping multiple personnel in an attempt, so much so that more often than not it is the only dilemma you're going to have to play. With the increase in cost, we decided to get it more in line with similar effective cards such as Chula: The Chandra and Intimidation.

Hard Time is going to change it's card type from a dual dilemma to a planet dilemma. Hard Time is by far the most overplayed card in 2E history. Several different changes to the card have been discussed but most of these would have fundamentally changed the "spirit" of the card so in the end we decided to go this route. The card will still be the same old powerful Hard Time but it's not going to be the easiest of choices, stacking three copies of it as it becomes a risk drawing it at space attempts.

Unexpected Difficulties becomes Unique. One of, if not the most popular card when it comes to influencing your dilemma draws will now only be usable once per turn. It is our belief that using this card more than once during your turn is an unnecessary advantage but more importantly we agreed that taking the use of multiple copies of this card away from decks such as Romulans and Voyager, who often use it for effects other than it's intended purpose was of importance to the general gameplay experience.

 

Lockout prevention

Outmatched (7 C 9) and Entanglement ( 7 R 4) will both increase in cost from 0 to 1. This is done to prevent possible lockout scenarios through the use of cards such as Uninvited or Machinations.

 

Housekeeping

These are the 9 Virtual Promo cards that will from now on have the correct gametext so you won't have to double check to load the right card in the deckbuilder:

• Holding Cell   0 VP 158
• Covenant   0 VP 134
• Power Shift   0 VP 132
• Ilia, Finest Navigator in Starfleet   0 VP 50
• Machinations   0 VP 21
• Unexpected Difficulties   0 VP 15
• Hard Time   0 VP 9
• An Issue of Trust   0 VP 111
• Entanglement   0 VP 180

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