More than a month after the end of Season 6 in Axie Infinity: Origins, we finally have updates on the changes coming in Season 7, and there are A LOT of changes coming including many new game mechanics, which will for sure be a lot of fun for the theorycrafters.
A lot has happened in the past month in Lunacia (the Axie Infinity ecosystem) and in the Ronin ecosystem. One that will affect the gameplay of Axie Origins is Part Evolution, which will be covered in another post as the changelog for Season 7 alone is a lot to go through.
Before diving into the key changes in the changelog, it is important to remember that the changelog in not final and anything can still change before the start of Season 7. This patch will only be live on January 3, and Season 7 will only start mid-January. So be prepared for more patch changes before the start of Season 7. For now, I will only cover the changes for this patch that I think are significant. See here for the official full changelog with visuals.
tldr:
Improving causal player experience with 18 turns cap and more RNG
New mechanics around Shield, Heal, Summons, and Steal, providing new ways to play with old Axies
Some changes maybe too OP (Shield and Strawberry?) and may require adjustments before Season 7 starts
Game Mechanics, Status, and Summons
Bloodmoon - Maximum 18-turn games
Maximum number of turns is fixed to 18.
Bloodmoon will start at the End of Turn 10, reducing 10 Max HP from all Axies.
Max HP reduction is increased by 10 every turn. On Turn 18, all Axies lose 9999 HP.
For me, the biggest change in the pre-Season 7 changelog has to be the change to Bloodmoon, now capping the maximum number of turns to 18, meaning each game should not last more than 13.5 minutes from the start of Turn 1 given 45 seconds per turn. Regarding the change with Max HP reduction, the total Max HP is reduced by 360 from Turns 10-17, meaning the "HP threshold" is now 361 instead of 441. This means no more teching of HP for Bloodmoon with Runes and Charms, which is a big plus!
Bulwark and Guard
Bulwark: When Enemy Turn ends, before dropping Shields, deal (5% of allied leftover Shield) as DMG to all enemy Axies per stack of {Bulwark}. Lose 2 {Bulwark} whenever an allied Axie dies. Max stack: 10.
Shield does not need to be dropped to deal DMG in case of effects such as Cocoon or Shield Backup.
Two of the many new mechanics coming in Season 7 are Bulwark and Guard, both of which relate to Shields. Bulwark is a Status on a Player which can be gained when certain Shield cards are played and can be stacked up to 10 stacks. You can think of it as a Player-specific buff which deals AoE damage at the end of enemy's turn scaled with amount of allied leftover Shield (potentially including Summons?). Bulwark presents another way for Shield-based teams to deal damage and potentially makes AoE Shields with Summons even better.
Guard: Shields on this Unit block up to 50% of DMG taken by other allied Axies. Max Stack: 1.
In case two allies have Guard, the first Guard applied blocks up to 50% of DMG, the second blocks 50% of the remaining DMG, for a maximum of 75% DMG Guarded.
Guard is a Buff on a Unit which can be gained by playing certain Shield cards with a maximum of 1 stack. I assume the Guard stack is consumed once the effect is triggered. The effect of Guard is that the Shields on the unit with Guard blocks up to 50% of DMG taken by other allied Axies. Different effects can be triggered with Guard is triggered depending on the Secret played.
The introduction of Bulwark and Guard adds a new dimension on how Shield-based teams can be played. I am sure we will see a lot of experiementation with Shield-based teams. I just hope that it will not be too strong, though it could be a nice change to the dominance of Aggro in Season 6.
Reverse Heal
Reverse Heal: Instead of healing the target, it loses HP.
Some Heal cards now have a new mechanic called Reverse Heal, which deals damage when targetting an enemy instead of healing. This is effectively a way to make some Heal cards to have an option to deal damage instead. It certainly increases the skill level in playing with cards with Reverse Heal as it represents more options to the players. It also allows certain defensive teams to change their game plan to offense by using Reverse Heal cards to do damage instead of healing depending on the matchup and game state.
The biggest impact Reverse Heal will have on existing archetypes is probably Poison where Poison teams can choose to deal damage with their Reverse Heal cards instead of healing. Another interesting new archetype could be around Strawberry Shortcake where the Strawberry tool cards can be used for Reverse Heal damage with the ability to target any enemy (bypassing Taunt?).
Steal, Alert, and Cunning
Steal: Steal resources from your target. If the target doesn't have {Alert}, apply 2 {Alert} & you gain 1 {Cunning}. Do not gain {Cunning} against targets with {Alert}.
Alert: <Stealing> from this unit does not grant {Cunning}. "<Steal> Effect" is the application of {Alert} and gaining of {Cunning}. Effects that are blocked by {Alert} will explicitly say so in their Rules Texts.
Cunning: Increase allied <Steal> Effects by 10% per stack. Max stack: 10.
Cards and Runes with Stealing effects have been around in the game for some time. There is now a specific mechanic around Stealing which may lead to an archetype around Steal. Steal effects now grant a new Player Status called Cunning when Stealing from targets that do not have the Alert Buff. After a target "got stolen", 2 stacks of Alert Buff is applied to the target (which I assume the number of stacks is the turn counter). Stealing from targets with Alert does not grant Cunning.
Cunning is a Player Status which increases allied Steal effects by 10% per stack with Max 10 stacks, meaning it can double all applied Steal effects at Max stacks!
It remains to be seen whether there are enough Steal effects in the game for a Steal archetype to be effective, and it will take some time to get the Cunning stacks up. Having said that, it will be a fun mechanic to theorycraft around and have a bit of fun Stealing a lot of HP and Fragments from opponents.
Summons, Bubble Bomb, Fear & Hex, Vengeance, Silence Whisper
Other significant changes for game mechanics include:
Summons Cards - now have Base Stats (see Cards changes for more)
Bubble Bomb - now deals 32 instead of 24 DMG per stack (which makes Bubble Bombs more viable outside of Heart of Ocean)
Fear & Hex - now merged to Fear and loses 1 stack when any card is played
Vengeance - new Player Status which +DMG to an ally next attack scaling with Vengeance stacks (maybe good with Splash DMG / Perch for even more DMG?)
Silence Whipser - now Reverses all HP Loss (not just from Poison) capped at 50 and loses 1 stack when triggered (more on changes on Silience Whisper later)
Tool Cards and Curse Cards
Strawberry
Strawberry: <Retain>. Target any Ally or Enemy. <Reverse Heal> on Enemies. This Card's Heal is equal to Strawberry Shortcake's Heal. <Banish>.
Now owned by the Axie that created it.
Strawberry is a tool card generated by Strawberry Shortcake. It now can target any Ally or Enemy and has Reverse Heal, making it a potential source of burst damage. Note that Strawberry is now owned by the Axie that created it, meaning it can scale with the Axie's Rune (Healing Pulse?). More on Strawberry Shortcake in Card Changes.
Goo
Goo: <Retain>. On draw, lose 1 Fragment. When played, if you have Fragments, lose 1 Fragment then <Exile>; otherwise, discard.
Goo is buffed again, now loses Fragment on Draw, loses another Fragment when played. It is Discarded instead of Exiled if played without any Fragment, meaning it will remain in the deck. With Pincer, Snail Shell, and Lagging getting buffed to shuffle 1-2 Goo instead of just 1, is it finally the time for Goo teams? I can see Goo teams may still struggle with Aggro as it takes some time for Goo cards to come in the second deck rotation and Aggro teams may not care much about Fragments.
Jinx
Jinx: <Unplayable>. <Fade>. When your turn ends, deal (15 + 5x {Bad Luck}) as <Pure DMG> to your furthest unit, then receive 1 to 3 {Bad Luck}.
Jinx now deals 15 instead of 10 base Pure DMG and Bad Luck stacks increases at double the rate on average. Together with changes with Inkling, Tadpole, and Raven, which now can shuffle Jinx to Draw pile when played Initial, it should increase the power level of Jinx significantly. Let's see if Jinx will make a comeback to the meta in Season 7.
Card Changes
As with before, only changes that I think are significant are discussed.
Bulwark and Shields
Many Shield cards now grant +1 Bulwark, with quite a number of Shield Cards getting reworked.
Bubblemaker changes to +1 Bubble to allied Axies, bonus 1 Bubble per 2 Bulwark stacks, meaning 6 Bubbles at Max Bulwark stacks. Note that Bubble Bomb also buffed from 24 to 32 DMG, so we may see some Shield-based Bubble teams running Bubblemaker.
Hatsune changed to "Next turn, when an allied Axie, other than the target, is attacked, apply 1 Taunt to the target". It is always good to have another Taunt card but it is also a tail card which competes with Cattail and Ant.
Hermit, Cerastes, and Kingfisher all apply 1 Guard, which "block up to 50% of DMG taken by other allied Axies". Kingfisher is worth noting as it gives +1 Vengeance per 2 Shield lost. I can see the Vengeance from Kingfisher combo-ing with Splash DMG or Perch for even more damage.
Teal Shell is nerfed to +15 Shield per other Card played this turn with a cap of +90, though it gives +1 Bulwark per 60 Shield granted, meaning maxing out at 120 Shield and +2 Bulwark with 6 other cards played.
Lotus is buffed again with the option to play Initial to consume 1 Bulwark stack to heal equal to Shield value, making it a 140 Effect per Energy card at the base level, on top of Purify 3.
AoE Shield is obviously OP with Bulwark, and I assume this is why the AoE Shield cards, Mint, Red Ear, and Pincer, all have "If not Initial, -1 Bulwark" to keep Bulwark in check. Merry and Ear Breathing both have an option to play Initial to AoE Shield but consume 1 Bulwark.
Fear
Balloon, Cute Bunny, and Catepillars all changed to "Target random enemy. On targets with Fear, -1 Fear and deal (8% of the target's Max HP) as DMG to all Enemies; otherwise, apply 3 Fear." It requires some Fear synergies for it to work but the payoff can be worth it as it deals 32 AoE assuming the target's Max HP is 400, which is close to an extra 100 DMG!
Summons (and Eggshell)
Summon Cards now all have Base Stats, which means it does something on top of creating a Summon (which can potentially block an attack and with other upsides). The Base Stats can be further buffed by Charms, making some Summons' effect even more effective.
Shiitake now heals for 25 at the base level as well as healing all allied Axies with Mushroom's Max HP (25 AoE Heal to Axies at the base level) at the end of your turn.
Mavis now deals 40 DMG at base level and deals Mavis' ATK as DMG to the closest enemy at the end of your turn, on top of the previous Fragment effect.
The other summon worth mentioning is Clover, which now heals for 30 at the base level, grants +1 Leaf to allies at the end of your turn, and consumes all Leaves at the end of enemy's turn to deal 10 DMG per Leaf consumed to a random enemy 4 times. If Clover survives until the end of enemy's turn, it should deal 40 DMG to a random enemy if it has 1 Leaf.
I should mention Eggshell here as it is changed again which now Shield this Axie and summons equal to Eggshell's ATK, though the base ATK is changed to 25 dealing 3 hits instead of 35 ATK dealing 2 hits.
I can see Summons with AoE Shields can be strong not only in the Rare Era moving forward. Summons are still not the easiest to use in other teams but given that it now has base stats, it is more usable than before.
Silence Whisper
Silence Whisper is now the new Tiny Turtle!? It now has Reverse Heal and target any Ally or Enemy. On enemy, if Initial, it applies 2 Sleep without applying Sleep on itself unlikely Tiny Turtle! It also has the upside of applying 4 Silence Whisper when targetting ally, which is good against Poison or other teams that rely on HP Loss. It is highly likely that the Sleep effect will be nerfed as it is too good compared to Tiny Turtle, which is already a good card.
Strawberry Shortcake
Last but not least, I need to talk about Strawberry Shortcake. The Base Heal is nerfed to 40 but it is back up to 50 if you evolve it, and the stat can be further buffed by Charms to 63. It now has Reverse Heal and can target any ally or enemy. The fact that Strawberry has Retain and Reverse Heal means that it can save up and do burst damage, especially at late game for more defensive teams that rely on Bloodmoon. It goes particular well with Runes that buffs healing. I expect a lot of experimentation on Strawberry Shortcake which should be fun to play given its flexibility in healing and dealing damage.
Runes and Charms Changes
Runes Changes
First up, Heart of Ocean is changed to this Axie's Bubble Bomb now deals 2% of target's Max HP as Pure DMG instead of +50% DMG from Bubble Bombs. The Bubble Bomb damage is already being buffed from 24 to 32 DMG per stack. While this is not quite 50%, the 2% of target's Max HP as Pure DMG (8 Pure DMG assuming 400 target's Max HP) should be more than enough to cover the change.
Endless Anger is buffed (yes, buffed) with bonus +10% DMG in Fury mode. Though Furious Fox is nerfed to only deal 10% DMG in Fury form, making Fox Perch less good, especially in Rare Era.
Leech is now reworked to Steal 10-20 HP from the closest enemy and +1 Cocoon. If Steal 15+ HP, +1 Cocoon to other allies. No more Leech counter to Shield-based teams, which probably will make Shield-based teams even stronger.
Gloomy Dice now changed to Odd Rounds apply 1-6 Fear to all enemy Axies. Confused Cards deal 1x to 6x DMG to enemies. This patch introduces quite a lot of RNG mechanics, with Gloomy Dice fittingly being the highlight. The increase of RNG in Origins introduced more variability into the game, making it more fun for casual players but may be more frustrating for pro players.
Soul Eater is reworked again but it probably is still not good. It is now "Whenever this Axie targets an enemy Axie, lose (6% of Current HP) then Dispel enemy Axies 1 time and they lose (6% of their Current HP)." Effectively it deals a bit more damage (24 DMG assuming enemy current HP is 400) and Dispels only 1 time. It feels a lot worse than Bloodlust, which is not used too much.
Zap Armor now Reflects 15% DMG taken to Attacker as opposed to dealing Bonus DMG while Shielded, which I think makes more sense as it sounds more like a defensive Rune.
Shady Exchange now heal 5 HP to allies and deal 5 AoE damage when gaining Fragments, which I think makes it usable in teams that have a lot of ways to gain Fragments.
Destiny Leaf removed the HP buff to summons but instead +8% Max HP to the Axie. It still deals 8% of this Axie's Current HP as DMG when this Axie's Summon dies, so it is still good in the Rare Era for Summon teams.
Way of Plant is now the new Protector. The Protector is nerfed to -10% DMG from attacks, while Way of Plant is reworked to take -10% from Attacks with an additional -5% if this Axie has Leaf.
Finally, Healing Pulse is buffed from +20% Heal to 30% "Splash Heal", which works for Reverse Heal as well. Overheals from this Axie still grants Shield and now deal damage to the lowest HP enemy, making it more consistent. I am looking forward to seeing some Healing Pulse Strawberry action, especially with the evolved Innocent Lamb given +10% stat to another copy of Strawberry Shortcake.
Charms Changes
Charms that apply Curse or Debuff now alter the cards with the Charms to count as Curse or Debuff, respectively. There are not too many significant changes to exisiting Charms. Below are a few worth highlighting.
Bug's Energy Drink M now does not have -50% ATK and grants 15 Shield to target before Attacking. This obviously has synergies with the Pure DMG attacks to Steal Shields.
Secret Cocoon now grant +1 Cocoon to allied Axies as opposed to +2 Cocoon on this Axie, which changes where the Bug Charm should be placed in the team.
Reptile's Energy Drink M may finally be viable as it is now changed to "Lose (2.5% of Max HP) then gain that amount of Bloodspikes." For an Axie with 400 HP, it loses 10 HP to gain 10 Bloospikes, which is very significant especially with Tri Spikes.
I have to mention Bloodpact, which was too OP last season, and it will probably continue to be OP despite changing from 3 PP to 4 PP. It is also worth mentioning that it can still be put on Square Teeth.
There are quite a number of new Charms, especially around Curse. These will affect various Curse archetypes including Confused, Jinx, Hot Butt, and Goo.
First up for Charms that can alter Curse cards we have Novice Spell, which is a 2 PP Rare Charm that "Randomly heal 7 HP, or gain 7 Shield, or deal 7 DMG to a random enemy." Then we have Cursed Doll, which is a 3 PP Epic Charm that Steals 10 HP from a random enemy if it is not Alert. Deadly Spell is a 4 PP Mystic Charm with the effect "If the Enemy has >=5 Cursed Cards, remove 2 at random and deal (10% of the target's Max HP) as DMG to all enemies; otherwise, add 1 Confused to their Discard Pile." These Charms mostly deal damage and/or heal while playing Curse cards, which increases the power level of Curse teams in all 3 eras, though it is hard to say if it is enough to make a significant impact. One thing to note is that Cursed Doll can be used in Steal synergy teams instead of Curse team.
Purifying Incence is worth noting as a flexible Charm which is a 3 PP Epic Charm that can alter Attacks, Heals, or Shields. If Initial, it Purifies 1, else it Cleanses 2 on allies or Dispels 1 on enemies. Having said that, each effect is relatively weak, which may not be good for teams with very specific synergies.
Another new Charm that can Purify is Wooden Idol, which is a 4 PP Mystic Charm that can only be put on 2-Energy Cards. It gives +10% Stat and Purify 1 if the Card is in the Draw pile or in Hand.
Finally I have to talk about Discount Coupon, which is a 4 PP Mystic Charm that can only be put on 2-Energy Attack Cards. Its effect is "-50% ATK, -1 Energy Cost", which is very strong for many 2E Attack Cards since many of 2E Attacks have strong card texts. One angle is Rage with Little Branch and Shiba, or Bleed with Chubby, Feather / Bonus DMG with Wing Horn, Feather Fan, and Death Shower, High DMG scaling with Gila and Beech etc. Discount Coupon could be a must have in many of such teams as saving 1 Energy can be a big deal without too much down sides for some of these cards.
Conclusion
As a casual player, it is exciting to see many changes to the game, many of which are more geared towards casual players and improving game play experience. The most significant ones being the cap of 18 turns and the inclusion of more RNG in some of the Runes and Cards.
It is good to see quite a number of new mechanics such as Bulwark and Reverse Heal, giving existing and returning players new ways to play with their existing Axies. Significant changes and development with Summons, Steals, and Curse also add more layers of fun for players, some of which will hopefully be viable. The testing phase during the off-season will be crucial in fixing some interactions which maybe too OP before the start of Season 7. Together with Parts Evolution, Season 7 will for sure be fun for most players given the vast amount of new content. The only worrying thing is for the pro players. With Parts Evolution, it will make it harder to for pro players to obtain competitive Axies with high AXP levels, but that would be for another post.
Have fun theorycrafting! Let's hope Season 7 will come with another wave of onboarding given the market situation.
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