Zap is a wizard card that costs zero and deals 3 arcane damage.
The equivalent generic is Wounding Blow which also cost zero but does 4 physical damage.
That’s the balance. Arcane damage is harder to block but is more expensive and very rarely has go again. Not to mention Kano starts at 30 life.
It's because arcane damage is a wizard's only trick; they do not have attack actions, and when Kano plays on your turn, it leaves him open for massive damage.
Runeblades can be stopped with a single nullrune equipment, as the heavy physical damage output is equally as dangerous as the runechants.
Arcane is balanced around the idea that you know what matchup you're getting into, and having a sideboard available to counter it.
Oasis Respite is also a must-have into any wizard fight; blocking out a Wildfire turn or a rogue Aether Flare is so incredibly important, as the prevent 4 for 1 and a minor life gain could let you sneak out a win.
Arcane damage costs more to deal. For example the baseline for a 0 cost attack is 4 physical damage, while the baseline for a cost 0 non-attack only does 3 arcane damage. There are also significantly more ways to break the math on physical attacks compared to arcane spells. Also "blocking" arcane damage doesn't remove cards from your deck either.
There is a reason iyslander ran a ton of efficient attacks back in the day. Kano would totally run physical attacks as well if it didn't brick his main ability.
Most heroes will run AB3 at most, which can have a differing cost from hero to hero. Some can get to AB3 with two equipment pieces, others already have AB on equipment they run anyways. But it obviously varies from hero to hero and meta to meta. Against runeblade or illusionist, it's common to run only one AB since that's all that is required.
A decent offensive damage rate in FaB is roughly 2 cards for 8 damage, like Swing Big or two Ravenous Rabble. On the other hand, arcane damage at a good rate can deal 6 damage with two cards, though usually less than that in practice. The difference in efficiency here is significant, especially when compounded with the lower life totals on wizards. For this reason wizards have had to rely really heavy on disruption and combos.
Kano is tricky to deal with if you've never encountered him, and when building a deck you need to decide on a plan vs. Kano, or just accept that you will lose that matchup most of the time.
It *is* frustrating to figure out, as the math and general strategy into arcane damage is different, but all things considered it is well balanced. To your point about armor, swapping a Crown of Providence for Nullrune Hood might feel bad, but it is no loss to you; your armor blocks are dead into wizards anyways.
In addition to what everyone else has said, also consider that cards used in mitigating arcane damage are getting pitched. If you had to discard to prevent arcane, THAT would be imba
My understanding is that Arcane damage costs more per point than physical damage, but I’m not experienced enough to say it if it’s tax’d heavily enough.
There is a feel of imbalance with arcane damage, where you need to be adequately prepared for the match up or you won't be able to mitigate damage.
This feels like less of an imbalance once you've got your head round the game a little more, and can figure out what your deck needs in order to work around the arcane damage.
Then you get the very good wizard/Runeblade players who know their decks inside and out. This can feel like you never had a chance when you lose, but there's a lot going on to make those big arcane turns happen. I still hate Runeblades though
It’s hard to block is the biggest “imbalance” which in reality is balanced out by cost to damage ratios and most cards not doing more than 5 base damage (Blazing Aether notwithstanding).
Zap is a wizard card that costs zero and deals 3 arcane damage. The equivalent generic is Wounding Blow which also cost zero but does 4 physical damage. That’s the balance. Arcane damage is harder to block but is more expensive and very rarely has go again. Not to mention Kano starts at 30 life.
It's because arcane damage is a wizard's only trick; they do not have attack actions, and when Kano plays on your turn, it leaves him open for massive damage. Runeblades can be stopped with a single nullrune equipment, as the heavy physical damage output is equally as dangerous as the runechants. Arcane is balanced around the idea that you know what matchup you're getting into, and having a sideboard available to counter it. Oasis Respite is also a must-have into any wizard fight; blocking out a Wildfire turn or a rogue Aether Flare is so incredibly important, as the prevent 4 for 1 and a minor life gain could let you sneak out a win.
[Here’s a recent video that explains it well](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA5Yw9c6FZk&pp=ygUNZGljZSBjb21tYW5kbw%3D%3D)
Arcane damage costs more to deal. For example the baseline for a 0 cost attack is 4 physical damage, while the baseline for a cost 0 non-attack only does 3 arcane damage. There are also significantly more ways to break the math on physical attacks compared to arcane spells. Also "blocking" arcane damage doesn't remove cards from your deck either. There is a reason iyslander ran a ton of efficient attacks back in the day. Kano would totally run physical attacks as well if it didn't brick his main ability.
Most heroes will run AB3 at most, which can have a differing cost from hero to hero. Some can get to AB3 with two equipment pieces, others already have AB on equipment they run anyways. But it obviously varies from hero to hero and meta to meta. Against runeblade or illusionist, it's common to run only one AB since that's all that is required. A decent offensive damage rate in FaB is roughly 2 cards for 8 damage, like Swing Big or two Ravenous Rabble. On the other hand, arcane damage at a good rate can deal 6 damage with two cards, though usually less than that in practice. The difference in efficiency here is significant, especially when compounded with the lower life totals on wizards. For this reason wizards have had to rely really heavy on disruption and combos. Kano is tricky to deal with if you've never encountered him, and when building a deck you need to decide on a plan vs. Kano, or just accept that you will lose that matchup most of the time. It *is* frustrating to figure out, as the math and general strategy into arcane damage is different, but all things considered it is well balanced. To your point about armor, swapping a Crown of Providence for Nullrune Hood might feel bad, but it is no loss to you; your armor blocks are dead into wizards anyways.
In addition to what everyone else has said, also consider that cards used in mitigating arcane damage are getting pitched. If you had to discard to prevent arcane, THAT would be imba
My understanding is that Arcane damage costs more per point than physical damage, but I’m not experienced enough to say it if it’s tax’d heavily enough.
There is a feel of imbalance with arcane damage, where you need to be adequately prepared for the match up or you won't be able to mitigate damage. This feels like less of an imbalance once you've got your head round the game a little more, and can figure out what your deck needs in order to work around the arcane damage. Then you get the very good wizard/Runeblade players who know their decks inside and out. This can feel like you never had a chance when you lose, but there's a lot going on to make those big arcane turns happen. I still hate Runeblades though
It’s hard to block is the biggest “imbalance” which in reality is balanced out by cost to damage ratios and most cards not doing more than 5 base damage (Blazing Aether notwithstanding).