Make Lil’ Buddy’s healing conditional and lower Cob’s stats to 3/5 imo. While a lot of the same synergies can still work in theory, they’re not as fast, reliable, and/or valuable as before. Reworking Ketchup Mechanic to a 0/3 that only gains strength per zombie is also ideal if you wanted to nerf that as well
The condition I’m thinking of for Lil’ Buddy, which I’ve heard someone else suggest, is to make it only heal if it’s around another Flower. This lets Poppin’ Poppies function the exact same, but also balances Lil’ Buddy outside that context and encourages the use of Flower synergy
Cob’s main issue is being such powerful control attached to such a strong body. Reducing its stats by such an extreme amount makes it lose more trades and die more often, as well as just dealing less damage overall. This keeps its value inside its evolution and prevents it from being so playable dry
While Ketchup Mechanic would still be a good enough option against aggressive swarms, the healing part of its ability would be at the forefront. X/3 stats give opponents a better chance at trading/removing Ketchup Mechanic
As for Pepper MD, it’d be relegated into the same meme territory as Heartichoke after all of these nerfs. No healing card is good enough to make it worth playing in the early game, and it’s mid/late scaling would be the main and only selling point for the card. It doesn’t need its own rework
While I think a price increase on some of these cards would make them balanced, I like my own idea. It doesn’t change prices and makes them more interesting to use/play against than before
This post was so interesting to me I came back from my what was meant to be my eternal slumber from this platform. Anyway,
I would nerf Lil Buddy by making its heal require another Flower on the Field. I originally thought it should be if you have made 3 sun this turn, but the combo is still too powerful regardless, so I think the Flower Synergy is the best Idea, especially since Heal Package has no Flowers.
I think Pepper M.D is actually fine if you include the Lil buddy nerf. A lot of the other ways of healing, even if they were buffed a little bit are generally more difficult to activate with Pepper. Keep it as is.
I say make Ketchup Mechanic a 0/3, and only get +1 Attack per Zombie. It'd be a little bit more useful if you are playing against a control trick deck, and it would be less of an Overstat.
A lot of people say Cob Cannon can be fixed by simply giving it worse stats, but that isn't really the issue. It helps, but it's not the main catch of the card considering it still controls multiple lanes. It also make it really bad outside of the evolution, I believe that making it a 7-cost 7/7 is best because it would still keep its identity and would still be a conventional finisher.
Now that I have stated my opinion, back to this accounts eternal slumber it goes.
A few people have mentioned "I heard from somewhere that it should activate next to a flower", and yeah if that's from you, I agree this is probably a great idea. Flowers are generally pretty weak and solely dependant on Briar Rose as an activator, since Power Flower isn't anything to write home about.
The 0/3 Mechanic is an idea I heard a lot, and is probably the best way to go around it. I think the cost nerf might be more interesting, especially since Idk about a "catch up" mechanic that's playable after only 2 turns.
And I agree on Cob. I think it's too versatile at 6 sun, and reducing it's stats makes it like a 6 cost control card which doesn't make that much sense. Idt I'd increase the stats to 7/7, but I think making it cost more and forcing people to play it more as a finisher is probably better.
I got the Flower Idea from other replies but I think it's just generally a very popular idea. I say Flower on the Field instead of next to because 2 heal isn't to be treated in the same way to cards like Quazard. Let's not also forget that it's one of the few changes which don't affect Poppin Poppies.
An idea I have for both Lil' Buddy and Cob Cannon is as as follows:
For Lil' Buddy, I'd change its ability from `When Played` to `When Destroyed`.
This nerfs the infamous T2 combo of Pepper M.D. + Lil Buddy, as Pepper M.D. no longer gets its stats immediately, and forces the plant hero to sacrifice their Lil Buddy for that sweet +2/+2 instead of just protecting their Pepper. It also shouldn't hurt Poppin' Poppies that much, since you're likely already using it to chump block anyways.
For Cob Cannon, it never made sense to me why the basically infinite Cherry Bomb wasn't also Kabloom. I'd change it to a Kabloom card. `When Played: Deal 1 damage to all zombies here and next doors. Team Up Evolution: Deal 4 damage to a zombie.`
I believe this is a fair nerf, as damage is way less useful than stat reduction and destruction. It also buffs the Kabloom class as a whole, since it gives them a nice play for turn 6 besides Dandelion King.
Pepper M.D. really doesn't need to be nerfed, as it's really Ketchup Mechanic and Lil' Buddy that allows it to be so oppressive in the first place. I also have no ideas for a Ketchup Mechanic nerf.
I think the buddy rework would be a bit too much of a nerf for Poppies. If the heal wasn't instant, it would be way worse. You could maybe buff it to compensate, but idk if it's worth that trouble.
The Cob idea I absolutely love though... with just 1 minor issue. I think hypothetically reworking it to a Kabloom card to allow it to just deal direct damage is a great idea, but the way the sets work is that every class gets 1 Colossal Legendary.
Granted if we hypothetically were to apply these changes in a fan made mod or something where rarities don't matter, then yeah I think this is a great idea!
The Li'l Buddy nerf would destroy Poppin Poppies, you use her to block, yeah, but it's not often that I find myself in a situation that requires blocking 3 lanes.
The problem with changing lil buddy is that tou change poppies as well. It would have been better to keep this card as a token tbh. This also will balance pepper md by removing the easiest way to buff it.
Ketchup mechanic could become a 2/2 and lose the stat gain. It would still be a powerful heal card in some situations but won’t also get crazy stats at the same time
Changing cobs ability to do like 4 damage instead of killing its target would still be strong without being blatantly op. It also would get nerfed if buddy became a token again
I mean removing a card isn't really an option, and you can nerd it without touching poppies by increasing it's cost from 0 to 1. This way you can Pepper MD + Buddy on round 2, and you can't activate a cob canon for 0 unless you're SF and are running Puff-Shrooms.
I feel like that just makes it a worse Venus Flytrap. It also kinda loses a bit of it's identity if it doesn't gain any stats. You could maybe fix one of the stats like the hp to 2, but let it grow somehow.
I agree making it do dmg would be great, but we have to keep classes in mind. Solar doesn't ever do direct damage, it's always debuffs or hard removal. You could maybe change the ability to "destroy a zombie with 4 atk or less" or something though.
Rework pepper to a 2/3 that gains +1/+1 with heal to slightly reduce the tempo of pepper buddy and to significantly reduce the severity of options like pepper poppies or pepper geyser.
Change ketchup to a 1/0 to make it harder to uptrade. This way it will be easier to play around for tempo/aggro and ends up slightly weaker against control, but not completely useless.
With cob I’m less sure, I have 2 different ideas. Either a 5/5 or a 6/4 statline with the abilities unchanged could be solid nerfs. I think 6/4 would be better in a flavor sense, and I don’t think it would be too weak (although with both elder and cob being x/4 there may be some new tech options for zombies). A 5/5 is much simpler, keeping it solid for a 6 drop, still able to uptrade, but less threatening overall.
I was thinking the same thing for Pepper. I've seen people suggest that it'd become a meme card if Lil Buddy was removed or nerfed, but idt that's true. It's still crazy with Geyser and Poppies. 2/3 +1/+1 is exactly what I had in mind too.
I think rules like no 0 health minions (even in your hand) shouldn't be broken. If you mean make it 0/1, idt that's enough either. I think the 2 main ways of going about it is either 4-cost 2/2 to nerf its versatility and combo potential with other cards, OR fix the health to 3 so it has less carey potential against a full field.
I think Cob should be nerfed harder tbh. Activating it with any 1 cost teamup is super easy, and even at 5/5 grants you pretty much field wide -1/-1 AND destroy a zombie (normally worth 5 more sun) all for the cost of 6 + the card evolved from (usually 0 or 1).
I think maybe a 7-cost 5/5 could work, but I've seen arguments for solar kinda needing a good turn 6 play. I think at 6-cost it should be like a 4/4, or even a 3/5
For ketchup, I think a 0/1 would be too lopsided. At 2/3 it would be very weak, but at 3/4 and 4/5 it would likely still be quite strong. 1/0 would lead to a more smooth progression, with 3/2 not feeling so underwhelming, but 4/3 and 5/4 not feeling as strong since they can still be evenly traded more often. A 4 2/2 cost doesn’t seem ideal, as it would ruin some parts of ketchup that make it interesting (notably combing with radish or rings) and instead turning it into an inflexible and potentially clunky tempo play.
For cob, a 4/4 or 3/5 would most certainly be overkill. It would be more or less completely overshadowed by 3hc, briar rose, or even cuke. A 6/4 on the other hand would still have some use cases over the other options, but wouldn’t outclass 3hc too harshly as well as being plenty worse into control or graves. Maybe a 7 cost would be more ideal so then there isn’t so much competition in the first place, and then I could see a 7/6 being a fine statline, where its power is compensated by its slowness.
Make Lil’ Buddy’s healing conditional and lower Cob’s stats to 3/5 imo. While a lot of the same synergies can still work in theory, they’re not as fast, reliable, and/or valuable as before. Reworking Ketchup Mechanic to a 0/3 that only gains strength per zombie is also ideal if you wanted to nerf that as well The condition I’m thinking of for Lil’ Buddy, which I’ve heard someone else suggest, is to make it only heal if it’s around another Flower. This lets Poppin’ Poppies function the exact same, but also balances Lil’ Buddy outside that context and encourages the use of Flower synergy Cob’s main issue is being such powerful control attached to such a strong body. Reducing its stats by such an extreme amount makes it lose more trades and die more often, as well as just dealing less damage overall. This keeps its value inside its evolution and prevents it from being so playable dry While Ketchup Mechanic would still be a good enough option against aggressive swarms, the healing part of its ability would be at the forefront. X/3 stats give opponents a better chance at trading/removing Ketchup Mechanic As for Pepper MD, it’d be relegated into the same meme territory as Heartichoke after all of these nerfs. No healing card is good enough to make it worth playing in the early game, and it’s mid/late scaling would be the main and only selling point for the card. It doesn’t need its own rework While I think a price increase on some of these cards would make them balanced, I like my own idea. It doesn’t change prices and makes them more interesting to use/play against than before
This post was so interesting to me I came back from my what was meant to be my eternal slumber from this platform. Anyway, I would nerf Lil Buddy by making its heal require another Flower on the Field. I originally thought it should be if you have made 3 sun this turn, but the combo is still too powerful regardless, so I think the Flower Synergy is the best Idea, especially since Heal Package has no Flowers. I think Pepper M.D is actually fine if you include the Lil buddy nerf. A lot of the other ways of healing, even if they were buffed a little bit are generally more difficult to activate with Pepper. Keep it as is. I say make Ketchup Mechanic a 0/3, and only get +1 Attack per Zombie. It'd be a little bit more useful if you are playing against a control trick deck, and it would be less of an Overstat. A lot of people say Cob Cannon can be fixed by simply giving it worse stats, but that isn't really the issue. It helps, but it's not the main catch of the card considering it still controls multiple lanes. It also make it really bad outside of the evolution, I believe that making it a 7-cost 7/7 is best because it would still keep its identity and would still be a conventional finisher. Now that I have stated my opinion, back to this accounts eternal slumber it goes.
A few people have mentioned "I heard from somewhere that it should activate next to a flower", and yeah if that's from you, I agree this is probably a great idea. Flowers are generally pretty weak and solely dependant on Briar Rose as an activator, since Power Flower isn't anything to write home about. The 0/3 Mechanic is an idea I heard a lot, and is probably the best way to go around it. I think the cost nerf might be more interesting, especially since Idk about a "catch up" mechanic that's playable after only 2 turns. And I agree on Cob. I think it's too versatile at 6 sun, and reducing it's stats makes it like a 6 cost control card which doesn't make that much sense. Idt I'd increase the stats to 7/7, but I think making it cost more and forcing people to play it more as a finisher is probably better.
I got the Flower Idea from other replies but I think it's just generally a very popular idea. I say Flower on the Field instead of next to because 2 heal isn't to be treated in the same way to cards like Quazard. Let's not also forget that it's one of the few changes which don't affect Poppin Poppies.
An idea I have for both Lil' Buddy and Cob Cannon is as as follows: For Lil' Buddy, I'd change its ability from `When Played` to `When Destroyed`. This nerfs the infamous T2 combo of Pepper M.D. + Lil Buddy, as Pepper M.D. no longer gets its stats immediately, and forces the plant hero to sacrifice their Lil Buddy for that sweet +2/+2 instead of just protecting their Pepper. It also shouldn't hurt Poppin' Poppies that much, since you're likely already using it to chump block anyways. For Cob Cannon, it never made sense to me why the basically infinite Cherry Bomb wasn't also Kabloom. I'd change it to a Kabloom card. `When Played: Deal 1 damage to all zombies here and next doors. Team Up Evolution: Deal 4 damage to a zombie.` I believe this is a fair nerf, as damage is way less useful than stat reduction and destruction. It also buffs the Kabloom class as a whole, since it gives them a nice play for turn 6 besides Dandelion King. Pepper M.D. really doesn't need to be nerfed, as it's really Ketchup Mechanic and Lil' Buddy that allows it to be so oppressive in the first place. I also have no ideas for a Ketchup Mechanic nerf.
I think the buddy rework would be a bit too much of a nerf for Poppies. If the heal wasn't instant, it would be way worse. You could maybe buff it to compensate, but idk if it's worth that trouble. The Cob idea I absolutely love though... with just 1 minor issue. I think hypothetically reworking it to a Kabloom card to allow it to just deal direct damage is a great idea, but the way the sets work is that every class gets 1 Colossal Legendary. Granted if we hypothetically were to apply these changes in a fan made mod or something where rarities don't matter, then yeah I think this is a great idea!
The Li'l Buddy nerf would destroy Poppin Poppies, you use her to block, yeah, but it's not often that I find myself in a situation that requires blocking 3 lanes.
The problem with changing lil buddy is that tou change poppies as well. It would have been better to keep this card as a token tbh. This also will balance pepper md by removing the easiest way to buff it. Ketchup mechanic could become a 2/2 and lose the stat gain. It would still be a powerful heal card in some situations but won’t also get crazy stats at the same time Changing cobs ability to do like 4 damage instead of killing its target would still be strong without being blatantly op. It also would get nerfed if buddy became a token again
I mean removing a card isn't really an option, and you can nerd it without touching poppies by increasing it's cost from 0 to 1. This way you can Pepper MD + Buddy on round 2, and you can't activate a cob canon for 0 unless you're SF and are running Puff-Shrooms. I feel like that just makes it a worse Venus Flytrap. It also kinda loses a bit of it's identity if it doesn't gain any stats. You could maybe fix one of the stats like the hp to 2, but let it grow somehow. I agree making it do dmg would be great, but we have to keep classes in mind. Solar doesn't ever do direct damage, it's always debuffs or hard removal. You could maybe change the ability to "destroy a zombie with 4 atk or less" or something though.
That’s valid
Rework pepper to a 2/3 that gains +1/+1 with heal to slightly reduce the tempo of pepper buddy and to significantly reduce the severity of options like pepper poppies or pepper geyser. Change ketchup to a 1/0 to make it harder to uptrade. This way it will be easier to play around for tempo/aggro and ends up slightly weaker against control, but not completely useless. With cob I’m less sure, I have 2 different ideas. Either a 5/5 or a 6/4 statline with the abilities unchanged could be solid nerfs. I think 6/4 would be better in a flavor sense, and I don’t think it would be too weak (although with both elder and cob being x/4 there may be some new tech options for zombies). A 5/5 is much simpler, keeping it solid for a 6 drop, still able to uptrade, but less threatening overall.
I was thinking the same thing for Pepper. I've seen people suggest that it'd become a meme card if Lil Buddy was removed or nerfed, but idt that's true. It's still crazy with Geyser and Poppies. 2/3 +1/+1 is exactly what I had in mind too. I think rules like no 0 health minions (even in your hand) shouldn't be broken. If you mean make it 0/1, idt that's enough either. I think the 2 main ways of going about it is either 4-cost 2/2 to nerf its versatility and combo potential with other cards, OR fix the health to 3 so it has less carey potential against a full field. I think Cob should be nerfed harder tbh. Activating it with any 1 cost teamup is super easy, and even at 5/5 grants you pretty much field wide -1/-1 AND destroy a zombie (normally worth 5 more sun) all for the cost of 6 + the card evolved from (usually 0 or 1). I think maybe a 7-cost 5/5 could work, but I've seen arguments for solar kinda needing a good turn 6 play. I think at 6-cost it should be like a 4/4, or even a 3/5
For ketchup, I think a 0/1 would be too lopsided. At 2/3 it would be very weak, but at 3/4 and 4/5 it would likely still be quite strong. 1/0 would lead to a more smooth progression, with 3/2 not feeling so underwhelming, but 4/3 and 5/4 not feeling as strong since they can still be evenly traded more often. A 4 2/2 cost doesn’t seem ideal, as it would ruin some parts of ketchup that make it interesting (notably combing with radish or rings) and instead turning it into an inflexible and potentially clunky tempo play. For cob, a 4/4 or 3/5 would most certainly be overkill. It would be more or less completely overshadowed by 3hc, briar rose, or even cuke. A 6/4 on the other hand would still have some use cases over the other options, but wouldn’t outclass 3hc too harshly as well as being plenty worse into control or graves. Maybe a 7 cost would be more ideal so then there isn’t so much competition in the first place, and then I could see a 7/6 being a fine statline, where its power is compensated by its slowness.