Greetings, Adventurers!
Alongside our most recent Patch 1.9.0, this March Card Balance update focuses on smoothing out feel‑bad extremes: cards that either demanded too much sacrifice to feel worth playing, or that offered too much power for too little risk. Our goal is to keep your favorite builds intact while making more cards feel genuinely playable in real matches, not just on paper.
This balance pass features targeted tweaks to four iconic cards: Embermaw, Thailon, Aetherion, and Cavalier. Together, these changes should make high‑risk, high‑reward cards less punishing, bring underperforming support pieces closer to their peers, and rein in over‑tuned finishers that can end games with too little counterplay.
Let’s dive into each change.
Balance Patch release date: 24 March, 2026
Thailon ⬆️
Old: Skill: Charge(1): Heal 10 Health for lowest health ally. New: Skill: Charge(1): Heal 15 Health for lowest health ally.
Design notes
Thailon sits in the same design space as other dedicated healers such as Healer and Angelic Envoy, but their actual in‑game value was noticeably lower. They were spending the same tempo and resources for less impactful healing, which made Thailon a strictly worse choice in most healing or support decks. In the early days, when we designed the first “Heal” effects, Thailon was acceptable for the meta back then, but that is no longer the case.
Increasing the healing from 10 to 15 does a few important things: it makes each activation feel more meaningful, especially in the midgame where 10 HP can disappear instantly; it lets Thailon compete fairly with other healers instead of being a flavor pick that weakens your deck; and it supports archetypes that rely on sustaining key units rather than racing damage.
We expect Thailon to show up more often in healing and control‑oriented builds, without overshadowing other top‑tier healers.
Aetherion ⬆️
Old
- Stats: 30 HP / 0 DEF / 15 ATK
- Skill (Glory): Create a 30/0/15 Illusion.
New
- Stats: 30 HP / 0 DEF / 20 ATK
- Skill (Glory): Create a 30/0/20 Illusion.
Design notes
Aetherion is built around a powerful concept: illusions that multiply your presence and pressure. On theoritical that’s exciting, but in practice the card suffered from low base stats that were too easy to exploit, and from a Glory activation pattern that realistically allowed only one or two triggers per game.
This meant that, while the effect was flashy, the total value output was underwhelming for the investment and setup required. By increasing Aetherion’s defense from 15 to 20 – and mirroring that on the Illusion – we aim to make Aetherion survive longer so you can actually realize the illusion game plan, increase the payoff of each Glory activation, and make the card less of a liability when drawn in the midgame or under pressure.
These changes should push Aetherion from “too fragile to bother with” into a more viable centerpiece for illusion and control strategies, while keeping the core gameplay pattern intact.
Embermaw 🔄
Old: Charge(1): Gain 30 Attack. Deal 20 Damage to Player. New: Charge(1): Gain 30 Attack. Deal 15 Damage to Player.
Design notes
The most recent Hero, Embermaw, is meant to be a high‑risk closer: a terrifying beast you unleash when you’re ready to trade your own life for massive burst. In practice, we realize that the 20 self‑damage often made Embermaw too punishing to justify, especially in tighter games where you had already spent life as a resource.
By lowering the self‑damage from 20 to 15, we keep Embermaw’s identity intact – it’s still a card you must respect and plan around – but we reduce the amount of setup and sacrifice required to play it. This adjustment should make Embermaw easier to slot into more midrange and combo lists and encourage more players to actually experiment with the card instead of leaving it as “too scary on paper”.
We’ll be watching to ensure Embermaw remains powerful without becoming a brainless “press button, win game” finisher.
Cavalier 🔄
Old
- Stats: 35 HP / 0 DEF / 20 ATK
- Skill (Pre‑fight): Destroy facing enemy if 30 or less health.
New
- Stats: Stats: 35 HP / 0 DEF / 25 ATK
- Skill (Pre‑fight): Destroy facing enemy if 20 or less health.
Design notes
With the current average health across cards hovering around the mid‑30s, Cavalier’s ability to destroy any enemy with 30 or less health made it a near‑guaranteed double‑kill machine in many low‑health situations. Once Cavalier hit the board at the right time, it often ended any chance for the opponent to stabilize, with very little room to maneuver or plan around it.
As one of the most owned and played cards, we want Cavalier to remain a high‑impact execution tool, but not one that deletes fair boards on sight. Lowering the destroy threshold reduces the number of one‑shot scenarios where Cavalier invalidates entire strategies and makes playing around Cavalier more skill‑testing, as you can manage your units’ health to stay above the danger zone.
Closing thoughts
This balance pass is intentionally surgical: we’re not trying to flip the entire meta overnight, but to relieve pressure where it’s too high and lift up tools that deserve more table time. Embermaw and Aetherion should feel more rewarding to build around, Thailon should no longer lag behind other healers, and Cavalier should remain threatening without being a near‑unanswerable checkmate.
As always, we’ll be watching how these changes play out across your matches and community deck techs. Your feedback and data are a crucial part of shaping the Under Realm.
Until our next descent into the depths… see you in the Under Realm, adventurers.
