SolForge has been playable for over two years, has seen the release of six full sets of cards and an additional 12 mini-sets, and still isn't "out". But that's all due to change (hopefully) before the end of the year when the game finally leaves its Beta phase and is officially released with a snazzy new UI.

In the meantime, the folks at Stone Blade Entertainment (SBE) just released a massive balance patch (notes here). Beyond adding official keywords for various ability types, numerous cards across the entire collection have been tweaked in an effort to push the overall constructed metagame from wins during rank 2 to rank 3 or 4. Several creatures have had their stats squished, with boosts at level 1 and nerfs at level 3 to mitigate the effects of level-screw. Also, Nekrium removal has been dramatically overhauled with a baseline of Dreadbolt destroying on-level creatures unconditionally and soft level-gating for more restrictive spells.

This is fantastic news for me. As someone who almost exclusively plays decks that struggle not to die early on so they can swing back hard late-game (and gets super tilted by level-screw), these changes might be enough to get me back into competitive play. Of course, a lot of people are screaming on the forums out how the sky is falling because X,Y and Z got nerfed/buffed and are going to ruin the game now, but I'm staying optimistic. SBE has a second phase of balancing planned where they'll reassess the changes they've made and look into updating any cards they may have overlooked during phase one.

A few notable standouts to me are:

• Call the Lightning - "Gives double battle at every level, level 1 gives no bonus attack, level 2 gives +2 attack and level 3 gives +4 attack" - Granting all your creatures an additional attack as an ungated ability at level 1 is huge and can synergize immensely well with several blow-up strategies from Tempys.
• Scourgeflame Sorceror - "Level 1 ability can target up to level 2 creatures, Level 2 has no restriction, and Level 3 requires no sacrifice" No level-gating at level 1 could make this a much bigger deal if Xombies comes back. Also works extremely well with the new Keeper of the Damned.
• Wildfire Maiden - "Now destroys itself to do damage equal to its power to all enemy creatures and players" - A little bit of incidental pump and you're looking at a 1-card board clear for your opponent only. This card is insanely scary now.
• Zimus - "Level 3 now comes back without any restriction" - Back to his original incarnation. If games start skewing later he could be a problem again.
• Binben - "Stat change to 6/4, 10/6, 17/8 (used to be 4/6, 6/10, 8/17 and ability now triggers with every spell played (used to be on second spell per turn), level 2 and 3 ability only put one elemental in play and Binben no longer has Defender" - I tried to make a Binben deck back in the day but he was terrible and spells were terrible of course it was terrible. Now he's not terrible and spells are not terrible so maybe it's time to bring Binben back.
• Frostmane Dragon - "Stat change to 6/7, 9/10, 13/14 (used to be 5/6, 9/11, 16/19)" - This is a big bummer for me. Frostmane was a standout in my Dragonwake deck as the one creature that was solid at all levels and often found the value I needed to make up for the other garbage I was plying trying to set up my rank 3 win. Of course, with the buff to Killion, the nerfs to Frostmane don't seem as bad. I just don't know if it fits in my deck any more and, if not, what I could possibly replace it with.
• Killion, Infinity Warden - "Stat change to 6/3, 9/7, 16/14, 22/20 (used to be 4/3, 9/7, 16/12, 22/18)" - This is huge huge HUGE. Playing Killion during rank 1 used to be a liability. The guaranteed tempo-loss he came with is now a lot less guaranteed. He was amazing enough for me to play him despite the overly aggressive format and absolutely garbage stats.
• Bron, Wild Tamer - "Ability no longer heals itself" - Bron is still super good but no longer autowins in certain situations.
• Wegu, the Ancient - "No longer gains Breakthrough at level 1 or 2" - Still a threat, especially with the buff to Glowstride Stag, but actually allows for interaction from the opponent now instead of just winning games sometimes.
• Ice Grasp - "Deals 2 damage (used to be 3)" - This is a tough one. A totally necessary nerf, but I can't help but wonder if this totally kills Tempys burn against midrange.

So, like I always ask any time I make one of these threads, anyone still playing? Do these changes seem like a step in the right direction to anyone who put the game down? Anyone thinking of picking the game up once it actually releases with a not-garbage UI and stuff?