Update 01-2021
By Kitty · Official · 01/2021Back to releases
It’s almost the end of the year already (and what a year it’s been, honestly…), and Sheepyard is gifting us with a small release with balance changes, exclusive offer and some UI improvements!
You will be rewarded 
300 coins and 
30 rubies upon login this week. While I have your attention, please wear a mask and avoid unnecessary travels—especially if you live in an area with rampant COVID-19 cases. It takes everyone’s effort to slow down this pandemic. Do the right thing. 🙏
Balance changes
This release, like any other, brings some balance changes for the new season starting on January 1st, including a new mechanic—vitality.
Vitality is essentially a reverse poison: not only does it heal poison, but it also buffs units by 1 strength at the beginning of every turn. Similarly, poison cancels vitality. Both of them are not subject to cancelation via freeze.
- Broken Truce now costs 4 mana (up from 3) and will randomly dispatch the leftover damage amongst all surrounding units and structures (bases excluded).
- Xuri, Lord of Life now vitalizes the friendly units he flies over.
- Potion of Growth now vitalizes the target and buffs for 2/3/4/5/6 (down from 3/4/5/6/7).
- Sunbeam Serpents no longer need to be bordering a dragon to activate their ability.
- Chilled Stonedames costs 5 mana (up from 4) and no longer need the enemy units in front to be weaker.
- Linked Golems’s base strength is now 2/2/3/3/3 (up from 1/1/2/2/3), and their ability grants 1/2/2/3/4 (down from 2/3/3/4/5).
As usual, some compensation in the form of coins and fusion stones will be provided to owners of Linked Golems, proportional to the level and rarity of the card. Find below the compensation values for each rarity and level.
Epic card: 15 coins and 
2 fusion stones at level 2, 40 coins and 5 fusion stones at level 3, 120 coins and 10 fusion stones at level 4, 250 coins and 20 fusion stones at level 5.
Cheapened Brawl
Similar to what happened in November, the Brawl starting on December 24th (and only that one) is going to be cheaper. All fight will cost 50% of their original price.
Here are the adjusted values for every milestone:
| Required crowns | Cost per match | Reward once reached |
|---|---|---|
 10 crowns | 0 coins (0) | 1 Humble Book |
| 20 crowns | 10 coins (-10) | 5 rubies |
| 35 crowns | 25 coins (-25) | 1 Classic Tome |
| 50 crowns | 50 coins (-50) | 10 fusion stones |
| 70 crowns | 75 coins (-75) | 1 Mythic Tome |
| 95 crowns | 100 coins (-100) |  1 legendary card |
| 125 crowns | 125 coins (-125) | 50 fusion stones |
| 160 crowns | 150 coins (-150) | 250 rubies |
| 200 crowns | 200 coins (-200) | 5 legendary cards |
| 250 crowns | 250 coins (-250) | 200 fusion stones |
To calculate how far you can go with a given amount of coins, or how much it will cost you to reach a certain milestone, be sure to use the Brawl calculator. It makes it possible to define a certain Brawl discount as well.
Daily check-in calendar
The daily check-in calendar will pursue in January. It will work exactly like the Advent Calendar from December and will cost only $5 to boost to Premium.
This is the total value for the Advent calendar, free and premium respectively (including free rewards within the premium one):
- Total free rewards: 450 coins, 40 rubies, 7 fusion stones,
4 common cards, 
1 rare card, 1 epic card and 1 Heroic Tome - Total Premium (including free) rewards: 1,350 coins, 120 rubies, 28 fusion stones, 4 common cards, 5 rare cards, 2 epic cards, 1 legendary card, 1 Heroic Tome and 1 Mythic Tome
Exclusive offers
Like most holiday events, there will be some one-time only special offers for people willing to put some money into the game. The Christmas exclusive packs will be available from December 21st (9AM CET) until December 27th (end of day) so be sure to jump on them!
- Christmas Tree Pack ($9.99): 3 Mythic Tomes + 2 Heroic Tomes + 1 Classic Tome + 500 coins
- Helpful Elf pack ($19.99): 20 rare cards + 15 epic cards + 10 legendary cards
- Santa Edrik pack ($49.99): 6,500 coins + 650 rubies
On top of that, all books will yield an extra card until the end of the Christmas event (end of day on the 27th). Books rewarded through the Brawl will not.
UI improvements
Besides some minor quality-of-life improvements, the collection pagination has been redesigned from scratch to use a swift slider instead of tedious tap/click navigation.
In case you missed it, a recent update also added a collection filter to display cards from all factions, and cards from the current deck’s faction + neutral. Pretty handy!
FAQ
- When is the update going to be released?
The balance changes will be effective with the season reset on January 1st. The Christmas offers will be available from December 21st until December 27th (end of day).
- Will more cards benefit from vitality in the future?
Absolutely. Vitality will not be a Swarm-specific ability and will make its way to more cards after we test it with these 2 first.