Soul Gem Season Updates *Updated (12/13/17)

Brigby

Hi Everyone,

We've got a lot of changes coming to the Soul Gem Season this Thursday, so without further ado, here are all the updates players can anticipate!

Pack Changes:

The Hulk (The Main Event) and Nico (Runaways) will be entering Latest 4-Star status, and Agent Coulson (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) and Iron Fist (Danny Rand) will be entering Vintage 4-Star status.

A Word from the Developers:

Hi all,

As a rule, we don't like to change characters that you've spent your time and effort collecting and leveling up, but we've heard your feedback loud and clear. For the health of the game, we need to make some changes to Gambit.

We don't make these changes lightly nor quickly. We often need to wait to see how the meta game will shift before determining if a character really does need to change, how much, and how. After looking though at Versus win rates (on both offense and defense), character usage rates (relative to ownership), and outcomes in Story missions, we had enough data telling us we needed to change both 3-Star and 5-Star Gambit sooner, rather than later.

There are three key issues with Gambit that we want to address:

• There are times when a Gambit with no Red or Purple covers is better than a Gambit with them. Using covers to train a character should always make them better.
• The AP generation of Stacked Deck is too strong, without any good way to play against it.
• A large number of players use 3-Star Gambit with only Black covers to fuel 5-Star teams. 3-Stars are an integral part of the game, but we never want your opponent's 3-Star character to trump your 5-Star.

Ragin' Cajun and Aces & Eights are also strong powers in the right circumstances, but we believe that there is plenty of space in the game for characters to have awesome, exciting powers, as long as they're good counter-play available against them. That's not the case for Stacked Deck.

We've completely changed how 3-Star Gambit's Stacked Deck power behaves. it's now an active power which reads:

Stacked Deck - 5 Black AP
"Gambit finds an advantage for himself at any cost. Create 2 Red or Purple charged tiles and deals damage to the enemy, but deals damage to Gambit's allies."

This inexpensive power should still generate AP for your team through Charged tiles all while fueling Gambit's Red Aces & Eights power.

For the 5-Star version of Gambit, we've made smaller, but no less important, changes to Stacked Deck which now reads:

Stacked Deck - Black Power
"(PASSIVE) Gambit finds an advantage for himself at any cost. At the start of the turn, gain Purple AP, Red AP, and destroy enemy AP from a random color. Gambit's Allies may not fire Purple or Red powers."

(More details on both characters' powers can be found below)

Gambit was one of your most requested characters, and we want to make sure that he's as awesome as you remember him from your favorite Marvel comics. While we clearly overshot that goal originally, we believe that after these changes, both 3-Star and 5-Star Gambit remain strong characters. But, in case you disagree, we've increased the sell price for them.

If you wish to sell your copy of 3-Star Gambit, he will have increased sell back prices. You can view this option when looking at the character on the Roster screen.

5-Star Gambit can be sold for Iso-8, as well as special Legendary tokens. These tokens can be redeemed in a new Marvel Legends Legendary cover store.

This store contains only the following 5-star characters:

• Black Bolt (Inhuman King)
• Black Panther (Civil War)
• Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff)
• Daredevil (Matt Murdock)
• Doctor Strange (Sorcerer Supreme)
• Green Goblin (Norman Osborn)
• Hawkeye (Clint Barton)
• Iron Man (Mark XLVI)
• Jean Grey (Phoenix)
• Silver Surfer (Skyrider)
• Spider-Man (Back in Black)
• Spider-Man (Peter Parker)
• Star-Lord (Awesome Mix Volume 2)
• Steve Rogers (First Avenger)
• Thanos (The Mad Titan)
• The Hulk (Bruce Banner)
• Thor (Gladiator)
• Wolverine (Old Man Logan)

The number of tokens you'll receive is based on Gambit's character level, including Champion levels. These changes, and the increased sell prices, will be in the game at some point on Thursday, December 14th, in time for the start of the upcoming Versus Soul Season.

Thank you all for your feedback so far. We have lots of metrics we can look at to see the health of the game, but the first and most important thing we consider is how you're all feeling. We'll continue to listen to you, and watch player behavior closely, to see the effect of these changes, and makes sure they make the game you all love even better.

Thanks again, and happy matching,
The Marvel Puzzle Quest Team

Character Update Details:

Gambit (Classic) Update
Ragin' Cajun  - No Changes

Aces & Eights  - No Changes

Stacked Deck  - Gambit's allies can not activate Red or Purple powers (even if Gambit doesn't have any power levels in his Red or Purple powers). Gambit only generates 2 Red and Purple AP at power level 5, instead of 3. Gambit now destroys random Enemy AP (2 at power level 4)

Gambit (Modern) Update
Ragin' Cajun  - No Changes

Aces & Eights  - No Changes

Stacked Deck  - Power now costs 5 Black AP. Creates Red and Purple Charged tiles, and deals damage to the enemy, as well as your team.

S.H.I.E.L.D. Clearance Level 9 in Versus Events

Starting with the Soul Gem season, most Versus, Season, and S.H.I.E.L.D. Simulator events will now have S.H.I.E.L.D. Clearance Level 9 available to players with rank 65 and higher. We will release more details about the changes in the next couple of days.

• The top 10 players (up from 5) in S.H.I.E.L.D. Clearance Level 9 will receive a 4-Star cover
• Ranks 2 - 5 will receive an additional 4-Star cover
• Iso-8 Rewards have also been increased in S.H.I.E.L.D. Clearance Level 9

S.H.I.E.L.D. Clearance Level Maximum S.H.I.E.L.D. Ranks

S.H.I.E.L.D. Clearance Levels 1 through 6 will now have both minimum and maximum S.H.I.E.L.D. Ranks for Versus Tournaments. The ranges are listed below:

1. Rank 1 through 14
2. Rank 7 through 19
3. Rank 10 through 26
4. Rank 15 through 31
5. Rank 20 through 46
6. Rank 27 through 68
7. Rank 32 and higher
8. Rank 47 and higher
9. Rank 65 and higher

dr tinykittylove

Thank you! 

Edit: wait! How is that a nerf on the 5*? He's still making free ap and now he's destroying enemy ap for free too? Say what? 

Daiches

Gambat dead!
SCL 9 PVP!!!
and nerf to Gambit very minor? Perfect.

Can you tell us if Gambats 3star will be able to be sold to merge with champed version or are they just a good start for a dupe?

atomzed

Thank you for nerfing gambit, but not so much that he died!

(after reading carefully, you actually buff 5* Gambit! oh man, that's crazy )

entrailbucket

This is a nothing change to the 5* that will have no impact whatsoever on how overpowered he is.  I'm not sure why you'd bother with making such a small change at all.

Actually, on second thought, it's not a nothing change at all.  You've managed to execute the first-ever nerf that makes a character better.  Are these details correct?  Maybe there's a typo here somewhere.

KGB

Gambat is now dead. Long live Gambat!

I'm not in 5* land yet so it will be interesting to see if the 5* changes matter much since it's only a reduction of 1 AP gen in red/purple so he's still going to generate a fair bit of AP...

KGB

tiomono

That feels a bit harsh on 3 star. No longer generates red or purple directly and hurts your own team while dealing damage to the enemy..... ouch. 

Good news is gambatt is dead I suppose.

ViralCore

Why are you buffing 5* Gambit? He still generates AP but now he destroys the enemy AP, are you kidding us?

BigBZ32

Gambatt is dead, but we'll see on 5* Gambit. It'll make him slightly slower, but still seems we'll find everyone using him.

AlexxKats

Clearance level 9 pvp rewards please? 
@Brigby

Wobby

I applaud our clueless overlords - everyone please sell your 5* Gambit so I can crush you more easily. 

Brigby

@Daiches said:

-snip-
Can you tell us if Gambats 3star will be able to be sold to merge with champed version or are they just a good start for a dupe?

Unfortunately we will not be able to assist with merging those covers with a Champed version, so I would say they're a good start for a dupe character.

alaeth

Yay! scl9 PvP!!!

Boo Gambit 5* nerf (but we all saw it coming) - can you confirm 5* Gambit Black is still a passive ability?

y4747

it's good that gambat is no longer viable, it was pretty ridiculous.

personally, i think 3* gambit black could have used the same treatment 5* got - would have been just as good at preventing using him as a battery, without making it too bad. as is, he took a very hard hit.

the changes to 5* were pretty much on the nose. he's still very good, but not absolutely supreme.

Brigby

@alaeth said:

Yay! scl9 PvP!!!

Boo Gambit 5* nerf (but we all saw it coming) - can you confirm 5* Gambit Black is still a passive ability?

Yes. Gambit (Classic)'s Stacked Deck ability is still a passive one. Only Gambit (Modern)'s Stacked Deck was changed to be an active ability.

CharlieCroker

ViralCore said:

Why are you buffing 5* Gambit? He still generates AP but now he destroys the enemy AP, are you kidding us?

This - so as well as firing powers every 4/6 turns (admittedly better than 3/4 turns) he now prevents the opposition firing powers too.  That'll make him much more manageable.

Pongie

Can't wait to see what rewards are like for scl 9 (not that I can reach top 5-10). Hopefully a 5* added in somewhere

DyingLegend

Works for me! 

alaeth

3* Gambit is an interesting change... with Black an active power (generating charged tiles) you can "save" 7 Red Ap by not having to fire it twice to be effective.

Interesting...

Nick9819

5* still way overpowered thanks for nothing. Not he destroy enemy AP!

AlexxKats

Uhmmm... Isn't Gambit a thief in trade? Shouldn't he steal those ap?