How have Time Bubbles not been fixed yet?

MforVendetta

Time Bubbles have come up frequently as one of the most frustrating mechanics in this game, and I’m shocked that this hasn’t been addressed and corrected yet.

I’m not saying they need to be nerfed necessarily. I think they are overpowered, but I understand not everyone feels that way. But the frustration is their visibility. Why on earth did anyone ever decide to make these gems invisible to the opposing player? It’s bad enough that the board gets seeded with these power opposing gems, but to also make them invisible is pointless and enraging. Even the “trap” special gems, which are far less impactful, limit how many appear at any time.

Making these gems visible to the opposing player would at least give us something to work with. As I mentioned, I also believe that these need to be nerfed somehow. Anything that destroys the first card in your hand without exception is extremely overpowered, coupled with the fact that the Denial gems also restrict the player, making mana generation difficult as well. Our ability to counter these abilities is almost completely neutered, and players are forced to rely primarily on luck over strategy, which is an awful feeling in a strategy game.

Nerfing these gems is not without precedent. Mechanized Warfare was changed because of powerful combinations. More recently, Ghalta, Stampede Tyrant was nerfed due to a powerful combination that was arguably easier to counter than time bubbles.

I’d recommend three changes to the mechanic: 1) make them visible to each player. 2) limit the total number of time bubbles on the board OR allow either player to spawn them (similar to other improved gems, which can benefit both players). 3) For the love of Zendikar, PLEASE create an in-game glossary that defines what the hell terms like “Deny” “Restrain” etc. mean. A popup on the card that references other terms without definitions is no help. This is a very basic feature that should be easy enough to add, and would be especially helpful since apparently trainings are no longer implemented to learn new abilities.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. I’m curious what strategies folks use to combat the time bubble fiasco. I’m sure that we can craft a highly specialized deck with the sole purpose of combatting these gems, but is there a general plan of attack?