Why did the AI need a nerf?

Steeme said:

Gilesclone said:

When in doubt they try to pick a match close to the top left corner.

I always thought it did this to "not disturb the board".  That is, if it chose something at the bottom, then it could potentially set the player up for a nice counter-move.

I sometimes do the same thing by taking a harmless loyalty swap near the top.

If the AI does have a preference for top-left, I'd be amazed if it's related to some deep gameplay strategy attempt (and a flawed one at that - see below), rather than some arbitrary sequencing implementation choice in the board inspection algorithm.  There are far more obvious ways the AI could be tweaked to play more effectively.  (Prioritising 5-matches and player support gems springs to mind!)

Another basic improvement for the AI would be to prefer moves which trigger cascades.  If it did that, then playing top-of-board when no cascades are available would make sense, as Steeme explains.  But preferring top-of-board plays when the board's cascade potential state is unknown will actually deny itself more than the opponent.

Even when mage ring responder is on the board it skips match5s. Poor card just sits there the entire game.