As we reach the first half of the season for Whispers from the Maze, the first World Championship Qualifiers have paved the way to this fall's World Finals, and the competition is in full swing.

With the release of Whispers from the Maze, we've seen some adjustments within the meta, with a breakthrough for Kojo & Booda decks and a resurgence of Treyst & Rossum decks. We're observing a fairly wide diversity of decks, with Basira, Gulrang, Sierra and Atsadi decks performing at the highest competitive levels, and even a Nevenka & Blotch deck that qualified for the World Finals!

Despite this great diversity and our players' efforts to counter the top decks, some decks continue to dominate in a way that we believe is detrimental to the meta.

The following changes will come into effect starting August 11, 2025.

Heroes are at the heart of Altered. They define our deckbuilding, influence the hunt for unique cards, guide playstyle, and, for many, are a massive part in what makes Altered special. Each hero is built around an ability, but also an artistic design and a backstory. From this combination of elements emerges an iconic character that resonates differently with every player. Far more than a key element in a deck's strategy, Altered's heroes bring people together, encourage identification, and foster communities.

Modifying a hero is one of the most delicate decisions we can make in terms of balance, and will always remain a last resort. It's a decision that takes time to emerge, requiring extensive study and playtesting. During this process, we must ensure that the changes made are as relevant as possible, since they not only impact gameplay, but also challenge the very identity of the character.

Heroes are the most visible cards in the game. They are the entry point for any player into the game's universe, and also the first step when deckbuilding. For these reasons, it is essential that their abilities remain clear for everyone.

Suspending a hero is not an option we want to consider, and we do not see it as a viable solution for the future. The emotional impact that comes from many hours of play learning to master a hero, its mechanics, and its subtleties is too significant for us to decide to entirely remove it from players' hands.

An erratum, however, must be precise and definitive. At the heart of our concerns when balancing the game is the notion of accessibility. For any adjustment we make, the game must not progressively become more complex for those who are still discovering it. An erratum cannot distort a card's original intent and playstyle, and in order not to lose players, it must be final.

Some heroes prove to be even more sensitive than others: the heroes featured in the starter decks. These heroes play a dual role. First and foremost, they are designed to be the best entry point into Altered: didactic enough and easy to pick up for any player who has never played a TCG. But they must also serve as a springboard into the more complex aspects of the game for players who wish to experience them.

As such, it is difficult to imagine a player who has learned to master their hero realizing, once in a store or on Board Game Arena, that it has changed and no longer works as they thought. By extension, this is also true for starter deck cards, and that's why, in our balancing efforts, we place great importance on solutions that ensure this entry point always remains wide open and reliable for our new players.

That's why when a hero receives an erratum, our objectives are to:

• Reduce excessive power without making it unplayable
• Preserve its identity and playstyle
• Maintain a simple and accessible design
• Ensure a deckbuilding and gameplay experience close to the original
• Ensure the deck remains competitive at a reasonable level

ERRATUM

Although it has already undergone several adjustments, Afanas remains today the most dominant deck in the meta. At WCQ Lille, we saw many decks emerge specifically built to counter it, and both a Treyst and a Nevenka even reached the Top 4. However, it is very difficult to build an effective deck against Afanas without exposing yourself to other decks in the format. Its versatility and ability to exploit resources make it particularly resilient to targeted counters.

The crux of the issue comes from repetitive sequences where players would abuse 1-cost spells by returning them to hand thanks to uniques with effects like you may return a Spell from your Reserve to your hand. Notable among these cards are Magical Training and Beauty Sleep, as well as Helping Hand before its suspension. This game plan allows players to pass the turn for a low cost while exploiting Afanas' power to develop enormous stats on the board.

We believe that by bringing Afanas back to a fair level, other decks with already satisfactory performances will be able to emerge and compete with the top decks in the meta, breaking Afanas and Sigismar's hegemony.

Waru is a significant example for us. After largely dominating Altered's early competitions, we aimed to bring the hero back to a less oppressive power level. To return the meta to a stable state, we acted more quickly than we would have preferred, prioritizing safety when choosing the erratum, at the expense of the hero's competitiveness.

With the experience of Waru’s erratum in mind, we wished to take a more progressive and precise approach with Afanas. Even before considering the hero, we suspended Helping Hand, adjusted the expedition advancement rules with the Check Victory step to reduce the impact of Small Steps, Giant Leap, and placed Kadigiran Mage-Dancer on the Watchlist. These measures aimed to mitigate the performance of the Afanas strategy without distorting its playstyle.

This preparatory work allowed us to more finely understand Afanas' problematic points and to test numerous versions before arriving at an erratum. Our goal is to implement a decisive and lasting change that resolves the frustrations expressed by players, while preserving the hero's identity and competitiveness.

The first adjustments we tried slightly reduced Afanas's efficiency, but didn’t stop the loop of cheap spells being returned to hand, which remained problematic. To correct the situation, we explored two approaches: directly reducing the power of its ability (by limiting its capacity to place boosts) or accentuating its weaknesses by making its characters or card advantage more vulnerable. We opted for this second option, as it better reflects the hero's spirit: high stats, but requiring precise deckbuilding and sequencing to be fully exploited.

All these progressive steps have allowed us to end up with the erratum we are presenting to you today. Once this solution was validated, we chose to communicate it as quickly as possible instead of waiting until the end of the season.

We aim for the World Championship season to be the culmination of a year of competitive play and hope that with this latest adjustment, the meta will be more diverse than ever. While we considered delaying this erratum so that everyone could prove themselves in the same competitive environment, we ultimately judged it better for all players and the health of the meta to propose it to you now.

Helping Hand remains suspended for the time being, giving us time to observe the patch's overall impact. It is likely to return in a future update, either in its current form or as an errata'd version.

• No changes : Moonlight Jellyfish (All Uniques)
• No changes : Baba Yaga (Ordis, Rare)
• No changes : Helping Hand (Yzmir, Rare)

• Kadigiran Mage-Dancer (Yzmir, Common & Rare)
• Ordis Attorney (Rare)
• Bugfix (Axiom, Common & Rare)

At WCQ Lille, we saw the emergence of Treyst decks based around a combo using Bugfix and uniques that allow you to return a card from your Reserve to your hand when creating a Brassbug. Once assembled, this interaction allows you to pass the turn for 1 mana while repeatedly generating a 2/2/2 Brassbug.

This game plan can lead to repetitive game sequences, where the player dedicates almost all their mana to chaining Bugfix and constantly using After You. This can sometimes make the experience monotonous for the opponent, without necessarily creating a major imbalance.

We are closely monitoring the results of Treyst decks with a Bugfix game plan. The combo is certainly powerful, but for now, it is not oppressive within the meta, and many Treyst decks achieved very good results without using this combo.

This mid-season patch comes into effect on August 11, 2025, on Board Game Arena, as well as for in-store and competitive play.

This delay between the patch announcement and its effective date was designed to allow everyone to participate in the World Championship Qualifiers and Tumult Championships under the best possible conditions. We want to give participants enough time to familiarize themselves with the changes, modify their decklists, and acquire the necessary cards for these events.

We are still working on the compensation system and will provide updates as soon as possible. Any solution we come up with will be retroactive.