4Game

Certain bronze engines boost themselves every time you perform a specific action. These include:

1. Dryad Fledgling

2. Nekker Warrior

3. Bare-Knuckle Brawler

4. Lyrian Cavalry

5. Abandoned Girl (Edit, this card got a buff I forgot about)

I propose that all these units be buffed to 5 power. These units do not boost themselves on the first turn or after you've passed and require a good deal of deckbuilding around them to receive any payoff. Consider Bare-Knuckle Brawler, for example. If we don't buff him, he only finds value if he's not removed AND you have 3+ crimes AND the round actually lasts long enough for you to play those crimes. That's far too much work to devote to a lousy 4 provision bronze card. When multiple factions and archetypes have bronze engines that boost themselves by 2+ points per turn, it's clear that a single point every couple of turns or so is not competitive. (Also, SY Mutant can go up to 4. Same deal.)

I've ordered these units roughly in terms of how badly they need a buff. Thanks to Simlas and the strong symbiosis package, Abandoned Girl barely needs any help. By contrast, Dryad Fledgling likely wouldn't be very playable even with this buff, given the virtually nonexistent Harmony package.

There are some other units I've deliberately left off of this list, including Hybrid, Nauzicaa Seargent, and Ducal Guard. These units don't need a buff despite having a similar design, because they can be triggered multiple times per turn. (Except in the case of Salamandra Lackey, which can be triggered on the turn it is played and synergizes with almost any SY deck).

In fairness, it's worth mentioning that there are two other ways to fix these cards:

Method 1 is to create ways to trigger the engine tag more than once per turn. Braathens, Artorius Vigo, and Triss: TK provide this utility for NG Assimilate.

Method 2 is to add a passive ability to the card much like Reinforced Trebuchet. This way, the card can compete with faster engines. This method of fixing cards should be further explored, in my opinion. Especially for NR Resupply.

Despite this, I still stand by my original buff proposal, that they be buffed to 5 power. High floor, low ceiling engines have yet to be explored. These cards would be a sort of hybrid between pointslam and engine. They would counter midrange control decks by having a high floor. In turn, they would be out-pointed by more aggressive engines that boost passively every turn.