Universe Of Cards: Introductions contains 150 unique cards, so each card must be created with care so it can be put in a large amount of decks. Today, we’re going to go over the design process for a personal favourite of mine, Count Corin!

Count Corin started as a 4/5 basic card with the ability End of turn: Steal 3 power from an opposing card in this lane.

Stealing power was a scrapped mechanic from INT (The shorthand code for Introductions), where the stolen card would lose power and the stealer would gain that power. We cut it pretty early on though, as we had too many mechanics for a new player to discover, plus he was the only common card that possessed it, so it was a bit of a waste.

The design was fun, Vampire bites and all, so we changed it to End of turn: Deal 3 damage to an opposing card in this lane, then give this +3 power. This seemed fine on paper, until you actually looked at the stats he was churning out per game. At 4/5, he was crazy good.

4/5 Count Corin 

In an average game, Corin was generating around 30 power on his own. That was far too strong for one single card. Even if you attacked him, he was dealing so much damage that most attacks against him were bouncing off of him.

Then, we cut him down to a 4/1 attacker. Keeping his ability but removing 1 power from it, it seemed like this was the perfect spot for him. However, we had clearly underestimated how good power ramp on attackers is, so in this form, he was even more broken (For example, Mechanical Spider is a fantastic card because of their built-in +1 ramp). Not only that, but if you were to combo him in on turn 2 with a Gem Mine, your opponents can do almost nothing against that large of an attacker that early in the game.

4/1 Attacker Corin

Now, that seems like a pretty crazy nerf. However, the problem was worse now. Because he was an attacker, he could ramp up his power, take out little cards with his End of turn, then could just take out almost any card in one swing.

Obviously, that was the wrong move.

So we decided to go back to the drawing board. We looked at other 4 Gem cards, and found something interesting. They often had to be powerful, as turn 4 is a turning point in the game, but they also had to be easy to take out for less Gems, to create a fair balance. For example, Gigi, The Puppeteer brings out a card that can take out a massive card, but, if you don’t attack the Voodoo Doll, nothing happens.

This mean that Corin needed to occupy this strange in-between space. The solution to the 4 Gem question was solved by both buffing and nerfing him. Giving him a 2 power buff to 3 power and a nerf to become a basic card (again) brought him to his current form. 

The 4/3 Count Corin is both powerful and weak, which is what we needed from him. He’s 7 power on turn 4, and he can ramp the rest of the game. He’s strong against a couple of foes, but one big enemy or a bunch of tiny ones can get rid of him pretty fast.

In the end, Count Corin is in a great spot. He slots perfectly into a couple decks, and can give you a reliable damage outlet in non-attacker decks. Pair him with Brynn for some End of turn chaos or use him to help Blob get more cards dead. The possibilities with him are nearly endless, so have fun with this vampire. He bites.