Slay The Spire 2‘s first actual proper major update is upon us, an avalanche of balancing tweaks and fixes for the roguelite deckbuilder that has approximately two goals: making some of those insectile cards less appalling, care of the previously announced Phobia Mode, and dialling back the prevalence of infinites – that is, card combos with effects that allow you to carry on playing them forever in a single turn.
It might sound like something to stamp out entirely, but infinites can be pretty fun, for my onions. Chancing on one is a moment of joyful incredulity. Engineering them can be a question of some craft – not just obtaining the right cards, but tactically ridding your deck of cards that will interfere with the combo. Reddit is full of advice about how to set an endless cascade in motion, together with suggestions for how Mega Crit might counter certain infinites without just kneecapping the cards in question, like cowards.
Which brings us to the latest Slay The Spire 2 changelog. “Welcome to the first BIG post-launch patch, Slayers!” reads the intro. “This one has a huge balance pass, the main aim of which is to make infinites harder to achieve.”
Glancing down the list of bullets, I can see nerfs for a couple of cards, Alignment and Boomerang, that lend themselves to infinites. The more dramatic hard counter for infinites might be the new version of the Doormaker enemy, which has the one-word patch note: “Beware”. I couldn’t resist a look at the subreddit for hints, and well, it turns out that the new Doormaker eats cards, removing them from your deck for the duration of the battle. That’s definitely going to interfere with your ability to turn your hand into a perpetual motion machine.
The update makes some broader adjustments. Relics in the shop will cost 25 less, but Relics that generate Gold will no longer be sold by the Merchant. Power values can no longer stack above 999,999,999. You can no longer update certain character stats or acquire epochs in Daily or Custom runs, shifting the emphasis further toward the main campaign mode.
Aside from rebalancing the game, the patch introduces new portrait art and some character-specific VFX, to help you sort your Necrobinders from your Regents. And then there’s the new Phobia setting, which adds alternate visuals for Hive backgrounds, The Insatiable, Phrog Parasite, Wrigglers, Terror Eel, and Entomancer. Sort of feels like the new Doormaker might need an alternate, lower-intensity visual too, possibly a Post-It reading “lol”. The new Slay The Spire 2 is only available as an opt-in beta for the moment, with a full public rollout to follow, so please gather your infinites in the existing version of Slay The Spire 2 whilst ye may.
