Okay as a fellow game designer who spends way to much of my free time pondering the effects of +1 and -1 upon things, I want to talk through a few points that I go through when determining if something needs changed. Being a player and a designer are far different hats then most people think. A player seeks advantage a designer seeks balance.

First, ask why does it need to be changed.
Note the direct words of this, WHY does it NEED to be changed. IF it does not NEED the change your done. Right there leave it be. Okay so if you have an answer for that question look at the answer, is it

1. I always lose to it./It's too strong.
2. It always backfires
3. It's too weak
4. I keep thinking it does something else/the flavors wrong.

Now there may be other points but those are kinda general catch all categories.

1. You always lose to it.
Why do you loose to it? Can it be stopped by something your deck should or could reasonably be able to do? Is it something Most decks can reasonably do? If either of those is a YES, take a second look at the card, try some other decks if its still a problem it may very well be that its too strong. Now you have to take a look at why it's too stong, it moves to far, sees to far, to much attack power, cost to little. Make sure you want to change what is the point that makes it such a hassel. And drastic change rarely improves the situation, if it continues to be a problem even with a change, it can be changed again.

2. It always backfires
this is a big thing for magic effects and enchantments, sometimes theres an innate drawback to a card, for example lightning bolt hits like a tank even with the 3 domain cost, and can take out mulitple creatures, but your guys are at risk with it too, sometimes you'll even sacrafice a guy to make sure it goes the distance, this is an intrinisic risk, however some cards the drawback may not be conditional, plague is a good example of something that can backfire, this is a situational effect though, you can build a deck to be immune to it as a drawback. Backfire balancing doesn't happen often, usualy a backfire drawback is situational, but when all things considered it does more harm to you then good, it might not be balanced. Sometimes this goes the opposite way, a cards drawback isn't sufficent for its power, see the above paragraph for that situation.

3. Its too weak.
You know the guys, the cards you never ever play, there just better stuff to through into your deck, some guys are straight up bad. So far this game doesn't suffer from this too much, something that probably will change with expansions as more and more is made available. If you have a card that cost to much to drop, not enough attack etc. These guys just never make it into your deck, and often aren't suggested to be changed because there not poseing any problems, which is there problem.

4. I keep thinking it should do this. Its flavor is wrong.
Why can an octopus attack flyers? I keep thinking Lightning Elemental can fly, but it has to walk. This is where something doesnt mesh. What you assume the card would do is off base, this doesnt mean the card is inbalanced but may need a change cause it doesn't make sense. A lot of times you can make common sense work for you. You'll deduce a reason why it should be like that, no problem then, but sometimes the creature doesn't act like it should thats when a flavor tweak needs to happen.


Sometimes its not the card, its the meta, as in metagame. Meta means an extream understanding. And metagame is the extream understanding of the game, you play a card because you know your going to run into another card in other peoples decks. Sometimes its not the card itself that causes the problem, its how it works with other cards, abusive too easy to get together combos and unbalanced synergy (how well things work together) can be just as big of a problem as a card being outright unbalanced and this is far more difficult to come up with a solution, cause one change will effect how many cards work together, because its how they work together that causes the problem. Prime example vapor mahal, at the same time the card is weak, a crumbeling foundation of a deck, litteraly, and at the same time a powerhouse of speed and versatility. It's not the card by itself thats too good, its when multi of them are played, or along side other cards, it causes a boom of a power rush. To fix these issues trial and error is often best, and you may have to change several cards, these issues are Gamewide play issues and one suggestion is as good as the next for fixing them, but the one chosen will inevitably rewrite the game you play so caution is foremost.

Just some stuff to consider before you go claiming things are wickedly unfair, take a second to really look at it. Don't replace the highway when your car window cracks. It's not the highways fault, however which way it was involved.

It's spelled "extreme"