When you think about it. AST had 8 separate cards that all did different things, 6 of them could be used to trigger 3 separate enhancements, 1 could do damage and 1 could heal. You could tactically hold onto a card you may wish to use later. There was meaning to how you played it and it was about how you adapt and use RNG to your favour.

ALL 8 of those cards offer you 1 effect and without being able to use them for enhancements, instead your RNG just affects potency.

I would argue than none of these really mean anything. The seals on the other hand just change your potency of Divination. That is the most meaning they have.

As illustrated by Laphicet, this is at the cost of its lore meaning, of how you use your cards in play, your decisions/choices in how you play them to your advantage. Sure people fished for the Balance (card fishing remains an issue, so making everything The Balance hasn't solved it, but 5.3 alleviated at least be allowing you to bypass some RNG).

And it's not longer about manipulating the hard that fate deals you to your advantage.


Dare I say the best change the could have made to avoid The Balance fishing would have been to remove Redraw or reduce its uses. Make players try to use their cards meaningfully instead of trying to fish for one to give the biggest numbers. And in its evolution, think about ways you can have AST taken advantage of whatever card is drawn. For me that'd have been a good progression for AST instead of "all your cards now have the same effect".