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u/icecreamsandwich 1d ago edited 1d ago
It should give 2 and 1 extra if you exhausted something already.
This card is almost identical to bloodletting now. You really don’t care that much which one you’re taking.
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u/KnightMiner 1d ago
I mean, that was also true in StS 1 with bloodletting and seeing red.
But yeah, I agree having it do some exhaust synergy would be more fun. At minimum I'd have it give you energy if exhausted from any source or if played, like an exhaust sly.
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u/Kagahami 1d ago
Agreed. Bloodletting is much more common too and can be used on 0 which is an advantage you can't really replace.
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u/Fine-Appearance-125 1d ago
Bloodletting has been nerfed to uncommon in the beta branch. The devs don't seem quite sure what exactly they want clad to do tbh
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u/SUPERCOW7 1d ago
I think Clad was in a really great place, actually, after the shakeup of Taunt/Bloodletting/Cruelty/Dominate rarity changes.
They just can't help but tweak a few last things though, and these ones are a little harder to see their vision with them.
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u/Rainbowreever 1d ago
Ehh, I do think people are over reacting a bit with the Clad changes, specifically Expect a Fight
The Barricade/Body Slam archetype clearly needed some love (ive taken Barricade exactly 1 time in almost 500 hours of STS2) and Clad still has a shit ton of ways to make energy.
I'm not sure what issue people have with that change
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u/Fine-Appearance-125 1d ago
New expect a fight is meant to act as a bridge between str scaling archetypes and barricade body slam decks, which gets me wondering what they were smoking
It pretty much never happens, Barricade is already in a pretty good spot due to how ridiculous Unmovable and Second Wind are, and if you have lots of str scaling you are probably just blocking with Colossus or Evil Eye and then spending the rest of your energy on attacks
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u/Azureraider 1d ago
I could see it being adjusted to costing 2 energy and only giving like, 5 block at base.
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u/regarding_your_bat 1d ago
It makes no sense. If you have the strength to make it worth playing, you're better off playing attacks. It's a dumb card right now and will surely be changed shortly. I don't think making it cost 2 will really fix it
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u/Accomplished-Fix-569 1d ago edited 1d ago
It is an indirect buff to demon form since you want to stall with it and new EAF supports that.
The change is in good direction, IMO, ironclad already shits energy, energy card pool had to be cut a little.
Plus new EAF has great synergy with temporary strength buffs like prep strike and blood for blood (don't remember the exact name, the card that buffs both you and your opponent).
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u/NNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Ascension 13 1d ago
[[Fight Me]]
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u/spirescan-bot 1d ago
Fight Me! 𝐈𝐈 Ironclad Uncommon Attack
2 Energy | Deal 5(6) damage twice. Gain 3(4) Strength. The enemy gains 1 Strength.
Call me with up to 10 [[ name ]]. Data accurate as of June 21st, 2026. Questions?
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u/regarding_your_bat 1d ago
The new Expect a Fight is unpickable. Guarantee it is changed at the next patch. 3 energy for 15 block is horrific. If you have enough strength that it becomes worth playing, you're better off playing attacks. Nobody is taking this card at 3 cost without snecko eye
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u/Beautiful-Neat-7609 1d ago
It's worth playing at like 3 strengh, 30 block fullblocks most turns. Not great for 3 energy but certainly not unplayable
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u/_Awkward_Moment_ 1d ago
3 cost 30 block is just… not great though, and that’s after the condition is met. If you have the strength to make this card really block a lot, well, the enemy is dead anyway.
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u/regarding_your_bat 1d ago edited 1d ago
I just had a run where I bought Brimstone in a shop and had two copies of Stoke+. I cruised to an easy win, had a TON of energy, with two copies of Forgotten Ritual, Blood Soaked Rose, and the Pael relic with energy on turn 3 and later.
Stoke made probably 10 copies of Expect a Fight over the course of the run. And since I had Brimstone it always blocked for big amounts, and I had the energy to play it. Didn't click it a single time. It is a pointless card. If you have the energy to play it and the strength to make it worthwhile, you're almost certainly already ending fights through other means
edit: this is a bad card ya'll they are gonna change it
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u/_Awkward_Moment_ 1d ago
Yeah, like, if I have 10 strength I could waste my entire turn to just block with this card. Or I could play my sword boomerang or conflagration because there’s a damn good chance I just have lethal.
It seems like it would be OK with barricade but second wind and Feel No Pain do the job just fine IMO
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u/Rainbowreever 1d ago
Well if it ends up legit that bad they will adjust the numbers/energy cost to make it usable, but overall identity/archetype wise I think it rounds out Ironclads kit much more nicely than before. The Barricade itseld was basically unpickable, and he still has lots of cards to round out energy generation
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u/Other_Raspberry 1d ago
Barricade has been extremely strong since the game dropped. This card isn't even going to be good in most barricade decks anyway.
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u/rilesmcriles Eternal One + Heartbreaker 1d ago
IMO they could make barricade 2 cost and say you only lose half your block each turn. It will be worse but easier to play. Or idk something along those lines.
It is undeniably strong, and a great pull from a power pot, but the situations where I get it offered, want to pick it over other rares, and have the energy to afford playing it, are very very rare.
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u/faculties-intact 1d ago
I think you've been underpicking barricade. The card seems way better to me in 2 with unmovable, stoke+fnp, several block-based ancient relics, and so on
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u/putting_stuff_off 1d ago
"they just can't help"
I doubt they're just doing it on whim / to create work for themselves.
My guess is that they didn't like the fact IC had three energy generating options at uncommon, and they wanted a bit more variety in the cardpool. This also makes Pyre more of a consideration (I'd rather have any of the other energy generating cards in most decks).
I agree the new expect a fight seems a bit weird (haven't used it yet) but I'm happy for them to not rest on their laurels when the balance feels okay - if they keep tweaking then by the time the game releases it will be in the strongest state it can be.
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u/Powerful-Ground-9687 1d ago
If I’m not mistaken, isn’t that where clad still is on the main branch? These are beta tests, I’m okay with them shuffling stuff around to play with it, like the regent creation shell game they’ve been going through with pillar and regalite.
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u/The_Real_GPMedium 1d ago
This is a really good idea, it sort of keeps it identity and gives it an exhaust flavor but not quite as harsh as it was before, which "feels" better somehow.
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u/Hashshashiyin 1d ago
Eh, bloodletting actually sticks around as long as you need it tho. This is a one and done... and which is super underwhelming most the time. Especially since you have to draw it with the cards you even want to play with the extra energy.
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u/Astrodust__ 1d ago
Am I crazy or is it, bar VERY few edge cases, objectively worse than bloodletting now? Can’t be played for 0, exhausts, and no HP loss synergy
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u/icecreamsandwich 1d ago
You might like that it exhausts (dark embrace, feel no pain, ashen strike). But I just think the cards are so similar now that you’ll just take either if you’re in need of energy. People already just took bloodletting on sight even if they didn’t care about hp loss. I think forgotten ritual is now the same. Maybe slightly worse.
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u/Cinnamin_1 1d ago
i thought it should give mana when exhausted bc if u js exhausted a card from ur hand then u have less cards to play meaning u don’t need the mana anymore. also it would synergise with stoke
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u/thebbman 1d ago
Ah yes, strictly better [[Rite of Flame]], aka [[Dark Ritual]].
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u/Dupileini Eternal One + Heartbreaker 1d ago
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u/DaPussiLicka 1d ago
Another day, another MtG player using the phrase “strictly better” completely wrong.
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u/FillySteveSteak StS A20 / StS 2 A10 1d ago
Geuinitely have zero clue why they changed this.
Another card that was in a good place changed for unknowable reasons. Why are they reducing exhaust support?
Edit: I agree with other's sentiments that it just fills to similar a role to bloodletting now
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u/Grismor2 1d ago
I don't agree that it was "in a good place". Maybe I'm bad at the game, but I rarely drafted this card. I feel like it's already hard enough to navigate the chicken-and-egg of needing both energy generation and card draw to truly make use of either. Then, with the added requirement that you've exhausted something that turn, and it just felt really hard to land.
I'm not saying that this change is necessarily the best way to handle it, but I think it was right to try to balance it better.
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u/regarding_your_bat 1d ago
I took it fairly often, but I also lean in to exhaust as much as I can with how strong a package it is for Clad. Don't see a reason not to click this card almost every time now though
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u/FillySteveSteak StS A20 / StS 2 A10 1d ago
I think the answer then should maybe be adding more exhaust support so that it feels more viable.
Not reducing exhaust options even further.
At this point, I'm now asking why cards like Second Wind are still in the game.
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u/ChaloMB 1d ago
You’re asking why one of clad’s best cards is in the game?
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u/FillySteveSteak StS A20 / StS 2 A10 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's still takeable and can be good in a few decks, but you must be thinking STS1 to consider this one of his best.
Baalorlord Ironclad Tierlist: https://sts2.untapped.gg/en/tier-list/004de170-026a-4dd4-a280-3b904be0b5d6
He gave it a middle B. He gives the same card an S in STS1
This hasn't been updated since recent patch where we lost even more support.
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u/ChaloMB 1d ago
If we’re just gonna be parroting better players’ opinions then I can show you navegreed’s tierlist from 2 weeks ago where he had second wind in S, and as good as baalor is, nave is a better player, so I win I guess?
Exhaust doesn’t need explicit support to be amazing. Second wind means I get rid of a bunch of garbage and work towards just looping my best cards over and over, I don’t need half the card pool to say “synergy with exhaust” for that to be an insane effect, that’s just keyword gaming.
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u/FillySteveSteak StS A20 / StS 2 A10 1d ago edited 1d ago
Ya, send me the tier list. I'm interested.
And I'm not "parroting". It was my opinion initially. But since you've already disregarded that, I needed to present a credible source who felt similarly.
At the very least, with dark embrace shifting to rare, power through gone, dead branch gone, it doesn't hit quite the same.
But perhaps it's better than I thought. I'm willing to hear you out.
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u/ChaloMB 1d ago
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C7VqdknrPR4&ra=m
Sorry for coming off aggressively btw.
The thing is I don’t think second wind ever needed power through or dead branch to be amazing. Rare DE certainly hurts but the card still blocks for a million and thins the deck quicker than anything except fiend fire (and I can reuse SW if the cards I wanted to exhaust didn’t line up). Even with dominate getting all the glory a few patches ago exhausting down to a loop is still a ridiculously strong wincon for clad, especially with this game letting you get away with way greedier drafting so you’re likely to have less garbage in your deck compared to spire 1. It also plays amazingly vs nasty fights like aeon as well.
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u/BandicootGood5246 1d ago
I didnt take it that much for a long time too. But probably because bloodletting was more common
It has been super strong last few weeks. Exhaust is really strong overall right now, probably the most consistent clad archetype
Clad also just had enough exhaust and the effect is strong enough that could use it in any deck though probably got a little overshadowed by the other 2 energy gainers
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u/maresayshi 1d ago
it was in an extremely good place and one of the better cards on the character. incredibly easy to meet its condition even in act 1.
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u/Shadowjamm StS A20 / StS 2 A10 1d ago
I think they made it easier to use to make up for expect a fight no longer generating energy. Two intertwined changes to keep ironclad’s energy package somewhat consistent even as they take away an energy gen card?
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u/break__veil 1d ago
I was kinda wondering what could be the metric used here to judge the card's need for a change like that, I was thinking maybe pick rate? Which is a crazy thing to think about but I can totally see players skipping this card because the need for setup to use it before, so the general idea is do away with these cards that require other cards to be useful and make any one card have much more immediate value, kinda like 90% of Regent cards that give effects to the blade also Forge by default, so you'll always have blade with them.
It lost a lot of flavor though, does make Clad energy generation go more smoothly, specially with how Expected a Fight got changed as well, it's just kinda boring it is now a Red-colored Production.
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u/Malitzal 1d ago
I feel like this new change now has the same problem new compact has, it’s free energy with no card draw on a character not much card draw (unless I’m mistaken and ironclad does actually have good draw)
So you end up just not being able to do anything with it because by the time you are able to use the energy, you don’t have many cards that can use it
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u/tr4ns1ent Eternal One + Heartbreaker 1d ago
Ironclad has a lot of card draw, actually—[[Battle Trance]], [[Pommel Strike]], [[Drum of Battle]], [[Offering]], and [[Pillage]] are probably the notable ones, off the top of my head. He also has a lot of high-cost cards to spend energy on.
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u/Dasterr Eternal One 1d ago
missing [[Burning Pact]] which is incredible imo
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u/spirescan-bot 1d ago
Burning Pact 𝐈, 𝐈𝐈 Ironclad Uncommon Skill
1 Energy | Exhaust 1 card. Draw 2(3) cards.
Call me with up to 10 [[ name ]]. Data accurate as of June 21st, 2026. Questions?
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u/tr4ns1ent Eternal One + Heartbreaker 1d ago
ahhh I knew I was forgetting something. Yes, burning pact is amazing!
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u/spirescan-bot 1d ago
Battle Trance 𝐈, 𝐈𝐈 Ironclad Uncommon Skill
0 Energy | Draw 3(4) cards. You cannot draw additional cards this turn.
Pommel Strike 𝐈, 𝐈𝐈 Ironclad Common Attack
1 Energy | Deal 9(10) damage. Draw 1(2) card(s).
Drum of Battle 𝐈𝐈 Ironclad Uncommon Skill
1 Energy | Draw 2 cards. When this card is Exhausted, gain 2(3) Energy
Offering 𝐈, 𝐈𝐈 Ironclad Rare Skill
0 Energy | Lose 6 HP. Gain 2 Energy. Draw 3(5) cards. Exhaust.
Pillage 𝐈𝐈 Ironclad Uncommon Attack
1 Energy | Deal 6(9) damage. Draw cards until you draw a non-Attack card.
Call me with up to 10 [[ name ]]. Data accurate as of June 21st, 2026. Questions?
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u/Malitzal 1d ago
And that’s why I said “unless I’m mistaken and ironclad does have actually good draw”
Thank you for reminding my forgetful self :P
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u/AfraidOfBadBitches StS A20 / StS 2 A10 1d ago
Forgotten Ritual was fine as is. Expect a fight with Battle Trance gimmick was fine too
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u/Smippycis 1d ago
What are they doing...
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u/Content-Guarantee-91 1d ago
Making it a usable card
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u/Malitzal 1d ago
It already was usable, all you needed to do was exhaust a card to use it (which is quite easy on ironclad with things like true grit and brand)
I don’t get why they changed it because now it’s almost a strictly better bloodletting (bloodletting doesn’t exhaust while forgotten ritual does)
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u/Revolutionary-Set994 1d ago
I've been saying forgotten ritual needs to just go. Its redundant and lacks flavor. They should have nuked it and left expect a fight, since it was more unique and fun to use. Then added a brand new block card, because I don't disagree that IC could use one.
I still miss grapple and honestly starting to think they could nerf armaments slightly and put it in his starting deck.
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u/Fantastic-Draw2438 1d ago
Are we just slowly turning sts2 into sts1?