Sigismar and several staple Bravos and Axiom cards all took hits in an effort to shake up the meta with the enormous Seeds of Unity season patch. A few cards not previously on the Watchlist were additionally benched, the rules around reshuffling were modified and some of the first outlines on set rotation were shared.

The changes will apply to all formats beginning Feb. 12 on Board Game Arena and in local play. An AMA covering the patch featuring Game Designer Charles Wickham and Organized Play Director Cédric Leblanc will take place Feb. 11 on the Altered Youtube channel.

Sigismar and Treyst were specific targets for balance in this patch, along with the Bravos faction, generally. The group has been dominant across the meta for multiple seasons, while other heroes (including new heroes introduced in Skybound Odyssey) have struggled to find footing. Each has been heavily represented in the Blog’s monthly competitive play snaphots, and Sigismar, Treyst and Kojo met in a mirror match in the World Championship Finals after making up 25%, 20.8% and 12.5% of the Top 8 hero distribution, respectively.

Errata

Since the game’s release, Sigismar has been an ongoing presence in both casual and competitive play. After Waru’s errata in the Trial by Frost season patch, Sigismar has been the only Ordis hero taking more than 3% of the competitive distribution on an ongoing basis, routinely also dominating competitive victories month over month as well. Multiple Ordis cards have been caught up in earlier patches (such as Ozma, which was released with an errata, and Baba Yaga, which is still suspended) trying to slow him down.

Sigismar received an errata leading into SDU which changes his effect to “At Noon – Create an Ordis Recruit 1/1/1 Soldier token in your Hero Expedition. Ignore my ability during the first Day.” Removing Sigismar’s first token in the game will require a larger investment from the player to win both expeditions while creating “ripple effects” throughout the game, according to the article.

Suspensions

Rare Tiny Jinn and common Haven Seiringar were both called out in the Skybound Odyssey midseason patch as the the problem cards leading to an overabundance of pressure from The Hunger in competitive play. Haven Seiringar has been the top-played Bravos common since its release in TBF in each but one month (losing to Fire Rabbit once in April 2025. Tiny Jinn has been the top-played Bravos rare for almost the entire game’s history (except for Oct. 2024 and Feb. 2025, where it lost out to Haven). The Hunger has been the second-most-common Bravos rare overall since Aug. 2025.

As a combination, Tiny Jinn and Haven Seiringar provide more than just stats as a mana-perfect first and second turn play that also provides both ramp and draw. Both cards have been suspended in their common and rare forms in the hope of making The Hunger a more difficult choice for Bravos players.

While Treyst was added to the Watchlist in the SKY midseason patch, he escaped errata for the time being while again taking tools away from the other struggling Axiom heroes. Dr. Frankenstein (rare), The Grems (common) and Restocking Station (common and Bravos OOF) have instead been suspended. Dr. Frankenstein has only been in the top Axiom rares for six months overall, but three of those months have been since SKY’s release as it combos with Restocking Station for ongoing card advantage. The Grems have been a part of Axiom’s top commons for four months since their release in Whispers From the Maze, also seeing a resurgence with SKY’s release. Even though Restocking Station wasn’t initially on the Watchlist, its 1-cost common and OOF version became a target because of its role in setting up repetitive gameplay loops.

Celebration Day, which was also not on the Watchlist, picked up a suspension in the patch as well for both the Yzmir and Ordis rares. The card has been a key part of Moyo/Akesha prison decks. While the deck style does not have a strong win rate, the play experience is frustrating and repetitive for opponents.

Shuffling update

The team changed how reshuffling is treated in order to slow down decks that rely on heavily drawing and resupplying. Before, anytime a deck was emptied, discarded cards could be immediately shuffled back into play. Now the rule reads as follows: At any time during Morning, a player whose deck is empty may reshuffle their discard pile into their deck. This can be done before, after or in between drawing their first and second card, which would still be considered simultaneous.

The change prevents players from reshuffling their deck multiple times during the same day, a central part of prison or “hyperloop” Ouroboros decks. It’s also specifically optional, allowing players to keep cards in discard if a synergy relies on that. While no cards in current sets require particular cards to be in the discard pile, the new Yzmir hero for the upcoming Roots of Corruption set, Sam & Spook, gains additional capabilities when there are six or more cards in the discard pile.

This change along with several other smaller changes will be included in the Comprehensive Rules 5.0.

Set rotation and Eternal format

With the release of Set 7, which will follow RoC, multiple sets will begin to rotate out of Standard format, including the following:

• Beyond the Gates (Retail & KS)
• Trial by Frost
• Whispers From the Maze

The set rotation includes heroes, commons, rares, out-of-faction cards and uniques. Set rotation has been a possibility discussed within the past year among players on the official Discord, especially throughout the Seeds of Unity Gamefound campaign.

Alongside Set 7’s release, a new Eternal format will be released, which will incorporate those sets that were set aside. That new format will be integrated into the official competitive circuit.

Watchlist changes

Several cards were added to the Watchlist with the patch, including the following:

• Counting Sheep (all versions)
• Ouroboros (Axiom OOF)
• Multi-anchoring uniques

Read more

• Seeds of Unity card reveal: Make way for this cloud surfer
• We interrupt this blog for a message from Auraq
• Gamefound Set 6 preview: From unity to chaos and corruption