I 100% agree that what we truly need is a blend of buffs and nerfs. The dev team has been buffing troops (e.g., the Zhu’Kkari and Ghulvania reworks over recent weeks ago). In fact, there’s a whole thread filled with buff ideas, and I contributed many ideas to it: Other teams that need synergy vs. Goblins
However, none of these reworks amount to much b/c even though these kingdoms and troops are now more interesting and balanced (i.e., less underwhelming), people continue to spam the same OP teams. Bottom line is that even if these buffs lead to interesting new teams/mechanics most people will continue to abuse a Maw or Mab team b/c they’re so efficient. That’s just how player psychology works. The vast majority of players are going to min/max and the dev team has to design with this behavior in mind, which means both buffs and nerfs. And the unfortunate side effect, which @Mr.Strange has mentioned before, is that the dev team ends up balancing content around these outliers.
Personally, I’d love to see Mercy, Mab, Goblins, & Rock Worm all nerfed. That would eliminate most of the teams that are spammed like crazy throughout every stage of player progression. Then let’s get some reworks of Adana, Blighted Lands, Stormheim, & Khaziel, at least to start. Essentially there would be no more “super efficient” teams, which would slow down player progression. But that’s fine b/c we can then make the game a little less grindy. The end result would be a game that has much more dynamism in team comps and is just as good if not better for the dev team’s bottom line.