To be clear, this suggestion is coming from a place of mathematical imbalance. Grapplepot’s third trait is completely unhinged compared to similar third traits.
For an example; the Hero has a Bard class which gives yellow troops +1 to all stats as the final trait. the mythic unit Champion of Anu has an equivalent third trait which gives blue troops +1 to all stats.
Comparatively, the Dragonguard class has a third trait which gives all dragons +1 to HP on 4 or 5 gem matches, which functions the same as the legendary troop Queen Grapplepot who has a third trait which gives all goblins +5 to HP on 4 or 5 gem matches.
Now hold on a tick, something’s a bit off here, isn’t it? These are not quite equivalent at all. To be equivalent, Champion of Anu would be giving blue troops +5 to all stats per turn. Possibly even more given that Anu is mythical while Grapplepot is only Legendary. (And I think you can see how buffing Anu to this level would be completely insane) However, that still isn’t quite right because Goblins and Dragons behave completely differently from each other.
Dragons don’t really have a cohesive strategy built into them all. From one dragon to the next, you run the gamut from huge tanky beasts to frail magical creatures; from mass damage dealers to debuffers and support. Dragons come in all shapes, sizes and roles, so any particular dragon team will likely have a different play style from another, and that +1 HP per 4/5 match is sort of like a little extra frosting on the cake
It’s not a huge bonus, but it’s not completely negligible either. It might end up winning you a match when a spell that would have wiped your team out leaves you with 4-5 HP left on each after having made several 4/5 matches earlier in the match and collecting a few extra HP, but more often than not it’s not going to make much of an impact.
We look at goblins though, and the entire race shares one primary strategy; mess up the board, then get a free turn to take advantage of the manipulated board. Nearly every goblin gets free turns with their spells, and most goblins either explode gems, create gems, or destroy/remove gems, often setting up a 4 or 5 match in the process.
Looping is already powerful strategy as it is, but when you add Grapplepot to the mix, suddenly you end up with situations where in a single turn a goblin you have down to 10hp can end up with 80HP by the end of the next turn.
But wait, there’s more! There is another major difference between Bard and Anu, vs Dragonguard and Grapplepot; Trait cost. Grapplepot and Dragonguard have exactly the same cost for their final traits; 34 minor traitstones, 6 arcane traitstones, and 2 celestial traitstones.
The bard also costs this amount; but Champion of Anu? 12 of one arcane traitstone, 12 of another, and then 4 celestial traitstones. It is roughly four times as expensive, and therefor much more difficult to unlock and use.
Now yes, there are counters to Grapplepot in the game. Devour is a good one for dealing with teams that inflate their stats, as it by passes life and armor, and gives you the inflated stats of the troop you consumed. Freezing is also useful for goblins in general.
My argument is not that Queen Grapplepot is unbeatable; that would be a ridiculous claim to make. What I am saying though, is that the math does not add up here, even a little bit. For as inexpensive as her final trait is, it is massively out of balance when compared to how the Hero traits match up with other mythical troop traits, and especially when considering how much more often her trait triggers compared to 4/5 match effect traits for other troops will.