This game's balance is a mess

We all know it to an extent, but I think it's really hard to understand HOW BAD unless you put it all in one place. So I will attempt to do that.

Tdlr if you can't read all: Cards are either OP or useless on release or buffing, evos aren't actually helping cards, tower troops have too many complications to work well, and killing cards indefinitely is HORRIBLE balance design.

Disclaimer: I know balancing is rough, this game has over 100 cards, but I do think we've been seeing some patterns that should be addressed ASAP. Also these aren't objective opinions or anything, I don't mind if you disagree.

Now let's get this out of the way, the first priority is money. Half of the ideas are intentionally strong on release so you spend for them and then they nerf it to "maintain the balance" or something. Even gacha games, the most predatory mobile game module, doesn't do this because they know people would riot. However, I do think there are also actually concerns with the way they balance things that hinder the fun of the game.

OP OR BAD: NO IN-BETWEEN

This happens the most with newly released cards or cards that were out of meta forever. And the funny thing is, even when there's no monetary incentive, issues still cone up pretty often.

Basically every new goblin card: The only card that could be considered relatively balanced post-nerf was Goblin Demolisher. All the others either started off bad (Bush) or were so oppressive it made people realize Evo Ice Spirit was good at stopping spam. (Goblin Machine)

Rune Giant: This card is ironically an example of both bad and OP. One on hand... did anyone see this card before the buff? It was really bad on release. That buff made it borderline broken. It's not the worst offender, so some credit there.

On the other hand, who thought that Hunter/Firecracker interaction was okay?

Chef: I don't think I need to explain why a free level with Princess Tower stats was just not okay, but now you just can't defend with it. Which should be a good trade-off, but a tower is, even more than your cards, your greatest defense.

Pekka: Oh god, Pekka. This is probably the greatest example. Is Pekka vs Megaknight for a theme hype? Yes. But did it really need an evo after the range buff? I can't completely blame Supercell for opening week because even the pros thought evo Pekka would be bad, but after the meta we had, they should've acted WAY earlier.

On the other hand, it now has a 38% win rate. Great. Another reason to hate standardized stats.

EVOS ARE A CRUTCH, NOT A SOLUTION

Now we're really not getting rid of evos, they're here to stay, but you'd think the bad cards they give it to are supposed to... you know, be good? But really it doesn't actually do that.

It's not an upgrade: I want you to think about this for a second. Are Bomber and Evo Bomber the same card? They both kill swarm units, yes. But I'm not using regular Bomber as a wincon. Fundementally, the uses for it are different. Which isn't inherently bad, but the feeling of a whole different card adds to:

Card oversaturation: What is the difference between Evo Bomber and Magic Archer, fundamentally? The health? If that was enough to make cards different, Mega Minion would be good in spite of Phoenix.

Not helping a card: This may be more of a balance thing than a fundamental evo problem, but take Pekka. (again, I know) It is in the same spot with an evo than it was before the range buff. EVOS DON'T SAVE CARDS! We barely see Snowball even with its evo.

Balancing becomes more complicated: Remember when they nerfed Electro Dragon's damage because of the evo? Yeah, now the regular one is worse, and the evo barely had any difference.

TOWER TROOPS WERE NOT HANDLED WELL

I'm actually of the opinion that they could've worked, but for a lot of reasons... they don't.

Varying health: Now, hear me out, cause this sounds fine on paper. Every card has different health, but with that comes an elixir cost or a drawback compared to their competitors. Mini Pekka does more damage than Valkyrie, but can't handle swarms.

However, these cards all have one thing in common: They don't put you at an advantage/disadvantage just for existing. Is Witch horrible? Yes. But can I use it to protect my tower? Also yes. Aside from match-up, I'm not instantly losing.

Tower Troops, however, are the win condition. If we both have decks that rely on spell cycling, my Princess Tower has 1000 more health than your Cannoneer. You're already fighting an uphill battle. And in a game where it is often a bad idea to play your card first, that's not a good thing.

Match-ups: Now the point of Tower Troops is to be better at handling certain cards. (except Chef) That's not inherently bad. Even when we only has Princess Tower, there were cards that were better at not dying to it.

However, some of these match-ups are too inherently oppressive compared to others. How is it with Tombstone every other tower can ignore it, but Canonneer can genuinely die? At least with Graveyard, the other towers take some damage but don't immediately self implode. The difference is too great.

Chef: So... don't hate me... I don't hate the idea. But it should NOT BE FREE. Especially during Pekka Gobstein GobGiant meta, why are you getting a free level jist for spamming high health, high damage cards without a second thought? This should've AT LEAST been an ability.

The last thing I want to point out may be the more controversial one.

CARDS SHOULD NOT BE USELESS

I know there's a lot of gimmicky cards that make for very annoying metas. Spawners are the most dunked on card type, cards that are oppressive in midladder and bad in competitive, and Mirror used to always be OP as soon as a card it could replicate was too good. And there will always be cards that don't work, or have too many counters now, especially if they keep adding more.

But there are cards that HAVE come back. Cannon Cart used to not have any deck it worked in, and now you see it... a bit too much actually, but it's not defining the meta. Spear Goblins had a moment to shine after the buff they got, which... unfortunately got reverted, but they had a place for a time. Hell, even Pekka. It was a very good card, but not meta defining, when it got its range buff. In fact, the evo didn't help it, it completely RUINED it in terms of balance.

Clash Royale does not need these fancy additions to be a good game. They have the blueprint already. They just need to use it.