Mid-Season Balance Patch: January 15th, 2026
What’s that off the starboard volume buttons? It’s a hefty balance patch here to kick off the new year! Hoist the sails and set a course for details below at full speed.
Card Changes
Cupcup
This candy stomper lacked the appropriate amount of sugar to differentiate it enough from other Candy captains! We’ve injected some more frosting and chocolate ganache to really make the stocks on Cupcup go up up.
Princess Animall
Everyone loves a good comeback story! This change to Princess Animall is one we’ve been contemplating for awhile now and are excited to finally push into action after her pre-Candylar change left her in an awkward spot.
Peachy Queen
When we introduce new cards, we strive to push the envelope and make things fun and exciting. Peachy Queen performed well above our desired expectations. As such, we are reworking her ability in an effort to bring her more in line with desired power levels while still adding a unique tool to the common pool.
Rat King
The Rat King has fallen out of favor of late and is getting a slight buff to its base stats to help give it more of a fighting chance.
The Big Bad Wolf
Why Grandma, what large Health stats you now have!
“The better to survive being attacked first my dear…” ~ The Big Bad Wolf (probably)
Rainbow Bridge
We’ve expanded the lanes on the Rainbow Bridge. We hope this will alleviate some of the congestion on other treasures during rush hour and lead more people to take the scenic Rainbow Bridge from time to time.
The Ring of Power
We took a poll of Evil Wizards and 4 out of 5 said they would want MORE power in their ancient secret treasures. The 5th Wizard asked for more cowbells.
The Burninator
The Dragons/Treasures archetypes have been performing extremely well over the last several months. We are making a slight adjustment to The Burninator to decrease the overall stats he provides to himself with his ability.
Twilight Sprinkles
There has always been a bit of an awkward position with Twilight Sprinkles wanting to be in spells matters compositions but not being a mage to work with the many mage payoffs that are hallmarks of that archetype. This change has also been requested by many members in the Galaxy Community Discord and is one we are excited to put into action.
Candy Apple Tree
The Candy Apple may not fall far from the Candy Tree but the Candy Apple Tree has fallen a bit out of favor in decklists. We are giving it a slight bump to its base stats to make it slightly easier to harvest its Candy Apple and help it not feel as much of a risk the turn it is first recruited.
Toy Box
We wanted to give Toy Box a bit more of a focus on summoning characters rather than being focused on Toys specifically. We hope this helps it find broader appeal overall with all characters that summon, resummon or copy opponents’ characters.
Ghouldade Man
Oh yessss, Ghoulade Man is getting a change. We wanted to diversify our Candy options to have more that cared about Candy Characters rather than just Candy Spells. This change should hopefully let Ghoulade Man break through in those Candy Character lineups.
Faerie Godfather
Turns out Faerie Godfather is a tad selfish and really wanted to benefit from his own trigger. So we obliged that request at the cost of his base stats.
Jack-o’-lantern
A lesson we have learned from the change to Cotton Candy Dandy several months ago was that turning things that aren’t normally Candy into Candy is both powerful and fun. We’ve decided to staple some of that fun onto Jack-o’-Lantern to help him stand out among the many great Secret Rare options. Additionally, this will let decks without Candy that find him via True Love’s Kiss potentially get full advantage out of his farewell ability.
Rarity Changes
We are doing a little rarity swap with some of our treasures. Earth Stone and Midas Throne are joining the rare pool of treasures while Golden Fountain and Trash Can Full of Strawberries join the Epic pool.
Inactive Card
Frequent Flyer Card hasn’t felt quite right for us. It enables treasure strategies a bit too well for the moment (including buffing Trash Can Full of Strawberries with minimal effort). We are making it inactive for now so we can see how the rest of our changes feel and give us time to potentially rework it down the line.
…and to all a good night.
Secret Santa was a fun little surprise for the holidays and just as we are sad when we finally have to take down the Christmas tree and put away the decorations until next year, Santa is also leaving the Secret Rare pool. We hope you all enjoyed your many presents, and be on the lookout for more fun surprises like this one throughout the year.
Quality of Life Changes & Minor Updates
- Monthly Invite Counter Widget
- Updated and animated Nav Bar on homescreen
- Reminder text for keywords now toggles on tap rather than needing to be tapped and held
- You can now click the gems icon in the corner to purchase gems
- Updates to reduce the number of “rewardless games” that sometimes occur when devices lose connection with the server
Leave a Review
If you haven’t had the chance to leave a review, it would really help us reach new players and let them know how much Once Upon a Galaxy is loved. Just go to the Once Upon a Galaxy page on Steam or in the mobile app store of your choice. We’d greatly appreciate it.
Til next time
We are excited to see you all qualify for the February Monthly and take on our fantastic new competitive experience. Come let us know what you think of the patch in the Discord, on Twitter, Bluesky, Reddit and Instagram.
