Another interesting challenge was determining how to scale mana cost based on creature size. If 2 creatures both have the same attack, but one has twice the Life, how much more is that worth? Certainly not double,or else you could buy 2 of the smaller creatures for the same price, who would be dealing 2X the damage. We originally used a logarithm to scale creatures, so that as they double in durability or effectiveness (attack) their value increases by 60%. Later, as new methods were introduced making it easier to control larger creatures effectively, and as guarding evolved so that smaller creatures were more important, we had to change our scaling to use a square root so that the increase was closer to 41%
If the mana-cost exponent was exactly a square-root (41%) then a creature with 2x HP and 2x attack would cost exactly 2x as much mana. Interesting that it comes out so close to the "intuitive" figure.
The relative value of Attack and Armor is interesting. Armor has steeply diminishing returns while Attack is linear against zero-armor, but has slightly ascending returns against armored foes.
For example, for a 3 dice attack vs. 0 Armor:
+1 armor decreases expected damage from 3.00 to 2.30 (+0.70 incremental mitigation)
+2 armor decreases expected damage from 2.30 to 1.81 (+0.49 incremental mitigation)
+3 armor decreases expected damage from 1.81 to 1.61 (+0.20 incremental mitigation)
For a 3 dice attack vs. 2 armor:
+1 attack (4 dice) increases expected damage from 1.81 to 2.59 (+0.78 incremental damage)
+2 attack (5 dice) increases expected damage from 2.59 to 3.43 (+0.84 incremental damage)
+3 attack (6 dice) increases expected damage from 3.43 to 4.31 (+0.88 incremental damage)
Regarding the OP,I disagree with the entire methodology of pre-assigning a point value to major/mid/minor traits. A trait such as "Flying" should be worth a very different amount depending on whether the creature is very weak or very strong. (ie, a Darkfenne Bat vs Samandriel) Other traits such as "nonliving" can be either very strong or totally useless depending on what other cards are in play.
IMO a better methodology (and probably closer to the actual game designer's database) would be to define a number of points ("expected mana value") based on base stats only (that's HP, Armor and melee attack dice). Then we can see how much extra mana we are paying for the abilities.
Judging by Arcanus's post it sounds like they are multiplying HP and Attack. (that is, double HP is worth a *141% multiplier, double attack is worth *141%, together they are worth *200%) I would expect that Armor is a multiplier as well. Using the mitigation numbers posted above (assuming the average source of incoming damage is 4 attack dice), we get:
0 Armor: 0% mitigation, equivalent to *100.0% HP = *100% mana value
1 Armor: Approx. 20% mitigation, equivalent to *125.1% HP = *111.8% mana value
2 Armor: Approx. 35% mitigation, equivalent to *154.3% HP = *124.2% mana value
3 Armor: Approx. 44% mitigation, equivalent to *177.0% HP = *133.1% mana value
Now some attacks have Piercing, so let's decrease the mana value multipliers by ~10%. (totally arbitrary hat-pull number)
0 Armor: *100% mana value
1 Armor: *110.7% mana value
2 Armor: *121.8% mana value
3 Armor: *129.8% mana value
4 Armor: *134.6% mana value
So let's use the Timber Wolf as the baseline - it is the only creature in the game with absolutely no affixes:
Timber Wolf: Mana Cost = 9, HP = 10, Attack = 4, AC = 2, we get:
Mana Value = 1.17 * HPValue * AttackValue * ACValue; where:
HPValue = Sqrt(HP)
AttackValue = Sqrt(Attack)
ACValue = Refer to above chart.
Every other creature in the game has some number of affixes. If we calculate the expected mana cost (this is the cost if it had no affixes at all) and compare it to the actual mana cost, we can start to guess at how highly valued each Affix is. For example, a Bitterwood Fox costs 0.5 mana more than you'd expect, its only affix is "Fast", so this implies that "Fast" is worth 0.5 mana (for the fox - it might be worth more on a larger creature).
For all of the non-Familiar units in the game:
Darkfenne Bat = 3.30 Expected, 5 Actual (+1.70 or +51.3%)
Feral Bobcat = 3.30 Expected, 5 Actual (+1.70 or +51.3%)
Firebrand Imp = 4.05 Expected, 5 Actual (+0.95 or +23.5%)
Asyran Cleric = 4.49 Expected, 5 Actual (+0.51 or +11.6%)
Bitterwood Fox = 4.53 Expected, 5 Actual (+0.48 or +10.5%)
Thunderift Falcon = 4.53 Expected, 6 Actual (+1.48 or +32.6%)
Sosruko, Ferret = 3.69 Expected, 7 Actual (+3.31 or +89.5%)
Blue Gremlin = 5.93 Expected, 7 Actual (+1.07 or +18.1%)
Moonglow Faerie = 3.69 Expected, 8 Actual (+4.31 or +116.5%)
Mana Leech = 6.34 Expected, 8 Actual (+1.66 or +26.2%)
Skeletal Sentry = 7.75 Expected, 8 Actual (+0.25 or +3.2%)
Emerald Tegu = 7.88 Expected, 9 Actual (+1.12 or +14.2%)
Timber Wolf = 9.00 Expected, 9 Actual (by definition)
Royal Archer = 7.76 Expected, 12 Actual (+4.24 or +54.6%)
Whirling Spirit = 8.42 Expected, 12 Actual (+3.58 or +42.4%)
Gray Angel = 9.00 Expected, 12 Actual (+3.00 or +33.3%)
Stonegaze Basilisk = 9.00 Expected, 12 Actual (+3.00 or +33.3%)
Highland Unicorn = 7.39 Expected, 13 Actual (+5.61 or +75.8%)
Tarok, the Skyhunter = 7.39 Expected, 13 Actual (+5.61 or +75.8%)
Flaming Hellion = 8.54 Expected, 13 Actual (+4.46 or +52.3%)
Dark Pact Slayer = 10.65 Expected, 13 Actual (+2.35 or +22.1%)
Knight of Westlock = 10.72 Expected, 13 Actual (+2.28 or +21.2%)
Cervere, Forest Shadow = 9.44 Expected, 15 Actual (+5.56 or +58.9%)
Brogan Bloodstone = 10.43 Expected, 15 Actual (+4.57 or +43.8%)
Goran, Werewolf Pet = 10.51 Expected, 15 Actual (+4.49 or +42.8%)
Gorgon Archer = 9.33 Expected, 16 Actual (+6.67 or +71.6%)
Darkfenne Hydra = 10.02 Expected, 16 Actual (+5.98 or +59.7%)
Malacoda = 10.94 Expected, 16 Actual (+5.06 or +46.3%)
Mountain Gorilla = 11.38 Expected, 16 Actual (+4.62 or +40.5%)
Redclaw, Alpha Male = 11.75 Expected, 16 Actual (+4.25 or +36.2%)
Necropian Vampiress = 12.32 Expected, 16 Actual (+3.67 or +29.8%)
Steelclaw Grizzly = 15.54 Expected, 17 Actual (+1.46 or +9.4%)
Valshalla, Lightning Angel = 9.68 Expected, 21 Actual (+11.32 or +117.0%)
Samandriel, Angel of Light = 10.82 Expected, 21 Actual (+10.18 or +94.1%)
Adramalech, Lord of Fire = 13.90 Expected, 24 Actual (+10.10 or +72.7%)