Hearthstone's September 5 Card Balance Changes Detailed - Secret Passage Nerfed

Published 5 years, 6 months ago by (Updated 5 years, 6 months ago)

We're getting a round of card changes next Tuesday, September 8 with Hearthstone Patch 18.2.

  • Secret Passage: Replaces your hand with 4 cards (down from 5).
  • Cabal Acolyte: Has 4 Health (down from 6).
  • Totem Goliath: Has 5 Attack (up from 4) and Overload: (1) (down from 2).
  • Archwitch Willow: Changed to a 8-Mana 5/5 (from 9-Mana 7/7).
  • Darkglare: Changed to a 2-Mana 2/3 (from 3-Mana 3/4) and only refreshes one Mana Crystal (down from 2).

Quote From Blizzard

Card Balance Updates

Secret Passage

  • Old: Replace your hand with 5 cards from your deck. Swap back next turn. → New: Replace your hand with 4 cards from your deck. Swap back next turn.
old Secret Passagecardchanges_arrow.pngSecret Passage new

Cabal Acolyte

  • Old: 2 Attack, 6 Health → New: 2 Attack, 4 Health
Cabal Acolyte oldcardchanges_arrow.pngCabal Acolyte new

Totem Goliath

  • Old: 4 Attack, 5 Health. Overload (2) → New: 5 Attack, 5 Health. Overload (1)
Totem Goliath oldcardchanges_arrow.pngTotem Goliath new

Archwitch Willow

  • Old: [Cost 9] 7 Attack, 7 Health → New: [Cost 8] 5 Attack, 5 Health
Archwitch Willow oldcardchanges_arrow.pngArchwitch Willow new

Darkglare

  • Old: [Cost 3] 3 Attack, 4 Health. After your hero takes damage, refresh 2 Mana Crystals. → New: [Cost 2] 2 Attack, 3 Health. After your hero takes damage, refresh a Mana Crystal.
Darkglare oldcardchanges_arrow.pngDarkglare new

Secret Passage, Cabal Acolyte, and Darkglare will be eligible for a full dust refund for 2 weeks after the 18.2 patch goes live.

Game Improvements & Miscellaneous Updates
  • Newly created decks will now automatically appear at the top of My Decks in the Collection Manager instead of at the bottom.
  • The Kael’thas Sunstrider login reward will now be granted if you own a pack from Ashes of Outland and go to the Open Packs menu.
  • Transfer Student will now have the appropriate board effect when Discovered or transformed.
  • Galakrond will now be upgraded correctly when invoked while using Secret Passage.
  • Kingsbane drawn by Secret Passage will no longer be returned to your deck if played then returned to hand via Doomerang.
  • Copies of cards drawn by Secret Passage will no longer be returned to your deck at end of turn.
  • Copying a silenced minion with Faceless Manipulator will no longer temporarily activate card text effects that buff other minions.
  • Dormant minions created by Shadow Reflection no longer disappear if you change your Hero after playing them.
  • Fixed a visual issue with Devolving Missiles when transforming a target into a Dormant minion.
  • Fixed a crash in the final One Night in Karazhan encounter when playing as Kel'Thuzad.
  • Fixed a visual bug where Spellburst icons could disappear while the minion had not activated its Spellburst.
  • Headmaster Kel’Thuzad’s Spellburst will now resurrect minions that are destroyed by spells that swap Attack and Health, and spells that have been granted Poisonous by Professor Slate.
  • Summoning a cat will no longer allow Headmaster Kel’Thuzad’s Spellburst to trigger on the opponent’s turn. The Headmaster just gets really excited about cats…
  • Manafeeder Panthara’s Battlecry will now properly trigger after using your hero power and then Invoking Galakrond or switching to a different hero power.
  • Fixed a card text display issue with Master Scheme, Hatred Reactor, and E.V.I.L. Promotion.
  • When refilling an existing mana crystal below 10 mana, you now receive a temporary mana crystal instead. This fixes an interaction where Forest Warden Omu would not grant the correct amount of mana.

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Comments

  • I wish they'd fix the golden animations as well, there's a lot of cards that are just missing assets and what's the point of playing a vanity card if it doesn't have the whole art work on it?

  • I may be biased since I'd love the dust from the Archwitch, but is it really a buff? It gets -2/-2 for 1-mana cost reduction with the same meh effect; maybe we are far from the vanilla days where 1-mana was 1/1 stats but still...

    • I'd say the general consensus is this is a buff, since the card is played mostly for its battle cry not its stats. So getting the battle cry 1 turn earlier matters more, hence a buff.

      That said, I believe Blizz should also offer refunds for lateral changes like this. By lateral I mean a combination of a buff and a nerf. Though it matters less, the stats were still reduced.

  • Finally! Nerfs! Can't wait to see how they nerfed druid! I finally can play the game and not do only the quests every 3 days!

    *see the nerfs*

    Nevermind! 

  • Mostly okay changes. The buff to Totem Goliath probably won't be enough to help Shaman, though. What i really like is the change in the interaction between Headmaster Kel'Thuzad and Professor Slate. Now there's some real potential for late game swings and i love it! I still need to craft Kel'Thuzad but i should be able to gather enough dust to do it.

    • The problem with Slate is that he has simplified card text. It should be "Kill any minion damaged by your spells", he even has trigger effect for that. Instead he should have aura similar to spell damage.

  • Guardian Animals and/or Twilight Runner are still not getting nerfed? What a joke.

    • Twilight Runner is fine, Guardian Animals at 7 is not.

       

      btw why did they make GA a dual class card, it's literally unplayable in Hunter

      Friendly

    • Why do they rush? why is one stealth? why is one taunt? why does one draw 2??? Why can they do it on my turn 3 and their turn 8? Why can't we delete priest? Why is the sky blue?

       

      Blizzard pls!

  • I have a golden Acolyte so I am very excited for this nerf! I didn't expect the card to be nerfed since I have never even seen it played once. I always disenchant golden cards and I always disenchant my priest cards, but I kept this one in case it got nerfed, and it payed off.

    Also, super stoked for the Totem Goliath buff. I love that card but always felt that the Overload 2 was a bit harsh.

    Friendly

  • Changes to Darkglare is brutal. Literally destroyed the card. They might as well have just change it to a 2 mana 2/3, your Flame Imp and Tour Guides cost 0. In standard there's literally no more use for this card, which is kinda a shame since pain warlock is perhaps the most challenging meta deck to play Ive encountered in quite some time.

    Secret Passage nerf is a little weak. I guess the idea is that they didn't want this to completely be unusable since its literally the only card keeping all rogue players from yet another galakrond build. Its still decent I guess.

    Cabal Acolyte nerf is unexpected. I didn't particularly find this card oppressive in any way, but evidently team5 thought priest was getting a little out of hand, what with Wave of Apathy being literally everywhere.

    Now for buffs (of which we won't get any dust from, sigh*)

    Totem Goliath slight buff wont change much of anything. Totem shaman matches are decided early game, not late game. If anything I'd say that buffing Runic Carvings would be more impactful.

    That willow buff was timely. Perhaps the best way to describe it is that it should've been 8 mana from the start. What the hell does team5 think a 9 mana card should be like? Maybe, just maybe at 8 mana this card will be playable in some meme deck. Its still not very good at the moment since there's only literally one demon card warlock would want off this but its going to be here for another 2 years so maybe at some point this card will take prominence.

     

    Friendly

    • Changes to Darkglare is brutal. Literally destroyed the card.

      This card deserved the nerf, the deck is a huge cheat in Wild. I took Legend yesterday with it in just an evening with 88% WR. Most of the games were finished on turn 5. I strongly believe that this deck shouldn't exist.

    • Quote From dapperdog

      Changes to Darkglare is brutal. Literally destroyed the card. They might as well have just change it to a 2 mana 2/3, your Flame Imp and Tour Guides cost 0. In standard there's literally no more use for this card, which is kinda a shame since pain warlock is perhaps the most challenging meta deck to play Ive encountered in quite some time.

      Secret Passage nerf is a little weak. I guess the idea is that they didn't want this to completely be unusable since its literally the only card keeping all rogue players from yet another galakrond build. Its still decent I guess.

      Cabal Acolyte nerf is unexpected. I didn't particularly find this card oppressive in any way, but evidently team5 thought priest was getting a little out of hand, what with Wave of Apathy being literally everywhere.

      Now for buffs (of which we won't get any dust from, sigh*)

      Totem Goliath slight buff wont change much of anything. Totem shaman matches are decided early game, not late game. If anything I'd say that buffing Runic Carvings would be more impactful.

      That willow buff was timely. Perhaps the best way to describe it is that it should've been 8 mana from the start. What the hell does team5 think a 9 mana card should be like? Maybe, just maybe at 8 mana this card will be playable in some meme deck. Its still not very good at the moment since there's only literally one demon card warlock would want off this but its going to be here for another 2 years so maybe at some point this card will take prominence.

       

      You can still cheat mana with Darkglare, just not as oppressively. You can play a Tour Guide the turn before so you can tap for free on your darkglare turn and get 1 extra mana for it. Don't forget about Raise Dead as well. Darkglare costs only 2 now so it's still a pretty good card in that deck. I'll admit the change makes warlock look underwhelming compared to mana cheating capabilities of other classes, druid for example.

      • The reason why darkglare was broken was because you can tap for free, generate free mana without setup, and generally dump your hand. In many cases, this will come together in conjunction with getting the Hand of Gul'dan effect out without spending any extra mana, then proceed to dump your hand. Take that away, and darkglare literally does nothing. There's only so many cards you can play before you run out of stuff. Now that there's only 2 ways to gain a net positive of mana (and you need both to get expired merchant out for no loss of mana), it reduces darkglare's power considerably.

        The only reason why its been changed to 2 mana is to leave a chance* (and a very low one at that) that you can have both out on turn 4 and proceed with the usual business. But from my experience, even with hand of guldan drawing like the wind you will only very rarely have that option available on turn 4-5, and theres no chance you dont play cards like tour guide until you draw them both.

        Friendly

  • Great changes, thanks for not killing Passage, Blizz! 

  • Darn it!

    I literally just dusted a golden Acolyte, never play priest, so didn't realize it's power I guess. Ah well, I do have a golden dark glare at least.

     

    Passage is still a staple, the buffs are fine, Darkglare probably RIP

  • Secret passage and cabal acolyte will still remain staples in those classes, only now they're better balanced. Darkglare warlock will probably completely disappear from the meta. I'm surprised they didn't do anything about guardian animals or druid in general though. That has to be the most annoying matchup for me whatever I'm playing. It isn't the strongest class, but when they highroll I just feel cheated and frustrated. 

  • RIP Darkglare. We had fun. I'll always remember dumping 2 giants on the board on turn 4 and watching my priest opponent concede. I'll miss you, little buddy.

    • Yeah. I'm devastated.

      I guess I don't really know how obnoxious he's been in Standard. In Wild, I just think about the fact that they've done nothing to Secret Mage but give it more good cards. But for some reason this can't stand...

      • Secret Mage’s power varies a lot less than Darkglare’s does from what I’ve seen, so it does make some sense at least. A lucky Darkglare turn can get some really ridiculous board states out, whereas a Secret Mage is just a relatively standard burn deck