Speculations - How will Petty Officer get nerfed?

As we know from two weeks ago, they said Petty Officer was on the chopping block. The question is, what will happen to the ugly little guy?

My personal prediction - he now summons a 1/1 Dreg Dredger and you can no longer choose a Powder Keg as an option.

I kind of like him being a 3/2 to help Keg decks, so I hope that they make him create the 1-cost unit in hand instead of summoning it. Then people would actually be motivated to pick the Keg option.

Edit: I think your suggestion would probably make him okay-ish when compared to House Spider or Deadbloom Wanderer but it would remove all of his flavor (being part of the Keg package and the random 1-costs package). It also doesn’t make lore sense why a part of Gangplank’s crew would be summoning the Dreg Dredgers

Quote From CursedParrot

I kind of like him being a 3/2 to help Keg decks, so I hope that they make him create the 1-cost unit in hand instead of summoning it. Then people would actually be motivated to pick the Keg option.

Edit: I think your suggestion would probably make him okay-ish when compared to House Spider or Deadbloom Wanderer but it would remove all of his flavor (being part of the Keg package and the random 1-costs package). It also doesn’t make lore sense why a part of Gangplank’s crew would be summoning the Dreg Dredgers

For flavor, then, perhaps he only summons the powder keg. But I will point out that his current status does not have any kind of flavor at all, IMO. How is there flavor to getting a completely random 1-cost follower? How does it makes sense that he summons a poro, or a Solari Soldier, or Cithria, or even a Barkbeast or ....?

I predict he's going to go from a 3/2 to a 2/2.

Quote From OldManSanns

I predict he's going to go from a 3/2 to a 2/2.

You're probably completely correct, as this is the easiest (and most boring) change they could make. But it would probably still bring him down enough in power level to be much less appealing to just slap him into almost every bilgewater deck ever.

@Sto650

Hmm yeah you’re right that the flavor of summoning a 1 cost unit is a bit weird. I think that they added that option just because they wanted more Keg and 1 Cost unit support cards and combining them into one card saves them an extra card slot for the expansion. What if he were a 3 mana 3/2 with “Play: Create a Fleeting Parrrley in hand or summon a Powder Keg”? That way he’d be like a much worse L1 Katarina or a much worse Dreadway Deckhand. I think it would be a good change because it keeps him good in the decks he’s intended for without making him a powerful card in every Bilgewater deck. I do worry that as a Plunder activator it might be a bit too good, but because it would be a 4 mana Plunder activator for only the turn you play it, it can’t be combined with Rex or many other Plunder Payoff cards. It also fits the Flavor much better because it would be the Petty Officer adding Gangplank’s spell to your hand.

Quote From CursedParrot

@Sto650

Hmm yeah you’re right that the flavor of summoning a 1 cost unit is a bit weird. I think that they added that option just because they wanted more Keg and 1 Cost unit support cards and combining them into one card saves them an extra card slot for the expansion. What if he were a 3 mana 3/2 with “Play: Create a Fleeting Parrrley in hand or summon a Powder Keg”? That way he’d be like a much worse L1 Katarina or a much worse Dreadway Deckhand. I think it would be a good change because it keeps him good in the decks he’s intended for without making him a powerful card in every Bilgewater deck. I do worry that as a Plunder activator it might be a bit too good, but because it would be a 4 mana Plunder activator for only the turn you play it, it can’t be combined with Rex or many other Plunder Payoff cards. It also fits the Flavor much better because it would be the Petty Officer adding Gangplank’s spell to your hand.

That's a cool idea, but I strongly expect something like OldmanSanns said. They will probably just up the cost by one or drop the attack by one

Yeah I know, the Balance Team almost never completely reworks a card so I think that they will try to just do stat changes whenever possible. However, I think that it’s possible that they might nerf the 1-cost option by making it create the 1 cost in hand instead, because Petty Officer is only good in all decks because of that option.

Quote From OldManSanns

I predict he's going to go from a 3/2 to a 2/2.

or 3/2 -> 3/1, but i think you are right.