Surprise! Blizzard has released a Friday balance patch with no warning today. We've got a nerf to Edwin VanCleef, one of Hearthstone's original legendary cards, and to Boggspine Knuckles, a problematic Shaman weapon. We've also got a change to Elistra the Immortal in Battlegrounds. Read on for more details!
Update: Cora has stated that the change does not mean Edwin won't be Hall of Famed and potentially unnerfed if they determine he should be moved there in the future. This is good to hear as Edwin has been on the desired Hall of Fame list for quite some time.
Update 2: Alec says that Edwin is rotating this year and he will be unnerfed.
Update 3: Please read our dedicated post concerning Edwin and the new year.
Quote From Cora You can only run from us for so long, Edwin.
In all seriousness, I'm seeing questions about why we would nerf Edwin instead of moving him to HoF. This nerf doesn't mean he won't be moved, and potentially even unnerfed at that time if it's the right call. This is a fix for now.
Quote From Alec Dawson Also sorry this didn't get into the notes but: Yes Edwin will still rotate later this year and yes we will be reverting the nerf (along with others) at that time.
Quote From Blizzard We’ve got a small balance patch with a few big changes planned for release this Friday, January 8!
Standard Balance Updates
Edwin VanCleef
- Old: [Costs 3] → New: [Costs 4]
- Dev Comment: The last few weeks have been the best Edwin has ever performed as an individual card (the highest win rate card in multiple Rogue archetypes). Alongside cards like Foxy Fraud and Shadowstep, the frequency of early 8/8 or 10/10 Edwin VanCleefs reached a point we are no longer comfortable with. We want to evaluate how the rest of Rogue's kit performs without this very powerful iteration of Edwin. Cards like Foxy Fraud, Swindle, and Prize Plunderer are important pieces for future expansions and card interactions, so we'll be keeping close tabs on how they perform with the influx of new cards and Edwin's nerf.
Boggspine Knuckles
- Old: 4 Attack → New: 3 Attack
- Dev Comment: We're lowering the attack on Boggspine Knuckles in order to cut into the fluidity of Evolve Shaman, increasing the required investment of playing a 5-mana weapon without a free Dread Corsair, and reduce the overall damage output the deck is capable of over multiple weapon charges. This change lowers the amount of explosive plays available to Evolve Shaman and should create an overall healthier meta.
Edwin VanCleef and Boggspine Knuckles will be eligible for a full dust refund for 2 weeks after the 19.2.1 patch goes live.
Battlegrounds Balance Update
Elistra the Immortal
- Old: 7 Attack, 7 Health → New: 4 Attack, 4 Health
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug where Infinite Toki’s Temporal Tavern would not function correctly with the New Recruit Darkmoon Prize.
- Fixed a bug where Ysera’s Dream Portal, when used with the New Recruit Darkmoon Prize, would not offer a Dragon when Bob’s Tavern is full.
![All The Great Dark Beyond Card Reveals for October 23 - Day 13 [Finished]](the-great-dark-beyond-day-13.webp)
Comments
Dread Corsair is crying in the corner!
I'm concerned the Knuckles nerf won't quite be enough. It almost feels as though the change was made as if the meta where lots and lots of decks are running double Sticky Fingers is... healthy? In a world where it isn't be hard-teched against, Attack -> 3 + Mana -> 6 seem appropriate. I have to admit I'm a little surprised this the extent of the change, but I'll take what I can get.
EVC has been a long time coming, and their reasoning is sound. The rare "turn 2 win" that can be generated by huge EVC's wasn't a sustainable state of affairs.
so we shoudlnt dust edwin. cause he will be HoF in april reverted the nerf and we will be granted 1600 dust without dusting him. Am i right?
Can someone better than me at this stuff confirm my train of thought, or am i just dumb?
I suggest to disenchant him (+1600, no Ed): if when they rotate him they say they are giving full dust value for him like always, just create him again (you'll end up with +1600 and Ed).
Doing this way is safer if, for some reason, they will not full dust refound him when he'll rotates
Not only that, you can potentially craft a golden version to profit even more from a HoF rotation. Also, they were talking about a classic rework a couple months ago, the process might differ substantially from the typical HoF.
you right yes. i mean they should refund of course for HoF but for someone like me tight on dust its safer u right.
If you don't play Edwin now, then the safest thing to do would be disenchant him now and then craft him later when they officially announce the cards that will be moved to the hall of fame. There's always a chance they change their mind about putting Edwin in the hall of fame.
Boggspine is no longer able to poop out two Five drops ala Dread Corsair now, and that is a welcome change to make it slightly more manageable. Despite this, it is still not enough and Shamanstone will continue until the next set unless more is done.
They should have just made a overall hotfix on mana cheating for example if you played a card for 0 mana, it should evolve into a 1 drop. Would fix the issues with Mana cheating in general.
Edwin’s nerf completely killed the card. I never felt like he was that oppressive tho, but each to their own. I feel like he should have been changed to give +2/+1 instead.
Dread Corsair is a four drop, but your sentiment remains true!
(Pre-nerf)Play Bogspine Knuckles, play two free Dread Corsair, then attack and you now have two free 5 drops because your Corsairs evolved. That was his point. You can no longer do that on the same turn.
Thank you for explaining and correcting me
I think they meant that after evolving, your DCs turn into two 5-drops.
I am happy they nerfed Edwin and would be happy to see him leave standard entirely. I don't want any more games determined by a big Edwin in the first 2 or 3 turns. It isn't fun. It isn't interactive.
Blame blizz for not giving good answers or nerfin:Hofign tons of good ones people had.
Like natrulize,equlaity ,bgh etc
I dislike random nerfs. There should have been a warning ahead of time.
Random? These nerfs are long overdue and literally everyone could've seen these coming.
There may have been a warning if there wasn't the Christmas break. They probably wanted to get the nerfs out asap because the situation had already been left too long. Have a look at the most recent ViciousSyndicate report: They sounded completely jaded and disheartened by the meta.
Because?
Beside that: Blizz allready mentioned they will looking for nerfs.
I like these nerfs and I am excited which will follow soon.
I do not like either of these changes. Just HOF Edwin and give us back Xaril. Also, that bog spine nerf just doesn’t feel enough. IMO they should just undo the last round of nerfs as the game was better balanced then.