Blizzard Confirms the Hearthstone Nerf Reverts for Druid, Hunter, and Mage

Published 5 years ago by (Updated 5 years ago)

Alec Dawson tweeted about some upcoming nerf reverts to several cards that are going to hit right before the launch of the new Hearthstone expansion, Forged in the Barrens.

Those will go live with the 20.0 patch later this month, and it will happen before the new content unlock/rotation, so for a short time, we will have a very interesting Standard meta.

When they were considering which cards to revert, they also took into consideration future rotations. Some cards that could potentially come back will receive only "soft" reverts, for example Mana Wyrm or Flametongue Totem. Another factor was how much of a positive effect will nerf reverts have on Wild, adding power to already strong archetypes wasn't something they wanted to do, so cards like Level Up! didn't make the cut. They want the reverts to enable you to play some of those decks of old.

Druid

Keeper of the Grove Card Image Ancient of Lore Card Image

Hunter

Starving Buzzard Card Image Flare Card Image Dinotamer Brann Card Image Hunter's Mark Card Image

Mage

Mana Wyrm Card Image Conjurer's Calling Card Image Dragoncaster Card Image Wyrm Weaver Card Image

Quote From Alec Dawson

When the 20.0 patch goes live later this month, there'll be a number of nerf reverts. This is before content unlock/rotation, so for a short period of time there will be a very interesting Standard meta. When considering reverts for 2021, we also considered future rotations. 1/4 (Source)

Could a card come back into Standard? We chose to softly revert those, as we'd like to avoid cards shifting between two costs or statlines each year. This will be the case for cards like Mana Wyrm or Flametongue Totem. They'll be back one day! 2/4 (Source)

Another factor was looking at the level of positivity a revert brings to the Wild environment. Adding power to already strong archetypes wasn't high on our list so you won't see cards like Level Up being reverted this year. Want these reverts to enable you to play old decks. 3/4 (Source)

Here's a batch for today. DH gets none, so we'll do Druid, Hunter, and Mage. Full revert unless noted.

Druid:

Keeper of the Grove
Ancient of War

Hunter:

Starving Buzzard
Flare
Dinotamer Brann
Hunter's Mark (costs 1)

Mage:

Mana Wyrm (1 mana, 1/2)
Conjurer's Calling
Dragoncaster

(Source)

Lore not War! Oops (Source)

As part of this Wyrm Weaver moves down to a 4 mana, 3/5 and summons two 1/2 Mana Wyrms. (Source)

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Comments

  • It's sweet but I'd rather see new cards anyway :D

    • Quote From LordMilan

      It's sweet but I'd rather see new cards anyway :D

      I'm waiting for the release schedule, too? Supposed the rumors of the release on March, 23rd are right, there are just two weeks left. Are they going to drop all the cards at once?

      • I've just checked the Pre-Purchase page again. It's noted as "Pre-Purchase available through March 22, 2021". I guess we should expect it to be released on March 23rd. It's getting weird really, still no reveals.

    • You won't get to play with new cards for two weeks anyway.
      If your only purpose is to see new content, you can visit r/customhearthstone

  • OOoh boy, even if just for a few days, Hunter will be spicy in Standard. ALl our combo dreams will come true

    Friendly

  • Well, the "revert" to Mana Wyrm came a little bit too late as it's leaving standard. It could come back eventually and it will be fine once it does, i believe. This is how they should have nerfed it to begin with. It's a lot easier to remove but it still retains its niche as a snowballing 1-cost minion that can't be ignored. As a 2-cost 1/3, it was doomed. It fell from grace so hard that i never saw it being played until Duels arrived and the Wyrms there come from a Hero Power and not the card itself which was still absolutely unplayable. It might see some play in Wild but the competition there is way too fierce and i don't really believe it will make its way into any of the current Mage archetypes in the format. At least it isn't completely terrible anymore.

  • That Flare and Starving Buzzard revert is probably the most impactful, but its wild, and hunter kind sucks competitively, so its hard to say that its going to make any impact. Still, a 2 mana buzzard is probably one of the most scariest thing you can see from hunter back then, and its likely to see some amount of play, if only because hunter draws like shit.

    I was actually thinking of Wyrm Weaver a few days ago because it kinda sucks during the current meta game, but might be way too powerful in the next. But with mana wyrm now being 2 health team5 decided to reduce its mana cost preemptively. We'll see if that's a wise move, because this card might just actually be overbearing depending on whether tempo mage can be a thing in the next meta.

    Friendly

  • Why not just leave the Mana Wyrm alone if they wanted people to play with them?  Making them 1/2 is virtually unplayable.

    Friendly
    • Quote From Hydrafrog

      Why not just leave the Mana Wyrm alone if they wanted people to play with them?  Making them 1/2 is virtually unplayable.

      Think of it as a better Undertaker considering machine gun spellcasting > machine gun deathrattles

    • Quote From Hydrafrog

      Why not just leave the Mana Wyrm alone if they wanted people to play with them?  Making them 1/2 is virtually unplayable.

      It's playable, just not broken like before. Comparable to Battlefiend, a bit weaker early since you can't guarantee +attack if you need it, but much more dangerous mid to late. They probably made it this way so they can bring it back to Core later without much worry.

  • Of all these only Wyrmweaver will be in Standard right?

    • Seems correct to me.

      Staff

  • Three classes per day? Why? We're about to be hip-deep in new card reveals! Right? RIGHT?

    • 2 weeks after the initial review and not a single card since. Maybe its a new avant garde kinda PR move, so the plan is to vomit everything out 1 day before launch.

      Friendly

      • It's more likely that Blizzcon hurt their schedule. Also, 2 weeks without reveals has his precedents.