Alec Dawson has shared more insight into the world of card unnerfs in another series of tweets. With today's update on the Neutral cards that are being reverted to their previous glory, we've got a full look at what fun is going to be available in wild.
- Nerf reverts are taking place in Patch 20.0 which is live later this month.
- The reverts will come shortly before the expansion launches. Huge meta swing!
- Some cards were not fully reverted but were instead "soft" reverted. This is because these cards may come back to Standard in the future.
- Cards like Level Up!, which would only add strength to archetypes already doing well are not being unnerfed.
Looking for the list of class nerf reverts? Here they all are!
Read on for all the newly announced changes. If you're looking for the new core set that is coming this year, head on over to our Core Set 2021 guide. If you are interested in the new expansion, you can find the currently revealed cards in our Forged in the Barrens guide.
Neutral
- Undertaker gains +1/+1 instead of only +1 Attack.
- Arcane Golem is reverted (4/2 with Charge).
- Leper Gnome attack increased to 2 (Up from 1).
- Knife Juggler attack increased to 3 (Up from 2).
- Bonemare cost is now 7 (Down from 8).
- Archivist Elysiana cost is now 8 (Down from 9).
- Bad Luck Albatross cost is now 3 (Down from 4).
- Saronite Chain Gang summons a copy of itself again.
- Dragonqueen Alexstrasza generates 0 mana dragons, can't get self.
- Frenzied Felwing health increased to 3 (Up from 2).
Quote From Alec Dawson 20.0 nerf reverts. Neutrals.
Undertaker (gets +1/+1)
Arcane Golem (4/2 w/ Charge)
Leper Gnome (2/1)
Knife Juggler (3/2)
Bonemare (7 mana)
Saronite Chain Gang (summons copy)
Archivist Elysiana (8 mana)
DQA (0 mana dragons, can't get self)
Albatross (3 mana)
Frenzied Felwing (3/3)
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Comments
Odd Warrior is one of the most uninteractive decks aswell. Hero power pass, yawn.. That deck really doesn't need more tools to bore your opponent to death with.
Man, the power level in wild will be nuts, can't wait to see how the meta warps.
Really glad for Archivist Elysiana, love that carad.
My Val’anyr Paladin list is crying tears of joy to see SCG is coming home!
How long can this go on!?
*Laughs in Shudderwock*
As an avid fan of Shudderwock, I don’t know if this is that big of a deal. Yes, makes it more consistent with more copy effects if ran with Doppelgangster too, but most decks with the Shudder combo play the double battlecry quest and Tour Guide anyway. So in regards to the combo not failing it’s a minor win. Mostly it’s good for the combo because they are taunts and can maybe help slow aggro a little.
Personally I feel like this does more for my hand buff Val’anyr Paladin list. In fact, with this change I could almost make a hybrid of that and my Even Paladin lists. We’ll see!
As another avid fan of Shudderwock, I think this is a very big deal. Now we don't have to play a 5 mana "do nothing" card. Instead we can play a 4 mana card that actually impacts the board. This doesn't help the consistency of the combo since - as you mentioned - you can double the battlecry with relative ease guaranteeing extra Shudderwocks. But this change does mean you get to run better, cheaper cards in your deck that help you survive the early game, and still have your combo work later in the game.
All true, but I guess where I was going with my comment is that the combo as a whole will still take the same amount of time regardless of whether or not you are playing a 4 mana or 5 mana card that gives the copy effect. Because you still need to draw and set up the other battlecries and then play Shudder on turn 9 at the earliest, unless you have coin or Bloom, or some other cost reduction going on. And so while this may slow down aggro matchups a little, most match ups are essentially the same because yes, you impact the board more one turn sooner, but the overall time it takes is the same.
So slow opponents still get beat as long as you draw your combo pieces fast enough, still lose to fast burn decks like Secret Mage where the taunts don't matter, and you have a slightly better chance to survive long enough to get the combo off against aggro, but it might only buy you an extra turn. Two extra turns if the aggro opponent has bad draw and can't smorc you fast enough. But if they establish a good board too quickly, two 2/3 taunts isn't going to slow them down much. So that is why I think it isn't a big deal, because I am not optimistic in this change really having that big of an impact on many of the deck's bad matchups.
Just realized that we need more cosmetics on OoC regarding Saronite Chain Gang. A profile header and a "How long can this go on" title should be first on "ToDo list" xDDDD
Wow... I crafted Elysiana 2 weeks ago just to play in odd warrior, I basically threw 1600 dust in the trash now...
Does anyone have any interesting deck ideas? *sad wallet noises*
One where you don't break your wallet
Time for some even warrior *wink wink*
Welp, there's always meme decks xD
Honestly I already play even warrior too, but my deck is a big recruit themed deck and I put two copies of Dead Man's Hand on it, Archivist Elysiana would only fit in a control deck imo.
I was thinking about creating a meme shaman deck with Hakkar, the Soulflayer + Archivist Elysiana + Shudderwock for some fun shenanigans. But I'm really going to play a lot less with her, they killed my card.. :[
Naxx out?
Seriously though, Undertaker was waaaay over powered when it first came out. Hopefully there will be a lot more balance, now that there are so many cards to compete against.
Oh. My. God.
The mad lads have done it! All of a sudden I'm getting some wild itches that I haven't felt before.
Undertaker making a return to its former amazing self? YESSSSS.
Arcane Golem was one of my favourite cards in Hearthstone (Face Hunter Gang Hype) so that'll be a fun experiment. I'm a little concerned about game health, so I guess we'll see what happens there.
I think overall though, I'm more interested in what Hearthstone Classic will have to offer. Especially if we can replay Naxx-era Hearthstone at some point (it really is inevitable).
Wild is already crazy powerful so honestly, making cards like Undertaker and Golem that see little to no play in the format better might not be as bad as you think. Personally if these changes can push some of the existing strong deck types out of the picture (Secret Mage and Big Priest, in particular) then I’ll be happy! Big Priest only recently had a resurgence, but Secret Mage has been gross for a little too long there!
Honestly though, I expect some experimentation for a little bit, maybe a month later we’ll see the same strong decks still on top.
undertaker will see litte.
Arcane golem will see tons of play, its better then leeroy which is already in many decks.
I could honestly seeing it making the cut in Rogue decks, both Odd and Kingsbane. But if Nitroboost is going to 2 mana, Odd is taking a hit. So we'll see.
Arcane Golem I thought they'd give this guy rush instead of going back to charge. This gives me some hope for a charge combo deck despite the boar and murloc getting nerfed.
With their compromise on Mana Wyrm I thought Undertaker wouldn't make the cut. Definitely will experiment with this guy again.
Saronite Chain Gang could be scary with future handbuff stuff hinted at in Core.
Golem > Topsy Turvy > 2x PW Shield > 2x DS > IF.
7 cards, 8 mana, 32/32 with charge. :)
Probably a more efficient way but I'm not in the mood to think right now.
Now Aggro is surely having a field day here. Even as someone who never played while it was still in its original form, I can tell that Undertaker will be an extremely interesting nerf.
Toxic Reinforcements is also going to get quite a bit stronger with 2/1 Leper Gnomes back.