Crabrider Has Been Nerfed! Details on Hearthstone's 5 Nerfs and 10 Buffs Coming in Today's Patch

We've got a round of balance changes coming in a patch this week and Blizzard has given us all the details!

Card Nerfs

We've got five cards receiving nerfs in the upcoming patch.

• Refreshing Spring Water now costs 5 mana (Up from 4).
• First Day of School now costs 1 mana (Up from 0) but also gives you 3 1-cost minions (up from 2).
• Hysteria now costs 4 mana (Up from 3).
• Crabrider now only gains Windfury on its first turn on the field.
• Olgra, Mankrik's Wife now summons a 7 Health Mankrik, Consumed by Hatred (Down from 10).

We're including First Day of School as an overall nerf due to how important its 0-cost was to Paladin's early game.

Card Buffs

Ten cards will be receiving buffs (?!) in the patch.

• Razorboar now has 3 Attack (Up from 2).
• Dark Inquisitor Xanesh now reduces the cost of Corrupt and Corrupted cards by 2.
• Unbound Elemental now has 3 Attack (Up from 2).
• Tidal Surge now costs 3 mana (Down from 4).
• Lilypad Lurker now has 5 Attack and 6 Health (Up from 4/5).
• Fiendish Circle now costs 3 (Down from 4).
• Deck of Chaos now costs 5 (Down from 6).
• Whirling Combatant now has 3 Attack (Up from 2).
• Shieldmaiden now costs 5 mana (Down from 6).
• N'Zoth, God of the Deep now costs 9 mana (Down from 10).

What do you think about all the upcoming balance changes? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Full Patch Notes + Dev Commentary

Quote From Blizzard

Refreshing Spring Water

• Old: [Costs 4] → New: [Costs 5]

Dev Comment: Spell Mage currently exhibits many explosive turns, with Refreshing Spring Water playing a significant role. By nerfing Refreshing Spring Water to 5 mana, we're aiming to lower the frequency of extreme turns where Refreshing Spring Water draws cards and gains you mana in the process. By lowering the frequency of those gameplay sequences, we believe the deck's range of possibilities will be more in line with other current options.

First Day of School

• Old: [Costs 0] Add 2 random 1-Cost minions to your hand → New: [Costs 1] Add 3 random 1-Cost minions to your hand. 

Dev Comment: As we look at Paladin's continued strong performance across multiple archetypes, we're nerfing First Day of School in order to hit Paladin's early-game strength. By bumping up First Day of School's mana cost and the amount of 1-Cost minions generated, we are moving the card to fit a value role rather than its initial position as an efficient curve enabler.

Hysteria

• Old: [Costs 3] → New: [Costs 4]

Dev Comment: At 3 mana, Hysteria becomes an option before opponents really have the opportunity to consider how to best interact with it. Pushing Hysteria to 4 mana gives more space for those board-committal decisions to occur and also allows cheaper removal in Priest/Warlock to have a more distinct purpose.

Crabrider

• Old: Rush Windfury → New: Rush Battlecry: Gain Windfury this turn only.

Dev Comment: Crabrider is too efficient in some of our board-based decks, clearing minions and dishing out a lot of Windfury damage. By changing Crabrider's Windfury to only last until end of turn, we're pulling back on the lethality it poses if left alone for a few turns. We aim for Crabrider to still remain a solid option for decks looking to swing back the board, especially when combined with buffs.

Olgra, Mankrik’s Wife

• Old: Casts When Drawn Summon a 3/10 Mankrik, who immediately attacks the enemy hero. → New: Casts When Drawn Summon a 3/7 Mankrik, who immediately attacks the enemy hero.

Dev Comment: We are lowering the Health on Mankrik, Consumed by Hatred to soften the effect of an early Olgra draw. At 7 Health, the token will be more in reach of the mid-game removal that's available throughout turns 4-6.

Refreshing Spring Water, First Day of School, Hysteria, Crabrider, and Golden Mankrik will be eligible for a full dust refund for two weeks after Patch 20.2.2 goes live.

 

 

Dev Comment: We're issuing a number of buffs in 20.2.2, mainly focused on bringing up struggling classes and archetypes. One of our goals for a meta is to provide deck diversity: not only different class options, but also attractive deck options that play markedly different from one another. These buffs follow that goal, as each one is targeted at helping out an underrepresented archetype or play pattern.

Razorboar

• Old: 2 Attack, 2 Health → New: 3 Attack, 2 Health

Dark Inquisitor Xanesh

• Old: Reduce the Cost of all Corrupt cards in your hand and deck by (2). → New: Reduce the Cost of all Corrupt and Corrupted cards in your hand and deck by (2).

Unbound Elemental

• Old: 2 Attack, 4 Health → New: 3 Attack, 4 Health

Tidal Surge

• Old: [Costs 4] → New: [Costs 3]

Lilypad Lurker

• Old: 4 Attack, 5 Health → New: 5 Attack, 6 Health

Fiendish Circle

• Old: [Costs 4] → New: [Costs 3]

Deck of Chaos

• Old: [Costs 6] → New: [Costs 5]

Whirling Combatant

• Old: 2 Attack, 6 Health → New: 3 Attack, 6 Health

Shieldmaiden

• Old: [Costs 6] → New: [Costs 5]

N’Zoth, God of the Deep

• Old: [Costs 10] → New: [Costs 9]