We've got some big changes coming to Standard and Wild this week in a balance update scheduled for tomorrow, September 21.
Quote From Blizzard The following cards have been adjusted down in power level.
- Old: [Costs 7] → New: [Costs 8]
Dev Comment: Irebound Brute was playable a bit earlier than intended on average. Pushing it back a turn should soften extreme turns.
- Old: Battlecry: Swap hands and decks with your opponent until your next turn. → New: Battlecry: Replace your hand with a copy of your opponent’s until end of turn.
Dev Comment: With the refinement of Shadow Priest in recent weeks, Mindrender Illucia has been overperforming in the archetype, in an unintended way. Instead of being used as a late game disruption tool, Shadow Priests have been using Illucia as an early game play to essentially skip the opponent’s turn. This change is aimed at removing that problematic gameplay from Illucia, while still keeping her in a similar space with her effect.
- Old: [Costs 1] → New: [Costs 2]
Dev Comment: Perpetual Flame is a very efficient removal tool for Questline Shaman. Going up one mana here will give board-based decks a better shot against Shaman in the early- and mid-game.
- Tame the Flames (the third portion of the Questline)
- Old: Play 2 cards with Overload. Reward: Stormcaller Bru’kan. → New: Play 3 cards with Overload. Reward: Stormcaller Bru’kan.
Dev Comment: Slowing down the speed at which Questline Shamans can get their final reward should open up more room for counterplay, particularly from slower strategies.
- The Demon Seed (part 1 of the Questline)
- Old: Take 6 damage on your turns. Reward: Lifesteal. Deal 3 damage to the enemy hero. → New: Take 8 damage on your turns. Reward: Lifesteal. Deal 3 damage to the enemy hero.
- Establish the Link (part 2 of the Questline)
- Old: Take 7 damage on your turns. Reward: Lifesteal. Deal 3 damage to the enemy hero. → New: Take 8 damage on your turns. Reward: Lifesteal. Deal 3 damage to the enemy hero.
- Additionally, The Demon Seed is now banned in Wild.
Dev Comment: After monitoring both Standard and Wild since the release of Stormwind, we’ve decided to both increase the damage required on the first two steps for Standard and ban the Questline in Wild. In Standard, we are slightly upping the amount of damage needed to complete the Questline to slow down the speed at which Tamsin locks up games. In Wild, where there are many more efficient self-damaging cards, The Demon Seed can be completed at an unintentionally fast rate. We are banning the card to protect the format from the problematic gameplay it created. When The Demon Seed rotates to Wild, we will unban it and reposition the card to be more appropriate for the format.
Runed Mithril Rod
- Old: [Costs 3] → New: [Costs 4]
Dev Comment: Runed Mithril Rod is overperforming relative to mana-generation sources in other classes, mainly due to Warlock’s card draw potential. Going up one mana will bring Runed Mithril Rod’s power level more in line with what other classes have access to.
The cards listed above will be eligible for a full dust refund for 2 weeks after the 21.3 patch goes live.
Buffs
The following cards have been adjusted up in power level.
Dev Comments: We’re looking at opening up a few more strategies for some of the less-diverse classes and underrepresented archetypes in the Standard metagame. These buffs are aimed at some of the weaker archetypes to make them more appealing options to play with. Some of these changes are on the lighter side, in anticipation of the mini-set coming in the next major patch after the patch launching Mercenaries.
- Old: [Costs 2] → New: [Costs 1]
- Old: 1 Attack, 1 Health → New: 1 Attack, 3 Health
- Old: [Costs 2] → New: [Costs 1]
- Old: [Costs 10] 10 Attack, 10 Health → New: [Costs 8] 8 Attack, 8 Health
- Old: 3 Attack, 3 Health → New: 3 Attack, 4 Health
- Old: 4 Attack, 5 Health → New: 4 Attack, 6 Health
- Old: 2 Attack, 1 Health → New: 2 Attack, 2 Health
Comments
Azalina Soulthief saw play in some hyper aggro decks that wanted an option for late game reload, so I imagine the new Mindrender Illucia will still be viable for that narrow purpose in highly aggressive Shadow Priest decks. Given the low card draw Priest has that might be good, but it's still a shame that the card no longer offers any disruption potential for slower control decks. Combo disruption seems like a great expression of the Control Shadow Priest archetype, so I hope we'll see more (and more focused) attempts at that in the future.
Azalina did not see ANY play outside toggwaggle decks.
And aslo even if did illucia still isnt good and the meta nowdays is far crazier then when azalina was around
Here's my take:
Good nerfs for obvious reasons: Irebound Brute, The Demon Seed, Runed Mithril Rod, Mindrender Illucia. More baffling is the shaman nerfs.
- Irebound brute needed a nerf, but this one is so small Im not so sure what it hopes to accomplish. I think the idea is that team5 doesn't want turn 4 brute shenanigans, which is completely doable by the way on 7 mana.
- Demon seed nerf is huge but all it will do is to push back on the current fatigue variant of questlock. Handlock would probably need to switch back to Anetherons or drop the quest altogether if the meta is too fast. In other news, rod is dead. As 3 mana its awkward enough, as 4 its straight up dead.
- Mindrender illucia is not dead. What team5 have done is to ensure that shes strictly useful in value decks, and is no longer able to cheese opponents, especially rogue. While I dont think this is the end, we wont be seeing her until the next expansion in my opinion.
- Command the elements will still be played because the real power turn is the first tier quest reward, which means this deck will still beat all aggro and control decks easily. But against other quest decks, its just never going to make it. Mage can easily beat it now, by virtue of its quest being faster, where it wasn't before. Not sure what team5 hopes of accomplishing here.
- Perpetual flame is still broken as a 2 drop because essentially the downside - the overload - isn't really a downside in the right deck. I have hoped team5 would nerf the damage from 3 to 2, and am left scratching my head. I can only trust they have done some testing and didn't want to kill the card so opted for a nerf that essentially only removes it from the wandmaker pool.
Buffs:
- Mordresh Fire Eye at 8 and Wildfire at 1. These are really interesting changes, at least for wildfire because its now significantly easier to play - assuming you can actually draw that thing. Modresh maybe faster now, but will still remain unplayable because most 8 drops are unplayable, and this one only works assuming you are able to draw that wildfire and remain alive by then. Ironically quest mage will destroy this deck, in my opinion, and will remain the cancerous piece of trash that it is because I'd rather Sorcerer's Gambit be nerfed than receive these buffs. But the nerfs may just slow down the meta enough and assuming quest mage don't make a resurgence, there's some bit of hope for hp mage to surface.
- Leatherworking Kit is something only team5 can explain. Im not sure what this buff actually does aside from making it less shitty when played. Hunters dont like losing tempo and even a 1 mana loss that doesn't do anything for a while is not going to win any awards. Selective Breeder, however, I can complete agree with. That 2 extra health may not look important but there's plenty of times you just want to play this on 2 and not lose tempo, and 2 extra health accomplishes that.
- Buffs to pirates. Not a fan. Warrior in standard is unplayable because the other quest decks are faster than its quest and aggro decks just destroy it. The changes to the pirates will help a bit, but I feel like the pirates that needed a buff here is Harbor Scamp and Cargo Guard. Still, it'll be interesting to see if the meta is slow enough for warrior to make a comeback after two months of irrelevance. Still getting quashed by quest mage though.
All in all, I can only hope team5 have made these changes after extensive testing because quest mage isn't nerfed, while the other combo/quest decks are, while the buffs are made to tempo oriented decks. On paper its decent, but assuredly no one wants a quest mage meta. See you guys tomorrow when the changes are out.
Buff to Cargo Guard? It is already really annoying to play against in duels with this bomb-shuffling hero power.
cards are not balanced aroudn duels though, so if a card needs abuff n standard/wild but not in duels it will still get it
Why is everyone so rebelious against Quest Mage? Since I don't play Standard, I need enlightmenet on that topic.
Its a bit like ungoro quest rogue. Its not that its win rate is big, its just that its play rate is high, it basically destroys tempo decks, and like quest rogue its very consistent at what it does. Unlike quest rogue, this one can only be beaten by either bad luck, burn or combo that's faster than itself, like celestial druid, contact rogue, or face hunter.
I just personally dont like that deck. Against aggro decks there's some semblance of hope, playing around their strats. With quest mage, you don't play around anything, just go face and pray that they cant kill you before you kill them.
Harbor scamp does not need a buff at all, a 2/2 for 2 that tutors is very goo
Im talking about standard obviously. But what they need is early game tempo against aggro decks. Bloodsail Deckhand is fine as a 2/2 but more is needed, and I'd trade a 2/2 bloodsail on 1 for a 2/3 harbor scamp buff any day.
Still, we'll see once its out.
My prediction: Quest Warrior is now the strongest deck in Wild. But I am quite happy with the Mage buffs.
Yeah. They really didn't need to give Quest Warrior any buffs for it to be decent and it got two (as in, buffs on two cards the deck actually wants to play). Oof.
Welp my (horrible) opinion on the changes:
NERFs:
Irebound Brute: Well its going to be harder to highroll with this card now, i like it!
Perpetual Flame: Nice, this card was just too strong. Now aggro/tempo has a better chance of killing questline shaman before they get bursted down.
Command the Elements: Nice! now that they have to play 1 more overload card, it will take 1 turn or so longer to complete the questline. Maybe we can now actually get a chance to Mutanus the Devourer their quest reward.
The Demon Seed: YES. So glas this got nerfed... FINALLY. It's THE nerf people asked for since pretty much day 1, and now they actually did it! (Honestly i was kinda scared they were going to nerf Flesh Giant by 1 0 mana again lmao.) Also now that the quesline also got slowed down a bit... I really hope the deck is slowed down enough that Mutanus the Devourer can now eat their quest reward more often. Also im so happy they FINALLY banned this card in Wild. Honestly i'm surprised they actually took this long to ban it. Like Stealer of Souls was banned quite fast, but they let The Demon Seed run havok in wild for so much longer..? So glad i wont be facing that card again in wild. But regardless Darkglare warlock will 100% remain the strongest deck in Wild, as it already was the best deck in wild before they got The Demon Seed.
Runed Mithril Rod: Yeah, this... does something? To me a mana increase doesnt really affect mithril rod, because playing it a bit later = probably more cards in hand to discount by 1 mana. I think that Runed Mithril Rod will probably continue to see play, because a card that can give 2 Emperor Thaurissan procs still seems really strong to me.
Rework: Mindrender Illucia: YESSSSSS! YEEEEAAHHH! Mindrender Illucia is DEAD! YES! Oh im so glad. This card was sooo toxic and maddening to play against. Aggro shadow priest used it as a 3 mana Time Warp and control priest used it to completely shut down any combo strategy. That being said, big RIP to the YES* priest archetype. :( (-* YES priest decks are decks that setup for example a Mecha'thun OTK and use Mindrender Illucia to give their opponent the combo/free win!)
Alright Buffs:
Mordresh Fire Eye: I LOVE this change. This will really help hero power mage in standard, and EVEN mage in wild! Also you can now hero power for example: A divine shield minion, and still kill the minion with Mordresh battlecry. I love this change and i hope hero power mage gets a lot better with this!
Wildfire: Okay here is a change thats both a buff AND a nerf at the same time. It's technically a nerf because being ODD-costed means that EVEN-mage cannot run it anymore... And that deck is actually quite popular as well... (And i personally like playing it a lot) But on the other side this change makes it so you can turn 1 Wildfire into turn 2 heropower! You no longer need a Coin in order to cast Wildfire turn 1! Also now that it costs 1 mana, ODD Mage can now run it! Not sure if ODD mage will actually run it, but i feel like it will make space for it.
Leatherworking Kit: This will certainly help out RAT/Swarm hunter a LOT. Not only that, but Sword of a Thousand Truths Hunter also enjoys it. (Even though that deck isnt really competative) Not only that but this is a big buff to a lot of other hunter archetypes, considering hunter is quite bad at drawing cards.
Selective Breeder: Love this change. It always felt bad playing this on turn 2, because you just know that it gets removed instantly. Now it might be able to have a little bit of impact by idunno trading into a 1/1 minion and living? Still im happy this got buffed! (Maybe i should try out Beastmaster Leoroxx OTK hunter again soon...)
Stormwind Freebooter, Stonemaul Anchorman and Bloodsail Deckhand: Wow i did not suspect pirate warrior buffs. This deck is already very good in wild, and in standard it felt like it only needed some more decent pirates from something like a mini set. But man are these changes HUGE. Bloodsail Deckhand is now a premium 1 drop WITH and addition effect, which is NUTS. Stonemaul Anchorman was already decent and now the frenzy is easier to pull of, giving many warrior archetypes more draw. Stormwind Freebooter now has premium stats AND gives you +2 attack, this is just really strong! I really think questline Pirate warrior will be one of the better decks in the meta going forward, with these incredibly buffs. (Probably will craft the warrior questline with my Mindrender Illucia dust) :]
As I predicted quest warlock banned in wild. Now my solid gold pirate quest warrior will be even better with buffs….tons of crying on other forums as usual already.
on a side note to those of you that dust cards: unless you need the dust never dust anything.
this nerf will net me over 10k dust and that’s just the EXTRA copies of the cards. I have a complete collection so I never dust even useless cards.
To all of those that sat through the boring grind of 666 self damage on the warlock quest…..congrats because now that grind is almost unbearable.
I’m glad I did all the achievements as well. For those that didn’t man I feel your pain
As for the 3 HP nerf on The Demon Seed
No, I honestly still believe the problem is still the amount of efficient heals that Warlock has right now, this is going to do nothing substantial in standard but tempt players to dust it.
Time to move to Wild I guess. Standard is still as fucked as ever, and this patch isn’t going to change anythin
In my honest opinion Mindrender Illucia was only "good" because it was pretty much the one counter to quest rewards in standard, if you were lucky enough to catch them off guard.
I never ran into the card in any other context since it's previous mana nerf.
Now because it was seen in data as "a good card" because it beat 90% of the meta (being any quest deck) and pretty much nothing else, it's been rendered unplayable by a nerf that I think really shouldn't have happened.
It was not about stealing quest rewards.
It was about dropping Illucia with an empty hand effectively negating your opponent's next turn entirely.
I can't believe they straight-up murdered Illucia. They could have changed her in a way that left her viable in non-aggro archetypes. It has been quite sime time since they utterly trashed a card like this.
Can't wait to start making Wildfire with Wandmaker. Fire Mage is about to get spicy! If it does work, it will be just as overplayed as Quest Mage, and we'll get a whole new round of whining about a whole new Tier 2 deck that's not actually oppressive.
I liked Regis Killbin's idea for Illucia better: swap until the end of your turn, so if you play Illucia early in the turn you can disrupt your opponent's hand with your remaining mana, but you can't make them skip their turn by passing an (almost) empty hand.
I thought about this too until i realized that this essentially removed any drawbacks from playing her. One of key things about this card is that it's difficult to determine the right moment to play her (outside of dumping quest rewards). A badly timed Illucia could backfire really hard. If you missed the mark, you essentially gave your opponent a free turn to destroy your hand which would leave you without precious resources for your next turn. It's the kind of card that only gives you one chance: you either get it correctly and win the game or you miss and lose.
The change to an end of turn effect would allow Priest players to run her without any risks. They would be able to destroy your hand and you would only be able to watch it. Since the hand would swap back at the end of their turn, the most you could do is look at what they have in hand but that really doesn't matter if they are going to return a hand stripped of resources to you. She would remain extremely toxic and complaints would only increase further, i believe. Unfortunately, they had no choice here but they should at least revert the nerf to her mana cost.