As expected, Hearthstone received a balance patch today. The Patch aims to tone down some overperforming classes while giving the weaker one a leg up. We had articles where we predicted both the nerfs and the buffs, tell us how well we did!
On the nerf side of things, only 3 cards were hit: Drek'Thar, Multi-Strike and Dragonbane Shot. As usual, all these cards can be disenchanted for their full Dust value for two weeks. The one exception is Drek'Thar, mainly the Golden and Diamond versions, which are uncraftable. Any players who own the Diamond version when the Patch goes live will get 3000 Gold as compensation.
- Drek'Thar - Only summons one minion from your deck (down from 2)
- Multi-Strike - Costs 2 (up from 1)
- Dragonbane Shot - Costs 3 (up from 2)
Things get more spicy when it comes to buffs! There's a total of 17 cards getting a glow-up, focused on Priest, Warlock, Rogue, and Xhilag of the Abyss. While it's too early to tell, all these changes are sure to shake up the meta.
- Xhilag - Xhilag's Stalk - Deals 2 Damage (up from 1)
- Hunter
- Harpoon Gun - The cost of the Dredged Beast is now 3 (up from 2)
- Pet Collector - Is a 4/4 (up from a 3/3)
- Azsharan Saber - Both it and Sunken Saber have 4 Attack (up from 3)
- Priest
- Blackwater Behemoth - Costs 7 (down from 8)
- Whirlpool - Costs 8 (down from 9)
- Shadowcloth Needle - Costs 1 (down from 2)
- Serpent Wig - Gives +1/+2 (up from +1/+1)
- Rogue
- Tooth of Nefarian - Costs 2 (down from 3)
- SI:7 Smuggler - The unimproved version summons a 1-Cost Minion (up from 0)
- Wildpaw Gnoll - Is a 5 Mana 4/5 (from a 6 Mana 3/5)
- Tess Greymane - Costs 7 (down from 8)
- Hench-Clan Burglar - Has 4 Health (up from 3)
- Warlock
- Sira'kess Cultist - Is a 3/4 (up from 2/3)
- Dragged Below - Costs 3 (down from 4)
- Azsharan Scavenger - Both it and Sunken Scavenger are 2 Mana 2/3s (from 3 Mana 3/4s)
- Bloodscent Vilefin - Cost 3 Mana and has 3 Attack (down from 4 Mana and 4 Attack)
What do you think of these changes? Will they shake up the meta? Let us know in the comments below!
You can check the full patch notes below.
Quote From Blizzard Card Updates
The following cards have had their power adjusted down:
Drek’Thar
- Old: Battlecry: If this costs more than every minion in your deck, summon 2 of them. → New: Battlecry: If this costs more than every minion in your deck, summon one of those minions.
Multi-Strike
- Old: [Costs 1] → New: [Costs 2]
Dragonbane Shot
- Old: [Costs 2] → New: [Costs 3]
The above craftable cards will be eligible for full dust refunds for two weeks following Patch 23.2.2 (the only version of Drek’Thar that is craftable is the normal, non-golden version). Any players who own Diamond Drek’Thar at the time that the patch goes live will automatically receive 3,000 Gold when they log in as a refund.
The following cards have been buffed:
Xhilag’s Stalk (part of Xhilag the Abyss)
- Old: At the end of your turn, deal 1 damage to an enemy. → New: At the end of your turn, deal 2 damage to an enemy.
Harpoon Gun
- Old: After your hero attacks, Dredge. If it’s a Beast, reduce its Cost by (2). → New: After your hero attacks, Dredge. If it’s a Beast, reduce its Cost by (3).
Pet Collector
- Old: 3 Attack, 3 Health → New: 4 Attack, 4 Health
Azsharan Saber
- Old: 3 Attack, 3 Health → New: 4 Attack, 3 Health
Sunken Saber (generated by Azsharan Saber)
- Old: 3 Attack, 3 Health → New: 4 Attack, 3 Health
Blackwater Behemoth
- Old: [Costs 8] → New: [Costs 7]
Whirlpool
- Old: [Costs 9] → New: [Costs 8]
Shadowcloth Needle
- Old: [Costs 2] → New: [Costs 1]
Serpent Wig
- Old: Give a minion +1/+1. If you played a Naga while holding this, add a Serpent Wig into your hand. → New: Give a minion +1/+2. If you played a Naga while holding this, add a Serpent Wig into your hand.
Tooth of Nefarian
- Old: [Costs 3] → New: [Costs 2]
SI:7 Smuggler
- Old: Battlecry: Summon a random 0-Cost minion. (Improved for each other SI:7 card you have played this game). → New: Battlecry: Summon a random 1-Cost minion. (Improved for each other SI:7 card you have played this game).
Wildpaw Gnoll
- Old: [Costs 6] 3 Attack, 5 Health → New: [Costs 5] 4 Attack, 5 Health
Tess Greymane
- Old: [Costs 8] → New: [Costs 7]
Hench-Clan Burglar
- Old: 4 Attack, 3 Health → New: 4 Attack, 4 Health
Sira’kess Cultist
- Old: 2 Attack, 3 Health → New: 3 Attack, 4 Health
Dragged Below
- Old: [Costs 4] → New: [Costs 3]
Azsharan Scavenger
- Old: [Costs 3] 3 Attack, 4 Health → New: [Costs 2] 2 Attack, 3 Health
Sunken Scavenger (generated by Azsharan Scavenger)
- Old: [Costs 3] 3 Attack, 4 Health → New: [Costs 2] 2 Attack, 3 Health
Bloodscent Vilefin
- Old: [Costs 4] 4 Attack, 4 Health → New: [Costs 3] 3 Attack, 4 Health
![All The Great Dark Beyond Card Reveals for October 12 - Day 2 [Finished]](dark-beyond-reveals-day-2-thumb.webp)
Comments
I dont think thats intresting at all, having to keep your hand full all the time, thats a annoyance and kinda falls into the not letting you play the game department, which are the worst kinda decks there are.
Sure its better then demon seed, but like evrything is so thats not saying much. Not being THE worst ever doesnt make it good.
Remember when Maestra Thief Rogue resulted in Gnoll getting nerfed from (5) 4/5 to a (6) 3/5?! Maestra and Double Agent still in Standard too! This will be fun to see what happens!
Yeah, but Secret Passage is gone, which was the entire reason the Gnoll was played early enough to be a problem. It'll be fine.
The Blackwater Behemoth change buffs questline priest and I think that questline belongs in a Hearthstone Hall of Fame for worst designed cards. If you are lucky enough to curve out perfectly we'll give you a 5-mana 7/7 with taunt which puts a spell into your deck that instantly wins the game, because who doesn't love instant win cards...
The Wildpaw Gnoll buff is scary. It can easily become oppressive because of Maestra of the Masquerade. I am also surprised they gave that many buffs to big beast hunter at the same time. I don't like them pushing mana cheating so hard.
I'll contest that the priest questline looks like a badly designed card, but is actually kinda masterful. It can never win (at least not by using the quest) before turn 10, and in practice it's usually several turns later. So most decks have plenty of time to beat it. Also, the whole way along you have to decide between what's optimal and what progresses the quest, especially once you have missed a turn, but sometimes even when still playing on curve. There's even genuine opportunities for counterplay since you can't play Xyrella the turn you complete the questline, so she's vulnerable to disruption, and you can't play the shard for at least 1 turn after that either. So overall, I agree with every statement that it looks dumb, but never that it is dumb.
Sorry this reply is so late, I was away for a few days, but your post deserved an answer.
I follow you that Seek Guidance makes decks that are interesting to play but I find it appalling to play against. That is not to say I think it is too strong, but that it is unenjoyable to be matched up against.
I often feel like the only hope is that they do not curve out perfectly. Three times (that I remember) I have lost to a Purified Shard on turn 10 and it is frustrating and feels miserable. It - and Defend the Dwarven District - are matchups where I feel like my decisions do not matter. There is no interesting counterplay.
To take your example of Mutanus the Devourer: Against other decks there is a big question of when to play Mutanus, but that doesn't exist against quest-line priest. Wait for Xyrella, the Sanctified to be in hand and go. The game is decided by a 1 in whatever chance of eating Xyrella. I don't find that interesting.
So for me Seek Guidance sits in the same space as Tickatus as cards that are so frustrating to play against that they should never be more than a tiny percentage of ladder decks.
Basicly its the 1 and only questline , that actully fits the idea behind questline, slow/long and diffcult to complete with small rewards as go along to help you with it and a game winning/ending reward (littarly in this case), where as most others are very fast/easy to complete and/or just dont have that game winning reward (druid being just some burst and armor-
I'd say the rogue questline was well designed too, though for very different reasons. It's quite fast to complete, but requires minions to live for a turn do do much, so the opponent has options for countering it. The small pool of SI:7 cards - alongside the small pool of gizmos - also let Blizz completely control how it would play, which is probably why it feels fun and fair. There's really no way for players to make a toxic version of it! Despite that, it manages to avoid feeling too same-y as most SI:7 cards are there primarily to interact with the opponent's board, so decisions naturally change from game to game, while the other SI:7 cards are end-game bombs serving as alternate win conditions if Scabbs himself doesn't cut it. Finally, the gizmos do a diverse array of things while sticking to the deck's themes of stealth, board presence and removal, again presenting lots of routes through games.
I wouldn't want many decks to be set in stone so much by the design team, but the rogue questline does demonstrate that it has its advantages.
Abyssal curse buffs YES! By far my favorite deck this expansion and now it may even win some games!
Buffs are the best thing they can do. Turning bad cards into good is 100 times better feeling than turning good cards bad.
Thief Rogue got some sweet sweet lovin! Gnoll and Tooth buffs make those cards very playable. Giving Burgler one more health does matter because there a lot of spells and weapons that do 3 damage. Tess to 7 is a great cherry on top.
Good riddance to Drek'Thar and Dragonbane Shot. Multistrike will still be good I think. It was that OP.
So many great buffs. I remember when something like this was just a pipe dream. I'm really glad Team 5 has come around to embracing buffs.
Also, Xhilag looking BONKERS.
Cool, thief rogue buff. And I just created thief deck. Also happy with warlock buffs (because I play him :P).
Dragonbane Shot Nerf sounds like a Buff for Wild Odd Quest Hunter *_*
Overall good changes.
Only downside for me is that they totally killed Drek'Thar.
Compared to for example Occult Conjurer, summoning only one minion is often not even worth 4 mana anymore in the currently power creeped version of Hearthstone.
The Colossal buffs look nice, though I'm really sad that the Hunter Quest didn't get a nerf to the quest itself.
I think Xhilag’s Stalk's buff will be too much, but only time will tell.
Also really like this as I have been playing all the buffed cards already in my fun/suboptimal decks
I really like Thief Rogue. It's fun with a lot of variety between games, and although a bit inconsistent, it doesn't perform too badly. These buffs should make it more viable.