It's been around two weeks since the release of Maw and Disorder, Murder at Castle Nathria's Mini-Set, and Hearthstone received its first balance patch. This time around, Team 5's goal was to curb a couple of clear power outliers in order to even out the field. To be fair, we were expecting a couple of buffs alongside the nerfs (especially for some Maw and Disorder cards), but we feel like the devs nailed the latter, so we cannot really complain.
In case you missed them, here are all the 4 new card nerfs from this patch, which are already live.
- Harpoon Gun - The Dredge effect now discounts Beasts by 2 mana (down from 3). This is a buff revert.
- Bear Spirit Wildseed - Health is now 4 (down from 5).
- Stag Spirit Wildseed - Stats are now 4/3 (down from 5/4).
- Theotar, the Mad Duke - Now costs 5 mana (up from 4).
Quote From Blizzard The following cards have been adjusted down in power:
Show Spoiler
- Old: Costs 4
- New: Costs 5
Dev Comment: Theotar is a defining card in the current meta. He plays an important role in giving players agency against powerful late-game plays, but he can also be very frustrating to lose to. We don’t want him to be one of the most popular cards in the next expansion, and our goal with this change is to lower his playrate across all ranks. If his playrate doesn’t drop significantly with this change, we’ll evaluate further changes at the next opportunity.
- Old: 5 Attack, 4 Health
- New: 4 Attack, 3 Health
- Old: 2 Attack, 5 Health
- New: 2 Attack, 4 Health
- Old: After your hero attacks, Dredge. If it’s a Beast, reduce its cost by (3).
- New: After your hero attacks, Dredge. It it’s a Beast, reduce its cost by (2).
Dev Comment: Hunter has been the most popular and arguably the most powerful class in the game for some time, especially in lower ranks. These changes are meant to address some of the sharper play patterns this class is capable of, while simultaneously lowering the overall class power level.
As usual, all the nerfed cards, including Spirit Poacher, Stag Charge, Wild Spirits and Ara'lon, will be eligible for full dust refunds for two weeks following Patch 24.4.3, which means that you'll have time until October 27.
In this article, we're going to discuss the implications of the aforementioned card nerfs and what they could mean for Constructed.
The Dredge effect now discounts Beasts by 2 mana (down from 3). This is a buff revert.
Back when Harpoon Gun was buffed, it was able breath new life into the class; however, many players realized that it was quite the ambitious change, potentially very risky. Fast forward 4 months, we're in that exact situation: Hunter has learnt to stand on its feet thanks to the strong Wildseed package and therefore the Harpoon Gun highrolls aren't necessary anymore to keep the class relevant. To be fair, it's the other way around: now that Rexxar is very, very strong, there's no place in a healthy meta for 4 mana Hydralodon and Mountain Bear - pretty much the same reasoning that was behind From the Depths's nerf.
We think Beast Hunter will take a bigger hit in terms of playability from the next two nerfs rather than from this one.
Bear Spirit Wildseed - Now has 4 Health (down to 5).
Stag Spirit Wildseed - Stats are now 4/3 (down from 5/4).
The second nerf to the Wildseed package, which is a lot when we think about the rather mild expectations many players had towards this archetype prior to Castle Nathria's release.
Bear Spirit Wildseed - Wildseeds come in play early, for little mana investment, and, thanks to Wild Spirits, can go online even faster. Regarding Bear, an almost free 2/5 with Taunt was a great deal that can shut down aggression fairly efficiently and start the counter-offensive too: bringing its Health down to 4 will make this unit a more manageable to deal with, which is something we can agree on.
Stag Spirit Wildseed - The second nerf to this Wildseed, this time aimed at toning the minion's body rather than the equipped weapon. We knew Wildseeds needed a nudge, but we weren't expecting Stag to be the target once again, especially with the Bear on the list at the same time. With Stag now being a 4/3, it will be easier to remove (SI:7 Extortion, Holy Smite, Tooth of Nefarian, potentially Frostbite) and Hunter will have to find other ways to deal those missing damage points, therefore lowering the archetype's chances to reduce the Health of the opponent to 0.
Now costs 5 mana (up from 4).
We have mixed feelings towards this nerf: while we're happy that we'll get Theotar'ed less often and less efficiently, Theotar, the Mad Duke was the one single card that prevented many power-spike intensive (Hero cards, Sire Denathrius, Brann Bronzebeard...) decks from becoming too prevalent, especially in Wild, and now it took a hit.
One more mana won't make Theotar unplayable, but it will take a more significant mana investment to have a shot at its Battlecry; however, the part of this nerf that will hurt players the most will be the ability to combine this unit with other cards like Brann Bronzebeard, making Theotar far less effective. A shame, but the card was far too common and frustrating to play against.
What do you think about these changes? Are there any other cards you would've liked to see nerfed? Let us know in the comments below!
Comments
The problem with hunter is the mana cheating of Harpoon Gun, Azsharan Saber, Pet Collector, and Wing Commander Ichman. And Prince Renathal makes it easier for them to survive to their power turns. I am glad Harpoon Gun was weakened but I am surprised they didn't also nerf Pet Collector.
The Wildsteeds are good but they are not the reason hunter was strong. The bear is an Imprisoned Homunculus, and the Fox is worse than Pelican Diver. If I were to nerf the Wildsteeds I would have changed Wild Spirits because it is awakening them one turn earlier which makes them so strong.
I guess the HS team knows the meta is way too wonky to be fixed right now, so the best they can do is dock like 1-2% off of Hunter’s winrate XD
Meanwhile decks like combo Priest and Curse Imp Warlock are running loose on the meta, but we won’t talk about that..
Have you seen HSReplay recently? 😅
5 Classes with 50% winrate or over with only a 9.3% gap between Warlock and Warrior (at the time of writing).
Yes, these stats are across all ranks and that's what matters to most players and me 🙃
The meta is much more balanced than it ever was during the entire Year of the Gryphon (worst year of HS imo)
All Blizzard needed to do was tweak hunter to bring the class down to the same level as the rest and Voila! It feels like original HS again! (Aside from the same win cons each game, looking at you Denathrius 👀)
Theotar, the Mad Duke is going to get nerfed again, but probably somewhere early into the next expansion, which rumor has it, a new class will be coming out. The problem with the card is simple; its a win con, not really so much a disruptor, though its perfectly capable of doing that as well. Hsreplay lists its play win rate as fairly high; perhaps unsurprising given how many of my opponents quits right after this card is played. Im not even disenchanting it now because its still playable and Im 100% certain to be able to dust it again in future.
Likely at some point it'll only allow you to discard a card from each hand rather than swap it, which will significantly tank its win and play rate.
too poor nerf