We've got a major balance overhaul coming to Hearthstone later this week and Blizzard has provided a small look at what is to come.
In total, 25 cards are going to be hit by the balance changes with most cards of the bunch receiving buffs. Unfortunately, today's announcement is... announcement of an announcement status with the actual changes that are happening going to be dropping on Thursday with the patch notes, which is presumably the same day the patch hits. All this comes to us after last week's announcement of an announcement of an announcement.
Cards Getting Nerfed
Of the 25 changes, 7 cards are being nerfed.
- Wildpaw Gnoll
- Sinstone Graveyard
- Final Showdown
- Sinful Brand
- Glacial Advance
- Shockspitter
- Astalor Bloodsworn
Cards Getting Buffed
Buffs are going to be arriving too and for 18 cards! That's a lot of love to go around.
- Unholy Frenzy
- Battlefield Necromancer
- Boneguard Commander
- Vengeful Walloper
- Wither
- Vast Wisdom
- Energy Shaper
- Timewarden
- Haunting Nightmare
- Bonecaller
- High Cultist Basaleph
- Infantry Reanimator
- Dar'Khan Drathir
- Asvedon, the Grandshield
- Disruptive Spellbreaker
- Last Stand
- Remornia, Living Blade
- Nellie, the Great Thresher
What do you think they are going to change with each card? Make your predictions in the comments!
Comments
Is there a point in such a big nerf / buff with mini set arround the corner? Or we are not getting it before new rotation?
Well, yes. Meta is in such a bad state that Mini-Set would probably be squashed by Rogue and DH shenanigans, which would force Blizz to make nerfs anyway, so, as they say, better now and get some fresh air before Mini Set than later
While I'm fine with these cards changes, I'm getting a feeling that Team 5 are buffing more cards than previously, just to keep up with the power creep in the game. Wouldn't a mass nerf be more beneficial to the game than buffing underperforming cards?
Like, I'd be scared at what the game will look like 5 years from now where they buff cards like Secret Passage or Wildpaw Gnoll coz they'll be considered "too weak"
Mass nerfs are pointless because we already get consistent nerfs throughout the expansions. All you're doing is forcibly remove playable decks for no reason without actually guaranteeing underperforming classes to see the light of day.
Buffs are better because they actually enable more diversity.
Sadly nothing for Wild. We currently have no super broken decks like Seedlock, Tillerlock or Discardlock, but personally I would have liked to see changes to some of the more problematic builds in this priority:
1. Pillager Rogue, Quest Mage
2. Big Priest
3. maaaaaybe Secret Mage
IMO the only decks that really NEED changing in Wild are Big Priest, Quest Mage and Miracle Rogue (which they are hitting). There are other really powerful and busted decks, but none of them cause as many non-games as Big Priest and Miracle Rogue in particular. Quest Mage causes non-games if you're playing anything other than aggro or don't have a deck full of disruption.
So my opponent can have 3-4 Rat Kings on board but god forbid that Thori’belore revives more than 2 times.
I also really hate BSM, but I expect it to continue dominating what is left of the meta once Shockspitter and Rogue get nerfed again since no major changes were made to i
Would a Thori'belore buff even do anything? Sure, it could see more play, but if you buff it to the point where you can consistently revive it 4-5 times per game it might be so strong that the deck shuts down aggression completely as long as it consistently finds the Phoenix and by that point you could argue it's one of those 1-card build-arounds that make or break the whole deck, which isn't good in my opinion.
Right now Warrior doesn't really have enough valuable fire spells to justify Thori'belore. The solution should be to buff those (or the decks they belong in) and if Thori is still weak after that you can consider buffing it.
Well, we knew it was coming and let's be real its been coming a long way back.
So there's no reason to discuss the nerfs and buffs because there isn't any revealed, so let's have a discussion on how the classes changed would fare in a hypothetical new meta.
- Rogue will go back to thief, and nearly 100% all in on Queen Azshara or bust. Probably Wildpaw Gnoll would get a 1-2 mana nerf because of Potion Belt, which to be fair will completely ruin the card, but Im pretty sure we'll never see Maestra of the Masquerade ever again. Sad to see we wont get the dust from that card.
Can't see any other rogue archetype. There's a chance someone will work draka rogue back in some capacity, along with cards like Bonelord Frostwhisper, who I think works the best in rogue.
- Spell dhunter will still be good despite all this nerfs because what happens is simply that quest dhunter dont get to scam wins out of nowhere anymore.
Can't see outcast dhunter be anywhere near tier 2 unless Vengeful Walloper gets a massive change, like getting charge etc. Outcast is simply a poor mechanic and without easy ways to cheapen cards like skull it'll never be good.
- Warrior, in my opinion, would probably stay a poor class unless team5 goes completely ham on the changes. But admitably there's some really spicy choices here, like nellie (which was the best colossal minion on launch and is currently a joke card) and remornia. The main problem remains; warrior can't draw, and is immensely slower than most decks out there. Thori'belore should be buffed to revive for every fire spell in my opinion. Its not even strictly that great and is still countered by silences.
A chance we'll see an archetype that mirrors what bless priest is doing.
- Undead shadow priest may actually be good. Its not a bad deck, but gets destroyed in the current meta because it can never fight back even one Wildpaw Gnoll on 2. Have a feeling that Haunting Nightmare will be a meta defining card for priest.
Surprised that Sister Svalna isn't getting changed. That deck with Radiant Elemental is scary when it works. Very tilting deck to be certain
- Undead druid will never ever work unless team5 completely overhauls or introduces so many undead cards in the miniset that its impossible to fail.
- Paladin would be fine even without any buffs. But Timewarden is presently so slow and very hard to use properly. Chances are good it gets taunt, or becomes a 3 mana card.
- Hope team5 nails mage right because I dont like the direction of their buffs. Casino mage should never ever be allowed to be more than a tier 3 deck
- Unholy DK changes are funny because the deck is perfectly fine in wild even without many actual wild cards in it. All it takes is a cheap and consistent way to get corpses early on. I think this is one archetype that will benefit from new cards not buffs.
Battlefield Necromancer would probably spawn a 1/2 that gives a corpse back when it dies. Or it gets reduced to 1 rune, which is fine. Not sure what they intend to do with Unholy Frenzy however. 2 mana, likely.
- Hunter will remain perfectly where it is. The change to spitter probably wont change much, unless its like 5 mana. Probably nerfed to 4 mana or capped damage (not likely, but its an option). The real problem here is how easily spitter scam wins with brann. Take brann off and its a perfectly reasonable card at 3.
- And finally warlock. Okay, Im afraid. Because none of the nerfs are hitting minelock, and I still think that deck scam wins out of nowhere. Probably a good time to remind team5 that Runed Mithril Rod is a card that should never have existed.
Wont be surprised to see warlock be tier 1 until the miniset.
One last comment. That Astalor Bloodsworn nerf may not actually reduce its play rate. I think the first and second forms are probably the most impactful and the final form is only ever useful (or abused) in rogue and druid. But I can see why they nerfed it the way they did. Its basically denathrius in another form.
Dounbt, the risen will give a corpse.
Thats entire point of the risen Tokens (evry single one), they dont give a corpse.
Thatd be changing entire mechanic essnetialy for 1card, when could just as easly buff the token's stats by 1point, not change the text/mechanic of a card. Which is what they prefer doing.
Simple/easier changes
I'll be honest, I dont know why Battlefield Necromancer is being chosen for buffs but it seems to be that the main problem with this card on 2 is that it takes up a corpse to do anything useful. If the card is not consistent in the early game then its probably a miss no matter what they'd do to the token. So I think the probable buff choice would be either to remove the corpse requirement or let it regain the corpse spent.
We'll find out a few hours later.
The nerfs can be described with the word “obviously” typed over and over, but one notes that Wildpaw Gnoll is so egregiously Blizzard’s own fault that it’s not even funny. As for buffs:
Battlefield Necromancer and Boneguard Commander are both burdened with the same problem: Blizzard was too afraid of Unholy being strong (which seems foolish — board-based build-up decks are always weaker than other concepts in modern Hearthstone — but maybe I missed something) so their summoned minions don’t contribute Corpses. This is even more hilariously bad because Blood has Soulstealer which, alongside normal play, often gives it better Corpse generation than Unholy.
In that vein, Unholy Frenzy getting a buff sounds very good indeed. If you pair a cheaper Unholy Frenzy with a rush minion you’re getting some pretty good early board control.
Vengeful Walloper will not save minion-based DH. The nerfs might. Here’s hoping.
I rarely give Blizzard praise — I rarely have cause to — but the list of buffs looks very good. I especially like how they’re hitting multiple cards in a package. Priest Undead is getting a shot in the arm spread over three cards and Dar'Khan Drathir is getting its inevitable teammate Infantry Reanimator buffed. That’s far, far better than their previous trend of doing few buffs and usually for single cards in an archetype. That’s a really good sign.
I question whether or not minion DH and Dragon Pally are getting enough bennies for exactly that reason, though. Still, good trend.
I’m hoping that nu-Asvedon, the Grandshield gives you a copy of the spell that costs zero and that leaves your hand at the end of the turn. It won’t, but I’m wishing it.
All the nerfs feel reasonable. Glacial Advance being targetted presumably to pre-emptively keep Frost DK from just being the next dominant burn deck in line, which is fine.
Buffs looks interesting and somewhat confusing.
Like...I know Unholy Frenzy is a bad card, but I find it hard to imagine as being any better even at 2 or 1-mana. Battlefield Necromances could be really strong if the token becomes a 2/2, but that might be almost too strong for just one corpse. Curious on how they'll go about it.
Mage buffs just look like fun, DH and Druid are probably pointless for the time being (I'm assuming mana reductions here)
Priest looks very very interesting. If the buffs are good enough then Undead Priest might be a serious midrange contender.
Hopeful for Warlock buffs as well, but it's probably just gonna be 1-mana off each card which probably isn't enough to make that deck a thing.
Warrior buffs could be interesting. Remornia with better stats could be an interesting pick-up for Control Warrior or something more tempo-ish (or just as a lategame threat for Enrage Warrior). Spellbreaker at 4-mana could be really powerful if you can actually put together a reasonable Control deck, which might be an option if they unnerf Nellie (although I doubt they'll just fully revert her, because then we're back at the point where she just wins games on the spot). Interested on how they're gonna buff Asvedon, given that he is already an all-around good card in a class that just happens to not be able to use him effectively. Perhaps "target enemies if possible" to make better use of damage spells.
IMO, if the token becomes a 2/2 it is completely fine. The Risen Ghouls of Army of the Dead are 2/2 as well. The Risen Footman just has Taunt instead of Rush.
However, if they are going to touch the mana cost of Battlefield Necromancer, I will flip a small table because it would no longer fit in my Even Unholy Death Knight deck in Wild.
I dont think blizzard understands what cards are the biggest problem right now. These cards they are nerfing don't feel ridiculously strong for the most part.
Except they are literally the best cards in the game and the prime reason why the meta is the way it is.
Pray tell what cards you think are in need of nerfs?
There is shadowstep, prep, edwin, concoctions in general are just plain broken especially the cards that generate them like putricide, the 2 mana 3/2 that makes a concoction cost 0 which is also really strong when combined with shadowstep. Rogue has continually been the most played class by a landslide this entire meta and they only nerf two of their cards which arent even their strongest cards. These nerfs to other classes will just continue to make rogue even stronger than it is now. Also blizzard has nerfed other cards in that past that I have felt they didnt need to be nerfed as they werent even a problem to begin with like renethal and denathrius, the best decks in the game dont even use 40 cards and denathrius was only seeing play in blood dk and druid.
I'll just chime in here to your comment on rogue.
Concoctions are really strong, but the only reason why rogue is winning lots of games is because of late game astalor win con and early Wildpaw Gnolls. Take away both of that and concoctions are good value cards but remain limited so it cant 100% go pass heavy control decks and its too slow to impact aggro decks, even with Ghoulish Alchemist on 2.
The whole point is to make rogue a playable class while encouraging diversity. The choices team5 have made are spot on for rogue. I cant see otherwise.
Generally* Team 5 doesn't nerf cards from the latest expansion unless they super oppressive and popular like Astalor. If concoctions are still OP come next expansion, they'll probably be hit. My only hope for Shadowstep is that it's banished to wild come the core set 2023 update. Also if you look at HSreplay, Wildpaw Gnoll and Sinstone Graveyard are still in the top 10 most played cards.