Blizzard has announced patch 27.6.2 will launch this Thursday, October 26 bringing several balance changes to Constructed, Battlegrounds and Duels. Here's the downlow:
Constructed:
- Embrace of Nature - Now costs (2), up from (1).
- Rake - Now costs (2), up from (2).
- Prison Breaker - Now deals 2 damage to all enemies, down from 3.
- Yogg-Saron, Unleashed - Now costs (9), down from (15). Changed effect to: After you use an ability, cast 2 random spells.
- Tony, King of Piracy - Now costs (7), up from (5). Changed effect: Battlecry: Replace your deck with a copy of your opponent's. Finale: Draw a card. Unbanned from Wild.
- The Jailer - Changed effect: Destroy your deck. This minion gains Immune. Unbanned from Wild.
Constructed Anomaly Update:
The following anomalies have been removed from the pool:
- Driven to Greed: Whenever a player ends their turn with unspent Mana, they get a Coin.
- Army of the Corrupted: The first minion played on each player's turns costs (1) less.
- Spread the Corruption: The first spell played on each player's turns costs (1) less.
Battlegrounds:
- Gusty Trumpeter, Mannoroth and Amalgadon have been removed from the minion pool.
- Gentle Djinni has been added back to the minion pool.
- Relentless Mur'ghoul - Now Avenge (5), up from Avenge (4).
- Piloted Whirl-O-Tron - Now only copies other friendly minions' Deathrattles.
- Gentle Djinni - Now Tier 5, down from Tier 6.
- Admiral Eliza Goreblade - Now gives all friendly minions +3/+1, up from +2/+1.
Battlegrounds Anomaly Update:
- Finicky Hourglass has been removed from the Anomaly Pool.
- Anomalous Twin has been added back to the Anomaly Pool.
- Shackles of the Primus will no longer show up in lower-ranked lobbies, and shows up less frequently in all other lobbies.
Several heroes will no longer show up when the following anomalies are in play:
- Audience's Choice: Tess Greymane, Scabbs Cutterbutter, Reno Jackson, E.T.C., Band Manager, Sneed, Millhouse Manastorm, Lich Baz'hial.
- Anomalous Wisdomball: Infinite Toki.
- Anomalous Twin: Lady Vashj, Ini Stormcoil, Death Speaker Blackthorn.
- Anomalous Bribe: Dancin' Deryl, Death Speaker Blackthorn, Mutanus the Devourer, Professor Putricide.
- The Keys to Victory: Ini Stormcoil, Infinite Toki.
- Bring Home the Bacon: Alexstrasza, Overlord Saurfang.
- Temperence of Aman'Thul: Kurtrus Ashfallen, Rakanishu, Lady Vashj, Overlord Saurfang, Tavish Stormpike, C'thun, Cariel Roame, Voone, Maiev Shadowsong, Cookie the Cook, Tickatus.
- Path of the Treasure Seeker: Scabbs Cutterbutter, Tess Greymane.
Duels:
- Dino Tracking - Now only Discovers Beasts from your class.
- Demon Blood - Now gives a random Demon in your hand +3/+2, up from +2/+2.
- Mind Tether - Now a passive effect: After you cast a spell, deal 1 damage to the enemy hero.
- No Guts, No Glory - Now costs (1), down from (2).
- Outlander - Now Discovers Fel spell instead of adding a random one to your hand.
- Vile Concoction - Now adds a Toxin to your hand instead of a Concoction.
Quote From Blizzard Entertainment Patch 27.6.2 is a data-only patch, launching on October 26, with the following updates:
Hearthstone Updates
Card Updates
Dev Comment: There were two clear meta offenders that we wanted to address in this patch: Yogg-Saron and the Druid class. Recent additions from the mini-set made for overly-powerful neutral board control tools that were warping the meta. These, combined with stand-out Druid cards, made for a Druid shell that was able to cover its class weaknesses and utilize any number of “finishers” to end the game. These changes focus on weakening the Druid shell that facilitated these powerful finishers, while also removing negative play experiences that we believe are causing more pain than fun. After those adjustments, the Jailer and Tony are out on probation, but we’ll be keeping an eye on them, and the rest of the meta, as we head into the Showdown in the Badlands.
Embrace of Nature
Old: [1 Mana]
New: [2 Mana]
Rake
Old: [1 Mana]
New: [2 Mana]
Dev Comment: Druid has a lot of redundancy right now, but Embrace of Nature and Rake are two cards that stand out as particularly integral to the class. They are also both too efficient for their cost. We considered other adjustments to Druid, but these were the two most stand-out choices.
Prison Breaker
Old: Battlecry: If you’ve cast 5 or more spells this game, deal 3 damage to all enemies.
New: Battlecry: If you’ve cast 5 or more spells this game, deal 2 damage to all enemies.
Dev Comment: The current suite of neutral board clears are a bit too punishing to minion-based decks. This change is to open up a bit of space in the meta for early minion strategies.
Yogg-Saron, Unleashed
Old: [15 Mana] Costs (1) less for each spell you’ve cast this game.
New: [9 Mana] After you use an ability, cast 2 random spells.
Dev Comment: When we made Yogg-Saron, we wanted it to be a powerful, exciting marquee card for the mini-set. Unfortunately, it ended up being too overpowered for too long. We’re removing the cost adjustment effect instead of bumping up its cost for two reasons: 1) we want the card to be played in more than just spell-spamming decks; and 2) this is the change we’re most confident will land at the power level we want. We replaced the cost reduction effect with the new random-spells effect because we wanted something that represented the character’s relationship with magic—and madness!
Tony, King of Piracy
Old: [5 Mana] Both players’ decks are swapped. Finale: Draw a card.
New: [7 Mana] Battlecry: Replace your deck with a copy of your opponent’s. Finale: Draw a card.
Tony is also now Unbanned in Wild.
Dev Comment: When cards are causing problems when they’re played the way they’re designed to be played, that means they’re ripe for a redesign. Piracy is not a victimless crime, and Tony only really appeared when he was causing problems. This change keeps the essence of his effect, but avoids the sharp play experiences he caused.
The Jailer
Old: Battlecry: Destroy your deck. For the rest of the game, your minions are Immune.
New: Battlecry: Destroy your deck. This minion gains Immune.
The Jailer is also now Unbanned in Standard and Wild.
Dev Comment: There was some concern that The Jailer would still work too well even with the updated Tony, so we’re making an adjustment here to tone down The Jailer as well and remove a lot of the polarizing situations he could enable.
All versions of the above cards that can be disenchanted will be eligible for full dust refunds for two weeks following Patch 27.6.2.
Ranked Anomaly Updates
The following Anomalies have been removed from the Anomaly Pool:
Driven to Greed: Whenever a player ends their turn with unspent Mana, they get a Coin.
Army of the Corrupted: The first minion played on each player’s turns costs (1) less.
Spread the Corruption: The first spell played on each player’s turns costs (1) less.
Dev Comment: These are the most game-impacting Anomalies, especially when they disproportionately affect one player over the other based on their deck choices.
Battlegrounds Updates
Battlegrounds Anomaly Updates
Anomaly Pool Updates
Finicky Hourglass has been removed from the Anomaly Pool.
Shackles of the Primus has been removed from the Anomaly Pool for lower-ranked lobbies, and appears less frequently than before in all other lobbies.
- Also, the banned minion types for Shackles of the Primus are now: Beasts, Murlocs, Elementals, and Undead.
Anomalous Twin has been returned to the Anomaly Pool.
The following heroes are now banned from the following Anomalies:
Audience’s Choice: Tess Greymane, Scabbs Cutterbutter, Reno Jackson, E.T.C. Band Manager, Sneed, Millhouse Manastorm, Lich Baz’hial
Anomalous Wisdomball: Infinite Toki
Anomalous Twin: Lady Vashj, Ini Stormcoil, Death Speaker Blackthorn
Anomalous Bribe: Dancin’ Deryl, Death Speaker Blackthorn, Mutanus the Devourer, Professor Putricide
The Keys to Victory: Ini Stormcoil, Infinite Toki
Bring Home the Bacon: Alexstrasza, Overlord Saurfang
Temperence of Aman’Thul: Kurtrus Ashfallen, Rakanishu, Lady Vashj, Overlord Saurfang, Tavish Stormpike, C’Thun, Cariel Roame, Voone, Maiev Shadowsong, Cookie the Cook, Tickatus
Path of the Treasure Seaker: Scabbs Cutterbutter, Tess Greymane
Minion Pool Updates
Gusty Trumpeter, Mannoroth, and Amalgadon (Tier 7) have been removed from the minion pool.
Gentle Djinni has been returned to the minion pool.
Minion Updates
Relentless Mur’ghoul
Old: Venomous. Avenge (4): Gain Reborn.
New: Venomous. Avenge (5): Gain Reborn.
Piloted Whirl-O-Tron
Old: Start of Combat: Copy all other minions’ Deathrattles (except Piloted Whirl-O-Tron).
New: Start of Combat: Copy all other friendly minions’ Deathrattles (except Piloted Whirl-O-Tron).
Gentle Djinni
Old: [Tier 6]
New: [Tier 5]
Admiral Eliza Goreblade
Old: Whenever a friendly Pirate attacks, give all friendly minions +2/+1.
New: Whenever a friendly Pirate attacks, give all friendly minions +3/+1.
Duels Updates
Hero Power Updates
Dino Tracking
Old: Discover a Beast. Give it +1/+1.
New: Discover a Beast from your class. Give it +1/+1.
Demon Blood
Old: Give a random Demon in your hand +2/+2.
New: Give a random Demon in your hand +3/+2.
Mind Tether
Old: [1 Mana] After each spell you cast this turn, deal 1 damage to the enemy hero.
New: Passive: After you cast a spell, deal 1 damage to the enemy hero.
No Guts, No Glory
Old: 2 Mana
New: 1 Mana
Outlander
Old: If you played an Outcast card this turn, add a random Fel spell to your hand.
New: If you played an Outcast card this turn, Discover a Fel Spell.
Vile Concoction
Old: Give a minion Poisonous. Combo: Add a Concoction to your hand.
New: Give a minion Poisonous. Combo: Add a Toxin to your hand.
Bug Fixes and Game Improvements
[Hearthstone] Fixed a text issue with Lakkari Sacrifice.
[Battlegrounds] Anima Bride and Invigorating Conch Quest Rewards are no longer pickable together.
[Duels] Fixed a bug where Blade of Quel’Delar and Hilt of Quel’Delar did not combine into Sword of Quel’Delar.
Comments
There was also Bolf and Mal'Ganis that could be comboed with Jailer. So I agree on another poster is that it is to future-proof him. He would've had to be looked at again if he was left alone.
If I had to guess, The Jailer nerf is future-proofing so he doesn't limit design space or allow for a toxic combo going forward.
Yeah, The Jailer's nerf is a bit heavy handed. Destroy your deck and The Jailer can still be destroyed by effects such as Twisting Nether? Back to jail with you!
The Jailer didn't get nerfed. He got lobotomized!
Great to see Yogg getting his randomness back. Yeah, there were the tentacles, but it wasn't the same.