Balance changes are on their way to our clients today targeting Constructed and Battlegrounds. Here are all the details including commentary from Blizzard on each of the changes.
You're not going crazy, we've updated our post from yesterday with the actual changes.
Standard Balance Nerfs & Changes
The collectible cards, plus Smokestack, Mo'arg Drillfist, and Tram Conductor Gerry, will be eligible for full dust refunds for at least three weeks following Patch 28.0.3.
Nerfs
- Blindeye Sharpshooter - Now has 3 Health (Down from 5).
- Always a Bigger Jormungar - Now costs 2 Mana (Up from 1).
- Order in the Court - No longer allows you to draw a card.
Changes
- Defense Attorney Nathanos - Now has 4 Attack (Down from 5). Now gains Deathrattle effect before it is triggered.
- The Azerite Snake - Goes back to 4 Mana (Was temporarily 6). Now steals 7 Health from enemy hero (Down from 10)
Blizzard Reasoning
Quote From Blizzard The team is pretty happy with the launch of Showdown in the Badlands. We’re seeing players having fun, exploring, and having success with a variety of decks and strategies. This is a lighter patch based on early data, designed just to hit the biggest feels and power outliers. We’ll continue to watch how the meta develops after these changes as we evaluate data and feedback for our next balance patch, scheduled for late next week, to set up for the World Championships on December 16 and 17!
Naga Demon Hunter is an outlier, but it is also one of the popular new archetypes from the expansion, so this change is designed to make the deck weaker without killing it. This change still gives players the fun pop-off turn, but makes it riskier for the Demon Hunter to go in early, so there are more early-game decisions and fewer snowballing games.
Paladin is one of the strongest classes across most rank levels. Order in the Court is a linchpin across Paladin decks, bridging them to their late-game and combo pieces. This adjustment makes that transition a little less efficient.
Hunter was the other biggest class outlier that we wanted to weaken this patch. Always a Bigger Jormungar is one of the strongest cards in the class data, and also one of the most stand-out cards in terms of play experience. This change makes the deck a little slower and a little less consistent, since this card can no longer be drawn by Trinket Tracker.
In this patch, we’re updating the rules to make Defense Attorney Nathanos work more favorably with cards like Spurfang, Twisted Frostwing, and Bovine Skeleton. We think this will work more intuitively for players, and it sounds fun. But, at the same time, our overall goal with this patch is to slightly weaken Hunter, so we’re giving Nathanos a small, pre-emptive stats adjustment to make up for his new synergies.
Our last adjustment to Azerite Snake was a temporary fix to that standout play experience outlier. That adjustment, and natural meta developments, have gotten Excavate Warlock to about where we want it right now. This change makes Azerite Snake once again match the other Legendary Excavate Treasures’ costs, but keeps the overall clock and cost about the same by requiring 5 activations for lethal instead of the current 3.
Bug Fixes
Quote From Blizzard
- [Hearthstone] The Tram Cars summoned by Trolley Problem and Tram Conductor Gerry are no longer Mechs (they don’t have a CPU).
- [Hearthstone] Added the Fel Spell School to Fan the Hammer.
- [Hearthstone] Reno, Lone Ranger and Resistance Aura have had text-only updates, for clarity.
- [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Forging Eulogizer removed the cost reduction from Helping Hand.
- [Hearthstone] Corrected various localization issues.
- [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where the Wheel of Yogg-Saron could get stuck in the Yogg-iseum Anomaly.
- [Collection] Signature Slagmaw, the Slumbering can now be disenchanted.
Battlegrounds Changes
Quote From Blizzard Anomaly Updates
- Forest Warden Omu and Kurtrus Ashfallen are now banned from games with the Money Match Anomaly.
- Forest Warden Omu is now banned from games with the Valuation Inflation Anomaly.
- The Yogg-iseum Anomaly is now returned to the Anomaly Pool.
Minion Updates
Dev Comment: Most of these changes are primarily for power reasons, to curb some of the meta’s current overperforming and underperforming minions. A few of these changes are being made for more nuanced reasons, that we elaborate on below.
Goldrinn, the Great Wolf
- Old: 3/3. Deathrattle: For the rest of this combat, your Beasts have +3/+3.
- New: 3/2. Deathrattle: For the rest of this combat, your Beasts have +3/+2.
Banana Slamma
- Old: [Tier 4] 2/5.
- New: [Tier 5] 3/6.
- Dev Comment: Banana Slamma is not an overwhelming power outlier, but it does tend to be a frustrating sentiment outlier, especially where one player gets too many of them too early in the game. We’ve moving it up a tier to decrease its appearance rate and make getting multple Slammas harder. We’re moving Mama Bear down a tier so that Beasts don’t lose too much overall power with this round of changes.
Mama Bear
- Old: [Tier 5] 4/4. Whenever you summon a Beast, give it +4/+4.
- New: [Tier 4] 3/3. Whenever you summon a Beast, give it +3/+3.
Gunpowder Courier
- Old: 2/4.
- New: 2/6.
Dancing Barnstormer
- Old: [Tier 4] 3/2. Deathrattle: Elementals in the Tavern have +3/+2 for the rest of the game.
- New: [Tier 2] 2/1. Deathrattle: Elementals in the Tavern have +1/+1 for the rest of the game.
- Dev Comment: Elementals have been struggling a bit since the removal of Gusty Trumpeter. To help them out, we’re making many small adjustments across Elementals to increase their overall power without concentrating it on a single minion.
Flourishing Frostling
- Old: [Tier 2] 0/6. Has +1 Attack for each Elemental you played this game (wherever this is).
- New: [Tier 4] 1/1. Has +1/+1 for each Elemental you played this game (wherever this is).
Tavern Tempest
- Old: [Tier 5] 4/4.
- New: [Tier 4] 2/2.
Carbonic Copy
- Old: [Tier 4] 3/3.
- New: [Tier 5] 6/7.
Rock Rock
- Old: 4/4. After you play an Elemental, give your other minions +2 Attack. (Swaps to Health next turn!)
- New: 5/5. After you play an Elemental, give your minions +2 Attack. (Swaps to Health next turn!)
Diremuck Forager
- Old: 4/3. Start of Combat: Give a Murloc in your hand +2/+2, then summon it for this combat only.
- New: 3/4. Start of Combat: Give a minion in your hand +2/+2, then summon it for this combat only.
Bassgill
- Old: [Tier 5] 8/3. Deathrattle: Summon the highest Health minion from your hand for this combat only.
- New: [Tier 4] 7/2. Deathrattle: Summon the highest Health Murloc from your hand for this combat only.
- Dev Comment: Both Bassgill and Diremuck Forager server an important role in Murloc comps by allowing them to summon handbuffed minions into play. However, Bassgill is often used to get other powerful minions into play, like Venomous minions or Leeroy. We’ve adjusted both cards to decrease the viability of those other comps, while keeping them viable for handbuff strategies.
Murky
- Old: 6/5. Battlecry: Give a friendly Murloc +1/+1. (Improved by each Battlecry minion you played this game!)
- New: 6/4. Battlecry: Give a friendly Murloc +10/+10.
Aggem Thorncurse
- Old: 3/6. After a Blood Gem is played on this, give a friendly minion of each type +1/+1.
- New: 3/5. After a Blood Gem is played on this, give a friendly minion of each type +2/+1.
Captain Flat Tusk
- Old: 9/6. After you spend 4 Gold, get a Blood Gem.
- New: 9/5. After you spend 3 Gold, get a Blood Gem.
Motley Phalanx
- Old: 7/7. Taunt. Deathrattle: Give a friendly minion of each type +7/+7.
- New: 5/5. Taunt. Deathrattle: Give a friendly minion of each type +5/+5.
Comments
My opinion on the nerfs/buffs:
Blindeye Sharpshooter:... Uh what? Is this supposed to be a nerf? The problem is that it can OTK you on like turns 3-4. This change does NOTHING to change the "feels bad" part of the card. It only makes it easier to clear, IF you somehow survive. This nerf changes nothing from what i can tell. I really was expecting at least a +1 mana nerf.
Always a Bigger Jormungar: Great change. This makes it harder to draw, since Trinket Tracker doesn't tutor it anymore. And it costing 2 mana makes it harder to combo with the cleave minions, which often slows down the deck. I.m.o. it's a good thing that this deck got nerfed, because it punished minion based strategies and promoted OTK/Kill from in hand strategies. Board should matter, and this nerf makes board based decks better again.
Order in the Court: Removing the draw makes it so it's not re-order your deck + free instant Lightray or The Garden's Grace. Instead you will now only get the consistancy. Which is still a great thing. Reminder that Lorekeeper Polkelt was basically in every paladin deck because of the provided consistancy. Even after polkelt was nerfed to 5 mana, paladin still used it. Order in the Court will continue to see play regardless. TLDR: It will be a bit weaker, but will continue to see play in pretty much every paladin deck because it makes the decks consistant.
Defense Attorney Nathanos: Interesting change. Making it synergise better with the current deathrattles is a nice buff. However i'm not certain if this makes any change. Nathanos will rotate next expansion, so in terms of Standard this will only be relevant for this expansion + mini set. Soo it only has a very limited time in the spotlight, and honestly i don't think this buff will change anything. I feel like Highlander hunter also still has plenty of better plays around that mana range, so unless deathrattle hunter gets pushed hard in the mini-set i'm not sure if this will see play.
The Azerite Snake: Honestly i thought they were gonna go "Deal 10 damage to your opponent. Gain health equal to the damage dealth." with the nerf, but seeing only 3 damage go away is a bit dissapointing. You now need to play this 5 times instead of 3 times in order to kill your opponent. I'm a bit dissapointed with this nerf, because i feel like the excavate package was supposed to be a control package instead of a combo package. And this change makes it so it continues to be a combo deck that feels horrible to play against. At least we now have a bigger window to outdamage their "healing" during their bounces.
Kinda surprised Crusader Aura didn't get hit, because it really feels like an outlier. (Seriously why did paladin get a 4 mana Bloodlust that lasts 3 turns and ALSO gives +1 health buff?!?)
Overall i'm not that excited about this wave of nerfs. I.m.o only 2/5 changes feel good. (Order and Jormungar) But luckely this is just based on early outliers. (Still surprised Aura isn't an outlier) So late next week we hopefully have some changes based on more data, and thus more potential nerfs. Personally i do enjoy the meta when i'm not playing against paladin, so lets hope the post-nerf meta will be even more fun!
I think they should have nerfed Lightray and The Garden's Grace instead of Order in the Court. Alternatively they could change the mechanics so cards that reduce their own cost will also be cheaper in the deck and not just in hand. Then Order in the Court could shuffle Lightray to the bottom of your deck.
It would create an interesting decision for when to play OitC. You could play it early to put Lightray/The Garden's Grace towards the top of your deck, but you lose tempo and will have dead draws for a few turns.
Very tame standard nerfs overall, kinda reminds me of the small nerfs they did back in the day. Just slight adjustments and probably won't make much of a difference. Least the nerf to Azerite Snake will delay the bouncing combo quite a bit but I'm sure these archetypes will remain quite strong. I did hear we may be getting another balance patch later next week if things don't change at all.
At least Murlocs are nerfed. Murky was such a big powerspike, and Bassgill did have some obscene flexibility.
I'll be the first to say it: this was the correct nerf for Blindeye Sharpshooter. This is what I'd call an "invisible nerf". It's not something you the opponent will ever notice. However, this does mean that Blindeye Sharpshooter is now completely useless outside of the combo turn. You cannot play it on the board preemptively, which slows down the Demon Hunter and gives them a dead draw in the early game, which in turn opens them up to aggro decks, which in turn reduces the deck's overall winrate and thus playrate.
I think that's a brilliant change. Nerfing the effect would've just killed the card and also killed the archetype, while this way the deck can exist in a more fair state.
I'm going to respectfully disagree. Most of the games I've won with this deck have been due to a single, huge pop-off turn, making the health irrelevant. More often than not, I play Blindeye Sharpshooter for only 2 mana thanks to Load the Chamber. A mana-cost nerf would have been more impactful.
I will also share that I have won a few games by playing Blindeye Sharpshooter on turn 3 and having it live due to its health, and I've also had a few games where the pop-off turn wasn't quite lethal, but my opponent couldn't remove it, so I got to go again. In these cases, yes, the health nerf definitely makes a difference. These scenarios are few and far between though.
Its only a brilliant nerf if the idea is to keep its essential power level but disallowing a naked sharpshooter on 3 turn, which to be fair happens rarely anyway.
I think team5 wants to monitor this a bit more before removing its viability. Its a cool new thing for dhunter and its a new expansion they'd probably want to avoid killing it early.
But with regards to what the deck was already doing, it'll continue doing it, which I get is not exactly what the community wants or expected.
Also lower health can be important in rare cases of things like Hunter Secrets that can damage minion why being played.
Thx for the hasty info as always
Well, we get some nerfs but surprisingly few changes, given that elemental shaman is just dead on arrival.
- There's only two possible changes to Blindeye Sharpshooter. Either a mana increase to 4, or it gets the damage dealt reduced to 1. Both would very nearly remove the card as a competitive option, or at very least relegate the card to being a supporting card rather than as a full build around.
We've seen the same nerfs to steno, I would be very surprised if this card doesnt get the same treatment.
- Always a Bigger Jormungar would probably get a mana cost nerf to 3. Its harsh, but I seriously dont see how team5 can fix this one without changing how the mechanics work. We could make it not work with cleave effects, but Ive rarely seen team5 do mechanic changes and I dont expect it to be done here.
- Changes to Order in the Court is likely entirely because it does it job way too well. Almost all the problems with paladin starts with this card: you simply see The Countess, The Garden's Grace, and Lightray way too often against pally.
Probably change it so it doesnt draw you a card. That'll slow down paladin substantially, probably even make the card nigh unplayable outside of highlander. We'll see what they'll do with this one.
i enjoyed naga DH while it lasted. it was fun and required a modicum of thought (naga, spell, naga, spell) more than other brainless combo or other highroll decks
My guesses:
Order in the Court will no longer draw a card. Might also cost one mana more.
Blindeye Sharpshooter will drop "Then switch" from its text.
Always a Bigger Jormungar will see a mana increase, but this will solve nothing, as the problem is the fact that it can also hit adjacent minions. How would the text limit that?
The Azerite Snake will become an end of turn effect.
I have zero thoughts on the attorney.
I've been absolutely dominating with Blindeye Sharpshooter. The card is definitely due for a nerf. I'll miss it, though.
Can someone enlighten me as to why they'd be nerfing Order in the Court? Is there something broken it's doing in Standard?
I'm not saying this with a wealth of experience, but as far as I can tell Order in the Court is allowing the Paladin to get to its best cards with too much ease. The main problem is presumably because everything on the top-end has a Mana-cheat function built in, thus denying the actual 'cost' of the Paladin's highest-Cost cards. This could include:
As the game progresses, OitC also moves all of the lower-Cost "clutter" out of the way so the Paladin can drop value-bombs over and over again like The Countess. That consistency - combined with the Mana cheating - seems problematic.
The most powerful thing I've seen it do is get a Lightray into hand and on the board super early. If a Paladin manages to play 7 or 8 class cards in the first few turns (easy to do with all the 1-drops, plus Sinful Sous Chef), then Order in the Court gets them 2 free Lightrays. If you can't deal with that board, and Crusader Aura comes in, you're toast.
You can also get 10 free burst damage with The Garden's Grace, and very consistenly get three 0-mana legendaries with The Countess.
I don't think the card is "broken", but it's very possible that Team 5 have stats that show it's a power outlier.