Hearthstone is getting a fresh set of balance changes next week which targets 10 different cards, 8 of which are collectible.
The patch focuses on increasing the costs of some cards and for the most part, making it so cards that would reduce the cost of drawn or created cards to 0 to now only decrease to 1, lowering the power level of many popular decks quite a bit. Demon Hunters are getting hit again with the nerf stick for the fifth patch in a row.
Quote From Blizzard On July 14, we’ll be releasing a patch that includes balance updates for several cards in Standard. Craftable cards listed below will be eligible for a full dust refund for two weeks after the 17.6 patch goes live.
- Old: Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, add 2 other random Dragons to your hand. They cost (0). → New: Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, add 2 other random Dragons to your hand. They cost (1).
- Old: Draw a weapon. Give it +1/+1. → New: Draw a weapon. Give it +1 Durability.
- Old: Swap your Hero Power to “Deal 5 damage.” After 2 uses, swap it back. → New: Swap your Hero Power to “Deal 4 damage.” After 2 uses, swap it back.
- Old: 3 Attack, 5 Health → New: 3 Attack, 4 Health.
- Old: [Cost 5] → New: [Cost 6].
- Old: [Cost 6] → New: [Cost 7].
- Old: [Cost 2] → New: [Cost 3].
- Old: Battlecry: Draw 1 card. It costs (0). → New: Battlecry: Draw 1 card. It costs (1).
Galakrond, the Apocalypse (Rogue)
- Old: Battlecry: Draw 2 cards. It costs (0). → New: Battlecry: Draw 2 cards. They cost (1).
Galakrond, Azeroth's End (Rogue)
- Old: Battlecry: Draw 4 cards. It costs (0). → New: Battlecry: Draw 4 cards. They cost (1).
We have some Battlegrounds updates planned for the near future as well. Stay tuned!
![All The Great Dark Beyond Card Reveals for October 12 - Day 2 [Finished]](dark-beyond-reveals-day-2-thumb.webp)
Comments
I usually keep cards that I think are destined for a nerf, and have occasionally hit on the right ones. Dragoncaster is one of those hits. 8 copies still in my collection that never got dusted. :D
Here's my take on it all:
Dragonqueen Alexstrasza - A much needed breath of fresh air. Seeing the occasional Dragonqueen Alexstrasza spawned again and for free was enough to say that is was a little OP. While the new dragons costing (1) will still be tough, they could be getting junk dragons as well
Corsair Cache - As much as I loved this card, I knew that it needed to be hit. Losing the +1 to attack will be sad, but there are many ways to buff the weapon with warrior. At the very least, this makes the Acidic Swamp Ooze continually viable.
Metamorphosis - I am not a big fan of Demon Hunter, but this card was devastatingly fun to use. Bringing the power down by 1 makes this more a pimp slap rather than a bludgeoning. It can still hurt face and remove mid range threats, but won't dominate bigger minions as much.
Kayn Sunfury - I personally have not seen this card abused. Whenever I have seen people put him on the board, I looked at it like a Kor'kron Elite, good for one turn, maybe helps his buddies, but nothing too meta defining.
Warglaives of Azzinoth - This is much needed. Demon Hunter being able to slap 4 targets a turn with 3+ damage is gross. Especially in wild with the Odd package kicking it up to 5+. At the very least that version of the deck will go down in flames.
[Hearthstone Card (Dragoncaster) Not Found]- I was so sick of seeing this card jump out at my on turn 5 and having them drop the Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron or in Wild Luna's Pocket Galaxy. That was just ridiculous. Delaying it one additional turn may be quite helpful.
Fungal Fortunes - Druid has been getting a lot more intense for draw power. Having this fire off first turn to fill their hand with mana buffs and other wonderful spells is a little overwhelming. Granted with an Innervate, this can still fire off quickly, but that would leave their hand wanting.
Galakrond, the Nightmare - I am on the fence with this one as much as I am about Dragonqueen Alexstrasza. Increasing their cost to (1) mana seems like it will stop a lot. However everytime I have used this card, I rarely drop a ton of things for free in one turn. I usually end up using them for other combo cards. I think that this will just force player to rethink a little more on strategy but will ultimately be negligible
DQ Alex has not been able to spawn herself for a few months now, that was nerfed earlier this year.
This represents my feelings on the card as a whole and reminiscing about how OP it was. But increasing the cost of the new dragons will hopefully negate a full turn at least.
Good nerfs,that in addition to the new expansion will definitely shake the meta, which it's been stale for too long. I guess Galakrond Rogue is dead now. They can't afford to play a 7 mana card that for that turn only gives them 5 armor and (maybe) a 5/2 weapon. Also drawing 1 mana backstab and shadowstep sucks.
Also DQA, this nerf should be enough to push her out of the meta
Decent Nerfs - was wondering when they will Nerf Dragonqueen and the finaly did - also the Rogue Galakrond Nerf was inevitable ... at least in my oppinion it was way to strong.
The nerf to Dragoncaster, Fungal Fortunes and Corsair Cache seems pretty decent even tough i would have never guessed a nerf coming to Dragoncaster.
Metamorphosis nerf is good - still playable altough i think that they could also have changed the Hero Power Mana Cost from the Morphosis.
The Nerf to Kayn Sunfury is ok but i thought if they would Nerf him that they would change his ability in some way. But i`m happy because i have him Normal and Golden :)
The Warglaives nerf was pretty much needed - alltough i thought they would just make the weapon weaker but this also works because it slows down the class.
Overall - decent nerfs!
Dragonqueen Alexstrasza - While I am sad to see this nerf, it was needed. She is just too powerful as a Neutral Highlander card in Standard. Now, in Wild? That's another story. I hope she gets this nerf reverted when she rotates to Wild.
Corsair Cache - I wish they had removed the + Durability instead of the attack. I hate this card. Weapons are really powerful and having such a strong weapon tutor is a little ridiculous. Honestly, this card should be 3 mana so it doesn't curve into 3 mana weapons so perfectly.
Metamorphosis - yup! Good nerf.
Kayn Sunfury - The exact nerf my Golden copy of Kayn Sunfury has been waiting for! :D
Warglaives of Azzinoth - Good nerf, especially for the sake of wild.
Dragoncaster - Also a fine and predictable nerf.
Fungal Fortunes - Also a good nerf.
Galakrond, the Nightmare - "Hey, let's make a card that draws you 4 cards, AND changes their cost to 0!" "That sounds like a great idea!"
- Team 5, 2019.
These might give the meta a tiny shake up before the next expansion. Honestly, the game is just in desperate need of that next expansion now.
Alex is a semi-terrible card now. She is essentially more of a win-more card now. If you're facing a threatening board/pressure on turn 9 you simply cannot play her because as I've mentioned in previous threads she is a turn 9 vanilla 8/8 that does nothing to affect the board. She is too slow for anything except a turn 10 or later play. And if you low roll both dragons on turn 10 you pretty much skipped your turn unless your opponent literally developed no board for you to drop Alex on.
Btw, so much for waiting until the next expansion's impact on highlander decks before nerfing Alex.
woohoo, can finally dust that golden kayn. And get another Legendary out of it. Been holding that one for 4 nerfs, and finally they nerfed it at last.
I get the feelings that Heartshtone Devs got more love towards some classes, since Paladin doesn't get buffs, and Shaman is still bad.
In fairness Paladin and Shaman are the two classes that have seen buffs this expansion cycle so you cannot call them out for not buffing them now. We should recognise that all classes are weak in certain metas, even with strong cards at their disposal, and shifting the meta through nerfs can be just as helpful to those classes as buffs are.
They just completely killed Demon Hunter. Good job knobheads.
Thats what everyone said after every nerf, 4 nerfs back.
Someone will come out with something. Lets not forget that the thing holding up every other dhunter list except for tempo is tempo itself.
Nah man, I play as DH almost exclusively and I felt insane strength loss after every DH nerf they did. I don't think DH can survive another one because even now, playing against Priest is straight auto-concede while against Rogue and Hunter if you do not have 1-drop by turn 3, you can concede as well because it's a waste of time. I don't even want to start about how many variations and adjustments I've tried but none worked. My only hope is that the new expansion will bring some fuel again for the DHs. Demon Hunter decks are the first time I'm actually enjoying playing aggro decks in HS and it makes me sad to see they lasted only 3 months.
There's still control dhunter, which is actually pretty good, though not as good as tempo.
The current tempo dhunter list with 2x Vulpera Scoundrel (not the priestess of fury build) has been doing well enough for me. Priest is not really a problem unless they highroll their discovers and random minions, in most cases they just run out of steam way before you do. Rogue and hunter depends heavily on what type, and whether they have Frozen Shadoweaver on 3 or 5. In most cases, if you can get 1 drop on 1 or Umberwing on 2, you're still favored to win it.
Its no longer an auto win by the third nerf. Now it actually demands some skill in deciding mulligans and trades. Just like any other healthy deck.
I think DQ Alex just sucks now. She is already a really slow card and the only worthwhile thing she has is the swing potential. Now she is so much worse at swinging games that she may just be too clunky to be played in any deck. Only the greediest and most defensive highlander decks will be able to play her and even those decks may have better options available. You simply can't play her if you are behind because it's almost impossible that just one dragon will be able to save you from a bad position. If she gives you a bad result that may set you behind so much in tempo that you will most likely just lose the game on the spot. If you can only play her when you are ahead then that screams pure win more to me. Seriously, the more i look at this change the more i think that she is just going to be way too clunky.
I'm not a Rogue player but won't the nerf make Shadowsteps and Backstabs pulled of Gala cost 1 instead of 0?
Won't a better wording be something like "they cost at most (1)"?
What!? and risk confusing new players?
As a Wild player, I'm glad to see the Warglaives nerf. It became quite obnoxious when they gave Twin Slice to Odd DH.
Of course, Demon Hunters will still be a problem. But it's something.
I seriously doubt the viability of odd DH without the warglaives
You called the nerf didn't you?