January Nerfs

January Nerfs is a Hearthstone patch released on Jan. 9, 2020. It was versioned 16.0.8 with the build number 39282. It was released during the expansion Descent of Dragons

Card Changes

• Fiendish Rites - Cost increased to 4 (from 3).
• Scion of Ruin - Cost increased to 4 (from 3).
• Ancharrr - Durability reduced to 2 (from 3).
• Dragon's Pack - Buff reduced to +2/+2 (from +3/+3).
• Invocation of Frost - Cost increased to 2 (from 1).
• Necrium Apothecary - Cost increased to 5 (from 4).
• Dragonqueen Alexstrasza - Battlecry effect can no longer generate another Dragonqueen Alexstrasza.

Quote From Kaeyoh

UPDATE (4:30 p.m. PT, January 9): The patch is now live for desktop and mobile.

Welcome to a new year in the tavern, everyone! We have a balance update in the works that will go live later this week which includes the following changes, primarily for Standard and Battlegrounds:

Warlock

• Fiendish Rites: Mana cost increased from (3) to (4).

Warrior

• Scion of Ruin: Mana cost increased from (3) to (4).
• Ancharrr: Durability reduced from (3) to (2).

Shaman

• Dragon’s Pack: Now reads, “…If you’ve Invoked twice, give them +2/+2.” (reduced from +3/+3).
• Invocation of Frost: Mana cost increased from (1) to (2).

Rogue

• Necrium Apothecary: Mana cost increased from (4) to (5).

Neutral

• Dragonqueen Alexstrasza: Battlecry effect can no longer generate Dragonqueen Alexstrasza.

Once the update is live, adjusted cards will be eligible for a full Arcane Dust refund for two weeks.*

Battlegrounds

This update includes several adjustments and gets more Heroes brawling in Bob’s Tavern than ever before! Further Battlegrounds balance changes are coming very soon, in addition to the exciting new content we have in the pipeline… we’ll have more to share in the near future!

Heroes

• Shudderwock
  • Burbling: Cost reduced from (2) to (1).

• Queen Wagtoggle
  • Wax Warband: Give a random friendly Mech, Demon, Murloc and Beast +2 Attack. (instead of +1 Health)

• Infinite Toki
  • Temporal Tavern: Cost reduced from (2) to (1). Now reads, “Refresh Bob’s Tavern. Include a Minion from a higher Tavern Tier.”

• Patches the Pirate
  • Has returned to the Battlegrounds Hero Pool.
  • Fire the Cannons!: At the start of next combat, deal 4 damage to two random enemy minions. (increased from 3 damage)

• Pyramad
  • Has returned to the Battlegrounds Hero Pool.
  • Brick by Brick: Give a random friendly minion +3 Health. (increased from +2 Health)

Minions

• Golden Soul Juggler
  • After a friendly Demon dies, deal 3 damage to a random enemy minion twice. (instead of 6 damage once)

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• Battlegrounds: Selfless Hero’s Deathrattle will now only affect minions that do not already have Divine Shield.
• Arena: The appearance rate of cards in the draft has been updated to ensure class balance remains close to the ideal 50% win-rate. Specifically, the win-rate of Druid, Hunter, and Paladin should now be decreased. The win-rate of Priest, Rogue, Shaman and Warlock should now be increased. Card appearance rates for Mage and Warrior remain untouched.