Hearthstone's Alec Dawson had some great comments on problematic cards in the current standard meta in today's reddit AMA. Here are the cards possibly being targeted, with an additional 1 or 2 cards of Demon Hunter flavor not yet named.
- Sacrificial Pact isn't fun when it plays a large role in the meta game and seeing more [Hearthstone Card (Jaraxxus) Not Found] would be fun.
- They don't want to kill off Kael'thas Sunstrider's combo potential entirely.
- 1 or 2 cards are likely changing for Demon Hunter.
We know that players have been asking for Sacrifical Pact changes for a long time due to the Jaraxxus interaction. What do you think they may change?
Quote From Alec Hey! We are planning something soon, but here I will shed light on what we are looking at.
With the Year of the Phoenix and Demon Hunter especially, we want to make sure we are active with our approach to balance. There will be additional changes coming shortly that is focused on Demon Hunter, Standard, Wild, and Arena.
For Demon Hunter, we are still monitoring the data as it comes in but expect 1 or 2 cards to see a change. We are thrilled by how players have responded to Demon Hunter, but we want the class to be in a healthy state for years to come. Will be adjusting as we see fit in order to get it into a great spot.
For other standard cards, we are looking at a number of cards including Sacrificial Pact, Bad Luck Albatross, Frenzied Felwing, and Kael'Thas. Some of these cards present some raw power that is just a little too high (Bad Luck Albatross, Frenzied Felwing), while a card like Kael'Thas can create some crazy swing turns but that's usually only fun for one player. Kael'Thas is a super interesting card though so we don't want to kill off his combo potential entirely.
When it comes to Sac Pac, we don't believe it is fun if it plays such a large role in the metagame. That says a lot about where the meta is and your ability to play certain cards. Also, it would be awesome to see more Jaraxxus!
Comments
Bloodbloom I can understand. As a player as and against Mecha-Thun Lock I know how fast and powerful the deck is. Plus, even with the nerf to bloom all you need to do is swap out Bloodbloom for Drakkari Enchanter and let thaurassan tick twice with Mecha-Thun and Cataclysm in hand to accomplish the same thing. So the deck wont' be dead, but it understandably addresses the annoying near insta-lose of playing against DH Warlock so early on in the game.
Open the Waygate seems baffling to me. Just seems like the old philosophy of hating on any form of non-meme otk deck. If anything from mage would be nerfed in wild it should've been something from Secret Mage (e.g. Flamewaker) than a combo mage I honestly don't see as much in wild as its burn variant.
Bloodbloom I can understand. As a player as and against Mecha-Thun Lock I know how fast and powerful the deck is. Plus, even with the nerf to bloom all you need to do is swap out Bloodbloom for Drakkari Enchanter and let thaurassan tick twice with Mecha-Thun and Cataclysm in hand to accomplish the same thing. So the deck wont' be dead, but it understandably addresses the annoying near insta-lose of playing against DH Warlock so early on in the game.
Open the Waygate seems baffling to me. Just seems like the old philosophy of hating on any form of non-meme otk deck. If anything from mage would be nerfed in wild it should've been something from Secret Mage (e.g. Flamewaker) than a combo mage I honestly don't see as much in wild as its burn variant.