We have been waiting for them for a long time, but the nerfs are finally here! Today Patch 19.2 will be implemented in the game and will bring important Constructed news, alongside Battlegrounds, Duels and Winter Veil additions and changes.

We are a bit surprised that some issues still haven't been answered for (yet), and that the less relevant classes still need adjustments in order to see the light, but we do think that most of the problematic cards received some sort of adjustment.

Let's go over and talk about each card change that is coming in the update.

Blade Dance

Cost increased from 2 to 3 mana.

Blade Dance is one of those cards that stood out as one of the more problematic ones in recent weeks. Over its brief but intense life, Demon Hunter has received powerful and very efficient ways to increase its hero's attack - combine this with low-cost but strongly tempo-oriented tools and there you go: a class with little to no weaknesses.

Blade Dance proved to be way too efficient for its cost: being able to remove three minions for 2 mana while not giving up your face attack (Blade Flurry is sobbing in a corner) and therefore pushing damage is worth way more than its cost. For this reason, we think that this nerf is highly deserved, but it won't kill the card at all: first of all, Skull of Gul'dan will still discount Blade Dance to 0 mana, allowing you to instantly play it if needed; moreover, this changes makes the card's cost odd, which means that it could make the cut in Wild Odd DH.

We're not saying it's not a nerf (it definitely is), but rather that Blade Dance is far from being dead.

Shardshatter Mystic

Cost increased from 3 to 4 mana.

Who would have guessed powercreeping Duskbreaker would have been a bad idea? Certainly not us.

While this patch won't hurt Soul DH's damage output, it will heavily strike its ability to clear the board - therefore, having more trouble to hit your opponent to death should definitely slow down the decks as a whole.

Finally, now that it costs 4 mana Shardshatter Mystic will not be playable anymore after being drawn and reduced by Skull of Gul'dan, which is an indirect nerf to another quite problematic card. Frankly, a nerf that feels fully deserved and that will give other decks air to breath and time to develop a counter strategy.

Dreadlord's Bite

Attack decreased from 3 to 2.

A change, not the only one, directed to hit Aggro Demon Hunter, which is probably the most prominent archetype in Standard right now. Dreadlord's Bite's essence remains the same, but (as we've already seen plenty of times with DH in these months) now Illidan will have to find those 2 damage somewhere else. We think it's important to state that many people decided to run Dreadlord's Bite instead of Marrowslicer because the former was able to grant just one less damage for one less mana, which is a pretty good deal for an aggro gameplan - however, now that the damage difference will go up to 3, players could return to Marrowslicer, which will make Skull of Gul'dan way less consistent than it is right now. Sure, you can still run Lorekeeper Polkelt (a card we'll talk about in a minute), but good luck playing a 5 mana 4/5 in an aggro deck with no immediate impact on the board: in the end, there is a limit to the tempo gain Skull can grant you.

Dinotamer Brann

Cost increased from 7 to 8 mana.

As Iksar stated a few days ago, Highlander Hunter "has often been the best deck in standard but is always overshadowed by some more polarizing but less powerful things". It is a nerf I personally did not see coming, but it is fair to assume that it was delivered due to the devs' prediction of what the post Patch 19.2 meta will look like - with Aggro DH (Highlander Hunter's worst matchup) nerfed, Dinotamer Brann would have probably seen a huge increase of play rate, which would've been another potential problem. Now that the card costs 8, is it really worth running singletons just for a King Krush discounted by 1 mana and Zephrys the Great? The answer is uncertain.

Given that Voracious Reader will get changed too, we imagine that Face Hunter will have to reinvent itself as well - this patch will be really troublesome for Rexxar.

Voracious Reader

Cost increased from 2 to 3 mana. 

Finally some justice for our poor Jeeves. Voracious Reader has been a top tier card since its release 4 months ago. It was able to grant Aggro decks so much fuel that has never really been accessible to them as many aggressive archetypes flourished in both formats thanks to the sheer force of this unit. 

With this upcoming nerf, we suspect that the card will obviously be a lot slower and that Aggro decks won't be able to dump their hand and play Reader in the same turn as easily as before - 1 mana for aggro decks can be a huge deal, and we think that this will be no exception.

On a side note, Wild Odd Paladin (Crystology is a card) and Odd DH might have a new friend, while Aggro Druid should become weaker.

Lorekeeper Polkelt

Cost increased from 4 to 5 mana.

Probably the nerf with the most implications since it plays a big role in both Standard and Wild.

For what regards Standard, Polkelt was used in many top tier lists in order to get to the powerful late game tools (Skull of Gul'dan for Aggro DH, Dinotamer Brann for HL Hunter and Dragonbane/Kill Command for Face Hunter) in order to close the games as fast as possible; in Wild, the only deck that used it was the tier 1 Reno Priest, which was able to collect its pieces way faster than normal.

This nerf doesn't change the card's functionality - it will still reorder your deck and will still allow the same late-game combos as before; however, it will be much slower, especially in aggressive lists (where 1 more mana or 1 turn later can easily be the difference between a win and a loss), and for this reason, we think it will be less exploitable as it is now. If you really want to topdeck your powerful stuff, just believe in the heart of the cards! 

How do you feel about the nerfs? Do you agree with our insights? Let us know in the comments below!

Hearthstone Patch 19.2

Looking for more information on the December 15 patch? Here's all our coverage!