Alec Dawson tweeted about some upcoming nerf reverts to several cards that are going to hit right before the launch of the new Hearthstone expansion, Forged in the Barrens.
Those will go live with the 20.0 patch later this month, and it will happen before the new content unlock/rotation, so for a short time, we will have a very interesting Standard meta.
When they were considering which cards to revert, they also took into consideration future rotations. Some cards that could potentially come back will receive only "soft" reverts, for example Mana Wyrm or Flametongue Totem. Another factor was how much of a positive effect will nerf reverts have on Wild, adding power to already strong archetypes wasn't something they wanted to do, so cards like Level Up! didn't make the cut. They want the reverts to enable you to play some of those decks of old.
Druid
- Keeper of the Grove becomes a 2/4.
- Ancient of Lore will draw 2 cards instead of 1.
Hunter
- Starving Buzzard will return to a 2-mana 2/1.
- Flare will cost 1.
- Dinotamer Brann will cost 7.
- Hunter's Mark will cost 1.
Mage
- Mana Wyrm gets half-reverted to 1-mana 1/2.
- Conjurer's Calling will cost 3.
- Dragoncaster will cost 6.
- Wyrm Weaver will cost 4 and becomes a 3/5 and will summon two 1/2 Mana Wyrms.
Quote From Alec Dawson When the 20.0 patch goes live later this month, there'll be a number of nerf reverts. This is before content unlock/rotation, so for a short period of time there will be a very interesting Standard meta. When considering reverts for 2021, we also considered future rotations. 1/4 (Source)
Could a card come back into Standard? We chose to softly revert those, as we'd like to avoid cards shifting between two costs or statlines each year. This will be the case for cards like Mana Wyrm or Flametongue Totem. They'll be back one day! 2/4 (Source)
Another factor was looking at the level of positivity a revert brings to the Wild environment. Adding power to already strong archetypes wasn't high on our list so you won't see cards like Level Up being reverted this year. Want these reverts to enable you to play old decks. 3/4 (Source)
Here's a batch for today. DH gets none, so we'll do Druid, Hunter, and Mage. Full revert unless noted.
Druid:
Keeper of the Grove
Ancient of WarHunter:
Starving Buzzard
Flare
Dinotamer Brann
Hunter's Mark (costs 1)Mage:
Mana Wyrm (1 mana, 1/2)
Conjurer's Calling
Dragoncaster(Source)
Lore not War! Oops (Source)
As part of this Wyrm Weaver moves down to a 4 mana, 3/5 and summons two 1/2 Mana Wyrms. (Source)
Comments
I'm not sure I would call that change on Mana Wyrm a revert, it's much worse than its original version. It used to be able to challenge all 1-drops and survive with the potential to snowball, and now it's very hard to justify its inclusion since it's much more likely to get immediately removed. On the other hand, Wyrm Weaver costing 1 mana less should make it more playable.
They call it a half-revert, which I think is accurate: it will be more playable as a 1-mana 1/2 than as a 2-mana 2/3.
The potential to snowball is what prompted the nerf in the first place, so I'm glad they're not doing a full revert.
I like the comparison to Battlefiend upthread. It's definitely not an "auto-include", but it's now a decent option if you need a 1-drop.
P.S. I wanted to commend you for using "its" and "it's" correctly -- it's a pet peeve of mine that seems to be spreading. :-)
Too many people underestimate what a 1 drop can really do. The only reason why a 2/1 1 drop is bad is because it can be hp down, since that's not usually possible for a 1/2, it needs to be traded or your opponent needs use resources to deal with it. That's game changing in a tempo oriented game.
Even in worst case scenario, this card becomes a 2/2 with one spell investment, and the fact that it can snowball makes it a magnet for removal. Sadly since its not available in standard, its not going to see any play, not because its a poor card, but the bar for a good card in wild is absurdly high. Still, having a 1/2 for 1 is leagues ahead of a 1/3 for 2.
Duels Mage nerf in disguise :D
Although I guess the plan was to rotate the Duels heroes, and I'd assume that time is approaching so maybe Mana Wyrms aren't going to be relevant there.
I don't think they are rotating heroes in duels. The way I understood they just will add 10 more heroes and it will be a pull of 20 different heroes
Nice to see the Buzzard un-nerf for Wild.
Starving Buzzard might bring hunter back to wild
Starving Buzzard + Unleash the Hounds was such a nice combo back in the day. It's been so long, wow.
Yeah, so nostalgic! Hunter was my first 500-wins hero back in the glory days!
Off-topic: someone remembers Shockadin??