Paladins are getting smacked with Blizzard's Nerf Hammer this week in Patch 20.4!
- First Day of School now only summoned 2 1-cost cards, down from 3.
- Hand of A'dal now buffs a minion +2/+1, down from +2/+2.
Read on for Blizzard's reasoning for the changes.
Quote From Blizzard First Day of School
- Old: Add 3 random 1-Cost minions to your hand. → New: Add 2 random 1-Cost minions to your hand.
Hand of A’dal
- Old: Give a minion +2/+2. Draw a card. → New: Give a minion +2/+1. Draw a card.
The cards listed above will be eligible for a full dust refund for 2 weeks after the 20.4 patch goes live.
Dev Comment: As we move into the launch of the Wailing Caverns Mini-Set, we’re taking the opportunity to hit some of Paladin’s generic power. First Day of School and Hand of A’dal are strong performers played in all four main Paladin archetypes (Libram, Aggro, Secret, and Menagerie), and we are nerfing them in 20.4 to help other classes close the gap with Paladin. Another note on First Day of School: While the last balance change for this card only resulted in a mild change in power, we will still be attempting changes like it in the future. Our current balance philosophy is to move forward with light changes when we can, as we did when we first repositioned First Day of School, and we’ve seen great results over the past year with this approach. It’s important to us that players’ decks usually stay intact following balance changes, even if the power of the deck may shift down. This approach then leaves us open to make further adjustments later if we need to, like we have here.
Comments
FDOS nerf does weaken conviction a bit though, at least in standard. It's harder to be wide on curve for conviction to stick two minions that can go face. I dont a payoff card like conviction being strong especially with some new aoe coming in the mini set.
Must be a record set, I dont think theres ever another card that was nerfed twice within the space of a month.
what about Unbound Elemental text changes?
That doesn't change the way it functions - it's just for consistency's sake.
Ah yes, First Day of School, the card that had to be nerfed twice because the first nerf was actually a buff.
Also, still not addressing Oh my Yogg! while adding a new secret with the miniset just to make playing around those things even harder.
Honestly, Hand of A'dal wasn't even that much of a problem compared to all the other nonsense that's going on.
How would you even go about nerfing OMY though? Make it so it only triggers on 3 mana or lower spells so it doesn't act as a counterspell for high cost spells?
just rework it into something that isn't Counterspell+ but still involves random spells in some way.
Hell, you could probably keep the counter and just make it so it adds a 0-cost copy of a random spell of the same cost to the player's hand so it at least stops it from randomly deciding games on turn 2.
Make it cast a random spell that cost 1 or 2 more.
I wouldn't say the first nerf was a buff but it definitely wasn't a nerf lol. More of a rebalance. They removed tempo and added value. Slower decks like N'zoth and Libram didn't mind this at all but the more aggressive paladin lists definitely did.
I don't see much issue with OMY. I can see the argument that a lot of people don't like it but a lot of matchups and decks can deal with it easily, and it can always backfire in the players face.
Kind of agree with hand, i thought it was very strong but fine but they wanted to lower the overall power, especially early power, of paladin and hitting an auto include makes sense.
They just didnt want to pay for a new commissioned art to match the new mechanic :D
Hand of A'dal was very much a problem. Oh, you didn't remove that 1/3 on turn 1? Might as well concede.
not at all. You were behind, sure, but only LIbram Paladin has the 1/3 and that deck is substantially slower so coming back from the Hand isn't that difficult.
I'm not saying it didn't deserve to get nerfed, I'm just saying they're only scratching the surface of what allows Paladin to be this op.
Convcition, oh my yogg, the sword (again), all shouldve been atrgets before Adal Imo.
But the devs did say last time they on purpose ignored conviciton so diubt will be nerfed until atleats next expansion.
I personlay hope Adal egts reverted Once roattes out at end of the year
ANd besides i dont htink shouldve been hti over over ph my yogg. OR conviciton or the sword again.
Those espcialyl the first 2 are far far bigegr problem cards then hand of adal.
The nerfs only take a month with paladin having tons of decks in the meta all tier 1 and running cards that only worked so far in arena, and oh my yog still untouched, thanks blizzard :)
The problem with oh my yog is that its cost cannot be changed and there are no numerical values within the spell to alter for a nerf. To nerf such card, you HAVE to reshape it into a whole new concept.
Four Oh My Yogg! nerf suggestions with brief commentary on my logic:
Secret: After your opponent casts a spell, cast a random one that costs less. [AFTER; Doesn't trigger on 0-cost spells; Can't cast a 10-mana spell]
Secret: After your opponent casts a spell, summon a random minion that costs less. [AFTER; AFTER; Doesn't trigger on 0-cost spells; Can't summon a 10-mana minion]
Secret: When your opponent casts a spell on a minion, cast it on a new target. [Weaker Spellbender instead of a more powerful Counterspell]
Secret: When your opponent casts a spell, summon random 1-cost minions equal to the spell's cost [WHEN; Doesn't trigger on 0-cost spells; A good board clear will kill the 1-cost minions; 1-cost minions often have good good battlecry effects rather than stats; Encourages testing small spells without a huge punish]
Honestly, I would be perfectly fine if they just rotated it out prematurely.
I've seen a nerf suggestion to give your oponent a random spell of the same cost and make it free, but this would probably kill the card.
but is better than the frustrating experience that just make you think the card is toxic for the game