To surprise of everyone, Team 5 announced a small balance patch this week, with changes towards both Constructed and Battlegrounds (click here if you're interested in reading our commentary on the changes). In this article, we'll focus about the former, which consist in what follows:
- Kazakusan - LOCUUUUSTS!!! is now removed from the Treasure Pool.
- SI:7 Smuggler - Wording and effect changed to "account for improper wording on release".
- SI:7 Informant also received a card text adjustment for clarity, but it's not going to be refundable for full value.
All in all, a single change (plus what we can call "a card text improvement"), but quite reasonable: Kazakusan has to be the winner of the first two weeks of the Onyxia's Lair Mini-Set, as a good portion of ladder is currently playing it; however, some shenanigans showed to be a tad too much for ladder, so we appreciate Team 5 for stepping in quickly and adopting a swift change.
LOCUUUUSTS!!! is now removed from the Treasure Pool.
LOCUUUUSTS!!! previously existed in Duels too, a game mode in which players start at 40 Health, and even there it was banned because it was too powerful of a Treasure. It doesn't surprise us that this card went down the same path in Constructed too.
We said from the very start that Kazakusan is a strong but very manageable card, whose power level can be toned down by little steps until Team 5 is able to find that sweet spot in which the unit can thrive without breaking things. How so? Because all you need to do is keep tweaking Kazakusan's Treasure Pool (possibly adding new Treasures too!) until it doesn't feel too oppressive, and that's exactly what just happened with LOCUUUUSTS!!!: 14 damage to the face and 14/14 of stats for 8 mana was quite a lot, especially if you had access to it up to 4 times per match.
We are confident that getting rid of LOCUUUUSTS!!! will make Kazakusan and the whole meta better, but at the same time, it has to be said that we have to direct our attention towards what could happen next. In other words, is the space left by LOCUUUUSTS!!! going to be filled by something else? Book of the Dead seems another very strong Treasure, especially since it can go off for free and Moonlit Guidance grants additional copies to be chained one after the other.
It's probably too early for these arguments, so for now let's just enjoy a slightly less oppressive but still very powerful version of Kazakusan and his Treasure Hoard, while keeping in mind that it's very likely that Team 5 won't hesitate in case things will get ugly again.
Now doesn't count itself towards the SI:7 cards played.
No big deal: this is basically a card text clarification update, but at the same time it slightly alters SI:7 Smuggler's functionality, as it won't count itself anymore towards the amount of SI:7 cards played up to that point. As you can understand, this represents a slight nerf to the card, hence the reason why you'll be able to dust it for full value, differently from SI:7 Informant.
All in all, we recognize that Smuggler is a bit weaker now, but at the same time we don't think it's going to affect the unit's popularity that much, because in the end Find the Imposter decks want to run as many SI:7 cards as possible to increase the chances to get their hands on Spymaster Scabbs when it's not too late. If you're gonna play a vanilla 4 mana 5/4 like SI:7 Infiltrator, there's no way SI:7 Smuggler is going to rot in your collection, not even with the updated text. Go jam some Questline Rogue.
If you aren't planning on playing with these cards any time soon, you should go ahead and hit the disenchant button as you can always craft them again later if you hold onto the dust. Kazakusan and SI:7 Smuggler are disenchantable for their full value for two weeks from their nerfs, until March 17, 2022. When in doubt, don't click the button to disenchant unless you see the full dust value in the interface!
What do you think about this card change? Are there any other nerfs you would like to see? Let us know in the comments below!
Comments
It's so funny reading the Kazakusan section with all the LOCUUUUSTS!!! mentions 🤣like you can't really be serious about it, especially when you read the card name as is, with the scream 😅
With all do respect, Avalon, Infiltrator is a 5\4 and not a 4\5. Which is better for your deck, since it's aggressively stated. :)
It is indeed, and I am aware of it. The only explanation is that my fingers must've tricked me while I was writing the article!
You better watch those tricky fingers of yours!