The new Patch 23.6 is already upon us, ready to shake up the status quo in Bob's Tavern. With a number of reveals from Lobby Legends: Eternal Night paving the way - on Day 1 and Day 2, respectively - we've known to expect the arrival of various Neutral (or 'no type') minions based on the known entities from Constructed Hearthstone. What we didn't know for certain is whether anything else is going to be removed from Battlegrounds. Looks like the answer to this question is "yes, and quite a few of the familiar minions are getting replaced by the new ones". 

But what's more, Darkmoon Prizes return in full force while the Battlegrounds Season/Perks receive their own extension (no longer overlapping with typical Hearthstone expansions)! There is a lot to go over here: 

  • Darkmoon Prizes are back! From now until the next Battlegrounds Season, Darkmoon Prizes will appear in 25% of games. There are new and updated ones in the mix. 
  • The number of copies of each Tier 1 minion was reduced from 16 to 15.
  • Some Battlegrounds Perks are being extended until the next Battlegrounds Season (instead of the next Standard expansion). More details on the reward changes to be revealed! 
  • New base visual emotes on the way for Castle Nathria expansion? 
  • New Lady Vashj hero, plus various hero updates.
  • New minions in, some old minions out, plus a few minion updates.
  • A couple of minor bugfixes. 

You can find the patch notes for the Hearthstone Battlegrounds section below: 

Quote From Blizzard

Battlegrounds Updates

General Updates

  • Darkmoon Prizes are back! From now until the next Battlegrounds Season, Darkmoon Prizes will appear in 25% of games. Several of the Darkmoon Prizes have been adjusted since their last appearance.
  • The number of copies of each Tier 1 minion was reduced from 16 to 15.
  • The following Battlegrounds Perks are being extended until the next Battlegrounds Season (instead of the next Standard expansion): Discover from 4 Heroes; Hero Early Access (if any Early Access eligible heroes are released in that time); and Advanced Stats. Visual Emotes will remain until the next Standard expansion, at which point all Battlegrounds Players will receive the base visual emotes. Stay tuned for more details on changes to Battlegrounds Perks and rewards before the next Battlegrounds season!

 

New Hero

Lady Vashj (Armor Tier 1)

  • Relics of the Deep
    • [1 Gold] Discover a Spellcraft spell of your Tier or lower. Passive: Your first one each turn is permanent.

Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to Lady Vashj ahead of her formal release on July 11.

 

Hero Updates

Bigglesworth

  • Bigglesworth’s Hero Power will now give a Consolation Coin whenever a player dies with no minions.

Cariel Roame

  • Conviction now targets more minions at each rank: two random friendly at Rank 1; four random friendly minions at Rank 2; and all friendly minions at Rank 3.

Drek’Thar

  • Old: Choose a friendly minion. It copies the Attack of your highest Attack minion until next turn. → New: Choose a minion. It copies the Attack of the highest Attack minion until next turn.

  • Dev Comment: Drek’Thar and Vanndar now can target and can copy from any minion, including minions in Bob’s Tavern.

Guff Runetotem

  • Old: Armor Tier 7 → New: Armor Tier 4
  • Old: [1 Gold] Give a friendly minion of each Tavern Tier +1/+1. → New: [2 Gold] Give a friendly minion of each Tavern Tier +3/+2.

Overlord Saurfang

  • Old: Give +2 Attack to the next minion you buy this turn. (Upgrades each turn!) → New: Give +2 Attack to the next minion you buy. (Upgrades each turn!)

  • Dev Comment: The effect now carries over between turns.

Sindragosa

  • Old: Freeze a minion in Bob’s Tavern. Frozen minions get +2/+1 each turn. → New: Freeze a minion in Bob’s Tavern. Passive: At the end of your turn, Frozen minions get +2/+1.

  • Dev Comment: This is not a functional change. This is just to more clearly distinguish the active from the passive parts of the Hero Power.

Sneed

  • Old: Armor Tier 7 → New: Armor Tier 1
  • Old: [2 Gold] Give a friendly minion: “Deathrattle: Summon a random minion of the same Tavern Tier.” → New: [1 Gold] Give a friendly minion: “Deathrattle: Summon a random minion of a lower Tavern Tier.”

Vanndar

  • Old: Choose a friendly minion. It copies the Health of your highest Health minion until next turn. → New: Choose a minion. It copies the Health of the highest Health minion until next turn.

Y’Shaarj

  • Old: Start of Combat: Summon a minion from your Tavern Tier. Add a copy of it to your hand. → New: Start of Combat: Add a minion from your Tavern Tier to your hand. Summon a copy of it.

  • Dev Comment: This means that the minion will be added to your hand even if there is no board space to summon it.

 

New Minions

Tavern Tipper [Tavern Tier 1]

  • 2 Attack, 2 Health. If you have any unspent Gold at the end of your turn, gain +1/+2.

Silverback Patriarch [Tavern Tier 1, Beast]

  • 1 Attack, 4 Health. Taunt.

Sparring Partner [Tavern Tier 2]

  • 3 Attack, 2 Taunt. Battlecry: Give a minion Taunt.

Kooky Chemist [Tavern Tier 2]

  • 4 Attack, 4 Health. Battlecry: Swap the Attack and Health of a minion.

Yrel [Tavern Tier 2]

  • 1 Attack, 5 Health. After this attacks, give a friendly minion of each minion type +1/+2.

Atramedes [Tavern Tier 4, Dragon]

  • 3 Attack, 6 Health. Whenever this attacks, deal 3 damage to the target and its neighbors.

Wargear [Tavern Tier 4, Mech]

  • 5 Attack, 5 Health. Magnetic.

Tunnel Blaster [Tavern Tier 4]

  • 3 Attack, 7 Health. Taunt. Deathrattle: Deal 3 damage to all minions.

Uther, the Lightbringer [Tavern Tier 6]

  • 5 Attack, 6 Health. Battlecry: Set a minion’s Attack and Health to 15.

 

Minion Pool Updates

  • Shifter Zerus and Iron Sensei have been returned to the minion pool.
  • Acolyte of C’Thun, Menagerie Mug, Unstable Ghoul, Budding Greenthumb, Screwjank Clunker, Prestor’s Pyrospawn, Defender of Argus, and Mechano-Egg have all been removed from the minion pool.

 

Minion Updates

Bannerboar

  • Old: 1 Attack, 4 Health. At the end of your turn, play a Blood Gem on adjacent Quilboar. →  New: 1 Attack, 3 Health. At the end of your turn, play a Blood Gem on adjacent minions.

Annihilan Battlemaster

  • Old: 3 Attack → New: 5 Attack

Soul Devourer

  • Old: Battlecry: Choose a friendly Demon. Remove it to gain its stats and 3 Gold. → New: Battlecry: Consume a friendly Demon to gain its stats and 3 Gold.

  • Developer Comment: This is not a functional change. This change is only to make the text better match existing effects.

Grease Bot

  • Old: [Tavern Tier 4] 3 Attack, 6 Health. After a friendly minion loses Divine Shield, give it +1/+1 permanently. →  New: [Tavern Tier 6] 4 Attack, 7 Health. Divine Shield. After a friendly minion loses Divine Shield, give it +3/+2 permanently.

 

New and Updated Darkmoon Prizes

Several Darkmoon Prizes have been updated since they last appeared in Battlegrounds:

The Good Stuff

  • Old: Give minions in Bob’s Tavern +2 Health for the rest of the game. →  New: Give minions in Bob’s Tavern +1 Attack for the rest of the game.

I’m Still Just a Rat in a Cage

  • Old: Double a minion’s Attack. →  New: Give a minion +2 Attack, then double its Attack.

Great Deal

  • Old: For the rest of the game, reduce the cost of upgrading Bob’s Tavern by (3) at the end of your turn. →  New: Reduce the cost of upgrading Bob’s Tavern by (6).

The Bouncer

  • Old: Give a friendly minion +5/+5 and Taunt. →  New: Give a friendly minion +6/+6 and Taunt.

B.A.N.A.N.A.S.

  • Bananas now have a 50% chance to be a Big Banana (no change to card textbox).

 

Additionally, Big Banana has been removed from the Darkmoon Faire Prize pool, and two new prizes have been added:

Banana Bunch (Prize turn 1):

  • Add 2 Bananas to your hand.

  • Dev Comment: These Bananas have a 50% chance to be Big Bananas as well.

Mindflayer Goggles (Prize turn 3):

  • Steal all minions in Bob’s Tavern. Then Refresh it.

 

Finally, players who are in the bottom half of the scoreboard are no longer more likely to get better Prizes. 

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

  • Fixed a bug where Brilliant Macaw copied Gigafin’s Deathrattle with its Battlecry.
  • Fixed a bug where Glowscale’s Spellcraft’s temporary Divine Shield could remove a minion’s permanent Divine Shield.