It's been a while since we've had a special occasion to get up one of our last minute dust refund reminders - in fact, the previous time was marked by the end of October and one very familiar suspect you might recognize. And so it's Theotar, the Mad Duke that's brought us together once again: seeing as after that first nerf eventually came the second. Much more recently, as in with the release of the pre-launch patch for March of the Lich King on November 29. If it feels like it's actually been a lot longer, that would be because these particular card changes have also been leaked/announced well ahead of time.
In any case, there isn't much time left now, so best take this opportunity for the final search across your card collection and perhaps locate some leftover packs that are yet to be opened:
- Theotar, the Mad Duke - Now a 6/mana 4/4 (up from 5 mana 3/3). This is the second nerf to the card.
- Ice Revenant - Now gains +1/+1 whenever you cast a Frost spell (down from +2/+2).
Curiously enough, this time around the specific Blizzard blog post didn't include the usual disclaimer stating that said "cards will be eligible for full dust refunds for two weeks following the patch". We're just presuming that's going to be the case as always, and proceeding accordingly.
Even so, the exact cut-off hour is rarely ever being listed in these cases, and often enough there are random extensions (the last few times we had been given another extra 24 hours) - but if you want to be safe, best conclude all your dust refund business as soon as possible.
At least until then, the two listed cards will remain disenchantable for their respective 'base craftable' dust values: 1600 per Legendary, 40 per Common. As usual, Golden copies are worth far more here: with Legendaries going for 3200, and Commons for 400 dust.
One More Hit for the Castle Nathria Denizen
Poor Theo can't quite catch a break. Belonging to the previous expansion of Murder at Castle Nathria, the card has been proving very divisive. If you've disenchanted Theotar, the Mad Duke the first time around and never bothered to recraft following the announcement of another upcoming nerf (in order to enjoy this "temporary loan extension" on the card), then there isn't anything left to consider. But if you have brough him back from the dead, make the call whether to keep him or let him go once again.
Before you do that, however, take a proper look at your collection achievements: perhaps you are just a few cards away from owning 25 Legendaries from the set, and might wish to craft some of them for collecting the Diamond version of Decimator Olgra. And only then say the final goodbye to Theotar.
And what if you have never owned the card in the first place? That's your cue for possibly still trying to pull it from any Standard or Castle Nathria card packs, and then using that free dust for crafting any other Legendary of your choice. Of course the odds to specifically land Theo aren't particulary high, and it's bound to greatly vary based on how many other cards of the same rarity you are missing from the relevant sets. Now, if you don't plan to do any of that, then you should still consider crafting Theotar only to then disenchant the card outright. By doing so, you can ensure the duplicate protection will be in effect going forward, and that you won't ever see Theo appear in your packs in the future (until you have owned all other cards of the relevant rarity from the set, that is).
Will the card still remain viable even at 6 mana? Well, probably if you are Wildheart Guff with 20 possible mana at your disposal. Or truy a Control-heavy deck. For the rest of them, probably not so much. It's also worth noting that with the most recent nerf to Sire Denathrius, there is also less reason to need to rely on Theotar, the Mad Duke. Ater all, it's been one of the most prevalent choices of a disruption card specifically to try to snipe huge Denathriuses.
One Lost Elemental From the Valley
Ice Revenant was given the preemptive nerf treatment, given the concerns of what the Frost Death Knights might be able to do with it. As a result of this, we haven't really seen the card be able to make any particular impact in the early March of the Lich King meta. Which also means the choice here should be rather obvious: dust as many copies as you could get your hands on. It's a Common rarity card anyway, easy to find or recraft again if ever needed.
The card itself belongs to the Fractured in Alterac Valley set, if for some reason you were planning on getting even more packs from that expansion (plus the regular Standard packs, naturally). But it's only really worth doing if you tend to track all your different pack openings and know you are due another Legendary or Epic anytime soon based on the stacking 'pity timer'.
Other Current Dust Refunds
This isn't the main subject of this particular reminder, but since we are looking at a rare overlap of sorts, you might as well take note of the other two changed cards while at it: Golden Sire Denathrius (the regular one remains free and uncraftable) and Shockspitter. Both also dustable for their full dust values.
However, there is no real hurry here just yet. As the surprise mini-balance patch only took place last Friday, these two cards will remain eligible for refunds for another while. And we will be back to remind you about them once again when that deadline approaches.
Refund Command in the Collection Manager
One of our all-time favorite quality of life improvements is now well over a year old! And yet it's still worth talking about.
By typing 'refund' in the card collection search box, you will be able to easily locate all the cards in question and decide whether or not to turn them all into precious arcane dust. Do note that Hearthstone's crafting UI has received a small revamp with the most recent patch, and now you might need to make sure that the "premium" option is chosen before being able to view Golden versions of the cards.
Quote From Blizzard Searching “Refund” in the Collection will now populate with cards eligible for a dust refund.
P.S. Sometimes you may encounter a rare bug where refundable cards don't show as such in your collection, or don't display full arcane dust values - even though the refund window is still technically active. Always restart your Hearthstone client and double check again in such cases, or try to confirm this with other players; it's often just the sync issues or occasional server disconnects that are to blame.
Have you ever recrafted Theotar to begin with and decided to send him away for the second time? How many copies of the Ice Revenant did you find lying around? Tell us all about your Hearthstone dust count!
Comments
Thanks for the reminder!