If the current meta in Standard and Battlegrounds was getting old for you, then we've got some good news! Hearthstone's Twitter account (@PlayHearthstone) hinted that changes are on their way:
Quote From PlayHearthstone Patch 26.4.3 coming later this week!
Constructed
Buffs
Nerfs
Battlegrounds
A veritable cornucopia of changes are coming for Battlegrounds, including a buff to the Curator Hero, a nerf to E.T.C., and an unspecified change for Aranna.
What are your thoughts on these prospective changes? Share in the comments!
Comments
Thoughts now that the changes have arrived:
S'theno: Wowow, that's harsh. Upping her mana cost would have reduced her combo potential some, but they opted instead to smash her offense. Now you basically have to find her attack buffs to use her as anything more than anti-minion tech. Decks that relied on her for killpower are sad.
Pozzik: instead of messing with his deathrattle or the bots, they kept his effect intact and just reduced how dire a threat he is. I think I actually like that; it's still a strong card, but not so much so that all action revolves around it when it drops.
Purator, Disco Maul, Feast or Famine: all basically expected.
-The Feast or Famine nerf is more impactful than it seems, I think, because the card served two purposes: it helped remediate Pure Paladin's disadvantage when behind on board, and it gave burst/reach when combined with Horn of the Windlord. At two mana it won't help Paladin with its tempo problem any more, and it changes the rhythm of its bursty finishes.
-Slowing down Disco Maul is huge because a large part of its power came from dropping before you start chucking out your minions. At three mana, it comes down *after* you want your board to be built and attacking. Oof.
-The Purator nerf is mild by comparison. Still a great card. It'll still let you drop Lightrays alongside it, probably, since you'll have gone a little longer before dropping Purator and typically will have played another few cards.
Hope: minus one attack is... fine? I don't think it really changes what makes Hope good, which is snowballing wide boards and pre-buffing big beasts, particularly Hound. You just don't get premium attacks in the bargain now.
BUFFS
Rhythmdancer: combined with the nerfs to the most aggressive deck, maybe the reduced cost will allow Risa to function as anti-aggro tech as designed.
Fiddlefire Imp: sure.
Dispense-o-bot: I wonder if it could fit into mech mage now, as it's not too big of a tempo hit, and it can give you either reload or some coins to facilitate your burst turns... or it could spend all game alternating between secrets and frost spells. Oof.
Is the site dead? This patch was released several hours ago.
You should apply to write it for them!
insane to me that they're not nerfing Hollow Hound, in my experience hound has by far been the most influential card for both hunter and dk. if you get it on 6 against any aggressive deck you usually just win, especially since it almost never dies from the first attack so your opponent likely has to attack into it to kill it.
The thought might be that nerfing Hope indirectly nerfs the Hound. It does make a huge difference when Hunter, a class normally notable for a lack of defensive tech, suddenly gets defensive tech.
Awwww... my brain dead pure paladin deck is gonna get nerfed so now I can't rank up like I used to... oh well
Well, we all know that nerfs will be made to paladin and hunter because this two classes are practically everywhere, with astonishing win rates.
Pozzik, Audio Engineer and Disco Maul nerfs have been long time coming. Its actually amazing it took so long, with everything else nerfed around them. Pozzik itself on 4 is backbreaking, might as well just concede if you dont already have board. Probably make the tokens 2 mana 2/2 would solve the issue.
The Purator nerf is harsh, because we all know the only reason this is a problem card at all is because of Lightray, a card that has persisted in paladin decks since its introduction. Nerfing lightray would resolve the issue quite elegantly, but hey Im not complaining about the 1600 dust return from this.
As for stheno, this card is lucky as hell to only be nerfed now. I still dont understand why they'd nerf Predation when this is obviously the problem card from the start. Probably make it cost 4 mana, which might actually just kill the card.
And lastly hunter. Im at lost for words. This weapon is good, but its not the reason why hunter is so oppressive right now. Bunch of Bananas and Barrel of Monkeys are tons worse, allowing hunter to greed whilst not losing their early game too much. Hell, you'd keep both these cards in mulligan 99% of the time. Even if we're not committed to nerfing those cards, I'd nerf Hollow Hound before Hope of Quel'Thalas any day. Oh well, that's 1600 dust back at least, for a card Im likely never going to miss.
As for buffs, well none of those are even remotely interesting, aside from the fact that Rhythmdancer Risa should under no circumstances be 0 mana. Learn from mistakes team5, 0 mana anything will always break the game. Buff risa to a 4/5 or even a 4/6, just dont make it 0 mana.
My predictions
Nerfs:
Disco Maul: Probably nerfed/buffed into a 3 mana 3/2 weapon. Could also be interesting if they change it into a 3 mana 2/3 weapon, but they probably just make it a 3/2. This nerf was also heavely requested, like it's almost impossible to go anywhere on social media that's HS related without seeing people complain about this card. Personally i didn't mind this card that much, but i'm happy for others that they finally got the nerf they wanted.
The Purator: This was to be expected, as it's Pure paladins best card. (Like it even has a big MULLIGAN winrate, and high mulligan winrate on a 5 drop isn't that healthy.) They will probably nerf this with a +1 mana cost. Even at 6 mana it's still a strong card, and slows down the double Lightray.
Feast and Famine: Probably +1 mana cost, or they change it to +2 attack. Personally hope it's +1 mana cost, so it's more in-line/comparable with Rockbiter Weapon. Interesting that the weapon didn't get nerfed. They probably want Shaman to be able to play the weapon, and thus only nerfed the Pure paladin burst.
Pozzik, Audio Engineer: They can do a LOT with this card. Statline changes on pozzik himself, or the bots. +1 Mana cost or lower the mana cost of the bots. Personally i think the bots will go from 3/3 to 2/2 statline, so the deathrattle is a little weaker.
Lady S'theno: PRAISE YOGG. Finally, they finally nerfed this card instead of literally everything around her. They will probably increase her cost by 1. (Would prefer it so she can't go FACE, but that would probably "warrior" DH.)
Hope of Quel'Thalas: Honestly i'm surprised to see this getting nerfed. Probably will go from a 4/2 into a 3/2 weapon. Nerfing the effect would kill the card, and nerfing it's cost would probably kill it as well and they don't like killing cards unless they create super toxic play patterns.
Buffs:
Fiddlefire Imp: Probably a stat buff. This card is trash in regular play, but very strong in arena. So i don't think they will lower the mana cost from 3 to 2 mana, otherwise it might be too strong. In terms of stat buff, i think it will probably go from 3/2 into a 3/3. Giving this a premium 3/4 statline would be too strong considering this creates 2 cards.
Remixed Dispense-o-bot: Probably a stat buff into a 4/5 minion. They might consider buffing & nerfing this into a 3 mana 3/4 as it feels slow and clunky at 4 mana, but i feel like it will be too strong at 3 mana. (Just like Fiddlefire Imp, a 3 drop that generates 2 cards on a premium statline is too good.) Also another reason why i don't think this will be buffed to 3 mana: Seafloor Gateway is in standard.
Rhythmdancer Risa: PLEASE do NOT buff it so it costs 0 mana. PLEASE NO. We don't need a legendary Wildpaw Gnoll with build in "Shadowsteps"! The problem with this card is that 3 attack isn't that good of a breakpoint. My prediction is that it will be buffed from 3 to 4 attack, so it has a better breakpoint.
Overall i'm looking forward to seeing how they will actually nerf & buff these cards. I'm excited to see some problematic cards like Lady S'theno and Disco Maul finally get toned down a bit. Also looking forward to the mage minion buffs, hopefully they can help mage be a bit better.
I was patiently waiting with my stack of 20'ish copy of Disco Maul, as I assumed it would be nerfed; not disappointed!
too poor to impact significantly Paladin
Then I do not understand Pozzik nerf ... to me it's a quite stupid card ... in several cases backfiring
Hopefully I still have the bow. But pretty sure I dusted it quite awhile ago. Sad to see S'theno go as somehow I know she's gonna sleep with the fishes. Risa highly likely will go to 4 as she's way too slow at 5. You want her to help clean the board/keep the board under control between Hero attacks.