We're getting a Badlands card nerf! That, a temporary card ban, Battlegrounds, Arena, and a load of bug fixes in today's Hearthstone hotfix.

The Azerite Snake Nerfed

  • The Azerite Snake now costs 6 Mana (Up from 4).
  • This is a temporary adjustment, they are planning on reverting the change in the next balance patch.
  • The real adjustment will "still meet [their] goals, but is more cohesive with the set overall".
  • Dust refunds will arrive during the next balance patch.

More Hotfix Standouts

  • Magister Dawngrasp is temporarily banned in all modes due to a disconnect with their hero power.
  • Battlegrounds sees adjustments to anomalies rates.
  • Arena sees several cards banned from drafts.

Here are the full hotfix notes.

Full November 17 Hotfix Notes

Quote From Blizzard

Hearthstone Updates

Dev Comment: It’s been a fun few days since the launch of Showdown in the Badlands. We’ve heard a lot of yeehaws, but we’ve also seen one clear sentiment outlier for players: there’s a snake in their boots! It’s still early, so we’re not at our balance window for the set yet, but we know we want to adjust this negative play experience regardless of where the power lands, so we’ve decided to do a temporary adjustment now, ahead of our scheduled balance patch, coming soon.

However, there are limits to what we can do a server-side hotfix. First, we can only adjust the “big numbers” like stats and cost. Stats are not the problem on this card, so we’re increasing the cost here. This is NOT the change we plan to eventually land on. When we get to our balance patch, our plan is to revert this mana cost change and make a different adjustment that still meets our goals, but is more cohesive with the set overall. Second, server-side adjustments mean that cards have different versions between the client and the server. That means the card will appear as it currently does in places like your Collection, but then will have the red “adjusted stats” when you try to play it in-game. We know this will cause some confusion—which is part of why we don’t often make balance changes in server patches—but we think it’s worth it for the overall enjoyment of the launch period. Finally, we’ll do things like dust refunds with that balance patch, so keep that in mind when making your collection decisions.

Azerite Snake (the Warlock Excavate Treasure)

  • Old: 4 Mana

  • New: 6 Mana

Magister Dawngrasp

  • Temporarily banned in all Modes.

Dev Comment: We found a bug with Magister Dawngrasp’s hero power that is causing disconnects. The problem is particularly bad because it’s a hero power, so it can cause a disconnect every turn. We have a fix coming, but it requires a different type of patch, so we’re temporarily banning Dawngrasp until we can get that bug fix in.

Battlegrounds Updates

The following Anomalies will now appear more frequently:

  • Bring in the Buddies

  • Double Header

  • Echoes of Argus

  • Grapnel of the Titans

  • The Golden Arena

The following Anomalies will now appear less frequently:

  • What Are the Odds?

  • How to Even??

  • No place like Holmes (lower-MMR lobbies only)

  • Eleventh Hour (lower-MMR lobbies only)

The following Anomalies have been removed from the Anomaly pool:

  • Shackles of the Primus

  • Temperance of Aman’Thul

The following bans will now apply to the following Anomalies:

  • No Face, No Case: Alexstrasza, Fungalmancer Flurgl, Galakrond

  • Feline Fortune: Mr. Bigglesworth

  • Valuation Inflation: Treasure-Seeker Elise

Arena Updates

Draft appearance rates were reduced for several cards in Death Knight and Warrior. Draft appearance rates were increased for several cards in Rogue, Warlock, and Priest. Additionally, the following cards have been banned from drafting:

  • Mogu Cultist

  • Grand Totem Eye’sor

  • Dark Pharaoh Tekhan

  • Algalon the Observer

  • Shu’ma

  • Tip the Scales

  • Curse of Flesh

  • Bloodmage Thalnos

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

  • [Hearthstone] Purified Dragon Nest will no longer be able to Discover Rheastrasza. We will no longer have to ask which came first: the dragon or the egg?

  • [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where certain cards could break Reno, Lone Ranger’s effect. This also fixes Reno, Lone Ranger breaking Anachronos’s effect.

  • [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Spurfang’s effect would sometimes cause a visually blank board slot.

  • [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Reliquary Researcher could roll a Secret you already controlled, resulting in you getting less than its full effect.

  • [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where discarded Barrels of Sludge would not have Lifesteal while Pop’gar the Putrid was in play.

  • [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Bartend-O-Bot would activate the Quickdraw effects of all cards in your hand.

  • [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Disciple of Eonar’s effect wouldn’t be “spent” on Choose One transforming minions.

  • [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Colossal minions couldn’t be created by Wishing Well.

  • [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Glaciate and Azerite Ox could summon Colossal minions directly into play.

  • [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Pile of Bones didn’t maintain its premium (Golden or Signature) when resummoned.

  • [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Mes’Adune the Fractured didn’t maintain the premium (Golden or Signature) of the Elemental it split.

  • [Battlegrounds][ Fixed a bug where Eonar’s Overgrown Arena and Nomi, Kitchen Nightmare could cause extra stat adjustments.

  • [Collection] Fixed a bug where certain Signature cards (Sheriff Barrelbrim, C’Thun, and Lor’themar Theron) weren’t included in “Random Signature” pools, like certain bundles.