With the most recent patch, there was quite a few nerfs and buffs brought forth to Battlegrounds. Given how frantic the gamemode can often feel, we thought it would be a good idea to give our thoughts on these recent changes and how they will impact their tribe. Given the amount of changes, let's just jump into it!
Beasts
Goldrinn, the Great Wolf - Deathrattle now gives +3/+2 (down from +3/+3)
After its rework to better work with recent beast builds, Goldrinn quickly became one of the strongest cards in end-game beast comps. While the stat buff is negligible on its own, there are tons of other synergies that pushed it over the edge. Titus Rivendare and Banana Slamma both double this, but when combined, this stat buff is quadrupled by just having one of each. Each additional one causes this buff to double once again which unsurprisingly gets out of control quickly. When combined with the large amounts of reborn on pretty much every beast in the late game, it becomes a ridiculous amount of stats. Bumping the health down by 1 is small on its own, but given how much doubling Beast comps do, every minion will have considerably less health, making ties happen more often giving comps with better scaling more time to catch up. Overall though still a strong minion, but this next nerf might do a bit more to cripple late-game beast comps.
Banana Slamma - Now a Tier 5 3/6 (up from Tier 4 2/5)
The face of pretty much every end-game beast comp, Banana Slamma has always been kind of awkward to fit into mid-game comps. There are a couple mid-game cards that work well with it like Sly Raptor and Free-Flying Feathermane, most of the smaller deathrattle beasts are pretty bad. Making 0/2s or 4/6s off of Manasaber or Sewer Rat are pretty bad and will rarely impact a fight. However if a player can get 2 in the mid-game and suddenly it is difficult to lose fights and in the late game having a couple Banana Slammas is vital to get large enough stats on your breasts during combat. Bumping it up to a tier 5 makes mid-game highrolls harder to come by while also further incentivizing beast comps to go to tier 5.
Mama Bear - Now Tier 4, 3/3. Whenever you summon a Beast, give it +3/+3 (Down from Tier 5 4/4. Whenever you summon a Beast, give it +4/+4.)
To help fill the void of Banana Slamma going to tier 5, Mama Bear is now on tier 4 with its ability scaled down as well. This feels like a much better fit as a mid-game creature as +4/+4 was not impactful enough to justify the 3 gold to only be replaced in a turn or two. However, as a tier 4 minion, it is suddenly much easier to get while you still have Manasabers, Sewer Rats, and Surf n' Surfs, all three of which have their stats basically doubled from having a Mama Bear on board. Suddenly, Mama Bear is a great card to triple into as it helps stabilize immediately while providing a great pivot to a late-game beast comp.
Pirates
Gunpowder Courier - Now is a 2/6 (up from 2/4)
Gunpowder Courier has been in an awkward spot for almost its entire existence. Pirates in the early game are fairly weak, and while Blade Collector works well with it, getting a Peggy Sturdybone is going be significantly better at turning it into a threat in comparison. The largest issue with Gunpowder Courier is that it is so reliant on having some form of gold generation, whether that be in tribe with things like Fleet Admiral Tethys or just having a Brann Bronzebeard, both of which aren't exactly early game cards. Having 2 more health makes the Gunpowder Courier more of a relevant early game body that makes keeping it around for a bit longer easier.
Elementals
Dancing Barnstormer - Now a Tier 2 2/1, Deathrattle: Elementals in the Tavern have +1/+1 for the rest of the game. (down from Tier 4 3/2, Deathrattle: Elementals in the Tavern have +3/+2 for the rest of the game.)
After the deletion of Gusty Trumpeter, Elementals have been in a fairly rough spot, resulting in a couple getting reworked and a couple being buffed. Dancing Barnstormer is the first reworked one and it's… interesting to say the least. First thing to note is that if you have a way to trigger the deathrattle multiple times, whether it be through something like Monstrous Macaw or Teron Gorefiend’s Rapid Reanimation, you will have your elementals quickly crush the early and midgame. The issue is that a 2/1 body is bad on its own, resulting in either a reliance on Recycling Wraith to help find more recently buffed elementals in the store, or just getting lucky and finding them. I worry that this card is going to be a bit too feast or famine, being really strong when you hit a bunch of elementals after the first fight or two, but otherwise being complete deadweight.
Flourishing Frostling - Now a Tier 4 1/1, Has +1/+1 for each Elemental you played this game (wherever this is). (up from Tier 2 0/6, Has +1 Attack for each Elemental you played this game (wherever this is).)
Flourishing Frostling has swapped places with Dancing Barnstormer and it feels like it got the better end of the deal as well. The main issue with the first one is that it was a decent early game, but in the mid-game it just trades with everything, regardless of how much attack it has. The new version does a much better job at being a large minion that has some meaningful scaling. Elementals are still all about cycling themselves, and with the buff to tavern tempest that I will talk about in a second, Flourishing Frostling very much feels like a pre-nerfed Underhanded Dealer, albeit scaling a bit slower as it is limited to a tribe. My only concern is that the elemental early to midgame still seems somewhat spotty with most of its power being in Party Elemental and Recycling Wraith.
Tavern Tempest - Now a Tier 4 2/2 (down from Tier 5 4/4)
Easily the biggest buff elementals got, Tavern Tempest was already a pretty decent tier 5 minion for the tribe. For a tribe that cares all about playing a lot of its type, having the minion that generates its own type as a battlecry being more common is great. The body being smaller does not matter a whole lot and it puts it more in line with cards like Reef Explorer where it just gets cycled almost immediately. Not much else to say besides the fact that it works well with elementals at pretty much every stage of the game as every type of elemental comp cares about elementals being played.
Carbonic Copy - Now a Tier 5 6/7 (up from Tier 4 3/3)
Carbonic Copy is a bit of a weird one. When it originally came out as a tier 5 5/6, it was fairly underwhelming, but I feel like a big part of that is from elementals being in a rough spot. Now that people have gotten to play with it a bit more, it's become pretty clear that its main strengths are as a stabilization tool as it's easier to scale 1 creature than multiple. While the new Dancing Barnstormer makes it a lot better, tripling into Carbonic Copy won’t keep the buffs, resulting in it being kind of awkward. Not to mention that one of the best things about Carbonic Copy is that tripling it with a Elemental of Surprise results in 3 usually massive divine shield minions and now that Carbonic is back up to tier 5, hitting that is going to be less common, making this feel more like a nerf. However if this is what it takes to have Tavern Tempest down at tier 4, it seems like a worthwhile trade.
Rock Rock - Now a 5/5, After you play an Elemental, give your minions +2 Attack. (Swaps to Health next turn!) (up from 4/4, After you play an Elemental, give your other minions +2 Attack. (Swaps to Health next turn!))
While the stat buff is more or less inconsequential, Rock Rock now having the ability to grow itself is somewhat of a big deal for elemental builds. One of the largest issues with Rock Rock currently is that its slow to turn itself in a threat, only able to scale if you have a second one or more than four of them. This buff causes it to be a serious threat on its own after a turn or two which should help late-game elemental builds get more bang out of their buck. This combined with Tavern Tempest being a tier 4 minion now could do a pretty good job at being the driving forces of Elementals having a late game comp once again.
Murloc
Diremuck Forager - Now a 3/4, Start of Combat: Give a minion in your hand +2/+2, then summon it for this combat only. (from 4/3, Start of Combat: Give a Murloc in your hand +2/+2, then summon it for this combat only.)
One of the many changes I love from this patch, games with murlocs in them have been plagued with the dreaded "second board" ever since the major tribe rework in patch 26.2 that introduced Bassgill. In this patch, Diremuck Forager and Bassgill have swapped some their text. Diremuck Forager made it out like a bandit, with it now working much better in the mid-game in collaboration with Scourfin or frankly any divine shield minion. Being able to hold something like a Deflect-o-Bot in your hand and have it slowly scale while still being able to refresh its shield is great. I don’t see it being present in a lot of end-game boardstates, but for a tier 3 minion that should be fine.
Bassgill - Now a Tier 4 7/2, Deathrattle: Summon the highest Health Murloc from your hand for this combat only. (down from Tier 5 7/3, Deathrattle: Summon the highest Health minion from your hand for this combat only.)
If you asked me what my least favorite card was in battlegrounds before this patch, I’d say Banana Slamma or Relentless Mur'ghoul, but Bassgill was a very close second. It has been the poster child of scam builds ever since it was put in Battlegrounds as having spawn two leeroy the Reckless, two venomous minions, or just two high star creatures to kill the opponents was very easy. With this most recent change, Bassgill is still able to be used as a scam card with Mur’ghoul, but if you are doing that you aren’t utilizing the avenge on that creature, making it more or less fine. While having it be limited to only murlocs does impact on some synergies (such as using it as a way to summon Niuzao in combat to get buffed by Banana Slamma), Diremuck Forager now has that ability and it works just as well, if not better from the minor buff it gives the creature in hand. As for how well Bassgill is going to perform now, it is definitely a lot worse as it can only pull Bream Counter and the aforementioned Mur’ghoul, but given the other big murloc nerf coming up, this might be the go-to end-game murloc comp now.
Murky - Now a 6/4, Battlecry: Give a friendly Murloc +10/+10 (from 6/5 Battlecry:Give a friendly Murloc +1/+1. (Improved by each Battlecry minion you played this game!))
The largest loser of this patch is without a doubt Murky. While a +10/+10 buff is decent, it is so much smaller compared to what Murky used to be able to accomplish. Before the nerf, any comp that wanted to spam battlecries such as Pirates or Dragons could easily fit in a Young Murk-Eye and a Murky and expect for those two murlocs to outscale the rest of the board in a turn or two assuming the player had a Brann. This is obviously not a great thing to have in the game so Blizzard decided to take Murky out back since Young Murk-Eye has a ton of other cool synergies. In my opinion, Murky does not feel like it deserves to be a tier 6 minion with this nerf, and given that murlocs already have 4 other minions on the tier, I could very easily see them buffing King Bagurgle to be relevant by buffing itself and them just deleting Murky. I cannot think of any other nerf they could’ve done while still keeping the original idea for Murky in tact, but surely there was something better than this nerf that would keep Murky to still be a decent card.
Quilboar
Aggem Thorncurse - Now a 3/5, After a Blood Gem is played on this, give a friendly minion of each type +2/+1. (from 3/6, After a Blood Gem is played on this, give a friendly minion of each type +1/+1.)
One of the last remaining bastions of menagerie support, Aggem Thorncurse has been in a weak state for a while now. With the nerf of a menagerie all-star, it only makes sense to try to shift some of the power to a weaker card to try and maintain the archetype. While 2 attack is leagues better than 1 attack given the amount of cleave and divine shield cards there are, my largest concern is the lack of any great blood gem producer like we’ve seen in the past in the form of Gemsplitter. Currently, Captain Flat Tusk seems like the only strong option, with Bongo Bopper and Withered Spearhide being alright-but subpar options. I would like to see Aggem make a big return but I’m not too hopeful about it.
Captain Flat Tusk - 9/5. After you spend 3 Gold, get a Blood Gem. (down from 9/6, After you spend 4 Gold, get a Blood Gem.)
Speaking of Captain Flat Tusk, he is back to his original printing. One blood gem per three gold is a pretty decent rate given the fact its earned passively. Any hero that gives economy is going to have a much easier time going hog wild with Flat Tusk, and Fleet Admiral Tethys is also going to have a field day. The only issue is that in modern Battlegrounds, +1/+1 per 3 gold is pretty slow, so to really make it work you’ll need either Aggem or some blood gem buffs from earlier. I’m optimistic about Flat Tusk being playable, but not in a quilboar comp as they simply do not cycle as much as Flat Tusk needs to be decent.
All
Motley Phalanx 5/5. Taunt. Deathrattle: Give a friendly minion of each type +5/+5. (down from 7/7. Taunt. Deathrattle: Give a friendly minion of each type +7/+7.)
Easily my favorite card they’ve put in Battlegrounds recently, Motley Phalanx being every creature type just made it way too strong for a wide variety of reasons. From things like being able to guarantee discover it off of Reef Explorer if you have every other creature type, resurrecting massive Phalanx’s with Cultist S'Thara, resurrecting a ton that promptly become massive with Kangor's Apprentice, and magnetizing everything under the sun onto it, Motley Phalanx is one of the strongest menagerie card that's ever been in the game. Combine this with the high amount of damage these comps would often be able to deal given the fact it was common to end combats with several tier 6 units and it makes sense that it deserved to get nerfed. The smaller body is negligible, but only giving +5/+5 per death is going to cut severely in how strong builds around Kangor’s Apprentice are. It should still be fairly strong just off the fact that it scales off of literally anything but now it should get better countered by cards like Transmuted Bramblewitch since it’ll be more reliant on Cultist S’thara for its strongest endgame builds.
Wrap Up
Overall some pretty nice balance changes for Battlegrounds. It is nice seeing Elementals given a minor rework given how rough of a spot the tribe has been in for the past month or so, and seeing Banana Slamma becoming more rare is also a very welcoming sight. I am going to have to watch how Murky is performing since while I feel like it is awful now, I would gladly accept it still being good. What are you thoughts on the recent Battlegrounds changes? Let me know in the comments below!
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