February 2024 Balance

February 2024 Balance is a Hearthstone patch released on Feb. 22, 2024. It was versioned 28.6.2 with the build number 194648. It was released during the expansion Showdown in the Badlands

Card Changes

• Sludge on Wheels - Health decreased to 4 (from 5).
• Blindeye Sharpshooter - Cost increased to 4 (from 3). Attack increased to 3 (from 1).
• From De Other Side - Cost decreased to 9 (from 10).
• Topple the Idol - Cost decreased to 4 (from 5).
• Mark of Scorn - Damage dealt increased to 4 (from 3).
• Sunken Sweeper - The created Mechs cost (1) less.
• Pirate Admiral Hooktusk - Stats decreased to 7-Mana 7/7 (from 8-Mana 8/8). Battlecry condition decreased to 7 Pirates (from 8).
• Demolition Renovator - Stats decreased to 3-Mana 3/3 (from 4-Mana 4/4).
• Waste Remover - Attack decreased to 5 (from 7).
• Chaos Creation - All numbers in card text decreased to 5 (from 6).
• Blightblood Berserker - Cost decreased to 7 (from 8).
• Harkener of Dread - Now has Reborn. Stats of the token decreased to 4/4 (from 6/6).
• Coilskar Commander - Attack increased to 3 (from 2). Health increased to 7 (from 6).
• Deal with a Devil - Now summons two more Felfiends if your deck has no minions (was one).
• Energy Shaper - Cost of the transformed spells increased to "(3) more" (was 2).
• Shattered Reflections - The chosen minion restricted to be non-Titan.
• Scourge Tamer - Cost and Attack decreased to 1 (from 2).
• Trench Surveyor - Stats decreased to 1-Mana 2/1 (was 2-Mana 3/2).
• Mysterious Visitor - Cost reduction increased to 3 (from 2).
• Incriminating Psychic - Amount of copied cards increased to two (from one).

Quote From Blizzard

Patch 28.6.2, launching today, includes the following changes to Standard and Battlegrounds.

Hearthstone Updates 

Dev Comment: We have two goals this patch. First, we want to weaken some of the meta outliers. Second, we want to experiment with smaller buffs across several cards that are rotating out of Standard soon—especially in classes that are currently weaker—to see if we can give them one last hurrah. Our hope is that players will try out and enjoy some of these strategies during these last few weeks before they go. This is an experiment, so we’ll be tracking player sentiment and play data to see if this works out. 

The following cards were adjusted to be less powerful: 

Sludge on Wheels 

• Old: 2/5 
• New: 2/4 

Waste Remover 

• Old: 7/7 
• New: 5/7 

Chaos Creation 

• Old: Deal 6 damage. Summon a random 6-Cost minion. Destroy the bottom 6 cards of your deck. 
• New: Deal 5 damage. Summon a random 5-Cost minion. Destroy the bottom 5 cards of your deck. 

Dev comment: When talking about our first goal, to curb power outliers, Warlock is the primary clear outlier across almost all ranks. The deck is strong at all phases of the game, so we’re toning down its mid-game and its late-game burst to bring it into line. 

Shattered Reflections 

• Old: Choose a minion. Add a copy of it to your deck and battlefield.  
• New: Choose a non-Titan minion. Add a copy of it to your deck and battlefield.  

Dev comment: Ramp-style Druid is not a power outlier at most levels of play, but it is becoming a prevalent power and sentiment outlier at high Legend ranks. Titans were designed to be unique, cards with powerful effects that you can activate maybe a few times per game, not 10 times. We still want the Titans to be those cool, stand-out powerful cards, so we’re removing them from the pool of cards Shattered Reflections can target. 

Blindeye Sharpshooter 

• Old: [3 Mana] 1/3 
• New: [4 Mana] 3/3 

Dev Comment: Demon Hunter has had its ups and downs. Now it’s in an interesting spot where it isn’t seeing much play or success at most levels of play, but is a consistent sentiment outlier for high-Legend players. Specifically, we’ve gotten a lot of feedback that players don’t like that this one card can generate that much damage, that early in the game. We’re slowing the card down by a turn to make that burst damage slower and clunkier, and buffing other Demon Hunter archetypes in this patch for fans of the class throughout the ladder. 

The cards above will be eligible for full dust refunds for two weeks following Patch 28.6.2. 

The following cards were adjusted to be more powerful: 

Blightblood Berserker 

• Old: [8 Mana] 
• New: [7 Mana] 

From De Other Side 

• Old: [10 Mana] 
• New: [9 Mana] 

Harkener of Dread 

• Old: Taunt. Deathrattle: Summon a 6/6 Undead with Taunt. 
• New: Taunt, Reborn. Deathrattle: Summon a 4/4 Undead with Taunt.  

Scourge Tamer 

• Old: [2 Mana] 2/2 
• New: [1 Mana] 1/2 

Coilskar Commander 

• Old: 2/6 
• New: 3/7 

Deal with a Devil 

• Old: Summon two 3/3 Felfiends with Lifesteal. If your deck has no minions, summon another. 
• New: Summon two 3/3 Felfiends with Lifesteal. If your deck has no minions, summon two more.  

Topple the Idol 

• Old: [5 Mana] 
• New: [4 Mana] 

Mark of Scorn 

• Old: Draw a card. If it’s not a minion, deal 3 damage to the lowest Health enemy. 
• New: Draw a card. If it’s not a minion, deal 4 damage to the lowest Health enemy. 

Trench Surveyor 

• Old: [2 Mana] 3/2 
• New: [1 Mana] 2/1 

Energy Shaper 

• Old: Battlecry: Transform all spells in your hand into ones that cost (2) more. (They keep their original Cost.) 
• New: Battlecry: Transform all spells in your hand into ones that cost (3) more. (They keep their original Cost.) 

Sunken Sweeper (generated by Azsharan Sweeper) 

• Old: Battlecry: Add 3 random Mechs to your hand. 
• New: Battlecry: Add 3 random Mechs to your hand. They cost (1) less. 

Mysterious Visitor  

• Old: Reduce the Cost of cards copied from your opponent by (2). 
• New: Reduce the Cost of cards copied from your opponent by (3). 

Incriminating Psychic 

• Old: Taunt. Deathrattle: Copy a random card from your opponent’s hand. 
• New: Taunt. Deathrattle: Copy two random cards from your opponent’s hand. 

Pirate Admiral Hooktusk 

• Old: [8 Mana] 8/8. Battlecry: If you’ve summoned 8 other Pirates this game, plunder the enemy! 
• New: [7 Mana] 7/7. Battlecry: If you’ve summoned 7 other Pirates this game, plunder the enemy! 

Demolition Renovator 

• Old: [4 Mana] 4/4 
• New: [3 Mana] 3/3 

Battlegrounds Updates 

Quest Reward Pool Changes 

• Sturdy Shard has been removed from the Quest Reward Pool. 
• Double-Headed Reward has been banned from Jandice Barov. 
• Stable Amalgamation has been made more difficult to complete in Beast games. 
• Beyond the Mirage and Temporal Tampering have been made more difficult to complete in Elemental or Pirate games. 

 

Quest Reward Changes 

Divine Armor 

• Old: At the end of your turn, give the left-most minion in your hand +6/+6 and Divine Shield. 
• New: At the end of your turn, give the left-most minion in your hand +8/+8 and Divine Shield. 

Ritual Dagger 

• Old: After a friendly Deathrattle minion dies, give it +4/+4 permanently. 
• New: After a friendly Deathrattle minion dies, give it +5/+5 permanently. 

Mirror Shield 

• Old: After each Refresh, give a minion in the Tavern +4/+4 and Divine Shield. 
• New: After each Refresh, give a minion in the Tavern +6/+6 and Divine Shield. 

Minion Pool Updates 

• Heedless Hoarder and Worgen Vigilante have been removed from the Minion Pool. 
• Felfin Navigator and Zapp Slywick have been returned to the Minion Pool. 

Minion Updates 

Land Lubber 

• Old: [Tier 3] 
• New: [Tier 4] 

Moon-Bacon Jazzer 

• Old: [Tier 2] 2/3 
• New: [Tier 3] 2/5 

Crackling Cyclone 

• Old: [Tier 3] 4/1 
• New: [Tier 2] 3/1 

Wildfire Elemental 

• Old: [Tier 4] 7/4 
• New: [Tier 3] 6/3 

Felboar 

• Old: 1/4. After you cast 3 spells, consume a minion in the Tavern to gain its stats. 
• New: 3/8. After you cast 2 spells, consume a minion in the Tavern to gain its stats. 

Zapp Slywick

• Old: 8/16
• New: 11/22

Tavern Spell Updates 

Suspicious Stimulant 

• Old: [2 Gold] Freeze a minion in the Tavern. If it’s Frozen at the end of this turn, double its stats. 
• New: [3 Gold] Choose a minion in the Tavern. Lock it in your hand for one turn and double its stats. 

Fluidity 

• Old: [Tier 3] 
• New: [Tier 5] 

Cloning Conch 

• Old: [5 Gold] Get a copy of a Murloc in your hand. 
• New: [4 Gold] Get a copy of a non-Golden Murloc in your hand. 

Spitescale Special 

• Old: [Tier 3] 
• New: [Tier 4] 
• Dev Comment: While moving a card up a Tavern Tier usually weakens it, in this case we see this change more as a buff. This is because Tier 4 Tavern Spells have more copies in the pool than other Tiers, and because the Spellcraft pool becomes a lot stronger at Tier 4 with the inclusion of Deep Blues. 

Plunder Seeker 

• Old: [6 Gold] 
• New: [7 Gold] 

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements 

• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where the Malfurion the Pestilent in Harth’s Iconic Druid hand didn’t grant Armor when played. 
• [Battlegrounds] Returned Queen Azshara, Infinite Toki, and Aranna Starseeker to the Hero Pool. 
• [Battlegrounds] Removed Fungalmancer Flurgl’s Hero Power from Master Nguyen’s Hero Power Pool. 
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Sire Denathrius’s Hero Power version of Untamed Sorcery could cast Unmasked Identity. 
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Open Auditions didn’t work. 
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Malchezaar, Prince of Dance’s effect did not reset when using Fluidity or Swap, Lock, and Shop It. 
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where minions buffed by Suspicious Stimulant couldn’t be further buffed after playing.