Finally finally finally. We finally know what changes are coming to Hearthstone's Classic and Basic sets with next weeks expansion. Players have been calling for changes for months and now we get to see what Blizzard decided to change. Let's jump right in and go card by card.
People were predicting a nerf to Ancient of Lore but I wasn't convinced. 5/5 for 7 is under budget so pulling ahead in hand was compensation for not pulling ahead on board. Drawing one card is fine but feels minimal. With another nerf coming up, you don't have the option to draw cards until you find the combo to close out the game. For that reason alone, I'm not sure if this change was necessary.
Casual and Professional players alike can rejoice. Druid combo is dead. Instead of charging trees with a 75 second or less lifespan we get slightly cheaper trees that choose life! Savage Roar will still have the potential to end games more quickly than expected but no longer will we be killed with it from an empty board. It's a good change that I can't really complain about.
This change caught me off guard a bit. I understand Blizzard's desire to tone down the silence effects but I thought the neutral silence minions were the problem. Druid struggles getting the board under control in the early game and Keeper of the Grove helped that problem a bit. Against Zoo you were almost reliant on the 2 damage Battlecry and using the 2/4 body to remove another minion or two over the next couple turns. Part of what I like about Druid as a class in Hearthstone is the versatility cards like Keeper and Ancient of Lore and Wrath offer. But in this case Blizzard might be asking us to pay a little too much for that versatility.
Along the same lines as Keeper, Ironbeak Owl got an adjustment to compensate for the power of the silence effect. I think this change perfect. Making it more expensive will make it slightly harder to find room in decks as a one-of utility minion. It will still see play but we will have to think twice about how much the silence is worth in our deck.
I'VE GOT THE NERF IN MY SIGHTS! This change was suggested by tons of people on Reddit and Twitter and I agree with the reasoning. There need to be answers to the huge powerful minions that come with every set, but the answers don't need to be reasonably strong for their cost when you don't get to use them as removal. Paying 5 mana for a 4/2 minion as a tempo play will never feel good. This change was needed and it feels pretty good in my opinion.
Hunter's Mark getting a 1 mana cost doesn't seem needed but I don't think it changes much. The decks that want a Hunter's Mark now will still want one when this change goes through.
This nerf really confuses me. I understand removing the damage to enemy heroes. Blade Flurry has long been arguably the best Rogue card in the game partially because it could serve as both a way to deal with an opposing board as well as a direct damage spell to close out the game. What I don't understand is the need to double the mana cost to 4. Compare this to Shadowflame which only requires a minion (something most decks have 15 or more of), and it just requires so much more work. You are already reliant on cards like Deadly Poision to get your hero power dagger to an attack high enough to deal with mid-game minions. Otherwise you are spending now 6 mana to deal 1 damage to the enemy board. Twice the mana cost of a card Rogues already have in Fan of Knives AND YOU DON'T EVEN GET TO DRAW A CARD. Rogue has been struggling for multiple expansions now to keep up with the tools that other classes have been getting and now they are getting one of their few crutches kicked out from under them.
The pro community seems to hate this change. Juggler's effect is frustrating because it can lose you the game when you are counting on the damage going one place or another. Like Blizzard said in their explanation, players were shoving this card into any aggressive deck because the stats were really strong on their own and the effect was a huge swing so it was a no-brainer inclusion. The same type of deck will still want Jugglers so maybe the nerf doesn't do anything. I don't know why this card wasn't changed to say "When you play a minion" instead of summon. That way you remove the crazy swing plays with cards like Unleash the Hounds and Imp-losion.
Leper Gnome has been an automatic addition to aggressive decks since day one of Hearthstone. I don't necessarily hate the idea of being a default 1 drop since they tend to have less of an effect as the game progresses compared to something like Piloted Shredder or Sludge Belcher. Blizzard accomplishes their goal of creating more competition at the 1 drop spot in aggro decks, but I think Leper Gnome is still completely viable in those decks. Fine change.
This change makes Arcane Golem basically unplayable. There are other 3 mana 4/4s in the game right now that don't have as big of a drawback and they don't see play right now. The bigger point of this change is the Charge mechanic and the "problems" it seems to cause. In my card game career I have been drawn to combo oriented decks. I love being able to do powerful things and being rewarded for setting up combinations of cards over the course of the game. We have only had combos based around Charge minions to this point in the game and because you can't interact with your opponent during their turn it's frustrating to play against. In my opinion that isn't enough of a reason to eliminate those kinds of decks. If you are going off of Reddit complaints, Mysterious Challenger is a more frustrating win condition than Arcane Golem/Power Overwhelming/Faceless Manipulator. I want combo decks to be a thing in Hearthstone in some form. Whether it's Charge minions or Archmage Antonidas and Sorcerer's Apprentice looping Fireballs. Combos require you to play differently and account for more than just what's on the board and it teaches new players to play around potential cards from their opponents which is a valueable thing to learn if they want to take the game seriously. End rant. RIP Arcane Golem.
People were concerned that Handlock would take over with the nerfs to Druid Combo and Big Game Hunter so this change makes a lot of sense. I think 23 mana would have been ok, but I assume Blizzard tested a lot of different options and I trust them. Players have known for some time now not to put their Warlock opponents close to 10 health and now they have a little more breathing room before they need to worry about a couple 8/8s and some healing or Taunt effects.
The last card change of the day is a bit of a headscratcher. Master of Disguise hasn't seen play yet and we are now going to have a less effective version. Blizzard has brought this card up in the past when talking about cards that have backed them into a corner design-wise and I get it. Minions with strong passive effects are a huge problem when they can't be targeted or attacked. If they felt they were working around this card in the design process for a while then by all means take this opportunity to change it.
Before I wrap things up I do just want to mention a few cards that I am a bit surprised weren't changed. Doomhammer is an essential part of aggressive Shaman decks that won't be losing very much with the Standard rotation. I am a bit surprised something that is so hard to deal with didn't get any changes. Both Innervate and Preparation are mandatory spells for their respective classes so I could have seen Innervate changed to reduce minion costs only and Preparation only reduce spells costs by 2.
Well that should do it for this post. Thanks as always for reading!
Until next time,
Chris
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