The most powerful decks in Hearthstone have been nerfed drastically. Druids in particular were hit hard, but magicians also “collected hard”.
Hearthstone’s balance is pretty shaky, and nerfing one card can make another appear much stronger and take its place. Therefore, balance adjustments are always necessary – also because the community is constantly finding new combinations of cards, which then turn out to be too strong.
In the latest balance patch, druids and mages had to accept some adjustments, but hunters also get nerfs.
What was the problem? Although the latest expansion “Murder at Nathria Castle” has been live for a few weeks, the balance hasn’t gone quite so well. Several patches have already been necessary to narrow down the most dominant decks, which have clearly dominated the current meta. But after that, new front runners emerged who were too strong – and they’re now being hunted down.
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What exactly has changed? We have the changes to the cards here in detail for you:
The druid hero card “Guff of the Frenzyheart” has had its battlecry adjusted as well as its hero ability. Both effects now no longer grant filled mana crystals, but only empty mana crystals, which are then only available in the next turn. So Guff’s mana efficiency drops a bit.
The hero ability of the mage card “Magister Duskgrasp”, “Arcane Force”, is weakened. Honorable victory increases the damage of future attacks by 1 instead of 2. This should make the hero ability gain power less quickly and be a lot less threatening.
A second mage card, Night Shroud Sanctum, has proven too powerful. This location’s durability is reduced from 3 to 2, allowing it to only freeze 2 minions and summon 2 skeletons.
The hunter quest “Protect the Dwarven District” will be slightly weaker. In order to complete the first step of the quest line, hunters will now need to deal damage with 3 spells instead of just 2. This should slow down hunters a bit and at least give a little more time until the quest is completed.
Adjusted the rogue legendary Edwin, Lord of Defias. While its stats have been increased from 3/3 to 4/4, so has its mana cost from 3 mana to 4 mana. As a result, its effect can be carried out less frequently per turn, which is a significant nerf overall.
The neutral minion “Kael’thas Sinwalker” also gets a clear nerf. Its mana cost is increased from 6 mana to a whopping 8 mana. This is primarily intended to end problematic Kael’thas+Brann+Denathrius combos. The combo was just too overwhelming and could be used by many decks.
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The Choking Starfish will also be nerfed. It’s overused and a massive counter to many uncommon decks. Therefore, the mana cost is increased from 3 mana to 4 mana. The card is still powerful, but not so cheap that you can just put it in any deck without hesitation.
As usual, the Arcane Dust cost of the cards mentioned above can be fully refunded if you disenchant the cards.
However, there are also two small adjustments that can be understood as a buff.
The paladin minion “Banner Bearer of the Alliance” gets an additional life point. So in the future he will have values of 2 / 2 and will no longer die immediately against various hero abilities, such as mage, demon hunter, druid or rogue.
The neutral teacher, the school teacher, is also strengthened. His health increases from 3 to 4, allowing him to resist some spells and some minions longer. This removed some of the nerfs.
When is this going live? The changes have been live since the evening of September 9th, 2022. So it might be time to come up with some new decks or try again with previously unsuccessful decks.
What do you think of the changes? Good and useful? Or has Hearthstone destroyed your favorite deck “again”?
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