Notice: Tomorrow's livestream will contain "some" new cards according to Hearthstone Game Designer IksarHS. (Source)
We will be fully covering tomorrow's livestream event which starts at 10 AM PDT. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates!
Keeping Hearthstone Fresh - Card Nerfs!
Blizzard has announced basic and classic card nerfs! Check them out below and read on for their reasoning behind them. Be sure to click on our Discuss this Nerf links below each card to talk about it on the forums and to let us know what you think about it.
All cards below will be disenchanted at full crafting cost once the changes go live. If you're planning on disenchanting 2 of each of these cards, you'll get up with 4360 arcane dust! Epics are worth 400 dust, rares are worth 100, and commons will be worth 40.
Protip: If you aren't planning on using any cards immediately in decks, disenchant them after the patch. You can hold onto that dust for a bit and recraft the card with no penalty.
Discuss the Nerf
Discuss the Nerf
Discuss the Nerf
Discuss the Nerf
Discuss the Nerf
Discuss the Nerf
Discuss the Nerf
Discuss the Nerf
Discuss the Nerf
Discuss the Nerf
Discuss the Nerf
Discuss the Nerf
Announcement Blog
Quote from BlizzardAs the Year of the Kraken approaches, the time has come to reveal the results of our Basic and Classic card review. We focused on Basic and Classic cards because those sets will form the foundation of both formats for years to come. It took much careful consideration to arrive here, but we believe that—between our own analysis and reading plenty of community feedback—we’ve identified the right cards to change.
There’s a simple guiding principle that underlies each of the changes you’re about to see: New card releases should have an impact on Standard and enrich Wild, to make sure that Hearthstone is always as dynamic, fresh, and fun as it can be.
Read on for the details!
Druid Cards
The most popular Druid decks are consistently composed of the same big chunk of Druid cards. That puts a damper on deckbuilding creativity and has left the Druids feeling stagnant. We want to inject some life into Druid deckbuilding, so we’re adjusting some of the worst offenders.It’s important to point out that, in general, we like that Classes in Hearthstone have signature cards that appear in decks frequently, since they help give each Class its identity. We also still think it’s good for some signature Class cards to be in Druid decks, too. For example, Innervate and Wild Growth embody the Druid’s unique strength, so we’ve chosen not to adjust them.
Ancient of Lore
Drawing cards is powerful in Hearthstone, and Ancient of Lore easily found its way into nearly every popular Druid deck. We’d like Druid players to feel that other cards can compete with Ancient of Lore, so we’ve reduced the number of cards drawn from 2 to 1.Force of Nature
The new version of Force of Nature lowers its mana cost by 1, but removes Charge and makes the summoned Treants permanent—like the other Treants that Druids summon. This change also removes the powerful one-turn combo of Force of Nature and Savage Roar. Now, opponents will have a chance to deal with the threat that the Treants represent, and it won’t feel mandatory to always include the combo.Keeper of the Grove
Keeper of the Grove is a strong and versatile minion that combines Silence with solid stats, which made the decision to include it in every Druid deck virtually automatic. Whether or not to introduce a source of Silence to a deck should require some decision making, so Keeper of the Grove shouldn’t be a default choice for all Druid decks. Its stats have been changed from 2/4 to 2/2.Silence & Removal
Speaking of Keeper of the Grove, Silence and minion removal are potent effects in Hearthstone. Currently, some removal options are too widely played, are attached to minions with efficient stats, or are simply too powerful. While removal is an important part of Hearthstone, it also makes playing big, exciting minions less rewarding. We are adjusting some of these cards so that the decision to add them to your deck comes with a cost, especially if you don’t end up finding an ideal target for them. These changes should help make cards with high attack or cool effects more interesting too.Ironbeak Owl
Ironbeak Owl is a staple source for an inexpensive Silence in many decks. In line with our overall goal to make Silence effects more costly, Ironbeak Owl is moving from 2 to 3 mana.Big Game Hunter
Big Game Hunter represents an inexpensive source of removal that is packaged with a minion. It’s efficient enough that some Heroes with powerful Class-based removal cards choose to run the neutral Big Game Hunter. We’re increasing the cost of the card from 3 mana to 5 mana.Hunter’s Mark
Hunter’s Mark is an important option for Hunters, but it’s too efficient at 0 mana. We are increasing its cost to 1.Blade Flurry
Blade Flurry is a problem because it enables both board clear and heavy burst damage, and it’s also an obstacle to adding better cards for Rogues. To address these issues, the cost of Blade Flurry is moving from 2 to 4 mana, and it will now only affect minions, so that Rogues have to choose between removing threats or damaging the enemy Hero.Powerful Neutral Minions
Strong, widely-played neutral cards can stifle deck-building decisions and homogenize decks. These cards also make it more difficult to create new cards that can compete with them. We’re adjusting these neutral cards so that other cards can become compelling replacements, and open the door for more of a deck’s power to come from its Class identity.Knife Juggler
Knife Juggler should be a good choice in decks that play many cheap minions, but with 3 Attack, it is played almost universally. We’re reducing Knife Juggler’s Attack from 3 to 2, so this card will move into a more specialized role in the decks that include it, instead of always being among the best choices for a 2 mana-cost minion.Leper Gnome
Leper Gnome is powerful for its cost, finds its way into almost every aggressive deck, and requires no further deck building decisions to be effective. We’d like other 1 mana minions to be more compelling, so we’re reducing its Attack from 2 to 1.Arcane Golem
Charge is an ability we’ve learned to use sparingly. Arcane Golem has been a staple in many aggressive and ‘one turn kill’ combo decks, and its drawback is rarely relevant. We’re addressing both issues by removing Charge and increasing Arcane Golem’s Health, while leaving its drawback. Arcane Golem will now be a 3 mana 4/4 with Battlecry: Give your opponent a Mana Crystal.Molten Giant
Molten Giant is an interesting card, but it’s too easy for players to reduce its mana cost to 0. We’re increasing Molten Giant’s mana cost to 25 to increase the risks players must take to get a free Giant. The changes to Force of Nature and Arcane Golem will make dropping to low health somewhat less risky as well, which helped spur this change.Master of Disguise
The ability of Master of Disguise to grant permanent Stealth has been a design obstacle for a long time, so we are changing Master of Disguise to only grant Stealth until the next turn. This change opens up exciting options for future cards.
Thanks for reading along as we’ve explored the decisions that have shaped these cards. These changes will arrive as part of Hearthstone Patch 5.0. Then be sure to join us on April 26 for the arrival of Hearthstone’s newest expansion: Whispers of the Old Gods, the introduction of formats, and the beginning of the Year of the Kraken!
Moltens RIP
Same had some golden ones too.
I disenchanted all of them and have now 4600 dust and started with 100! I also had some gold versions of them.
Unaffected by the Big Game Hunter nerf, as I've never gotten it in a pack and I've been playing since launch. -_-
The only card that was rendered completely unplayable was Arcane Golem. The remaining cards are obviously less good but still could find a role in some decks.
Ancient of Lore: I think the restore health option still makes this viable in decks that need it. You'll never put it in your deck exclusively it for the card draw again as there are now better options, but that option is still decent in a scenario where you don't need the heal and still want the 5/5 body.
Force of Nature: Still potentially viable in a flood druid deck.
Keeper of the Grove: Yes it's bad strictly as a silence option, but it still gives you the 2 damage option which a lot of people are ignoring when valuing this card post-nerf. Any card that's modal like this and Ancient of Lore is going to appear "overcosted" but it still offers flexibility. I still think you run one of these in a druid deck that values silence since it's more flexible that owl and spellbreaker.
Ironbeak Owl: Still playable although it won't be as ubiquitous. Spellbreaker will now also see some play but this thing is still cheaper to play than spellbreaker which is a big deal. It's also a beast.
Big Game Hunter: Still totally playable for some classes. It just isn't an obvious better choice than some of the class cards anymore. Mulch, Polymorph, Assassinate and probably Siphon Soul are all probably preferable to this now but it really just depends on the meta. If big creatures are all over the place this still probably sees play alongside the above mentioned cards.
Hunter's Mark: Still good, especially with the BGH nerf.
Blade Flurry: This is still valid as a control sweeper, especially if more powerful rogue weapons are released. You will need to use it with Prep though, but most flurry decks used prep anyway. It's obviously not useful as a finisher anymore but that doesn't mean it doesn't have a place in some controllish rogue decks in the future.
Knife Juggler: Still very good but probably only outstanding when combined with stuff like Muster or Unleash the Hounds. It probably doesn't stay in full aggro decks anymore, but I think it's still really good in token midrange decks, especially in the Wild format.
Leper Gnome: May still show up in burn decks, but that's about it.
Arcane Golem: This card is terrible.
Molten Giant: Still decent in handlock but you probably only run 1 of them now.
Master of Disguise: Whatever.
only knife juggler, hunters mark and bgh are still playable, maybe fon after a boardclear to get back on board. blade furry is dead as fuck and the other cards are just "average" or worse, so you dont want to play them in contruced.
Yet Divine Favor stays the same? Please.
Did anyone else make the mistake of thinking they buffed Arcane Golem? I read it thinking, wow they added two health to it, not seeing that the charge had been removed. I suppose thats why farther down they have the idiot proof red outlines...
I thought they buffed Force of nature,...
I'm sure more nerfs will follow... and that's not a bad thing.
You can't say that they should "make better cards", because then we get into a situation where the power of cards is scaling up into infinity. Knocking the ubiquitous older cards down to a more average level brings a lot more cards into relevance. Whether or not all of the nerfs were justified is always going to be debatable, but there shouldn't be an argument on whether a pruning needs to happen at some point.
I'd say that this is a good start, but there are likely a lot more nerfs that need to happen to effectively change the meta. Everything is relative.
Isn't wild suppose to be wild and unbalanced?
Nope... I think Blizzard said they will also make wild format balanced...
If I understood this corectly, he wrote Blizzard should make some changes if necessarily. I think it is necessarily to nerf dr. boom, because it's very unbalanced...
If you don't agree, play this video
GOD THEY ******* WRECKED MIDRANGE DRUID AND FACE HUNTER!!!
What was Blizzard thinking?
Luckily, 800 dust for me, packed both my Force of Natures.
"Ancient of Lore
Drawing cards is powerful in Hearthstone, and Ancient of Lore easily found its way into nearly every popular Druid deck. We’d like Druid players to feel that other cards can compete with Ancient of Lore, so we’ve reduced the number of cards drawn from 2 to 1.
Then make better cards. Don't nerf shit that doesn't need to be nerfed because you are are putting out a second set in a row full of 98% garbage.
Do you even think before making a comment?
Whatever happened to "We will only nerf cards if it is extremely important to the game."
Molten was really a tier 1 game changing card with all the legends playing handlock rn.
yes and doomhammer is totaly fine at 5 mana.. 7 mana 16 dmg burst seems fine