Patches the Pirate Loses Charge - Four Card Nerfs Coming in February
Four cards are being nerfed! These changes are not yet live and will be available in a February patch. They will all be disenchantable for their full value once to patch arrives. Please do not disenchant these cards until that patch - Blizzard won't help you out get the correct dust value.
- Bonemare now costs 8 mana, up from 7.
- Corridor Creeper now has 2 attack, down from 5.
- Patches the Pirate no longer has charge. His voice line will also be changing. (Source)
- Raza the Chained's effect now sets your Hero Power to 1 mana, up from 0.
We've got dedicated threads available to discuss each card nerf.
Discuss the Nerf Discuss the Nerf Discuss the Nerf Discuss the Nerf
Quote from BlizzardIn the upcoming 10.2 update, we will be making balance changes to the following cards:
Bonemare - Now costs 8 mana. (Up from 7)
Bonemare has been quite strong in both constructed and Arena. It has a big, immediate impact on the board, and since it’s neutral, it’s been finding its way into a wide variety of decks.
Increasing its mana cost by 1 will give opponents more time to utilize powerful late-game cards to counteract Bonemare’s effect on the board.
Corridor Creeper - Now has 2 Attack. (Down from 5)
Due to the way that Corridor Creeper’s mana cost reduction works, it can cause big swings based on whether or not it happens to be in-hand at the start of the game.
Since it’s a very strong neutral card, Corridor Creeper has been played by a lot of classes. By lowering its attack, we reduce the overall swing potential and power level of the card, but still allow players who draw it early to benefit from having a low-cost minion to play when the game state is ideal.
Patches the Pirate - No longer has Charge.
As we move closer to the new Hearthstone Year, we had some concerns about allowing Patches to remain in his current state after moving out of Standard. Patches’ strength has caused almost every class to add some Pirates just to benefit from him, and his early game power forces control decks to include a good answer to him. This change should give Wild players more flexibility when building their decks.
Removing Charge will lower his power level, ensuring he shows up in fewer decks and allowing opposing players some additional time to respond to Patches, making him less “in charge” of the early game.
Raza the Chained - Now reads: Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, your Hero Power costs (1) this game.
In a similar vein to Patches the Pirate, we had some concerns about allowing Raza to remain in his current state forever. Raza is currently an important combo piece along with Shadowreaper Anduin, and can lead to games that rely heavily on drawing him by turn 5. Adjusting his Battlecry will lower his overall power level when combined with Shadowreaper Anduin in Standard, and keep his power level reasonable in Wild as we prepare for the new Hearthstone Year.
Once these card changes are live with Update 10.2 next month, players will be able to disenchant the changed cards for their full Arcane Dust value for two weeks. Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you in the tavern!
Ye, but play a pirate, pull a wisp ? Kinda meh
Agreed. But he had to be nerfed. Charge itself should be nerfed instead -- and maybe that would have been enough for Patches.
Here's how Charge should be nerfed: Charge = when this minion comes into play, it immediately attacks the enemy hero if able, or otherwise the (oldest/leftmost/etc) Taunt minion.
That would force inefficient trades sometimes, and make the Charge go off before any casted or battlecry buffs can be applied.
Time to fire up the ole disenchanter!
Ahh, about the standard for Blizzard nerf times. About half of it will make sense and leave the card playable. The other half will be banished into the dustbin, never to be seen again.
The change to Bonemare makes it more fairly costed. It is still in this new form undercosted, if we look at it. A 5/5 body still getting +4/+4 and Taunt onto something else is still really sweet for 8. So, good change.
Raza the Chained had to get slapped. It just had to be. It would have been a good change quite some time ago, but I guess that they don't want that chain-wielding albatross screwing up Wild any more than it has been Standard for awhile now. This change leaves Raza still playable, but not busted.
Corridor Creeper needed a change, but this is too far. This is the 'yeah, everyone liked this and it was too strong, nerf it so hard that nobody uses it anymore' choice. Feels bad. I get that something needed to be done, but smashing it to the point of unplayability has never been something that I like.
And for as much as I utterly and totally despise Patches the Pirate, again, a little too far IMO. He could have at least gotten +1 Attack or Health to compensate for the loss of Charge. Now he's an over-costed Wisp with situational Recruit tech. Super meh. Feels bad for 1600 dust. And that's coming from somebody who really, really hates the card and couldn't wait for it to rotate.
Without patches the pirate package is once again unplayable, it is the end of the pirate era, we had an horrible year and a half that finally come to it's end.
FINALLY!!! No more Priests or Mages running Pirates! Long Live Class Identity!!!!!
I give these nerfs a 7/10. Bonemare's wasn't enough, and Patches was arguably too much, in my opinion. Guess this officially means Pirates are useless again.
Is this a joke? I literally crafted Patches 2 hours ago. I feel like someone is screwing with me. I waited so long, resisting the urge to craft it and once i did it they instantly nerf it.
Edit: I know that i get the dust back, i just thought it was a funny coincedence.
After nerf comes out, you can disenchant it for full price. Calm down ;)
I crafted my two creepers today as well. At least we get full dust refunds.
... and?
Play him until they nerf him, and regain your dust. I can't see the problem.
Yeah i know that you get your dust back it just feels like a joke. Pirates are not even at their peak right now and it's right before the rotation that's why i thought that it was a good time to craft it.
Hmm, if they put Doomguard in Hall of Fame...the problem of Cubelock will be solved
Or just "Battlecry: Discard two cards from your hand and gain Charge".
Raza and Patches are long time coming and very fair, as they both have been dominating wild the entire time. When people are running a card as bad Bloodsail Corsair just for Patches, you know you have a problem. The one I'm most surprised at is Corridor Creeper. This wasn't a card that they should have picked up as too strong in internal testing, so they've essentially removed it from the game.
They didn't nerf the mage quest either, which guarantees that they get infinite free fireballs, or 4+ giants "with charge".
Step 1: Blizzard releases a minion with charge, or a card that grants charge.
Step 2: Blizzard suddenly realizes that charge is a very powerful mechanic that can limit design space or otherwise skew the meta in terrible ways, so they nerf the card.
Step 3: Go to step 1.
It's ludicrous, and it stops being funny when it takes more than a year to get from step 1 to step 2.
Tier 1: Cubelock
Tier Shaman: Everything but Cubelock