Upcoming Hearthstone Balance Changes - Wild Growth, Nourish, Level Up!, Saronite Chain Gang, Leeching Poison CHANGES ARE NOW LIVE
Five card changes are coming to Hearthstone on December 19th, which is... today!
- [Discuss this Change] Wild Growth now costs 3, up from 2.
- [Discuss this Change] Nourish now costs 6, up from 5.
- [Discuss this Change] Level Up! now costs 6, up from 5.
- [Discuss this Change] Saronite Chain Gang now summons another Saronite Chain Gang, instead of a copy of the minion.
- [Discuss this Change] Leeching Poison now costs 1, down from 2, and only gives Lifesteal for 1 turn.
Check out Blizzard's post below for more information on each of the changes.
Quote from BlizzardIn an update scheduled to arrive December 19 PST, the following cards will be changed.
Developer’s Note: This balance update is focused on improving the long-term health of both Standard and Wild. We've opted to make these changes earlier in the expansion cycle than we normally consider; we'd like to hear your feedback on the timing of this update, in addition to what you think of all the individual card changes.
Wild Growth – Will cost 3 mana. (Up from 2)
Nourish – Will cost 6 mana. (Up from 5)
Wild Growth and Nourish have been present in every mid-range, combo, and control Druid deck since their introduction in the Basic and Classic set. When cards from the Basic and Classic set are too powerful, they can have negative long-term effects on the game. Continuously playing against these cards can start to feel repetitive, and they can feel so mandatory that they stifle creative deckbuilding decisions. By increasing the mana cost of both cards by one, we expect them to be considerations in late-game control Druid decks, but more difficult to fit in strategies that don’t directly take advantage of ramping mana.
Level Up! – Will cost 6 mana. (Up from 5)
Odd Paladin has consistently been one of the most powerful and most played decks since its introduction in The Witchwood. By removing Level Up from Odd Paladin, we still expect it to be a competitive board control deck, just with more consistent damage output that should be easier to play around.
Saronite Chain Gang – Now reads: Taunt. Battlecry: Summon another Saronite Chain Gang.
Shudderwock brings an interesting combo to the table, but playing Shudderwock multiple times in a single game can be frustrating. Changing Saronite Chain Gang makes playing multiple Shudderwocks in a game much more difficult. Shudderwock should now exist as a powerful one-turn effect rather than constantly copying itself with Saronite Chain Gang’s Battlecry.
Leeching Poison – Will cost 1 mana. (Down from 2). Now reads: Give your weapon Lifesteal this turn.
We love the fantasy of building a powerful weapon over the course of a game with Kingsbane, but granting it a permanent Lifesteal effect with Leeching Poison resulted in an endgame with few weaknesses, as well as conflicting with our philosophy that Rogues should not have persistent self-healing effects. Making the Lifesteal effect only active for one turn should address some of the power level issues with Kingsbane Rogue’s late game.
Kiwii's Thoughts
Resident deck architect Kiwiinbacon had some thoughts on the nerfs.
I'm currently 23-5 against hunter (EU rank 3 to about 1.7k legend) with OTK control paladin. if you struggle against hunter give it a try. 4 of these losses were against greedy recruit/deathrattle lists, spell or secret hunter usually dont stand a chance, especially if you play the lynessa package instead of shrinkray
Terrible changes that kills most of the current archetypes BECAUSE. (If you thought you were facing too many Hunters...) and made HS even a worse game for casuals and new players.
They killed odd paladin, a deck that it's not that strong... but it was really accessible for casuals and new players.
They killed Shudderwock, a deck with a low WR. In the process they made worse a good card that was rare and, therefore, accesible for everyone.
Once again, to weaken Druid they nerfed basic and classic cards that everyone has, instead of nerfing OP cards such as Ultimate Infestation.
They killed Kingsbane Rogue, that I hated but I don't think it was a problem.
We had a meta with tons of decks and great variety, and I feel like instead of seeing new archetypes we are just gonna see Hunters, Zoolocks and Even Shaman.
Odd Paladin not that strong? It has been on top of the Meta for 8 months now, that's 3 expansions, and all that without adding basically any new cards.
not that strong = the highest winrate deck for 3 expansions LUL
Odd paladin is one of the strongest decks our there, stopped reading right there.
Can i send flowers to the person that signed the decision?! THANK YOU MY ANGEL
I don't understand it how people first whine, that meta is stupid and boring. When Blizzard make a fix, people are whining that their favorite decks are broken and they want an refund. This is a trade off. Either we have balance changes or we play with same broken and boring decks. AND REFUND is one of the main reasons blizzard don't make any balances.
That's the golden rule of hspwn folks out of there. To complain for whatever is happening. Haven't yet realized that?
Indeed a good job from Blizz but I'm really curious that hunter remains untouched.
They missed only Lesser Emerald Spellstone for the perfect balance changes. Thk Blizzard anyway
Didn't expect this at all, but seems really good to the game. Pog.
A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.
General Shudderwocki, you are a nerfed one!
Hold on to your Hunter cards boys. I'm fairly certain we're gonna get a round two of nerfs, and Emerald Spellstone won't get away next time.
I mean they pretty much just removed just about every single counter Hunter had in the meta and it was already on top.
Odd Dragon Warrior might be the only thing to keep them at bay, and even that deck struggles against Deathstalker Rexxar. Is there even any deck at the moment that can beat Deathstalker Rexxar in the long run while also beating Spellstone and Zul'jin before that? The only deck that even remotely comes close in terms of value and defensive power is Big Spell Mage (which admittedly looks to be improved purely based on the fact that most of its counters got dicked)
Yeah, I don't see them getting around another set of nerfs in about 1-2 months. I like Hunter and I will definitely use this time to play Quest Hunter as much as possible, but playing against 4 different decks from the same class is just not going to be much fun, unless a previously surpressed hunter counter arises (and if it'S taunt Druid I will blow my brains out, I swear to god)
Pretty sure Taunt Druid and Control Warlock can both destroy hunter.
Without Leeching Poison as a permanent buff, Kingsbane is no longer a valid win condition against Control decks. You can't remove the opponent's minion and heal yourself at the same time with every attack, just one. That was the whole point of this weapon. Now, Priests and Warlocks will just bring your health to zero in no time by slapping big taunts on the board.
It still prevents fatigue damage, sure, but Academic Espionage is way better at that...
Kingsbane with Leeching was lame. Now Kingsbane have to make deck which is not only about Kingsbane, Vanish and Sap. Now they can have huge heal, but only once (or two times). So now Kingsbane will remain as win condition still, but not the only card that matter. Maybe some Kingsbane pirate will become new Kingsbane deck.
Actually its not really clear, is it counts as buff? So if you Leech it, attack and shuffle it, will lifesteal remain for one more turn when you draw it? I doubt, but it might.
As a big spell mage player i approve every card nerf LOL
Pretty incredible that Hunter Spellstone completely dodged the nerf hammer.
The spellstone is only good against certain decks. Warlock, Mage and Priest all counter it quite easily