Hearthpwn

good job Blizz :)  and...CotW will still be played, no harm done ;)

Here is more reason why the nerf was necessary: Those 3 mana cards that are summoned by animal companion are good cards. 4/4 taunt for 3 mana? Yes please... 4/2 charge for 3 mana? Closest to that is 4/2 charge w/ divine shield at 6. or a 3/1 at 3 mana. 2/4 buff all minons by 1 attack... can be super strong if you have a board and compared to 3 mana 2/2 with the same effect in raid leader. So having 3 minions auto summoned that are already powerful compared to their 3 mana counterparts is still very strong at 9 mana. 

There is a diference between competitive and broken, 9 manas and this card is very strong and competitive, will see a lot of play after nerf, who complain about the nerf are players who like to abuse a broken card, is very bad for the game when less than half of the classes are competitive, I only see hunters, shamans, warriors and druids and mage sometimes, paladins, priests, rogues and warlocks are dead, all nerfs coming are very necessary and late in my opinion, I like if Blizzard realize more faster when a card is broken, but is better later than never...

IMO, this was expected. Hunter is among my decks, and I still agree with the nerf. I am also a Control Warrior player and there were many games wherein I was stabilizing by turn 7, after having just dealt with an awesome board of Highmane plus some random beasts. And when this card hits me by turn 8, chances of stabilizing are lost. At turn 9 this still can be very dangerous, but at least I have a turn to prepare for the onslaught.

 I am fine with Call of the wild being played on turn 8. I am not fine with another call of the wild on turn 9...

I am fine with a highmane on turn 6/7. I am not fine with facing call of the wild on turn 8 if my opponent played highmane on turn 6/7

So we were right. This card was nerf worthy. And all the defenders look stupid now. 

I'm ok with 9 mana. One more round to prepare for this card and a max of only 5 facedmg and not 7 (with hero power). 

Changes a lot. 

This card really got a nerf. Now it's 9 mana cost.

What is the replacement for hunter on 8 mana? Will rag fit the slot?

don't forget about 2nd CotW on turn 10 with a coin making a possible 7 damage play. (Just saying). 

Also, people defending a card they like to play from whiners isn't ever stupid. IF you have that attitude about people debating if a card is nerf-worthy or not, you need to check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Besides, 3x3 mana card that no longer is random.. people could whine for 10 mana and still potentially have grounds to stand on. I think it's fine. It's not immune to board clear and it's no 8 mana pyroblast. (Yes.. those were the days. 2 -10 damage nukes cast before turn 10)

Quote from melacine >>

don't forget about 2nd CotW on turn 10 with a coin making a possible 7 damage play. (Just saying). 

Also, people defending a card they like to play from whiners isn't ever stupid. IF you have that attitude about people debating if a card is nerf-worthy or not, you need to check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Besides, 3x3 mana card that no longer is random.. people could whine for 10 mana and still potentially have grounds to stand on. I think it's fine. It's not immune to board clear and it's no 8 mana pyroblast. (Yes.. those were the days. 2 -10 damage nukes cast before turn 10)

 No deck in this meta runs a board clear powerful enough to counter COTW. Anyfin Paladin might, okay, but that's about it. Maybe the extremely rare tempo mage that somehow runs Flamestrike, or gets it through RNG, but for most intents and purposes, no boardclear counters COTW, and even if they did, most of the time, they lost the trade, because you got 5 damage done ( Let's say that's worth 3 mana... ) already, and they probably paid just as much as COTW costs to clear it. Even Pyromancer + Equality, which also clears the paladin's own board, doesn't truly counter COTW if you factor in card and mana costs and the self board clear.

Auchenai Soulpriest + Circle of Healing works, Elemental Storm clears Call of the Wild (very common in mid-range Shaman decks), Revenge + Ravaging Ghoul, and more. I believe only 2 classes cannot efficiently clear Call of the Wild (Hunter and Rogue). A majority of these combinations allow room for building a board AFTER the Call of the Wild minions are cleared as well if not create a board themselves (Ex: Lightning Storm + Maelstrom Portal). When it was 8 mana that meant that the Hunter literally spent 8 mana to do 5 damage (it's now 9 making it much worse). You also ignore in your last sentence that Wild Pyromancer + Equality is 4 mana to clear a now 9 mana card leaving the Paladin with plenty of mana to create a board after clearing against a class with no comeback mechanics.

One and a half decks can counter this card ( And we're not saying "reliably" or "card for card", here, we're saying "at all" ), and that somehow registers as this card being counterable in a game that has 9 classes ? Even scrapping collection bottoms and factoring in unplayed cards will at most yield 5 boardclears that actually get rid of COTW, disregarding playability and actual cost VS COTW's. And even if this card was countered by a board clear, what does it matter when this card actually is a semi-finisher ? 5 damage on play, plus however many minions you had on board.

That is, again false. If you want me to go through the list of ways to clear Call of the Wild entirely I am willing to do so. Lastly, it isn't even close to a finisher anymore as by turn 9 the Hunter won't even have a board to use to their advantage by using Call of the Wild. When it was 8 mana it was because it allowed the Hunter to use what they had been working towards literally the entire game (board control) to their advantage, if the opponent was able to interrupt that or if the Hunter did not draw well the Hunter would more often than not lose as tehy would not have the pressure built, the board needed, or the finishing power needed (depending on at which point the Hunter was not able to curve out well) to win the game. 

 This card's balance doesn't even function mathematically. 3 times 3 mana cards, except you'd have to actually draw those cards in the first place, 2 cards draws are worth 3 mana : Oh my, 12 mana in a single card ? We could round it up to 11 because cantrips are worth 1 mana, but we're still way above 9. And that's before we even get to the reason these "subcards" are worth 3 mana : That they have RNG built in them, which COTW doesn't.

According to you in this part of your post, cards like Force of Nature should be 9 mana, Mirror Images should be what, 3 mana? It's completely nonsensical. Lastly, Animal Companion isn't costed at 3 because of the RNG effect, the minions you get from Animal companion are each WORTH 3 by themselves, the RNG is a relic that really needs to be done away with. It honestly should be a choose 1 card similar to how Druid cards work as the minions from Druid choose one cards are on curve minions. So likewise the cost of Call of the Wild should not be effected at all. 

 Stop kidding around, this card simply follows the latest Team 5 balance trend that is to give classes completely bonkers stuff until they work, regardless of whether or not the cards are actually balanced. People saying this card shouldn't exist aren't after hunter because of some conspiracy against SMORC, they're after this card because its very existence is a balance failure.

It's not conspiracy to say that there is blatant anti-Hunter bias as it is CLEARLY demonstrable. People try and hold Hunters to a standard that they clearly hold to no other class in the game. It can both be conscious and unconscious bias but it is bias nonetheless. Hunters needed a way to be able to leverage their game plan (board control) to their advantage and they got it. The recent change takes this off the table leaving Hunters in as bad of a spot as they were before getting Call of the Wild. 

Quote from hillandder >>

There is a diference between competitive and broken, 9 manas and this card is very strong and competitive, will see a lot of play after nerf, who complain about the nerf are players who like to abuse a broken card, is very bad for the game when less than half of the classes are competitive, I only see hunters, shamans, warriors and druids and mage sometimes, paladins, priests, rogues and warlocks are dead, all nerfs coming are very necessary and late in my opinion, I like if Blizzard realize more faster when a card is broken, but is better later than never...

Nerf hits, and we now have SMORC Hunter on the front page of Hearthpwn. Healthy meta indeed. Great job!

On a more serous note though, I am not against the nerf at all, just thought it was funny to see SMORC legend Hunter after nerf lol.

Quote from BlueMinotaur >>

Nerf hits, and we now have SMORC Hunter on the front page of Hearthpwn. Healthy meta indeed. Great job!

On a more serous note though, I am not against the nerf at all, just thought it was funny to see SMORC legend Hunter after nerf lol.

mid range with medivh laughs at nerf, its a buff

Quote from MaelstromZ1210 >>

mid range with medivh laughs at nerf, its a buff

Quote from BVanScoy1 >>

Quote from BlueMinotaur >>

Nerf hits, and we now have SMORC Hunter on the front page of Hearthpwn. Healthy meta indeed. Great job!

On a more serous note though, I am not against the nerf at all, just thought it was funny to see SMORC legend Hunter after nerf lol.

 It won't last long as there are much better class options for aggro. Aggro Hunter isn't actually aggro enough and gets out aggro'd.

Midrange hunter has become slower. Midrange Shamans are maybe expected to be slower as well (due to rockbiter nerf; no cheap early removal without real drawback). And slow midrange decks are easy prey for aggro since when they start dishing out their damage, a proper aggro deck nearly finished the meal. And midrange has rarely healing included. That's my guess why face hunter kind of works. But the cards used in face hunter are not very strong. Nerfed leper gnome, nerfed arcane golem and now nerfed abusive... That's hard.

Quote from BVanScoy1 >>

 No deck in this meta runs a board clear powerful enough to counter COTW. Anyfin Paladin might, okay, but that's about it. Maybe the extremely rare tempo mage that somehow runs Flamestrike, or gets it through RNG, but for most intents and purposes, no boardclear counters COTW, and even if they did, most of the time, they lost the trade, because you got 5 damage done ( Let's say that's worth 3 mana... ) already, and they probably paid just as much as COTW costs to clear it. Even Pyromancer + Equality, which also clears the paladin's own board, doesn't truly counter COTW if you factor in card and mana costs and the self board clear.

Auchenai Soulpriest + Circle of Healing works, Elemental Storm clears Call of the Wild (very common in mid-range Shaman decks), Revenge + Ravaging Ghoul, and more. I believe only 2 classes cannot efficiently clear Call of the Wild (Hunter and Rogue). A majority of these combinations allow room for building a board AFTER the Call of the Wild minions are cleared as well if not create a board themselves (Ex: Lightning Storm + Maelstrom Portal). When it was 8 mana that meant that the Hunter literally spent 8 mana to do 5 damage (it's now 9 making it much worse). You also ignore in your last sentence that Wild Pyromancer + Equality is 4 mana to clear a now 9 mana card leaving the Paladin with plenty of mana to create a board after clearing against a class with no comeback mechanics.

One and a half decks can counter this card ( And we're not saying "reliably" or "card for card", here, we're saying "at all" ), and that somehow registers as this card being counterable in a game that has 9 classes ? Even scrapping collection bottoms and factoring in unplayed cards will at most yield 5 boardclears that actually get rid of COTW, disregarding playability and actual cost VS COTW's. And even if this card was countered by a board clear, what does it matter when this card actually is a semi-finisher ? 5 damage on play, plus however many minions you had on board.

That is, again false. If you want me to go through the list of ways to clear Call of the Wild entirely I am willing to do so. Lastly, it isn't even close to a finisher anymore as by turn 9 the Hunter won't even have a board to use to their advantage by using Call of the Wild. When it was 8 mana it was because it allowed the Hunter to use what they had been working towards literally the entire game (board control) to their advantage, if the opponent was able to interrupt that or if the Hunter did not draw well the Hunter would more often than not lose as tehy would not have the pressure built, the board needed, or the finishing power needed (depending on at which point the Hunter was not able to curve out well) to win the game. 

 This card's balance doesn't even function mathematically. 3 times 3 mana cards, except you'd have to actually draw those cards in the first place, 2 cards draws are worth 3 mana : Oh my, 12 mana in a single card ? We could round it up to 11 because cantrips are worth 1 mana, but we're still way above 9. And that's before we even get to the reason these "subcards" are worth 3 mana : That they have RNG built in them, which COTW doesn't.

 

According to you in this part of your post, cards like Force of Nature should be 9 mana, Mirror Images should be what, 3 mana? It's completely nonsensical. Lastly, Animal Companion isn't costed at 3 because of the RNG effect, the minions you get from Animal companion are each WORTH 3 by themselves, the RNG is a relic that really needs to be done away with. It honestly should be a choose 1 card similar to how Druid cards work as the minions from Druid choose one cards are on curve minions. So likewise the cost of Call of the Wild should not be effected at all. 

 Stop kidding around, this card simply follows the latest Team 5 balance trend that is to give classes completely bonkers stuff until they work, regardless of whether or not the cards are actually balanced. People saying this card shouldn't exist aren't after hunter because of some conspiracy against SMORC, they're after this card because its very existence is a balance failure.

It's not conspiracy to say that there is blatant anti-Hunter bias as it is CLEARLY demonstrable. People try and hold Hunters to a standard that they clearly hold to no other class in the game. It can both be conscious and unconscious bias but it is bias nonetheless. Hunters needed a way to be able to leverage their game plan (board control) to their advantage and they got it. The recent change takes this off the table leaving Hunters in as bad of a spot as they were before getting Call of the Wild. 

 

  Yeah, in this meta, priest. Elemental Destruction ? No shaman deck runs this, sorry, you can check the most played midrange shaman decks on this site ; For a "very common" card, that's a feat. Revenge Ravaging Ghoul, I'll concede, works, but is conditional, and 5 mana with 2 cards is a lot more expensive ( And inconsistent ) than 5 mana. Again, Lightning Storm + Maelstrom portal ( Again, 2 cards, and with overload we're already hitting 7 mana, let alone the need to have and expend those 2 cards ) ) only has a 25% chance to clear COTW, so reliability isn't exactly the word here. As to Wild Pyromancer, which I did take into account, you're clearing your own board along with it for 4 mana and 2 cards. Whoopdy doo.

http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/599170-faceless-ones

http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/643655-post-nerf-aggro-shaman

http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/629219-writeup-amazs-hallazeal-control-shaman

Those are all deck that are highly rated here on Hearthpwn that run Elemental Destruction. AS for the rest, 2 card combinations are not as rare as you think, especially with classes that have excellent draw. Overload isn't really relevant as you are paying that price the NEXT turn afgter you clear the board and have already taken the board away from the Hunter. Hunters do not have a way to come back and re-grab control of the board after they lost it, so once the Hunter has lost control of the board it's pretty much game over. The Hunter's opponent has stripped the board away from the Hunter and the Hunter has to play from then on on the back foot. 

 Also, dealing 5 damage is at least worth 3 mana, so actually you're only breaking even if the counter to COTW costed 6 mana ( Or equivalent ). So as you can see, really not bad off here.

The problem then becomes, as the Hunter, ho to come back from being behind. They just wiped your board which is what you use to pressure the opponent and mounted counter pressure. AS a class with severely limited ways to then clear the board you end up having to play minions which will almost always get immediately removed not allowing you to efficiently trade (the only really way Hunters stabilize on  the board)

 f you want to count Priest and a card that is not part of this meta as counters to COTW, yeah, no, I've heard enough about its counters ; They're utterly unplayed. As to Hunter not having board control by turn 9, then, rework your hunter deck. I have a Reno control rogue and, not gonna say it's the best deck around, but it realibly achieves board control, so sorry but I'm not buying the "poor hunter has no control cards" excuse.

You literally just admitted that Warrior runs Ghoul and Revenge I just just proved that Shaman run Elemental Destruction. Counters to Call fo hte Wild are run in this meta. As for not having board control on turn 9, the sheer number of options now with teh large gaps where Hunters do not have a solid minion ot play on curve hurts them dramatically, much more so than other classes. This is why changing Call of the Wild hurt more than people realize. It's why just now I had to scroll down quite a ways to find a single person playing Hunter and they were playing a basic deck. 

 How would Force of Nature be worth 9 mana, by this logic ? A 2/2 is worth 1 mana ( For better or worse... ) and you draw 2, and, oh, what do we get ? 5 mana. Mirror Image summons 2 0 mana minions, so you need to draw one for 1 mana, OH, ONE MANA. So, yeah, basic arithmetic ?

Only Druids have a 1 mana 2/2 or anything stat-wise similar (Living roots) making them an outlier. I did the math based on that 2/2 being worth 2 mana which makes it exactly what I said. If it were somehow not an outlier and was worth 1 mana that would knock the cost down to 6 by your own logic. That would be 1 mana for the initial 2/2, 3 mana for the 2 card draw, then 2 mana for the additional 2 minion. Mirrior image is 3 0/2 minions with taunt. If you want ot say, compare it to minions with similar stats (of which there are few) a 0/2 would be worth 0 mana but hte draw for the additional 2 cards would be 3 mana. 

 As to Animal Companion minions being worth 3 mana...Huh, what ? 4/4 withTaunt and Beast strikes you as a 3 mana card ? You've been playing hunter too much, friend, because this is far from a 3 mana play for the non hunter plebe.

minions with similar stats already exist. I gave a couple of examples already, Druid of the Flame being one. This makes the minions from Animal Companion balanced at 3 mana each by themselves.