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!
I think it's really not that bad. In certain Zoo/Combolock Decks it was really just op, but now it has still something going for it. Of course giving your opponent a free mana crystal is a heavy drawback in later stages, but in the moment when you play Arcane Golem it is pure tempo in my opinion. Normally you plan foreward to what you will do the next turns and getting an extra mana is irrelevant for the next 2-3 turns imo, if the golem has been played on turn 3 (or even 2).
Of course in constructed this card will suck most of the time, but in arena I think it is on average or even above. I'm gonna give it a try sometime :)
If you compare it to Dancing Swords it is pretty situational, whether it's better or worse. But in my opinion drawing a card is more powerful than gaining a mana crystal when playing average decks (and not those, that rely on it [Rampdruids])
EDIT: I forgot to say something about the Ogre Brute: This card is obviously much better than the golem :D
My thoughts on these changes:
Ancient of Lore: I agree fully. Great change, was needed.
Force of Nature: eh... I would've preferred a change to Savage Roar, because a 6 mana Fireball split into three was fine. But well, it's still token-y xD
Keeper of the Grove: considering Spellbreaker... The stat change was a bit too harsh. 2/3 for 4 would've been fairer. Now it is strictly worse than the unplayed High Elf.
Ironbeak Owl: good change, I almost expected it to become a 1/1 for 3, but it kept its statline.
Big Game Hunter: very comparable to what I thought the card would become; definitely makes it more difficult to weave into a turn
Hunter's Mark: I always thought the change made in the early days of HS's early release (aka making the health debuff permanent) made the card too efficient. Good to see that it got remedied.
Blade Flurry: Probably would've made it cost 3 with the new effect or 4 with the old one. So I think this one was too harsh.
Knife Juggler: got less aggressive while keeping the original effect. An acceptable change.
Leper Gnome: SOUL OF THE CARD VIOLATED! Clockwork Gnome will now always win the weightlifting contest of these two old sibling cards.
Arcane Golem: goodbye, combo... But now it's a better late-game Ogre Brute xD
Molten Giant: idk if 25 is the correct cost but an increase was in order.
Master of Disguise: most obvious change ever.
Keeper is DEFINITELY not worse than Spellbreaker now... It's still a good card, but not so good that it's an auto-include in every single Druid deck, which is exactly what they wanted.
And it's kinda bullshit to compare Leper Gnome to Clockwork Gnome, they serve an entirely different purpose. Leper is for aggro decks, Clockwork is for Mech / control / tempo mage and so on. No deck that uses Leper Gnome would switch it for Clockwork because of this nerf.
Clockwork was a joke, because of the infamous Soul of the Card comment regarding the refusal to adjust the stats for Warsong Commander after its nerf. And well, in terms of silence, Keeper is worse than Spellbreaker. So if a Druid wants to run a 4 drop that silences... They can definitely consider the elf now if they can live with losing the option to deal 2 damage.
The point with nerfing FoN instead of Savage Roar is that with Savage Roar you have to have boad to start with, and FoN is just charge, without you can do anything to stop it. Lets face it, FoN was the right choice. If they nerfed it with like 1-2 more mana it would still be broken and change nothing. Its the effect that they want to remove.
First of all, I am going to say kudos on the work they did on these changes. As a whole I feel like they did a very good job and most of my comments are kind of minor.
Ancient of Lore - I sort of feel like it could have also justified cutting a mana off with what they did but I understand they are trying to power it down and make it less central to druid. I like that they kept the feel of the card the same but cutting half of the primarily used battlecry while keeping everything else the same feels a little rough. I like that they tried keeping the flavor of this card and I understand why they did what they did but I feel like a slight upgrade to stats / cost would have been a little easier to swallow with it.
Arcane Golem - honestly I am fine with cutting charge off of it but keeping the terrible battlecry and offsetting with toughness kills this card super hard. They took it from a niche deck use and threw it away. I honestly wish they had spent a little more time with a redesign than to try to keep the feel of the card the same while just taking away all that makes it ok. I understand they wanted a nerf but in this case I think keeping the "feel" of the card was a mistake.
Master of Disguise - I understand why they wanted to do what they did but it still stands that they nerfed a card that sees no play. It wasnt really good enough so perhaps they could have buffed it in another way while they were at it? I would have even taken like a toughness bump or something.
I do have some minor grievances but like I said, I think they handled this very well as a whole. I really respect what they did with everything else and I understand their reasoning.
To be fair, most of those nerfs are well thought and reasonable, BUT:
FoN had to be nerfed, it was hardly a surprise.
Nerfing Savage Roar would also have hurtForce of Nature so it was sort of the more expected direction for them to go with it but most trents are 2/2s by default so doing Force of Nature brought the card more into the norm of what druid's Trents are.
Adjusting Force of Nature instead of Savage Roar could in the long run hurt them because token based Savage Roar decks can exist but the purpose of this nerf as things stand was to break up Force of Nature + Savage Roar so I guess I see the reason they went this way.
HS team you stupid ****s...it took you almost 3 years of fan frustration to change the damn cards..and there 's soo much more that needs change yet
you let the fans of this game suffer from your toxic BS for far too l
Hey !!
My mind in french !!
Realy impact ? not sure !
Mdr mais CASH !!! :)
Nice nerfs Blizzard, I'm out.
Sludge Belcher is infant BibleThump
That's one ugly ass baby.
Another batch suffers the same fate.
RIP Blade Flurry...
Now Rogues have to pay 7 mana and spend 2 cards for a 3 damage AoE. Such value!
So next meta will be flooded by retarded face shaman and aggro pally decks. Thanks blizz, really looking forward to it.