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'm still shocked at the BGH "nerf".
BGH, Knife Juggler, and Owl need bigger nerfs.
And Ancient of Lore and Molten Giant were over nerfed. Why the hell would you use Lore over Azure Drake now? There is no reason at all. And Giant should have been 23 mana cost.
So tasty! Kreygasm
Spellbreaker - NEW SILENCE META!
took a while for s.o to point that out
owl has 4 stats for silence gone, SB only 2, thought theyd nerf ALL the silence cards
(well without mass dispell cuz ... well its mass dispell) but silence (priest card)
Yeah that makes a huge difference, even though if you play a silence minion, it is all about countering an effect and 3 mana is better than 4. However, as you said, the owl is has now a really bad body for a 3 drop, while Spellbreaker has actually pretty good body for 4 mana. With Piloted Shredder leaving the constant 4 drop slot in some decks, Spellbreaker should find a new place, if you ask me. After all it looks like the game will slow down significantly, since aggro decks will not have as much damage potential as they used to have (expect Aggro Shaman?).
yea right, its also about that tempo swing now that i think of it. like with bgh
you take away an effect and play owl PLUS you can play something else with potentially up to 8 mana. that whole thing is not that big of a deal if you have to split the stats on 3/4 mana minions, sure you can still play spellbreaker + boulderfist (for example) but at higher manacosts the cards effects are gettig enourmously bigger with eery mana they cost
i would say there isnt that much of an impact from 3-4 mana but 7-8 for example its huge
Exactly :) Now even considering what we just said, it is also possible that Priest will be running Silence in the future, just for stopping a buffed C'Thun, Y'Shaarj, Rage Unbound, Deathwing, Dragonlord, N'Zoth the Corruptor and more cards. This would serve the purpose to counter with the exact or similar high mana card. After all a combination of the owl or Spellbreaker with Ragnaros is not possible, theoretically speaking. Not sure if this will happen as long as Priest have Entomb and maybe the possibility of Mind Control, but it is worth to consider to see Silence more often in the future, just because of the owl nerf.
We will see!
Thank you Blizzard for a job well done . Finally druids ... finally !
Hahah the BGH nerf isn't a big deal at all. It's still going to be a staple and will be a double include now with all these big minions coming out. So much for being able to play big minions easier. Why they didn't just make it do damage to a big minion or swap it to Hemet Nesingwary is beyond me.
They didn't swap it with Hemet, because Hemet is going to wild format. If standard/wild formats didn't exist, I would agree with swapping the effects, but since formats now DO exist, this is the next best thing I suppose.
Wow ... how was Savage Roar not touched?
This is bullshit. I can get behind some of those, but when will blizz stop DESTROYING every card they decide to nerf?! Fuck off!
Owl costing 3 mana?! Oh my god, and what about earth shock than? Maybe this finally makes shaman a good class after all.
I think I've seen all of these be considered before. Some of them are not how I would have nerfed them - looking at you, Knife Juggler - but overall solid changes. Nothing made completely garbage, I think. At least, no Warsong Commander or Starving Buzzard level nerfs.
Yeah, there's definitely some that are now significantly worse cards, but I don't know if they're destroyed. Arcane Golem at least will no longer be used the way it was, and I agree that Azure Drake is more likely to be run than Ancient of Lore, unless your 5 drop slot is crowded.
Ironbeak Owl is definitely playable over Spellbreaker if you have a lot of 4 drops, basically. One thing I do think is they could have buffed Master of Disguise's stats a bit, given that it wasn't played before and definitely won't be played now. I agree with the nerf, I just think they could have been a bit kinder to it.
Blade Flurry? It now reads, Crush the hopes and dreams of all rogue players (wherever they are)
I actually like the Blade Flurry nerf, I think the reasoning behind it is solid. Sure, it looks like a really weak card now - and it probably is - but for the class as a whole it means they can get crazier with weapon buffs, which is great.
they probably compare it to Shadowflame in warlock, but honestly shadowflame is better cuz you have alot more minions in the game and you have giants. I understand your reasoning, but in reality they didnt utilize the design space they created. rogue has 4 weapon buffs in standard, Spiteful smith, Deadly poison, bucanner, and the squidface. Weapon smith is a bit slow, bucaneer is only good if you can load the weapon same turn since it'll die right after, squidface is a deathrattle which is tricky to trigger on your conditions.