Ben Brode: "We Might Rotate Some Additional Classic Cards to Wild"

Ben Brode: "We Might Rotate Some Additional Classic Cards to Wild"

Ben's been a busy guy lately! Mr. Brode took to the official forums to discuss the goals behind Standard and wanted to let everyone know that if the team doesn't think enough will change, they have no issues moving problematic cards out of the basic and classic sets.

  • The ultimate goal is to keep Standard fresh every year.
  • If the same Basic and Classic cards appear too frequently each year, that won't be them achieving their goal.
  • Meta will always need to be watched to make plans for the next Standard year.
  • Releasing new cards is better than buffing cards from the classic and basic sets.

You can join the discussion over on our forums, or leave a comment below to share your thoughts.

Quote from Ben Brode
The goal with Standard is to keep the meta fresh for each yearly rotation. There are some benefits to keeping Basic and Classic cards in Standard: Returning players have an entry-point to the new format, and new players experience classics like "Hogger" and "Arcane Missiles" that are iconic and great introductions to the game. People take breaks from Hearthstone, and being able to jump right back in with a few cards you already own and understand makes that experience a lot better.

That upside has a real downside in working directly against the big goal for Standard. It needs to feel different each year, and if Basic and Classic cards are still appearing in large densities year after year, we will not be achieving our goals for Standard.

We knew we weren't going to get there when the Year of the Kraken began, so we nerfed 12 basic/classic cards, to put more of the weight of the meta into the rotating sets. We always knew we'd have to watch the meta to see if any future changes would be needed when we got ready for the next year of Standard. If things are looking like they are going to be too same-y for that next year, we could see more nerfs, or we might rotate some additional classic cards to Wild, like we did with Old Murk Eye. No matter what, we're committed to making Standard fresh and exciting each new year. (Source)

Are you guys considering, besides nerfs, implementing buffs for underused vanilla cards?
Given the goal of Standard is to keep the game fresh each year, it's important to keep a lot of the power of the cards in the expansions, and not in the basic and classic sets. It's not clear what that balance of power should look like (is it ~10 cards from the basic and classic sets on average?), but we're currently skewed so high towards basic and classic cards in decks, that we are at high risk for 'samey-ness' as the years change in Standard. Buffing Basic/Classic cards *increases* that risk. If the goal is to get more cool cards into the meta, just releasing awesome new cards in expansions should make an impact there, and still keep Standard fresh. (Source)

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