Five Card Nerfs Coming in the Next Hearthstone Update - Druids, Win Axe, Murlocs, Hex
Five card changes are coming to Hearthstone in an upcoming patch which brings nerfs to several fan favourites, three being basic cards.
- The reason for nerfs to basic cards is due to too many cards from this set being included in those classes' decks.
- They're trying to limit additions to the Hall of Fame, so they're instead nerfing Murloc Warleader.
Discuss the Nerf Discuss the Nerf Discuss the Nerf
Discuss the Nerf Discuss the Nerf
Blog Post
In an upcoming update, we will be making balance changes to the following cards:
Innervate
Now reads: Gain 1 Mana Crystal this turn only. (Down from 2)
Fiery War Axe
Now costs 3 mana. (Up from 2)
Hex
Now costs 4 mana. (Up from 3)
Murloc Warleader
Now reads: Your other Murlocs have +2 Attack. (Down from +2 Attack, +1 Health)
Spreading Plague
Now costs 6 mana. (Up from 5)
Developer’s Note: Basic Cards and Our Stance on Hall of Fame
After careful consideration, we chose to make changes to three Basic class cards: Innervate, Fiery War Axe, and Hex. While they can be regarded as staples in those classes’ card repertoires, too many Basic and Classic cards played in individual decks means less fun when new expansions are released.
Cards in the Basic set serve several purposes in the game, so we would rather make balance adjustments to them instead of moving them to the Hall of Fame, like we have done for cards in the Classic set. We are also trying to limit Hall of Fame changes to the start of each Hearthstone Year, which is why Murloc Warleader—a Classic card—is receiving a balance change instead of moving to the Hall of Fame.
Innervate
Several powerful variations of Druid are currently seeing play, and all of them utilize Innervate. Innervate creates explosive starts to the game that can be difficult for the opposing player to recover from. This change leaves Innervate as a simple Basic card and slows down the explosive start potential, while ensuring that it will be utilized in decks that revolve around playing inexpensive spells.
What other changes did we consider?
We considered a few other options for Innervate:
- Refresh 2 Mana Crystals.
- Gain 2 Mana Crystals this turn only and increase the mana cost to 1.
- Gain 6 Mana Crystals this turn only and increase the mana cost to 4.
Since Innervate is a basic card, we need it to be clear and simple. Along with Wild Growth, these cards inform newer players that Druids create mana as a part of their class identity.
We kept in mind that cards like Counterfeit Coin were strong in combination with other support cards, such as Gadgetzan Auctioneer, Edwin VanCleef, and Combo cards. With the right support cards for Innervate, it may end up still seeing play, but won’t be in every deck—which is ultimately what we’re aiming for with this change.
Fiery War Axe
Fiery War Axe has been a powerful Warrior weapon since the launch of Hearthstone. Already great tempo for its cost, Fiery War Axe is well complimented by Pirates and cards that synergize with weapons. Raising its mana cost by 1 will slow down the Warrior’s tempo and lower the overall power level of the card.
What other changes did we consider?
The other option we considered for Fiery War Axe was to lower its attack to 2, but that change didn’t feel intuitive enough. Generally, changing the mana cost of a card is less disruptive, because you can always see the mana cost of cards in your hand. Despite the increased mana cost of Fiery War Axe, we expect that it will still see play—other 3 mana 3/2 weapons, like Eaglehorn Bow, can be found in decks that may not have synergy with the weapon’s card text.
Hex
We’re not making the change to Hex due to a current power-level problem. Shaman is a class that currently has a lot of flexibility, but is lacking in both class identity and identifiable weaknesses. Changing Hex makes Shaman a bit weaker against big minions and worse at silencing—having both strengths and weaknesses in a class is important.
We are very wary of cards that also incidentally work as a silence. If a player wants to utilize a card with a silence effect, they should be giving up something else. For example, if a player decides to include Spellbreaker in their deck, then they are playing a card that is weak in some situations. Priest is an exception to this rule—silence is a part of their class identity.
Even though Hex is not always played in the more aggressive Shaman decks, we will be making this forward-thinking change with the overall identity of the class in mind. This includes avoiding Shaman cards that function as direct and powerful removal. We will continue moving forward with this design philosophy to help reinforce that ideal.
Developer’s Note: Regarding Murloc Warleader and Spreading Plague
Murloc Warleader
Murlocs are good at taking an early lead, and if a player can’t clear the board in time, the game can ultimately snowball to victory using cards like Murloc Warleader. Removing the Health buff from Murloc Warleader will make it easier for players to clear the board of murlocs, and still have it remain a Classic build-around card. Simplifying health buff interactions is an additional benefit of this change. For example, in its current state, having a Murloc Warleader in play then using Wild Pyromancer and Equality would not destroy other murlocs on the board, leading to unclear interactions for some players.
What other changes did you consider?
We considered changing both Rockpool Hunter and Murloc Warleader due to the current strength of Murloc Paladin in the early stages of the game. Changing either Rockpool Hunter or Murloc Warleader would accomplish this, but there are extra advantages to changing just Murloc Warleader: The simplification of health-giving buffs and additional room for future Murlocs since Warleader will be around longer than Rockpool Hunter.
Spreading Plague
Spreading Plague is a great defensive tool for Druid to protect themselves against aggressive decks, but it was too efficient at 5 mana. Raising the mana cost to 6 will slow the card down slightly, while still allowing for the defensive minions Spreading Plague creates to be utilized in the later stages of the game.
What other changes did you consider?
We considered changing Spreading Plague to 7 mana rather than 6, since it is currently the top performing card in Jade and Taunt Druid decks. However, since we are also changing Innervate, we decided to only add 1 mana to the cost of Spreading Plague.
Developer’s Note: Regarding Other Community Card Discussions
The community has mentioned other cards in balance-related discussions, such as Ice Block and Ultimate Infestation, and we wanted to talk about those cards as well even though we are not making any changes to them at this time.
Ultimate Infestation
Our team has discussed making a change to Ultimate Infestation since it feels bad to lose to. However, our data shows us how good each individual card performs in a deck relative to other cards in that deck. Spreading Plague ended up being the best performing card in Jade and Taunt Druid, Innervate was in the top three, and Ultimate Infestation was somewhere around the middle—but it felt much more powerful since it has a huge effect when played.
We considered changing all mentions of the number 5 in Ultimate Infestation to 4, or removing one of the effects entirely. With the other changes we are making to Druid, ramping out Ultimate Infestation before turn 10 should happen less often, so we decided to leave it as is.
Ice Block
We’ve seen discussions about moving Ice Block to the Hall of Fame. As previously mentioned, moving cards to the Hall of Fame occurs at the start of the Hearthstone Year, which will occur with the first expansion release in 2018. Our general stance regarding Hall of Fame is that we want to avoid moving cards mid-year.
We are excited for these changes, and we look forward to seeing how they will shake up the game.
Once these card changes are live, players will be able to disenchant the changed non-Basic cards (Murloc Warleader and Spreading Plague) for their full Arcane Dust value for two weeks. Basic cards cannot be disenchanted and will not be available for an Arcane Dust refund.
they better name it as Counterfeit Coin lol
Counterfeit Innervate
Flavour text : "Inflation's a bitch."
Counterveit!
Actually wtf? Are they just nerfing aggro decks which counters jades? Are they trying to make jades unstoppable? Correct me if I am wrong but, without PW equipping FWA at turn 2 and Aggro Druid not being able to play Fledgeling at turn 1, they are just making unfavourable matchups for jade druid more favourable. Good Job Blizzard! Now Jades will have +10% WR, but they already had a WR% something like 50 or 55, so now jades will be the best deck (better than undertaker hunter) the history of hearthstone ever seen. And Hex nerf was such needed, thanks! You saved the ladder from druids by nerfing Hex.
Geist is not enough byself sadly, against Rogue (btw for some goddamn reason has no heal and board clear except vanish) they can win with just the jades from spirits and behemoths. If only jade counter started at -3/-3, it could work, maybe... :(
Innervate was played in every druid deck ( aggro,token,jade,ramp,midrange) so thats mean card is op and nerf is ok (rogue have same card).
War axe too, every fu*king deck (Pirate,control,agro,patron,cthun), it is big nerf but better useless card than op card.
Hex is better than polymorph and no reason to cost 1 less.
Spreading plague is good card, and this is small nerf.
Murlock is ok nerf but idk why they nerf it.
I think all the changes are good except for Hex .
Why would they nerf a card that nobody ever complained about when it's not even played in class that's not even good right now ?
EDIT : Also their greed is without margin not nerfing UI because it's an epic .
They chose to nerf murloc warleader(epic) over rockpool hunter(common). Rarity had nothing to do with it.
The change to innervate is great. They didn't ruin druid - they just brought it back to the rest of the pack. Yes, UI is still overpowered, but the real problem was playing it on turn 7 (or 5) before the opponent could prepare for it. The change to SP is bigger than a lot of people think, too. Giving aggro decks an extra turn with board control is going to make it a lot harder for druid to survive until turn 10, and UI.
I also think Innervate must have really limited design space for Druids (as did Warleader for murlocs). Cleaning up cards that provide unexpected side-effects is good for the long-term health of the game.
Why name it "Innervate" then and not yet another Counterfeit Coin? It won't be seeing much play now. Decks other than the usual jade, plague, aggro that utilize the card become a lot less powerful...There goes my quest druid...I would rather have it changed to one of the other things that were taken to consideration like "Gain 2 Mana Crystals this turn only and increase the mana cost to 1".
I am ok with the Murloc Warleader change, though I don't play too many murlocs myself I am pretty sure that the card will still be just as usable as Knife Juggler still is. Definitely not uncalled for.
As for Fiery War Axe I am thoroughly disappointed because control warrior takes yet another hit. I couldn't care less about Pirates,I barely played the deck. First it was Execute and now this...If things weren't bad enough as it is with Scourgelord Garrosh having one of the worst Death Knight hero powers here comes a nerf that erases any chances for a good control Warrior deck to see play other than quest Warrior. I would rather see changes in other cards that every Pirate Warrior deck utilizes such as Arcanite Reaper, Kor'kron Elite or even Heroic Strike. The description clarifies that the change was made to lower the power level of Pirate Warrior(as Pirates complement Fiery War Axe's usage) but apparently they didn't consider what the effect is on other, less popular archetypes...
I never understood why Hex cost one less from the very similar removal spell from Mage, Polymorph. Maybe because Shaman used to have a less enticing card set in the past and one less mana cost(compared to Polymorph and giving the transformed minion taunt) was to complement his weaknesses compared to the rest of the classes. Again Control oriented Shaman decks take a hit while the most popular aggressive evolve shaman decks don't, as most of them don't even run the card. It might still see play but players will definitely think again about slotting a 2nd copy of it.
Spreading Plague is a card we all knew it was too good for it's mana cost. A shame it took this long for the change to take effect. Definitely a better way to represent the card's power level with an added(+1) mana cost.
Sure like the other nerfed cards
Ok, may be it's usable but nobody just uses it (in ladder). I try to make the point that when blizzard makes any cards nerfs, the cards are dead.
They tuned down the power level of pirate warrior, aggro and jade druid and murloc paladin with the same rate which will not effect the meta at all. Also Hex nerf was so unneccessary and no jade nerf. What a joke as expected from Blizzard!
You are really stupid, if you think, that those are the only decks around the meta. Priest got no nerfs, Exodia Mage will appreciate nerfs to aggro, Buffadin will maybe show up.. And that's just from top of my head.
You do realize rockbiter was nerfed when shamans ruled the meta for a year. And Geist counters jade idol just fine
yes because we see every shamman deck playing Doomhammer now, rockbiter was indeed the culprit (btw those hammers are 800 dust i lost)
Why I have to play that shity geist card only to caunter another cancer?