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.
well i disenchante dmy golden hungry crab and felt like shit during all un'goro until now, and trust me those nerfs won't stop me form still feeling like shit, it's a great nerf but Murloc will still be a powerful deck
R.I.P. Hearthstone. Where is the nerf to the fucking pest Jades are?
These jades ruin the whole game.
NERT FKCN IDOL BRAINLESS RETARDS. I D O L
NERF FKCN BROKEN PITY TIMER FOR PIRATE WARRIOR'S TOPDECKS
AND BROKEN PITY TIMER FOR 1-2-3 BRAINLAGGED L0LDINS
Huh. I guess Quest Shaman was the true worry of Team 5 all along!
I don't understand these changes, jade druid will still be a top tier control killer, that is for sure. The slight loss of tempo in the midgame and the slight nerf of aggro should push midrange decks, but how will midrange decks compete with jade druid? Midrange and control decks just can't compete with druid after ultimate infestation is played.
Wow, another bunch of clueless nerfs all over the place.
Innervate & Spreading Plague
Jade Druid - still killer, though a lot less on the broken side
Aggro Druid - innervate hits this one very hard, but the deck might still be viable, though something will probably take over
Might be sufficient, but I'm not all that sure.
Warleader
Murloc Paladin - still killer, though harder to snowball
Good nerf.
Fiery War Axe
Control Warrior cares, Face Warrior doesn't.
Still the nerf sounds fine.
Hex
Hey, what's that one card that sees less play in a class that sees less play? Hex? How about we nerf it?
On one hand that card felt a bit op, on the other now it's as useful as polymorph and I haven't seen that card in a deck for a long, looooong time.
So let me get this straight:
Innervate is now Counterfeit Coin.
Fiery War Axe, a WARRIOR card, is now significantly worse than its Hunter and Paladin equivalents.
Hex was nerfed, because what Shamans need right now is a good kicking while they're already down.
And Spreading Plague was nerfed instead of any of the REAL jade staple cards (looking at you, UI...), discouraging taunt druids and leaving jade druids nearly untouched.
Fantastic. I will say I do like the Murloc nerf though. That health buff caused some real technical issues, imo.
Side note- Most of these nerfs are basic cards. So have fun with your minuscule dust return, everyone.
I did. I'm not uninformed just because we have differing opinions. The Hex nerf wasn't necessary, since it wasn't as busted as described. Unlike Polymorph, it gives its target taunt, which means you actually have to strategize to play it, rather than just ruining a minion for 3 mana. As for FWA, they ruined the card completely. The whole point was that it's early game removal for a class that sorely lacks it. Making it cost 3 not only makes it worse than King's Defender, a card that costs 100 dust to craft, it also means that Northshire Cleric and Mana Wyrm get to live for another turn longer.
I'll agree that Hex's nerf isn't that big of a deal, and that it's an auto include in a lot of decks. Still, I maintain that Shaman really didn't need a nerf right now. It's not the best class, the second best class, third best class, etc. The only viable standard deck it has that I can think of atm is Evolve Shaman.
As for Fiery War Axe, I think you missed my point. I wasn't saying that King's Defender is a bad card, I was saying that FWA should be a better card by far. It's a basic card, one of the only good cards a new player has. Not to mention that King's Defender is in wild now. A warrior's only option for cheap removal is a mediocre textless King's Defender. And I'd argue that that's a HUGE deal, since warrior can't deal with those awful snowballing cards early on. Every other class has an answer to the opponent dropping a Mana Wyrm on turn 1, and now warrior doesn't.
Finally some nerfs!!! Although i would have preffered to see Jade Idol also nerfed.....
Not touching Jade Idol is unbelievable. And it wasn't even MENTIONED. Unreal. Just remove the freakin' shuffle in option! As I'm only running one Spreading Plague anyway, I think my Jade Druid deck won't change a single card.
Nerfing Warleader is so sad. Murlok decks are so fun, More druid cards should be nerfed (The taunt spam thing is shitty)
When will these changes go live, please?
Awesome, I will play only Jade Druid when the changes go live, nice buffs to it by nerfing the other classes! Druidstone for the win, glad I crafted Aya and Fendral, so much value after these changes.
Why nerf war axe? This doesnt make sense.
I love how they mention Ice Block & Hall of Fame while also stating that happens with the new year. I guess that means we can expect the move then.
For the Hex and warleader nerf: Fine nerfs.
For the War axe: Shoehorning the "now it's like and Eaglehorn bow" was pathetic. Are you devs, right? With like knowledge of what the bow has and this not? Like, text? Does Brode has an idea of what the term "card text" means? Kinda sad, kinda bad, but because there's not a ton of good weapon after the rotation hits, fiiiine.
And seriously, this makes the Druid problem even worse, now the pirate and murloc counter is dead.
Innervate nerf: Goodbye, sad that they even mentioned good nerf ideas, but still managed to just demolish it. The ramp archetype will just die when Gadgetzan rotates out.
Spreading plague: Ty for doing nothing, almost thought I'll get some dust out of it, but I'd like recraft instantly or quit the game until some serious nerf happens for druid.
I don't understand the change to Hex. At all. 3 mana hex op?!?! That's new and exciting. Makes ZERO sense. Especially since Shaman are one of the least played classes on ladder and in tournament.
Did you read the explanation? Hex is also a "silence" card that doesn't really belong to the class etc etc.
When they nerf cards they don't only watch out for power level but they also consider other things
- Future uses / interaction
-If the mechanic or the effect really belongs to a class
In my opinion is an Ok nerf considered how stupid control shaman is in wild and considered that you still have devolve if you just wanted to "silence" / "Debuff" a big dude for a cheap cost (even if it is RnG so it is risky) Just look at the difference between Others 3 mana removal:
Shadow word Death : requires target 5 or more Deadly shoot : requires "clear" board Vaporize: AAHAHAH