Patches the Pirate Loses Charge - Four Card Nerfs Coming in February
Four cards are being nerfed! These changes are not yet live and will be available in a February patch. They will all be disenchantable for their full value once to patch arrives. Please do not disenchant these cards until that patch - Blizzard won't help you out get the correct dust value.
- Bonemare now costs 8 mana, up from 7.
- Corridor Creeper now has 2 attack, down from 5.
- Patches the Pirate no longer has charge. His voice line will also be changing. (Source)
- Raza the Chained's effect now sets your Hero Power to 1 mana, up from 0.
We've got dedicated threads available to discuss each card nerf.
Discuss the Nerf Discuss the Nerf Discuss the Nerf Discuss the Nerf
Quote from BlizzardIn the upcoming 10.2 update, we will be making balance changes to the following cards:
Bonemare - Now costs 8 mana. (Up from 7)
Bonemare has been quite strong in both constructed and Arena. It has a big, immediate impact on the board, and since it’s neutral, it’s been finding its way into a wide variety of decks.
Increasing its mana cost by 1 will give opponents more time to utilize powerful late-game cards to counteract Bonemare’s effect on the board.
Corridor Creeper - Now has 2 Attack. (Down from 5)
Due to the way that Corridor Creeper’s mana cost reduction works, it can cause big swings based on whether or not it happens to be in-hand at the start of the game.
Since it’s a very strong neutral card, Corridor Creeper has been played by a lot of classes. By lowering its attack, we reduce the overall swing potential and power level of the card, but still allow players who draw it early to benefit from having a low-cost minion to play when the game state is ideal.
Patches the Pirate - No longer has Charge.
As we move closer to the new Hearthstone Year, we had some concerns about allowing Patches to remain in his current state after moving out of Standard. Patches’ strength has caused almost every class to add some Pirates just to benefit from him, and his early game power forces control decks to include a good answer to him. This change should give Wild players more flexibility when building their decks.
Removing Charge will lower his power level, ensuring he shows up in fewer decks and allowing opposing players some additional time to respond to Patches, making him less “in charge” of the early game.
Raza the Chained - Now reads: Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, your Hero Power costs (1) this game.
In a similar vein to Patches the Pirate, we had some concerns about allowing Raza to remain in his current state forever. Raza is currently an important combo piece along with Shadowreaper Anduin, and can lead to games that rely heavily on drawing him by turn 5. Adjusting his Battlecry will lower his overall power level when combined with Shadowreaper Anduin in Standard, and keep his power level reasonable in Wild as we prepare for the new Hearthstone Year.
Once these card changes are live with Update 10.2 next month, players will be able to disenchant the changed cards for their full Arcane Dust value for two weeks. Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you in the tavern!
XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GOOD BYE PRIEST!
THE GAME HAS BEEN SAVED!
What ? Game has not been saved, they didn't touched Cubelock !! I'm ok with those nerfs but it's not enough...
There are enough viable Prist-Decks, which aren't Highlander-Priest.
I think your forgetting about big priest
I'm disappointed tthat there were no nerfs to Doomguard's charge. Here's hoping it gets Hall of Famed. Otherwise, get used to Warlockstone, now without counters.
Yauch! Good, bye, Creeper. I mean, that card HAD to be nerfed, but I expected some mild mana tinkering or change in its discount mechanic. A nut punch for 3 attack is savage, and I like it. Will still do wonderfully in Evolve Shaman and Midrange Beast Hunter but I think we can forget seeing that bastard anywhere else. And good riddance.
As for Patches, I still wish they did something about Southsea Captain instead. Not having Charge is impactful for early trades, obviously, but against control or slower decks, it's only a difference of 1 or 2 damage and it's still a free tempo card. Not sure it's enough, but seeing as I got a golden Patches from a pack, I definitely welcome the free 3200 dust.
Bonemare is still an abomination in my eyes but the way I see it, the competition at 8 mana is so stiff that Bonemare is going to neigh its way right out of plenty of decks.
The definite highlight of these, despite the savagery they unleashed upon Creeper, is Raza. Oh boy does that completely turn the deck upside down. Suddenly Priest's usual turns cost 3-4 mana more than they would have. It's sad that the beautiful and comforting feeling of gradual stabilisation goes away when you played Raza on 5 against aggro, and then had a free face heal every turn, but I guess it's a price worth paying to see machine gun Priest take one to the nuts. Now Shadowreaper will be more of a successor to Shadowform Priest, as it should have been, and win via exhaustion rather than upwards of 30 to the face in one turn. Now I won't feel dirty playing that deck in Wild with Dragon Soul, Lyra and Saraad.
As for Jade Druid and Warlock, I'm quite fine with these not being touched. Several of the decks that took a hit had essentially no axis for counterplay (outside of lucky Dirty Rats on Raza that were essentially a suicide to play against Tempo), while you can wreck Jade Druid and Warlock quite easily with some proper tech choices in your flex slots. With several of these decks taking a major hit in power, it will be much easier to target Warlock with tech and shut it down without immediately getting devoured by Tempo. Dirty Rats, Skulking Geists, transform effects, mill...Warlock can be taken down, in both Wild and Standard.
The only other card I wish was touched but wasn't is Cobalt Scalebane but seeing as Bonemare, Patches and Creeper all took a hit in those decks, it's possible Scalebane as the one power card left is fine. Both Keleseth and Spiteful Summoner have quite a hefty price associated with them in terms of deck construction, allowing you good insight into what options your opponent has against you (e.g. flooding a board with mid-sized minions against Big Spell Priest is very safe due to their lack of proper AoE, Rogue can't really burst you out of hand without Eviscerates, or get through your taunts without Saps, etc.), where Scalebane is just a standalone powerhouse. We shall see if Scalebane even has a home though.
Wow, those are some heavy nerfs. I'm kinda bummed they've decided to nerf Raza instead of Anduin though, because it completely kills the card. At least get rid of the highlander requirement? But when all is said and done, I'm quite happy with them. Patches is LONG overdue, so was Bonemare and Corridor Creeper. Also, I'm getting 4080 dust from the refunds, so definitely no complaining on my part!
Patch is totally unplayable now. Before when you draw patch it’s still a stonetusk boar but now it’s worse than snow flipper penguin. Wtf?!
Now, will Patches say "I'm in sleep mode now" or "I'm dust now"?
no he will say "I'm still an above average turn 1 tempo boost and will probably see play in a fair amount of Aggro decks"
Bonemare I agree with. It will still see play even costing one more mana.
Patches the Pirate I dont agree with, its only got a short time left in standard and should have been left alone at this point. Since I crafted it, its now likely dust once nerfed.
I dont agree how Raza the Chained was nerfed, it should have been once a turn imho, but it needed a nerf.
Corridor Creeper is now a useless card, the nerf hammer hit it way to hard. I will likely dust my 2.
I would almost. keyword almost ;), bet money this signals Doomguard going to the HoF.
corridor cRIPer. poor patches. bonemare seems fine. but not so sure 'bout raza 'tho. but, we'll see.
The watermark on patches is for the classic set. Please fix.
Only cards from the Basic and Classic set can be HoF'ed (which is basically making them wild only)
Now, more than never... gj blizzard, the game was not cancerous enough :D
Finally some proper nerfs by blizzard! These cards wont be missed :) Wild might actually be a tolerable place now!
The tough thing about them killing Aggro is all the other cards that ppl like me crafted for decks. Can I get my 1600 back for Leeroy Jenkins and 800 for Call to Arms? Won't need those after Creeper nerf kills my Pally & Zoolock.