Six Card Nerfs Coming - Naga Sea Witch, Spiteful Summoner, and More!
We'll see six card nerfs in a Hearthstone update sometime after the HCT Summer Playoffs. They will all be disenchantable for full dust value one the patch arrives. Please do not disenchant these cards until that patch!
- Naga Sea Witch - Cost is now 8, up from 5.
- Spiteful Summoner - Cost is now 7, up from 6.
- Dark Pact - Now restores 4 Health, down from 8.
- Possessed Lackey - Cost is now 6, up from 5.
- Call to Arms - Cost is now 5, up from 4.
- Crystal Core - Effect now makes all minions in your deck 4/4, down from 5/5.
We've got dedicated threads available to discuss each card nerf.
Discuss the Nerf Discuss the Nerf Discuss the Nerf
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Reviews on Today's Nerfs Announcement
Here are some community thoughts on the nerfs in video format.
Announcement Blog Post
Quote from BlizzardIn an update that will arrive some time after the HCT Playoffs are complete, we will be making balance changes to the following cards:
Naga Sea Witch – Will cost 8 mana. (Up from 5)
In update 9.1, we introduced a rule change to increase the consistency of Hearthstone game mechanics. The change affected precisely when Naga Sea Witch’s cost change was applied to cards. This allowed it to be combined with the cost reduction effects on giants, and as a result, it became fairly easy to reduce their mana cost to 0.
We think Hearthstone is better all around when interactions are consistent, and we like the fact that a Naga Sea Witch giants deck archetype exists. That said, we also understand that, with its current functionality, this deck can generate early board states that are unreasonable for most classes to deal with. By increasing the cost of Naga Sea Witch to 8 mana, the deck’s concept remains intact, but the combo is delayed until later in a match when more decks are likely to have the tools to handle the arrival of so many giants.
Spiteful Summoner – Will cost 7 mana. (Up from 6)
After set rotation arrived with the Year of the Raven, Spiteful Summoner became more powerful and consistent when used in decks containing 10 mana cost spells. This is because the pool of 10 mana cost minions in Standard is smaller, so players could more reliably count on getting a powerful minion from Spiteful Summoner’s effect. Even considering the deckbuilding sacrifices that an effective Spiteful Summoner deck requires, we think that increasing the card’s mana cost to 7 is more in line with the powerful outcomes that are possible when it’s used alongside cards like Ultimate Infestation.
Dark Pact – Will restore 4 Health. (Down from 8)
There are two aspects of Dark Pact that make it powerful. At a cost of 1 mana, it’s easily used alongside cards like Carnivorous Cube, Possessed Lackey, and Spiritsinger Umbra for big combo turns. It also gives Warlocks enough healing potential so that aggressively using Lifetap and playing cards like Kobold Librarian and Hellfire feel less consequential. We left Dark Pact’s cost intact so it can still be used as part of interesting combos, but lessened the healing it provides so Warlocks will need to more carefully consider how much damage they take over the course of a match.
Possessed Lackey – Will cost 6 mana. (Up from 5)
Some of the card combos involving Possessed Lackey present situations that are too difficult to deal with in the early-to-mid stages of the game. Increasing its mana cost to 6 delays some of those powerful card combos to turns that are easier for opposing decks to overcome.
Call to Arms – Will cost 5 mana. (Up from 4)
Currently, there are three popular Paladin decks: Even Paladin, Murloc Paladin, and Odd Paladin. Among the three decks, Even Paladin and Murloc Paladin have consistently been the most powerful two archetypes over the first few weeks since the release of The Witchwood. Call to Arms moving to 5 mana restricts it from being used in Even decks and reduces its power somewhat when used in Murloc and other Paladin decks.
We expect that players will experiment with Call to Arms at 5 mana in Odd Paladin decks, but we don’t expect this card to have much of an impact. This is because Odd Paladin can’t access 2 mana minions (meaning Call to Arms could only ever summon three 1 mana minions if played in that deck).
Note: As a result of this change, we are adjusting the “Greymane’s Alliance” deck recipe. It will now have two copies of Saronite Chain Gang in place of Call to Arms.
The Caverns Below – The quest reward, Crystal Core, will read: For the rest of the game, your minions are 4/4. (Down from 5/5)
The Quest Rogue deck uses a strategy that’s strong against slow, control-heavy and fatigue decks, but struggles against most other deck archetypes. There’s a fine line between being powerful against very slow decks and being powerful versus virtually all non-aggressive strategies. By changing the quest reward to make the resulting minions 4/4 instead of 5/5, Quest Rogue should still be a reasonable option versus slow, extreme late-game decks, but offer a less polarized matchup with more moderate control decks.
Isn't it like you get full dust back for only 2 copies?
good nerfs, but still missing the Barnes change! it's in the same bulls**t rng highroll package that was addressed in this patch. give him the nerfhammer and finally free us from the highrolling big priests in wild.
Blizzard making good nerfs instead of killing cards? What is this? So the problem was Ben Brode? Lol
Ps: I still think spiteful battlecry should be totally changed, its so bad designed...
Me seeing this: DUST!!!
I have 8 Dark Pact, 4 Possessed Lackey with one golden copy, 4 Call to Arm, 3 Spiteful Summoner and 1 Naga Seawitch (I disenchant 1 long ago).
I knew those cards was busted so I never dust them in the first place
The "full dust value" is only applicable to the maximum number you could put into a single deck. So ... applicable for up-to-2 of most of those cards, and up-to-1 for the legendary.
Edit: Seems I may be wrong about that, perhaps!
Samzy_123, do you have a blizzard link that says that? I'd like to read it, since it's news to me.
I'd rather have seen Spiteful Summoner to consume the spell instead of cost increase and I feel Crystal Core nerf does basically nothing (still too strong against very slow decks), but I like the others. Unfortunately Skull of the Man'ari on turn five then Doomguard + Cube + Dark Pact combo still exists but maybe Posessed Lackey and Dark Pact nerf is enough to make Warlock reasonable. It's still going to be tier 1 but not as oppressive.
Call to Arms nerf is perfect. That's exactly what the card needed.
ok ill write this again cause some can't understand. with no relation to the call to arms change
ODD PALADIN INCOMING
odd paladin doesnt need call to arms and will not use the new version. it is CURRENTLY by far the strongest deck that didn't get any nerf and thats why it will rule the meta.
get over it.
Hahaha bring it on! Victory or death! I love destroying odd paladins with my quest warrior...
Be ware. Odd Paladin was tier 1 since 2 weeks ago. In wild this deck is insane. Quest warrior is tier shit in both.
1. even pala - nerfed
2. murloc pala - nerfed
3. spitefull druid - nerfed
4. odd paladin
5-5-5/5 symmetry is broken again...
The Caverns below nerf is nice for me,at last ill be able ,as an odd warrior,to clear the board with hero power and reckless flurry
All of these nerfs look awesome. Can't wait until the patch. Hopefully the wild meta will be a lot more diverse now that everyone doesn't feel forced to play warlock or paladin to win games anymore