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
Discuss the Nerf Discuss the Nerf Discuss the Nerf
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.
As someone who doesn't play Pally/Lock, I am stoked about these nerfs. Brain-dead decks IMO
Careful, hearthpwn doesn't like you calling those decks braindead.
I mean I am not stoked to play against Odd pally, but eh. Good enough changes.
I play both and I'm also happy with the changes. And I definitely disagree about cubelock being brain dead, it takes much more skill than a lot of decks out there.
Interview with hearthstone developers for the nerfs..
http://au.ign.com/articles/2018/05/15/dean-ayala-and-peter-whalen-on-the-latest-round-of-hearthstone-nerfs?
Why they nerfed Pact and Lackey, like wtf, its more nerf to Control Warlock which was fine, not to Cubelock, what a bullshit
2 things that suck about nerfs in this game:
1) It's a shame that when they nerf card X that everyone forgets how card X makes cards Y and Z good/better. So when you go and craft Y and Z you get screwed due to X being changed in that you only get the dust refund for X and not Y or Z. My guess is there are people who made Greymane because of Even Pally--this sucks for those players.
2) There will always be tiers and when you knock something off the top, it creates a power vacuum that eventually gets filled and whatever ends up replacing the old at the top is the new thing to complain about.
As far as the argument concerning a stale meta is concerned, there are other ways to create meta churn that don't involve nerfs.
Nerfs may be necessary at times but that doesn't detract from the fact that they still suck.
It's impossible to 100% balance the game, but the game can become more balanced with nerfs, so they are a good thing.
do i get the full dust value for golden lackey?
Yes
Honest opinion regarding nerfs:
Naga - The same effect still happens, just 3 turns later, either you have an answer or you don't to 6 giants. Nerf = Fail.
Call to Arms - no longer able to play in the strongest deck, you now have to play it in the second strongest deck (Murloc). Still good value at 5. Nerf = lateral move, but will affect meta.
Lackey and Pact = these are one in the same because you pick can any of 6 cards in warlock to target for change. Affects consistency of deck, more susceptible to aggro now. Nerf = Positive
Spiteful Summoner - still retarded value at 7 mana. Changes nothing. Still going to be played. Doesn't take the spot of any 7 drops in those decks. Nerf = Fail.
Crystal Core - this deck wins against slow decks and fails hard to aggro, the flood of 4/4's aren't that much easier to deal with. Changes nothing. Nerf = Fail
The meta will change. Hopefully significantly. Just less paladins and warlocks is an accomplishment. I will collect my dust, but feel the meta wont change by much until we see a new expansion.
While I do see your point, the idea isn't to make the amazing cards average. They still want them to be good. Allow me to give my opinion on your opinion.
Naga - 3 turns later is 3 extra turns to get an answer to the flood. 3 turns that you have to freely smash them while they dig for answers trying to survive until turn 8. Nerf = Positive
Call to arms - I'm glad you aren't one of the people who think this will help odd paladin. While it is still a good card at 5 mana, it is no longer an amazing card. Nerf = positive
Lacky and Pact - Finally. I agree.
SS - Once again you have an extra turn to work with. Your opponent having a dead turn 7 while they wait for their cards to warm up will help you get more damage in. It's better that the other player have a no interaction turn later than earlier when you aren't doing much either. I think the true value of this won't be until they release more 10 drops. Nerf = Not a fail, but I think they need to bump it one more.
CC - I'm still annoyed that you can't silence or play anything that gives them minions. I was hoping for "Give your minions Battlecry: make this a 5/5" so their board doesn't get buffed too, but I think this is better. They can now be hit by flamestrike and circle combo, and otk is now almost impossible. Not to mention this is now more susceptible to taunt. I feel that now it might be balanced enough to still have a chance after the core is dropped rather than instant concede. Nerf = Positive (still not very interactive, but more likely to still lose after playing)
With these nerfs I think the only real troublemaker (in standard at least) for the time being will be odd Paladin until some streamer posts a new broken combo.
Your idea of changing Crystal Core is almost exactly the way I would've done it. Something like For the rest of the game, minions you play are 5/5s, so your board doesn't get changed for the huge tempo swing.
I just had another thought. Make CC more like The Mistcaller where the cards can be silenced or if they shadowstep they lose the buff. Take out the for the rest of the game and change it to a one time spell that says "Make all the minions in your hand and deck 5/5s". Actually on second thought that ruins the idea of the quest, but it's a thought. If they did something like that I think it would be okay to revert the first nerf.
Core is a buff against priest because you can't Anduin the board now if they waste their chargers
It's a pretty small buff compared to the overall loss, Anduin clears the board 1 time and that's it, usually you need to clear the board multiple times against quest rogue.
Ere body in the club chillax. Speaking to standard, I’m glad the nerfs weren’t too bad. I also wish some of these hadn’t been nerfed. I really wished Big B waited just a lil bit longer before nerfing these cards. However, it is what it is. So, stop whining & PLAY. I have really enjoyed the new expansion, & I was not very happy at the beginning. So, keep working on decks & have fun. PEACE