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.
Shut up positive pete XD
Bloodreaver Gul'dan should
Battlecry: Summon [different] friendly Demons that died this game. :D
To me it should just deal 1 less damage with hero power, deal 2 and heal 2 is good enough.
Tempo mage, control priest, and odd paladin are gonna be top of the meta now.
I think baku or control warrior beats those three.
5 mana recruit three 1-cost minions, how is it a buff for it?
Not really. It will pull out only 1 drops. Three 1 drops for 5 mana is not that strong
I believe he is not implying that Call to arms will be good in odd paladin. But, even paladin will recieve a huge nerf because of this making odd paladin a much more played deck.
are you retarded?
hes saying you can now put Call to Arms in a Odd deck now because its cost 5 mana and no longer 4 mana. Meaning you can't have Call to Arms in a Even deck anymore. Making Odd Paladin better than it was.
So instead of getting 6 mana worth of minions for 4 you're now getting 3 mana worth for 5.
You think that's good?
How's it going down there Shieldbearer?
When is the HS summer championships over? so these nerfs go into action and i can play hearthstone again.
anyone knows the date?
I'm seeing a lot of negative rating towards comments saying these a good nerfs. Not saying these are the best nerfs, but they got the right direction. Naga sea witch still has the fun combo without creating an unstopple board State early on. Dark Pact made the matchups against decks that want to kill them before combo (pretty much every deck) useless so also good to see. Possessed Lacky is the main reason besides skull that void lords and doom guards are good due to reducing their cost to 6 (Lacky +pact), yes skull didn't get hit but you have to realize that it's easier to pull a good demon from your deck on turn 6 that from your hand.
I'm seeing a lot of negative rating towards comments saying these a good nerfs. Not saying these are the best nerfs, but they got the right direction. Naga sea witch still has the fun combo without creating an unstopple board State early on. Dark Pact made the matchups against decks that want to kill them before combo (pretty much every deck) useless so also good to see. Possessed Lacky is the main reason besides skull that void lords and doom guards are good due to reducing their cost to 6 (Lacky +pact), yes skull didn't get hit but you have to realize that it's easier to pull a good demon from your deck on turn 6 that from your hand. Call to arms was good because of the value it provided, so upping the cost makes the card a lot less value (still has a lot though). Spiteful is also value oriented so this reduces it (although I believe it should consume the spell). Quest rogue seems to be dead because it's harder to hit with 4 attack due to 30 not being a multiple of 4. Omni/ did a great video that better explains this. Essentially I believe these nerfs should alter these decks to be easier to deal with early on
When is the HS summer championships over? so these nerfs go into action and i can play hearthstone again.
anyone knows the date?
Naga deserved it. Now I can remove Doomsayer + Treachery from my Warlock decks. What a cancer, I can't believe it. "ooo0o0o0 im puTTİng nAgA aNd BooM 4 GiaNtS xDDD LuL i BeCaMe LeGonD wit disss xdddd"
By the way, Quest Rogue doesn't deserve this. You can reverse the quest back to its old version, then make the reward only affect the minions in your deck so it would be more "playable"
No card should become unplayable. I do agree that some cards (like this one) are not fun, but weaken it and you won't care so much anymore because you won't lose to it as much. It's the same idea with OTK decks.
@rickienon - I think it would be fine if they made it a one time effect like mistcaller. If they shadowstep, sonya or get hit by silence the effect is gone. That would end the bounce kills and killing yourself with cornered sentry.
It will still have a really good match up against control, but it will definitely reduce the winrate.
As a wild player, i'm really happy to see naga nerf. I don't think it was op, but existing of this deck basicaly destoyed the opportunity to play something fun that can't deal with giants on t5 (like miracle rogue, patron warrior, quest hunter, etc). But i'm really surprised that barnes still a thing. Res priest is the most clowny deck i've ever saw with all it's core being completely random (barnes, lich, rag, yshaarj, statue, ressurects, shadow essence) and losing to it because your opponent just rolled 2 rags on t4 that for some reason just rolled your face 3 times was pretty bad. Spiteful is something the same, but weaker, so i don't get it.