Upcoming Hearthstone Balance Changes - Giggling Inventor, Mana Wyrm, Aviana
Three card changes are coming to Hearthstone later this week on October 18th and one of them is purely for Wild!
- [Discuss this Change] Giggling Inventor now costs 7, up from 5.
- [Discuss this Change] Mana Wyrm now costs 2, up from 1.
- [Discuss this Change] Aviana now costs 10, up from 9.
Check out Blizzard's post below for more information on each of the changes.
Quote from BlizzardIn an update that is scheduled to arrive October 18 PDT, the following cards will be changed.
Giggling Inventor – Will cost 7 mana. (Up from 5)
Giggling Inventor is one of the most powerful and popular cards we’ve ever created. There’s virtually no downside to including it in a deck, and because it’s neutral, it’s played in almost every deck. We think it’s important to take risks when making powerful cards, especially when it comes to neutral taunts, given the role they can play in encouraging minion interactions and making games more interesting. However, Giggling Inventor has stepped beyond its intended role, and we don’t feel that it should be as effective as it currently is.
We initially tested this card at (6) mana in both the current Standard format as well as with cards that will be released in the future. Ultimately, we felt that its power level was still higher than is appropriate for a Neutral card with no build-around requirements. At (7) mana, we expect Giggling Inventor will find its way into fewer decks in general—and be much less effective in Quest Rogue—while it might remain situationally playable within specific deck archetypes, such as Evolve Shaman.
Mana Wyrm – Will cost 2 mana. (Up from 1)
Over time, we’ve been moving away from powerful, early-game 1-drops like Mana Wyrm. It can often feel like the outcome of a game is decided by whether Mana Wyrm was played on turn one, and if it could be removed quickly by an opponent. Mana Wyrm has also steered us away from making powerful low-cost Mage spells. We’d like Mana Wyrm to remain an option for decks it synergizes with, while preventing it from being a huge turn one threat.
At (2) mana, it will be easier to deal with Mana Wyrm the turn it’s played, and it will be harder to buff it with cheap spells early in the match. We still expect it to remain an option in decks that have a heavy focus on cheap spells, but it should be a less appealing option in decks that aren’t built with that focus in mind.
Aviana – Will cost 10 mana. (Up from 9)
Changing Aviana to (10) mana means it will no longer be possible to play Aviana and Kun the Forgotten King on the same turn without some additional help from cards like Innervate or The Coin. It also means Juicy Psychmelon will no longer draw both Aviana and Kun. This should make the combos Aviana and Kun produce less consistent, while still allowing decks that use the combos to exist for the players that enjoy playing them.
Yeah sure nerf 3,5 yo Aviana instead of an obviously OP card that you printed in the latest expansion. I havent played HS since Witchwood and I was thinking about returning until this announcement. Because Malygos druid was the first deck in my mind to craft since I always wanted to try it. But now I wont craft Aviana and Kun and I am sure as hell I wont be returning. HS and its stupid ass developers can go to hell.
So is this the second or third nerf to quest rogue?
Haha 4th
https://i.imgur.com/kvU6MXp.png
Thank you Blizzard for 2000 dust
I am like that but for the Mana Wyrm. Never opened Giggling in about 150 packs though.
boring...
Eternal FTW, at least there its really f2p!
Thanks Blizzard for 2000 dust :)
https://imgur.com/kvU6MXp
great nerfs!
I don't really play wild a lot, never went past rank 18.
But almost every time I tried to go further I was stomped by Combo Druids. I'm...happy, dunno?
Mana Wyrm one was somewhat unexpected for me. Shame on me for dusting the golden ones I had.
So many problematic standard cards and they nerf only 2..
Not a single standard druid deck even touched (you can easily replace giggling in token druid).
Spreading plague, UI, wild growth, keleseth, baku(odd warrior), cube are so much more oppresive than this and they are untouched.
Worst thing is I could have named like 5 more cards that are problematic for design, but just limited myself to these. And they nerf 2...
have you missed the part where blizzard nerfed cards (i.e. Patches) 2 or 3 months before it rotated out ?
So ye they have no problem keeping a broken card for 2 years then randomly nerfing it before it's gone...they just have absolutely no clue of what they are doing or what state their game is in
6 months is not a short amount of time for oppresive cards to rule, especially since some of them have been for like a year now. Enduring half a year of bad gameplay for no reason is unacceptable, especially in digital format where you aren't restricted in changing anything.
Wild is a format too, so cards like Baku with a higher pool of odd cards will plague that format forever. So wait and it will rotate out doesn't fix that problem either.
Video games live and die in matter of days now, you have so much competition, so if you wait too long to fix your problems, your customers are gone.
Good nerfs, only not sure why Spreading Plague and Ultimate Infestation were untouched.
This nerf was CLEARLY needed for both wild and standard. Giggling Inventor caused more trouble than they have thought, becoming one of the most broken cards and used cards in both modes. This card also resurrected Quest Rogue (which is a f.kng nightmare that never ends) and stopped the roads of those who were new and F2P. Because budget decks struggled a lot with turn 5 Giggling Inventor. In wild also, its almost used in every control / combo deck. Which is problematic as they said.
Mana Wyrm however did not need a nerf at a time like this. Of course, the card was pretty OP like you could bring Mana Wyrm t1, Sorcerer's Apprentice t2 and then spam Mirror Image, Arcane Missiles etc. and you would have a massive board. This also goes for wild too (although Aggro mage is not that much in wild). I, myself got the last 100 ranked wins for my golden Jaina with it. In conclusion, this nerf was also needed but there are much more OP cards.
Aviana, one of the best cards in the wild that gave you the most opportunity to make any combo you like alongside with king, Kun, the Forgotten King. At first Aviana was considered average / thrash because Kun was not released when Aviana came out. BUT when gadgetzan hit the meta, everything changed. Everyone made some weird, unique and creative combos with them. It was fun and balanced because druid did not have these OP cards like tons of card draw, bullshit DK or abnormal armor size and ehem *Juicy Psychmelon*. It required a great control over the board and the game to end the game with this combo. And just when these OP Druid cards hit the meta, Aviana went to wild. She was playable in wild but not op at that time. And then Bliz hit us with this god-damn idiotic card called Juicy Psychmelon. Card saw 0 play, yes 0 in standard. If its not for standard then what is it fo-... WHAT THE HECK. THIS CARD DRAWS THE WHOLE COMBO FOR AVIANA - KUN - TOGWAGGLE - AZALINA. Like other Druid [broken] cards werent enough, they went and made wild more broken than standard with this. With only 1 card, they could draw the whole combo and end the game when you are just in 5 mana. This god-damn melon is the reason to nerf the Aviana. Literally, dumbest printed card for the most OP class. What are you even drinking blizzard? AND if you can not fix your new problem why use Aviana?
BTW. Im NOT a druid player. I just like OTK decks (fun ones, not you Shudderwock) and combo decks. I think these are the clearly best and most entertaining decks to play.
Uh... ok?
While I can see where they are coming from with Mana Wyrm, this seems sort of uncalled for. Yes. Tempo Mage is a good deck, and yes, it has been around since forever, and yes, Mana Wyrm has always been the baseline for any kind of aggressive Mage. Yet my impression is not, that Tempo Mage is a "problem" in the current meta. Neither is it too popular nor too strong to really shut other decks down besides maybe Quest Rogue (which needs all counters there are), and moving forward... I know there are a lot of people who don't like this type of deck and would gladly see it go to the void, but I think more playable cards and decks are better than less, and this makes this particular style of Mage deck a good deal worse in the future. More specifcally, the deck is possibly dead after the rotation of Aluneth and Explosive Runes, since Team5 won't make new burst spells either. I think, making it a 1/2 would have been the more plausible nerf. Aggressive decks need strong 1-drops to be efficient, whether you like them or not.
Aviana is pretty much just as I expected, and also a nerf I anticipated. Now, any combo needs to include one Innervate, requiring one extra card, making it slightly harder to pull it off. It will help, but then again, I'm not sure it will make Druids in Wild weak enough to change something. It buys you maybe two or three turns against Druid, but with all the survivability, this is just barely helping the situation. The point about Juicy Psychmelon not drawing her and Kun together is valid, but then again, these decks were already VERY strong before Psychmelon was even added. This pretty much brings Druid combos "down" to the state before BDP, where they already were near the top.
Giggling Inventor is just dead. I think 6 Mana would have been enough, even when they say they felt it was still a bit too good with future expansions. This just kills it, and I doubt it was necessary to do so. Now, I won't really miss it, but the joke is, this was one of very few cards in BDP that had any impact whatsoever, and now the whole set is worth even less than it already was. Decks go back entirely to how they were before BDP, throwing this card out, and changing their tech choices again. While I think Mossy Horror will still be in many decks after the patch since it helps a lot against Druids, Blood Knight is probably not worth it anymore.
What really confused me is, how many cards are not mentioned here at all. Fungalmancer, Prince Keleseth, Vilespine Slayer, The Caverns Below, Spreading Plague, Branching Paths, Saronite Chain Gang, Ultimate Infestation,.. I'm sure other people would like to add a few more.
This patch won't fix the problems in the meta right now. I'd even go so far as say it makes things worse, since it won't encourage any new decks or significant deck changes, it will just make the game look like BDP never came out, aside from Odd Warrior and the improved Zoolock. Certainly not what I expected from this "balancing" patch.
wow crying for a goddamn vilespine nerf? you disqualified yourself there lol
I take offense with one example in a five paragraph comment - YOU SUCKZ LOL
yes when someone calls for nerfs of totally basic and fair cards like vilespine and chain gang the rest of the wall of text just becomes dogpoo.
unless you guys prefer to hit each other with wisps only
Guys wake up, Blizzard doesn't nerf cards that will rotate in a few months. You cry right now for these nerfs and in six months they're gone. And Fungalmancer it's a great card, not a broken one.
Yeah, this game can go to hell. Can't wait to see all the folks complaining about GI realize that the meta is probably going to be even worse without her. Meanwhile I will be playing my surveil control deck in mtg. Have fun with druid stone kids.