Upcoming Hearthstone Balance Changes - Wild Growth, Nourish, Level Up!, Saronite Chain Gang, Leeching Poison CHANGES ARE NOW LIVE
Five card changes are coming to Hearthstone on December 19th, which is... today!
- [Discuss this Change] Wild Growth now costs 3, up from 2.
- [Discuss this Change] Nourish now costs 6, up from 5.
- [Discuss this Change] Level Up! now costs 6, up from 5.
- [Discuss this Change] Saronite Chain Gang now summons another Saronite Chain Gang, instead of a copy of the minion.
- [Discuss this Change] Leeching Poison now costs 1, down from 2, and only gives Lifesteal for 1 turn.
Check out Blizzard's post below for more information on each of the changes.
Quote from BlizzardIn an update scheduled to arrive December 19 PST, the following cards will be changed.
Developer’s Note: This balance update is focused on improving the long-term health of both Standard and Wild. We've opted to make these changes earlier in the expansion cycle than we normally consider; we'd like to hear your feedback on the timing of this update, in addition to what you think of all the individual card changes.
Wild Growth – Will cost 3 mana. (Up from 2)
Nourish – Will cost 6 mana. (Up from 5)
Wild Growth and Nourish have been present in every mid-range, combo, and control Druid deck since their introduction in the Basic and Classic set. When cards from the Basic and Classic set are too powerful, they can have negative long-term effects on the game. Continuously playing against these cards can start to feel repetitive, and they can feel so mandatory that they stifle creative deckbuilding decisions. By increasing the mana cost of both cards by one, we expect them to be considerations in late-game control Druid decks, but more difficult to fit in strategies that don’t directly take advantage of ramping mana.
Level Up! – Will cost 6 mana. (Up from 5)
Odd Paladin has consistently been one of the most powerful and most played decks since its introduction in The Witchwood. By removing Level Up from Odd Paladin, we still expect it to be a competitive board control deck, just with more consistent damage output that should be easier to play around.
Saronite Chain Gang – Now reads: Taunt. Battlecry: Summon another Saronite Chain Gang.
Shudderwock brings an interesting combo to the table, but playing Shudderwock multiple times in a single game can be frustrating. Changing Saronite Chain Gang makes playing multiple Shudderwocks in a game much more difficult. Shudderwock should now exist as a powerful one-turn effect rather than constantly copying itself with Saronite Chain Gang’s Battlecry.
Leeching Poison – Will cost 1 mana. (Down from 2). Now reads: Give your weapon Lifesteal this turn.
We love the fantasy of building a powerful weapon over the course of a game with Kingsbane, but granting it a permanent Lifesteal effect with Leeching Poison resulted in an endgame with few weaknesses, as well as conflicting with our philosophy that Rogues should not have persistent self-healing effects. Making the Lifesteal effect only active for one turn should address some of the power level issues with Kingsbane Rogue’s late game.
Kiwii's Thoughts
Resident deck architect Kiwiinbacon had some thoughts on the nerfs.
Oh yes, thank you Blizzard!! I haven't been able to enjoy the game since combo decks pushed regular control out of playability, but now all of those combo decks just got nerfed, woo! There's still some Mecha'thun shenanigans available, but there is tech against those strategies, so it's fine.
I may actually consider playing the new expansion now. Time to grind the arena for some gold!
Oh and for people complaining about X overpowered class taking over. Keep in mind that this will have a huge impact on which decks are playable, and some of those decks may counter what is currently considered top tier.
Objectively these nerfs are good. Subjectively, my 3 favorite decks are Shudderwock Shaman, Kingsbane Rogue, and Toggwaggle Druid so eff you Blizz.
I really like the bomb drop aspect of the nerfs. It is a huge blow to net decking and a much-needed boost to collecting. When I started this game, you focused on cards that worked well in all decks or in your class, for the types of build you enjoyed. There wasn't this emphasis on tier decks and specific synergies. Now if someone wants to drop a bunch of dust and copy some FotM deck because VS said it's tier 1, they will be taking a risk, and this is a good thing for the game.
OMG, many deck will be die soon.
mostly druid deck will suffer, odd paladin will die in standard/wild, shudderwock will die in standard, kingsbane will die in standard/wild.
Is blizzard expect new meta soon?
but i lost many key cards to make fun for this game.
All I can say is these nerfs came so completely out of nowhere that my only clue that they happened was a YouTube notification for a new Kinky Hearthstone video.
Just play another rogue deck, I consistently beat big priest with tess rogue in wild thanks to 2x sap. It should also be possible with more competitive rogue decks that can also run sap.
In your opinion at what time will the nerfs take place?
I know that the only thing stated is the date, but this is why I am only asking in general.
i think between 4 and 6 hours
Hunterstone here we go, or maybe a more balanced meta hopefully
Me look at these nerfs:
Nerf Emerald Spellstone. Please this card is so unhealthy
No need, it cycles, and really isn't a big deal in wild with all the massive AoE there.
Funny how much time they gave us to farm the ladder. I guess Big priest reigns supreme in wild. I was thinking of farming with wild odd pally but i guess cancer priest will suffice. Idiots
A moment of silence please for all those f2p players that invested their dust on Odd pala or Kingsbane rogue ...
Yup just crafted Kingsbane a week ago cuz i have the other cards, then crafted greenskin yesterday. feelsbadman
atleast i still have a golden whizbang
My pity for odd pala player is pretty limited.
They will get a full dust refund they will be fine.
Lol how they'll be fine with these refunds they lost their deck and get so much less dust than what they spent. They won't be fine.
Maybe you being sarcastic ? Idk
A golden Nourish [/card]and 2 [card]Level Up! 1600 incoming for me, sweet!
Blizzard make a damn bad timing for nerf, should have tell the community few weeks or days before the nerf.
When the meta has just gone stable after the new expansion, players most likely would start crafting around this time(2-3weeks after expansion launched), announcing nerf now would definitely hurt some F2P players and the others confidence to craft. Terrific job, just craft some competitive deck yesterday, kinda feeling furious.
Maybe give us more refunds on dust would be good and where is the damn nerf to hunter spellstone, should make it 7 mana