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.
Time to tech in that Assassin's Blade in Pirate Rogue LUL
So standard is going to be all Hunter, and wild will be more odd rogue than odd paladin. With the powerlevel of wild aggrodecks control/combo Durid is gone from the meta with these nefs (aggro druid is maybe a thing agian).
While I agree with the nerfs, I am a little upset that my bane, a turn 5 decoyed Deathwing Lesser Emerald Spellstone is untouched.
why would you nerf that card,the card itself is not that strong,the cards that were making it strong now will costs 6 mana and 3 mana
Ultimate Infestation IS Strong, it will continue to see play, but what made it STRONGER is doing it on turn 6.
Don't disrespect Ultimate Infestation, the card itself is very strong, and always deserved some minor tweaks, but with the ramping druids have, it became broken.
I think that if something needs to be nerfed, Branching Paths is much worse. It cost only 4 mana and gave you ability to choose what actually you need in the situation. While ultimate infestation is pretty strong, but to not be able to make final blow, because druid has 30 armor when he need, or druid to kill you when he has 3-4 minions on his board and this to be the same card is pretty insane. While Ultimate Infestation may often find situation where it is useless (for example when you have 7-8 cards, because other card draw mechanics), Branching path is always useful and strong.
Can i get an F for disenchanting 2 golden level ups before baku got released...
F
F
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where is Ultimate Infestation nerf ?
Oh man, finally real nerfs! (I don't really consider the previous nerfing round a proper balance change.) Good for me I have a golden level-up and leeching poison. I think all of these nerfs are fair, but I would have probably kept Nourish and nerfed Branching Paths or UI.
However I do have some concerns. These nerfs leave Hunter completely untouched. And if something was bothering me it was seeing way to much Hunter lately. I really hope Druidstone won't turn to Hunterstone.
even paldin has always been tier 1 deck,where have you been man,or you just played odd pali :)
rip infinitewock in standard. at least wild have Doppelgangster
also loves the fact theres no description for wild growth nerf
Even Paladin has been a thing for quite a while :)
I was thinking about the same. Paying 3 mana for wild growth is too expensive. Would have only worked out in a very controlish meta. And then you also pay 3 mana to draw a card :P
Nourish would have been enough in my opinion but we'll see how it'll work out.
Ye it should have been hall of shamed
they wanted to add a rsik factor to ramp, basically they are forcing heavy ramp druid decks to play Biology Project
Lord Jaraxxus says hi