Hearthstone received Patch 19.2.1 that can be described as a small balancing patch, which comes with some big changes. For starters, it makes Rogue players put in a few adjustments, especially with Edwin VanCleef being nerfed. Boggspine Knuckles and another card also got nerfed.
VanCleef Nerfed
For VanCleef, Hearthstone’s latest patch increased the card's cost from three to four. That means Rogue’s aren’t going home early. According to a blog post, the development team said that VanCleef has been experiencing success for the last few weeks. This was because combined with Foxy Fraud and Shadowstep, there were a lot of games that had an early 8/8 VanCleef or even a 10/10. While it doesn’t weaken him entirely, it makes VanCleef more manageable.
Even without the nerf, the dev team said that they were actually planning to rotate this card out of Standard within a few months. However, with this nerf the team wants to look at how Rogue’s kit would perform.
Other Nerfs
Boggspine Knuckles was also nerfed with its attack lowered to three from four. With a five-mana casting cost, this should hopefully cut into the fluidity of Evolve Shaman. With the reduced attack, there should be fewer explosive plays available for Evolve Shaman. And in turn, according to the dev team, it should result in “an overall healthier meta.”
It’s not just the two cards mentioned that were nerfed. The patch also introduced a Battlegrounds Balance update that dropped the nerf hammer hard on Elistra, the Immortal. How hard? Both Elistra’s Attack and Health have been lowered from seven to four.
Bug Fixes
Two bug fixes were highlighted in the new patch:
- Fixed a bug where Infinite Toki’s Temporal Tavern would not function correctly with the New Recruit Darkmoon Prize.
- Fixed a bug where Ysera’s Dream Portal, when used with the New Recruit Darkmoon Prize, would not offer a Dragon when Bob’s Tavern is full.
Despite being a small patch, it seems that the goal was mainly to nerf VanCleef and see how it affects Rogues.
What do you think? Is the nerf the right move?
