A new update is now live in Hearthstone which brings balancing changes to Standard. By that, we mean nerfs as Patch 23.4.3 did a number to several cards dominating the current meta.
In a post, the dev team revealed that they wanted to accomplish some goals when they introduced balancing changes for Standard in this patch. For one, they wanted to lower the power level of the most powerful decks in the current meta, which are the Fel Demon Hunter and Control Warrior variants.
That said, these cards had their power reduced:
- Shield Shatter
- Old: Deal 5 damage to all minions. Costs (1) less for each Armor you have.
- New: Deal 4 damage to all minions. Costs (1) less for each Armor you have.
- Tidal Revenant
- Old: Battlecry: Deal 5 damage. Gain 8 Armor.
- New: Battlecry: Deal 5 damage. Gain 5 Armor.
- Nellie’s Pirate Ship
- Old: Taunt. Deathrattle: Add Nellie’s Pirate crew to your hand. They Cost (1).
- New: Taunt. Deathrattle: Add Nellie’s Pirate crew to your hand. They Cost (1) less.
- From the Depths
- Old: [Costs 3]
- New: [Costs 4]
The team also shared that Charge Warrior and Control Warrior variants have been over performing on the ladder. In addition, the trend is leaning towards higher and higher win rates the further up the ladder one climbs. These decks shared several key cards and the changes made have lowered the win rates of the two archetypes. They did say that they're not expecting these decks to disappear but believe that some of the more frustrating plays they can do will be removed or weakened.
The cards are:
- Caria Felsoul
- Old: [Costs 6] 6 Attack, 6 Health. Battlecry: Transform into a 6/6 copy of a Demon in your deck.
- New: [Costs 7] 7 Attack, 7 Health. Battlecry: Transform into a 7/7 copy of a Demon in your deck.
- Battleworn Vanguard
- Old: 2 Attack, 2 Health
- New: 2 Attack, 1 Health
There's no question that the changes mentioned so far have a big impact on how the matches are played. Here are the other nerfs that came with the patch:
- Wildpaw Gnoll
- Old: 4 Attack, 5 Health
- New: 3 Attack, 5 Health
- Lightforged Cariel
- Old: [Costs 7]
- New: [Costs 8]
- Spitelash Siren
- Old: [Costs 4] 2 Attack, 5 Health
- New: [Costs 5] 2 Attack, 6 Health
- Earthen Scales
- Old: [Costs 1]
- New: [Costs 2]
- Lightning Bloom
- Old: Gain 2 Mana Crystals this turn only. Overload: (2).
- New: Refresh 2 Mana Crystals. Overload: (2).
- School Teacher
- Old: 5 Attack, 4 Health
- New: 4 Attack, 3 Health
What did you think of these changes? Hearthstone is available on PC, Android, and iOS.
