In this Arena update we’re adjusting the appearance rate of a number of cards, restoring older cards to the Arena, removing a Mind Control Tech from drafts, and adjusting Arena buckets.

Read on for details!

Appearance Rates

Cards from Rastakhan’s Rumble now have a +50% appearance rate in drafts – The bonus appearance rate for the most recent set has returned to freshen up Arena with newer cards.

Draft

A number of cards were removed from Arena for balance reasons in the past. Our new systems provide tools to tweak balance in other ways, and we would prefer to make Arena as true as possible to the cards available in Hearthstone.

The following cards are once again available in Arena picks:

Druid

Savagery

Soul of the Forest

Mark of Nature

Hunter

Starving Buzzard

Timber Wolf

Snipe

Priest

Mind Blast

Lightwell

Inner Fire

Shaman

Dust Devil

Totemic Might

Ancestral Healing

Windspeaker

Warlock

Sacrificial Pact

Sense Demons

Succubus

Warrior

Warsong Commander

Charge

Rampage

The following card will no longer appear in Arena picks:

Neutral

Mind Control Tech – Minion based combat plays a major role in the Arena, and Mind Control Tech is a (3) mana card that can unreasonably punish playing multiple minions. While we love that there are cards that help players come back from unfavorable positions, we recognize that the high variance gameplay of Mind Control Tech could create a negative Arena experience. As a result, Mind Control Tech is no longer able to be drafted.

The following cards will remain unavailable in Arena drafts:

Hero Cards

Quests

Whizbang the Wonderful

Vicious Fledgling

Ancient Watcher

Humongous Razorleaf

Odd/Even Cards

Bucket Adjustments

This is a snapshot of the current Arena buckets. Keep in mind that card promotion or demotion is almost entirely based on whether a card has a very high or very low pick rate. Adjusting buckets helps change the average composition of Arena decks so they feel more varied.

You can download a snapshot of the Arena buckets for this time period on the forums.