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The 1/13 Hearthstone patch is no joke. Even when compared to the pair of December patches that nerfed Argent Commander, Shattered Sun Cleric and Mind Control, reworked Unleash the Hounds altogether and butchered frost Mages, this most recent change to Blizzard’s CCG looks to impact the game like nothing before.

Almost all classes will be affected by the patch, either in а direct way (Mage, Hunter, Warrior) or via the metagame shift that will happen after the changes go live (Paladin, Druid). But first things first, let’s start with that one card that keeps reentering Blizzard’s field of view.

Unleash the Hounds

Mana cost reduced to 2 (down from 4)



This is the only buff in the patch and one that makes Unleash the Hounds playable. Previously, UtH was a cute card with good synergies but 4 mana was just too much to pay. Being reduced down to 2 is a huge upgrade to this spell which is going to make it a staple in the more beast/aggro oriented Hunter decks. It’s given a chance to shine against aggro and mid-range decks which are very minion-centric: at just 2 mana it will often leave enough crystals so that it can be synergized with other cards in order to act as a board sweeper or generate effects that can equalize/negate opponent’s board presence in other ways:

- Any minion buffing the attack of allied beasts and minions is going to make UtH a lot stronger. Leokk from Animal Companion, Timber Wolf and Dire Wolf Alpha, to name a few, will have Unleash the Hounds spawn 2/1 or even 3/1 chargers which at early turns can be game-turning.

- Starving Buzzard will give value earlier, allowing you to draw a nice number of cards at T4 the earliest. Especially awesome against low-mana minion decks like Warlock aggros.

- Creating a fat Scavenging Hyena in the early game by running the UtH spawns to their death is more easily achievable now. Taking down an opposing minion is a nice additional bonus.

- Knife Juggler procs at T4 can also be very devastating especially against low-health minions or stealthed ones.

On the whole, the buff to Unleash the Hounds can be the resurgence Hunters needed. The new version sits well with Blizzard’s vision of how Hearthstone battles should look like (a clash of minions with spell support) and opens up a big room for creativity, something that the UtH rework wanted to inspire but failed to do so due to its unplayable mana cost.

What worries me, though, is UtH’s very design. The card was created to combo with a lot of things but with the right cards in play it has the potential to do everything: draw cards, wipe the board or do burst damage and set up an OTK’ing Scavenging Hyenas. We must give it some time before its full potential is revealed but something tells us this will not be the last change that the card will suffer.

Pyroblast

Mana cost increased to 10 (up from 8)



The cries of the Hearthstone community have finally been answered and Pyroblast – Mage’s go-to finisher that didn’t care about board control or taunters – has been pushed back to 10 mana.

This is where we must mention that it’s a common misconception that it’s the Pyroblast to the face that kills you. While in some situations that is very true, it is Mage’s very arsenal of cards that make Pyroblast such a potent finisher, not the text on the spell itself.

What exactly does that mean? First of all, it might be the 10 direct damage that end the game but it is cards like Ice Block that make the killing possible. Even though their arsenal of burn and board control spells is powerful, Mages rarely reach T8 without being dangerously low on life. Even if they do, classes like Druid and Paladin will be well outside Pyroblast reach and the Mage will have to be alive for at least one more turn to burn them down. In these cases, it is Ice Block that wins the game, not Pyroblast, and if Blizzard’s intention was to fix the Mage class and the frustration it instills, leaving its most game-breaking card is a huge mistake.

Another thing most new players fail to grasp is that, like every mid-range deck, the Mage wins through establishing board control and maintaining tempo, something so easily done with cards like Mana Wyrm, Frostbolt and Fireball as well as class’ hero power. If you want to be mad at something, be mad at Mage’s early and mid-game strength. After all, if you take Pyroblast out of context, its 10 damage for 8 mana are on par with (if not weaker than) combos like Leeroy/Power Overwhelming (10 damage, 5 mana) Leeroy/Shadow Step/Leeroy (12 damage, 6 mana) or Leeroy/Cold Blood (10 damage, 5 mana).



Not before T10 you're not

Still, we can understand why Pyroblast is pushed back two turns. The card was a serious problem to classes that lacked healing and while decks like Rogues are doing just fine against Mage, it was not the case with Warlocks and Shamans who were downright countered by Mages' set-up of spells. Both those decks will now have two more turns to try and finish the mage which is often all they need.

On the other hand, this is the best news Paladins and Druids have heard in a long time. The late game Paladins who were favored against Mages anyway will now hardly ever lose and Druids will get two more turns to armor up, draw healing touch or Earthen Ring Farseer and walk out of Pyroblast range.

Blood Imp

Stats changed to 0/1 from 1/1. Text: "Stealth. At the end of your turn, give another random friendly minion +1 Health."





This is a long overdue nerf to Warlock that should’ve gone down in the patch that targeted Flame Imp: Blood Imp has been the root of aggro Warlock’s strength (along with Life Tap, of course) ever since they became popular and was the single best counter to board wipes, allowing the Warlock to flood the board without worrying about board wipe.

After the patch, the Blood Imp will essentially become a stealthed Young Priestess which is a lot weaker at first glance. It won’t have immediate effect on the board and won’t counteract sweepers as efficiently as before. The sole benefit of its new wording is that the buffing effect remains after Blood Imp has been killed and it can be applied multiple times to the same target. Yet this only means that opponents will have to plan their single target removal better and not devise complex plans to remove Blood Imp as soon as it spawns.

Stacking Blood Imps and Young Priestesses will be as annoying as before but now Warlock players will have to decide if they really need four copies of Young Priestess, especially if two of them can’t attack. A 0/1 minion is rarely good even when it comes with stealth and Warlock players are likely to drop the Imp altogether in favor of Priestesses and use the slots for something else.

That being said, we don’t expect aggro or midrange Warlocks to disappear but it’s likely that we'll see rising preference towards the Giant control decks which use Life Tap to play cheap Mountain/Molten Giants and lots of removal and combos like Twilight Drake/Sunfury Protector to stay alive. You should probably consider re-adding that Big Game Hunter now.



The old Blood Imp keeps my entire board out of Holy Nova range. The Priest will surrender at T6.

Warsong Commander and Charge

Warsong Commander now reads: "Whenever you summon a minion with 3 or less Attack, give it Charge."

Charge is 3 mana (up from 0) and now reads: "Give a friendly minion +2 Attack and Charge."



After about two weeks of competitive existence, the Warrior decks have been wounded, maybe even fatally.

The Warsong Commander nerf directly affects how the Giant OTKs work. While cards like Raging Worgen will still be able to benefit from the card, big bodies like Molten Giants will not be able to come in for free and charging and thus finish the opponent in a single turn. Even though there’s still some hope – even if Charge is close to useless now, at 12 health and 10 mana a Warrior will be able to cast two Molten Giants and Charge them up for 20 damage – the combo becomes so much more unreliable (way too unreliable, in fact). The great thing about previous OTKs was the synergy with Youthful Brewmaster that allowed the Giants to be replayed multiple times, clear the board from taunters and then swing for lethal. Now, you get one attack that will ultimately fail if the opponent has blockers on the field.

+ + +

That's not possible anymore...



The other, more control-oriented Warrior decks that relied on the synergy between cheap spells and Gadgetzan Auctioneer to dig for their finishers will be hurt even more. Charge was an essential part of the deck as it was a free cantrip, allowed for surprising attacks with Twilight Drake or Auctioneer was also used to trigger the Alexstrasza/Gorehowl and Alexstrasza/Ravenholdt Assassin combos.

The change really makes little to no sense. Although Warsong Commander will still affect popular Warrior minions like Raging Worgen and Frothing Berserker, it will be a dead card in the late game as it will not be able to charge up the bigger bodies. Keeping it just so it can synergize with a couple of minions feels a bit risky and like a questionable use of card slot. If it affected minions with 4 or less attack instead of 3 or less (so it can work with Twilight/Azure Drake, Dark Iron Dwarf or Gadgetzan Auctioneer) maybe we wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it.

or + +

...Neither is this

Finally, at 3 mana, Charge is likely one of the worst cards in the game. It doesn’t become useful until T4 and who in their right mind will charge up a 1 drop? Just look back one day: before the patch, Charge cost 0 mana, which means that Blizzard value +2 attack at 3 mana. Weird, considering how Dark Iron Dwarf gave you that and a 4/4 body for 4 mana. Even if DID is changed now, something doesn’t end up still in Blizzard’s calculations and Charge will need to be addressed as soon as possible if it’s to be seen in a competitive game ever again.

Dark Iron Dwarf and Abusive Sergeant

Both cards now read: "Battlecry: Give a minion +2 Attack this turn"



The change to Abusive Sergeant is not that big of a deal. Previously, the card could only give its bonuses to friendly minions. Now, it can target enemy ones, too, and bring them into Big Game Hunter range. A good change overall.

The change to Dark Iron Dwarf is also a decent one. Although his buff was previously permanent, it was mostly used to establish trades in the same turn so he worked like an Abusive Sergeant anyway. Furthermore, with the buff now lasting until end of turn only, DID will be playable on empty board without having to give an enemy minion permanent +2 attack.

Reducing DID's effect to the same turn only should make the card more tactical as opposed to the old version. Players will have to think carefully when to play so that the best possible value is gained and they'll no longer be able to extract too big a benefit if the buffed minion stays in play more than one turn (something that used to happen with high-toughness minions or divine shielded ones).

Defender of Argus

Stats changed to 2/3 down from 3/3

This change is not as significant as it might seem. The decks which used Defender of Argus need it mostly for the solid buff it gives (2x +1/+1 and 2x taunt at the ideal value) and from this point of view the reduced attack will have a very minor impact. The only times you will feel the nerf is when you play the Defender on an empty board (a rare occurrence but sometimes you just need to maintain tempo), thus receiving very poor stats for 4 mana. At T4 and above, a 2/3 minion can trade with almost nothing and it’s essentially a free kill for the opponent.

That being said, don’t you dare disenchant Defender of Argus. If you played it before you will play it again.



This is me, not caring whether Defender of Argus is 2/3 or 3/3.

Novice Engineer

Stats changed to 1/1 down from 1/2



The nerf is going to accomplish its goal and reduce the playability of Novice Engineer by a huge margin. At just 1 health, it’s an easy choice dropping Novice for Loot Hoarder (which is still a 2/1): getting an immediate cantrip might be good but it rarely matters in the early game and when you can’t use a minion to efficiently trade with other minions it’s essentially useless. Before the patch, the Novice Engineer was great at clearing Argent Squires and Paladin’s Recruits. At 1/2, he was also the perfect target for Shattered Sun Cleric (making him 2/3 at T3) and Dark Iron Dwarf (3/2 at T4 or T3 with coin) and also survived two attacks from Druids', Mages' and Rogues' hero powers. Now it does nothing but draw you a card and has become one of the weaker 2 drops. If it's to remain 1/1 it should really be made a 1 drop.

After the nerf takes place, expect 2x Loot Hoarder + Nat Pagle + Bloodmage Thalnos/1x Novice Engineer to be the standard card draw set up for most mid/late game decks. Yes, your deck just got more expensive.



Meet the new cantrip squad

Sylvanas Windrunner

Mana cost increased to 6 up from 5



At 6 mana, Sylvanas goes from being the best legendary in the game to just a very, very good one. Pushing her up the curve will likely lead to her being removed from most aggro decks which cannot afford to pay 6 mana for a 5/5 body without immediate impact on the board.

Sylvanas will remain a staple in slower decks but her higher mana cost will make for some deckbuilding choices. Players will have to consider whether they want another good 5-drop and decks that previously didn’t run cards like Azure Drake might decide to include them. At 6-mana, Sylvanas also shares a slot with Black Knight, Cairne and Argent Commander as well as popular control cards like Holy Fire, Avenging Wrath and Siphon Soul. This will in turn lead to either more planning on T6 or cutting out/reducing the number of said cards.

Concluding thoughts

Overall, of all the changes influenced by Blizzard’s desire for more deckbuilding options, only Sylvanas’ nerf accomplishes that. Novice Engineer will disappear and only be played as poor man’s Thalnos. Blood Imps will also be a rare sight as the card has very limited benefits. Dark Iron Dwarf and Defender of Argus will continue to be staples. Warriors will likely disappear again until players find new ways to abuse them. The game might become less frustrating but it’ll not bathe in diversity more than it did before.

It’s understandable why Blizzard want to make these changes but they’ve failed to account for the limited pool of cards currently available. At less than 400 cards, you can’t, at the same time, push players into a certain playstyle and demand deckbuilding diversity. This is already causing the meta to be skewed towards a small number of classes and builds and will become even more skewed if this patch policy remains. At this point, one should question if sacrificing diversity to eliminate decks that are not fun to play against is worth it (hint: there is no right answer).

It will be even harder to maintain said policy when new cards are released. With bigger card pool it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to outsmart the players and there will always be decks that don’t fit Blizzard vision of the game. Hearthstone might be a digital game and thus easy for patching but the earlier Blizzard learn how hard it is to balance a card game (especially one with nine classes), the better. They should figure a way to create more options by, well, creating more options and not by butchering cards, archetypes and playstyles.