![]() ![]() ![]() While you want checks and balances to keep large, powerful cards from running completely wild, the risk of Big Game Hunter was just too large. If Silence suppressed powerful cards with cool effects, Big Game Hunter provided an incredibly inexpensive manner of suppressing powerful cards, period. THE NERF: Big Game Hunter becomes a five-mana card instead of a three-mana one. BIG GAME HUNTER Big Game Hunter Provided by Blizzard While that makes Spellbreaker look a lot better than Ironbeak Owl, the Owl is also a nice activator for Kill Command for Face Hunters. It's still playable at three mana, but now you have to choose between the Owl or the more expensive Spellbreaker, which gives you 2/1 more stats. With a super-cheap, all-purpose Silence, two mana was just too inexpensive for a card that could still eat a ping or take out a 3/2 minion. THE NERF: Cost of the card is increased from two mana to three mana. Bolvar Fordragon had been filing complaints with Blizzard's Human Resources department for a year. Silence has always been a problematic mechanic in Hearthstone simply because it makes so many powerful cards nearly worthless. Keeper of the Grove was another must-include because of the two very powerful options it had: Silence or instant damage. Introduced cards with Silence had conditions like not being able to select a single target (Wailing Soul) or only Silencing a tribal (Light's Champion). Silence has been a rare mechanic in cards released after the initial set. One of the long-term strategies of the design team is to reduce the fear of silence as a reason to avoid playing cool cards. THE NERF: Keeper of the Grove's attack is reduced from four to two. But allowing it also to trade evenly with the vast majority of playable two-mana cards and the large collection of 3/3 and 4/3 cards at three-mana was just too good. Want to send a flurry of random knives at your opponent? Fine. But with such powerful card text, allowing Knife Juggler the full 3/2 vanilla two-mana minion stat was just too much. Knife Juggler is a powerful early-game tool in a large number of decks - a random knife, especially playing a deck in which you're playing a lot of minions, can be really obnoxious for your opponents, ranging from mildly annoying to game-losing depending on how lucky you are. THE NERF: Attack is decreased from three to two. Savage Roar can still win the game if the opponent can't deal with the 2/2s or any additional tokens, but now it's not an experience of "see Force of Nature, hit concede." KNIFE JUGGLER Knife Juggler Provided by Blizzard Staying out of base combo range wasn't healthy for the game. ![]() ![]() Every Druid matchup turned into a minigame to stay above 14 health. Summoning three 2/2s ain't half-bad, but it's not something you don't just automatically throw into most Druid decks. Card is reduced in cost from six mana to five.Ĭhanging force of nature to five mana to summon three 2/2 Treants (that don't die at the end of the turn) changes the design of card, making it a card that fights for board and provides tokens, rather than a card that serves as the win condition for Druid. THE NERF: Summoned Treants no longer have charge, but do not die at end of turn. And while the cards are worth more than the health choice, the fact that you can make that choice adds value. The only other 5/5 cards costing fewer than five mana are King Mukla and Anub'ar Ambusher, both of which have giant downsides. If you go by rule of thumb that a card draw is worth roughly 1.5 mana, that leaves Ancient of Lore essentially a four-mana 5/5 outside the car draw. The other card with the same ability, Coldlight Oracle, has the massive downside of drawing your opponents' two cards. It's one of only two minions in the game that draws two cards. Deck-making ought to be a balance of benefits and trade-offs.Īncient of Lore was a must-include in Druid decks simply because it was so good. When a card is so powerful that you nearly always include it, it ceases to become interesting. Must-include cards, especially those that don't cycle out, create a difficult task for designers trying to introduce cards that change archetypes. THE NERF: Draw one card instead of drawing two cards. ANCIENT OF LORE Ancient of Lore Provided by Blizzard An overpowered "forever" card can make every new card be forced to fight against it for relevance, the same way Piloted Shredder casted a shadow over all new four drops. Getting some of the most powerful permanent Standard cards in check was important to keeping the meta dynamic. While we still have to wait for Whispers of the Old Gods to live April 26, Blizzard gave us our first helping by announcing card adjustments to some of the original cards.īlizzard has generally taken a light touch with making changes to existing cards (with the addition of Standard format), creating what is essentially a set of cards that doesn't cycle out. ![]()
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