Hi, my name is wwlos (where we lay our scene), and I am a multi-legend player who tries to remain active in the ever-evolving Hearthstone scene. Being a player since beta, I have seen the days of the warrior giants combo, all of the Unleash the Hounds shenanigans, LEEERROOYYYYYY, and, of course, the reign of the Undertaker.
These cards seemed to all have the writing on the wall when it came to their inevitable nerf, but what cards in the future might be seeing the effect of Reddit’s constant complaining?
I have three categories I want to establish for these articles.
There are:
Absolutes
These cards are getting nerfed. Reddit has spoken and Blizzard has listened. These cards will be worth their full value in dust, so save them.
The Technology Just Isn’t There Yet.
Blizzard is going to stall like crazy to try to make sure these cards aren’t nerfed. The view on them is mixed, for whatever reason, and the future possibility of the nerf is pretty unknown.
I’m sorry, these cards are gonna keep beating you for a long time.
These are the cards constantly called upon to be nerfed, but honestly…. They just simply aren’t OP. Handle it.
Absolutes
Goblin Blastmage
“This is my favorite card in the set.”
–wwlos
December 3, 2014
This green goblin is stupid. I knew from the moment I saw it that it was gonna change the mage class completely. Before GvG, mage was easily the least-seen class on the ladder, now you can’t play three games without seeing a mech mage. Every once in a while you will see another class trying to run a mech archetype, but no class runs the mechanics of the mechs quite like Jaina.
All of that is thanks to that 5/4 for 4 mana with half of avenging wrath (a 6-mana card) attached to it. That’s about 7 mana worth of stats on this 4-mana body, which because of mage’s early tempo, is often really hard to remove.
I liken it to the Savannah Highmane rule: a lot of the time if a Blastmage gets to hit you in the face, you have probably already lost. This card created its own deck archetype, which is now one of the most powerful in the meta. That kind of card needs a change. Simply raising it to 5 mana or lowering its power to 3 would do the trick, and I’m sure Blizzard knows that these changes are pretty inevitable.
I would expect these changes by the time the new adventure is released (mid-June, maybe).
The Technology Just Isn’t There Yet
Dr. Boom
Woah, wwlos. I hate this card more than Hosty hates mirrors. How can this not be nerfed ASAP?
Well, honestly, it’s not that OP. It’s extremely hard to remove, and it’s quite a presence for 7 mana, but that’s because there is no other 7-mana card that matches up to it. This speaks more for how weak the 7-mana spot is than how powerful Dr. Boom is. It is similar to the 5-mana spot before Nax. Azure Drake was almost in every deck because that spot was simply so weak. Then Nax came out and introduced lots of cards that could compete with Drake, like our favorites Belcher and Loatheb.
Blizzard recognizes this, and I doubt that they are going to ever nerf Boom without at least trying to introduce new cards to balance him out. If, after the next couple expansions, Boom is still reigning terror, then he will be nerfed, but I doubt it happens anytime soon.
I would expect changes probably never, if Blizzard has their way. But, if not, around March 2016 (No Joke).
Force of Nature
When discussing nerfs, this is a really controversial card in the Hearthstone community. I personally despise this card and wanted it nerfed yesterday, but I have a complete understanding that this could really cripple the Druid class.
Druid already has a stable of semi-OP cards such as, Innervate, Wild Growth, and Ancient of Lore. All of these cards are so essential to the class, though, that it seems impossible to make a change to them. I believe that a card like Innervate is only going to get stronger as more sets come out, but I digress.
The FoN combo is extremely annoying. After turn nine if you aren’t keeping the druid’s board clear, you might just lose. You have to stay above 14 health no matter what, and if you don’t draw a heal you might just lose.
This is anti-fun, something that Blizzard should be actively fighting. So how do you change the card without crippling the class? I have long thought the card should read: “Summon TWO 3/3 Treants with Charge that Die at the End of your Turn.”
Alone, this would change the combo’s damage from 14 to 12. That change to health is a lot more breathing room than it looks like. The 3-power change could also help the druids in situations where they are using FoN for board-clearing purposes. Your opponent has Sludge Belcher and Sylvanas up? The combo clears that much more efficiently than before, actually. This could be a change that makes the card much less OP but still a staple for the class.
I would expect changes as soon as Blizzard notices what has been going on for a year now in the tournament scene.
Druid wins. It always wins.
So … sometime around August of this year (I hope).
I’m sorry, these cards are gonna keep beating you for a long time
Mechwarper
This card is not OP.
No, put down the pitchforks and torches and hear me out.
Where do you see this card outside of the mechmage? Nowhere.
I honestly believe that if Blastmage didn’t exist, too, mech mage would not exist. Mechwarper is not the reason that deck is so strong. To not be a class card and be OP, you need to be showing up in all sorts of classes and archetypes, and Mechwarper simply doesn’t do that.
Blizzard is not going to make a change to a card that is the staple of its newest tribe. Its ability to snowball is documented but a lot less potent than say, the Undertaker’s ability to snowball. I doubt this card sees any changes unless new Mechs in new sets benefit from this card in ways Blizzard had not intended.
I would expect changes as soon as, probably, never. If there are changes it won’t happen for a few sets, similar to Boom, so around March 2016 (I know, but you can do this.)
Agree? Disagree?
Leave a comment and yell at me about something.