Hearthstone 24: Don't tell the others, but I'm rooting for you!

[Zevox]

Welcome to twenty-fourth GitP thread for Hearthstone. For anyone who doesn't know, Hearthstone is a video card game from Blizzard, based on the Warcraft series. The game is free to play and available here, so if you're interested, give it a shot. You've got nothing to lose but your free time.

For new players, something to be aware of is that there are a number of hidden "quests" you can complete which will give you free gold, dust, or even a pack. A complete list can be found here. Be aware that not quite all of those are ones you'll be able to complete quickly though.

And here is a list of Playgrounders currently in the game, for both NA and EU servers:

Spoiler: Player List

Show

GitP Username	Battle.net ID (US)
Gandariel	Ciabatta#2958
Geno9999	Geno9999#1674
Gluteus_Maximus	RubiksCube#11427
Hamste	Theorules#1234
Kish	Grazzt#1417
Lord Raziere	Trizap#1729
Nerocite	JoeKage#1852
otakuryoga	Scootaloo#1471
Rodin	Rodin#1811
Seerow	Oshi#1354
Stevesciguy	Stevesciguy#1442
TheGlyphstone	Glyphstone#1419
Thranatar	Thrantar#1416
Yael	Urashima#1810
Zevox	Zevox#1522

GitP Username	Battle.net ID (EU)
Gandariel	Ciabatta#2958

Spoiler: Old Lists, include no longer active players.

Show

GitP Username	Battle.net ID (US)
aethernox	ethernox#1948
AgentPaper	AgentPaper#1193
AmberVael	AmberVael#1225
Anarion	Anarion55#1254
Antonok	Antonok#1704
Anxe	GoCorral#1879
Baelot	Baelot#1149
Cogwheel	OmegaNixon#1123
banthesun	banthesun#1782
Dancing Owlbear	Owlbear#1586
Destro Yersul	DestroYersul#1239
D_Lord	Volrock#1367
Duck999	Duck999#1349
Duos	DoctorDapper#1491
Firedaemon33	Firedaemon#1486
flat_footed	Hiigara#1357
Fleeing Coward	Scorch#1432
GAAD	GAAD#1126
Gaelbert	SamHouston#1563
Gamerlord	Gamerlord#1612
Gandariel	Ciabatta#2958
Ganorenas	Ganorenas#1457
Gluteus_Maximus	RubiksCube#11427
Gomipile	Glodd#1784
Gray Mage	GrayMage#1723
Grytorm	Grytorm#1777
Hamste	Theorules#1234
Haruspex_Pariah	HaruspexPari#1254
Hatevah	Hatevah#1405
heronbpv	Avan#1991
Hircine	IllusiveMan#1616
Jaxzan Proditor	Jaxzan#1878
jindra34	JinRia #1770
Johnjimco	JohnJimco#1482
Karoht	Karoht#1505
Kish	Grazzt#1417
Krade	Krade#1266
LegoShrimp	legoshrimp#1722
Landis963	Landis963#1789
Loreweaver15	Loreweaver#1199
Lunix Vandal	LunixVandal#1952
MacGiolla	MacGiolla#1982
MathMage	MathMage#1797
MCerberus	MCerberus#1734
mistformsquirrl	mistformsqrl#1430
moosabi	Moossabi#1325
Mystic Muse	NSFJunkblade#1400
Neon Knight	VultureCrook#1434
Neriractor	neriractor#1483
Nerocite	JoeKage#1852
nhbdy	Nohbdy#1927
Olinser	Olinser#1393
Onionbreath	GiantSquid#1845
OrcusMcP	Orcus#1805
otakuryoga	Scootaloo#1471
Pokonic	pokonic#1166
PsyBomb	PsyBomb#1878
Qwertystop	Qwertystop#1897
r2d2go	r2d2go#1262
Rodin	Rodin#1811
Rosstin	Rosstin#1609
SamBurke	SamBurke#1486
Seerow	Oshi#1354
Shishnarfne	Gruschenka#1375
Sholos	Veebeebee#1383
Stabbity Rabbit	StabityRabit#1362
Techwarrior	Techwarri0r#1572
Temotei	Temotei#1507
Tesla_pasta	teslapasta#1973
Thanatos 51-50	Thanatos5150#1407
TheGlyphstone	Glyphstone#1419
The Hellbug	thehellbug#1216
The_Jackal	TheJackal#1499
Thranatar	Thrantar#1416
Togarth	Asparag#1680
Trouble Brewing	HairyPoppins#1949
UserClone	UserClone #1545
Volatar	Volatar#1750
Yael	Urashima#1810
Yana	Raltis#1807
ZeroNumerous	ZeroNumerous#1913
Zevox	Zevox#1522
Zmek	JadeReaver #1783

GitP Username	Battle.net ID (EU)
Adumbration	Adumbration#2419
Aran Thule	AranThule#2780
Avaris	Avaris#2378
Avilan the Grey	Beardedgeek#2355
Beelzebub1111	SirArthurIV#1244
boomwolf	BoomWolf#1169
Dada	Scrattlebear#2863
D-naras	Dinos #2811
Epinephrine_Syn	SilverSeraph #2931
Fleeing Coward	Scorch#1432
Frog Dragon	Vasemmasti#2618
FyreByrd	FyreByrd#2962
Gandariel	Ciabatta#2958
GolemsVoice	CrazyCat#29897
Hewhosaysfish	HeWhoSezFish#2503
Hippie_Viking	HippieViking#2866
Infernally Clay	Winny#1904
Jormengand	Trianna#2529
Lionheart	Lionheart#2440
Mr.Silver	SilverSmiles#2462
Murmaider	Murmaider#2273
Posca	Mazura#2636
Raddish	Raddish#2730
ScionoftheVoid	JayPsi#2775
ShinyRocks	MoodyTuskarr#2790
Sian	Sian#2690
Silfir	Silfir#2863
SlyGuyMcFly	SlGuyMcFly#2562
Tokay	Tokay#2518
Tome	Taejix#2836
Volthawk	Volthawk#1214
Weimann	Weimann#2716
Wraith	Illusionist#2224
Xiander	Xiander#2814

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Man, I just love random brawls. You know what's really fun? Having one of your minions cast Dinomancy, rendering you without a hero power, while your opponent's minions cast Luna's Pocket Galaxy to make sure that their Bwomsandi and randomly cast Book of Spectres and Small Time Recruits are extra valuable.

Speaking as someone who had two games in a row where one of his first minions dropped cast Cataclysm, I feel your pain. Definitely a one-and-done Brawl for me.

[Seerow]

I just had the most disgusting tavern brawl. I really wish I knew how to screen shot mobile to have a record of it.

Turn one I play something, opponent plays something else and gets plague of flame, we both have clear boards now.

Turn two I drop kadgar. The spell that procs? Call of the wild.

That was turn 2 12 damage to face and 34/22 of stats on the board.

Opponent plays their next card, gets a rolling fireball which actually wipes out both huffers and kadgar, in any other situation it would be an awesome turn 3 roll. But it just was not enough. He conceded after.

[Stevesciguy]

Speaking as someone who had two games in a row where one of his first minions dropped cast Cataclysm, I feel your pain. Definitely a one-and-done Brawl for me.

Oof, yeah, that's pretty bad. My win this week was because my opponent got Cataclysmed really early on and conceded. I only played more because I had a daily quest

[Requizen]

I'm really, really enjoying Quest Rez Priest

Does this make me the baddie?

[Resileaf]

I'm really, really enjoying Quest Rez Priest

Does this make me the baddie?

The absolute worst.

I don't actually mind quest rez priest though. I find that the best counter to it is to do nothing and wait for the deck to run out of minions. If the priest has nothing to heal, they can't complete the quest.
It's actually the best deck I can fight against with my quest dragon mage deck. Especially if I manage to pull the Malygos polymorphs.

[Joran]

Iksar's already mentioned that a new balance patch is coming soon.

Planning another balance patch. Will share some more information next week as we solidify. Some of the Galakrond decks are just a touch more powerful than they need to be to be successful. Also contemplating light changes to non-Galakrond archetypes like Pirate War and DR Rogue.

Also planning on some small hero balance tweaks for Battlegrounds in the same patch. Battlegrounds has a bunch of plans for cards, heroes, and balance over the next 2-3 months.

Someone suggested in the Twitter thread that they remove or nerf the Claw on a fully Invoked Galakrond and that seems good. The other I would think about for Shaman (the only deck I really play atm) is to nerf the Freeze Invoke spell to 2 mana; the Zentimo/Elektra makes it too easy to multiple invoke.

Also, Iksar had a breakdown of November Ranks (with at least 1 game played) and all players above rank 25.

Rank 25-15: 63% of players
Rank 15-10: 19% of players
Rank 10-5: 12% of players
Rank 5-1: 6% of players
Legend: 0.3% of players

[Zevox]

...Galakrond decks, plural? The only Galakrond I feel like I even see much at this point is the Warrior one, and that one hardly feels overbearing. I guess Shaman's still around, but not nearly so prevalent or powerful as it was before.

Wouldn't mind a nerf or two targeted at Deathrattle Rogue or Pirate Warrior personally, though the former has definitely dropped off in popularity already anyway. Guess people playing it got sick of games where they don't draw Apothecary. Still, the things it can do with that card when they do draw it in a decent timeframe are utterly unreasonable, so if they address that, cool.

Also, Battlegrounds changes would be nice for sure. It's in better shape now than when it was "all Murlocs, all the time," but it would be nice to see something bring a little more variety back, since right now it's basically Mechs (Cobalt & Egg-based) vs Demons (Watcher & Wrath Weaver-based), with only occasional Beast builds or someone who manages to high-roll Murlocs. Would be nice to see them do something to make Menagerie a thing again, the combined hits of Lightfang's nerf and, especially, Amalgam's removal really killed that build style.

[Geno9999]

I'm willing to bet on the Claw getting nerfed, makes Warrior and Shaman Galakronds a little less scary for control decks. Though from experience, Non-Shaman Galakrond rarely hits play fully invoked: he's either as an emergency 5 armor gain with a Tempo swing, or you don't see him at all because the deck beat you over the head otherwise.

Pirate Warrior I feel is in a good place, not overpowered at all. *hurried hiding of the large pirate band* If I had to bring a card down a peg though, it would be Ancharr, either it goes up to 4 mana or loses a durability (to 2/2.) It has the highest Winrate when kept in mulligan, drawn, and second highest in played (Leeroy is in first for that, but he's often played for lethal), and it's entirely because of the sheer power of drawing minions in a aggro deck. Making it later or rely more on Upgrade and Greenskin gives other decks a bit more of a chance to weather the pirate barrage.
Other cards that could get nerfed (though I feel are secondary and probably unnecessary if Ancharr gets nerfed) are Skybarge and Parachute Brigand. Skybarge is actually kind of awkward to play already (which is why it's replaced by the older Ship's Cannon in Wild,) but I can also see it get knocked to 2/4. Brigand to a 1/2 because of how easy it is to swarm the board and establish an early lead that gets even worse when followed up with Southsea Captain.

Deathrattle Rogue is easy, just nerf Apothecary. Might not be a top tier deck, but it definitely a feel bad to play against deck.

[Joran]

...Galakrond decks, plural? The only Galakrond I feel like I even see much at this point is the Warrior one, and that one hardly feels overbearing. I guess Shaman's still around, but not nearly so prevalent or powerful as it was before.

Wouldn't mind a nerf or two targeted at Deathrattle Rogue or Pirate Warrior personally, though the former has definitely dropped off in popularity already anyway. Guess people playing it got sick of games where they don't draw Apothecary. Still, the things it can do with that card when they do draw it in a decent timeframe are utterly unreasonable, so if they address that, cool.

Galakrond Zoo sees a fair bit of play and seems decently strong, but Warrior/Shaman are definitely the big ones. Galakrond Rogue can highroll pretty hard, but is pretty inconsistent. It's too bad they never released one for Priest ;)

I play a lot of Galakrond Shaman; the new Zentimo/Spirit of the Frog build is really powerful and destroys the decks I hate: Deathrattle Rogue and Resurrect Priest.

[Rynjin]

I hope they don't nerf Galazoo. I haven't played much of it but in terms of Hero Power at least, it's my favorite Galakrond, and I think it's by far the most fair of them, with good but not unbalanced Invoke and payoff cards.

The current meta has a lot of DISGUSTING high rolls so I've had to adjust my decks to compensate.

I've been tinkering with Paladin decks, because there has to be SOMETHING that's not Mech Paladin that works right now. I've been experimenting with a Secret based Paladin Paladin (or "Pure Paladin") deck recently and think there's some promise there.

If it high rolls, you get to play a 1 mana 7/7 that generates you 5 cards (via Prismatic Lens), and if you low roll you still get a 4 mana something or other that does something pretty good (the lowest cost minion in the deck is 3, and there's only 2 of those).

The addition of Lightforged Crusader shores up Secret Paladin's classic weakness (a lack of fuel in the late game) while Lightforged Zealot adds a lot of midgame pressure, giving you a total of 4 solid weapons to duke it out with people.

I still need to do some tinkering, but I'm still (slowly) climbing ladder with just Paladin variants.

[Joran]

I hope they don't nerf Galazoo. I haven't played much of it but in terms of Hero Power at least, it's my favorite Galakrond, and I think it's by far the most fair of them, with good but not unbalanced Invoke and payoff cards.

The current meta has a lot of DISGUSTING high rolls so I've had to adjust my decks to compensate.

I've been tinkering with Paladin decks, because there has to be SOMETHING that's not Mech Paladin that works right now. I've been experimenting with a Secret based Paladin Paladin (or "Pure Paladin") deck recently and think there's some promise there.

If it high rolls, you get to play a 1 mana 7/7 that generates you 5 cards (via Prismatic Lens), and if you low roll you still get a 4 mana something or other that does something pretty good (the lowest cost minion in the deck is 3, and there's only 2 of those).

The addition of Lightforged Crusader shores up Secret Paladin's classic weakness (a lack of fuel in the late game) while Lightforged Zealot adds a lot of midgame pressure, giving you a total of 4 solid weapons to duke it out with people.

I still need to do some tinkering, but I'm still (slowly) climbing ladder with just Paladin variants.

I wonder if the Murloc Tip the Scales High Roll still works. I was trying it out in Casual and managed to draw both Lens and Tip the Scales before turn 4...

I'm guessing no, because sticking a board is so much harder now with Rush being so prevalent.

[Zevox]

Galakrond Zoo sees a fair bit of play and seems decently strong, but Warrior/Shaman are definitely the big ones. Galakrond Rogue can highroll pretty hard, but is pretty inconsistent. It's too bad they never released one for Priest ;)

I mean, I guess Galakrond Zoos are around here and there, but they don't seem that good to me. I don't know, maybe it's a matchup thing and they just fare poorly against Control Warrior while being better against everything else, but still. I honestly think Galakrond himself is the second weakest one (after Priest, of course), and the Invoke cards are basically just good enough with the Zoo playstyle to warrant using in that deck right now. I wouldn't be surprised if we got some good Zoo cards next expansion (or maybe the next two, since next one will also have rotation occur with it) and the deck just dropped the Galakrond package entirely.

[Seerow]

I hope they don't nerf Galazoo. I haven't played much of it but in terms of Hero Power at least, it's my favorite Galakrond, and I think it's by far the most fair of them, with good but not unbalanced Invoke and payoff cards.

The current meta has a lot of DISGUSTING high rolls so I've had to adjust my decks to compensate.

I've been tinkering with Paladin decks, because there has to be SOMETHING that's not Mech Paladin that works right now. I've been experimenting with a Secret based Paladin Paladin (or "Pure Paladin") deck recently and think there's some promise there.

If it high rolls, you get to play a 1 mana 7/7 that generates you 5 cards (via Prismatic Lens), and if you low roll you still get a 4 mana something or other that does something pretty good (the lowest cost minion in the deck is 3, and there's only 2 of those).

The addition of Lightforged Crusader shores up Secret Paladin's classic weakness (a lack of fuel in the late game) while Lightforged Zealot adds a lot of midgame pressure, giving you a total of 4 solid weapons to duke it out with people.

I still need to do some tinkering, but I'm still (slowly) climbing ladder with just Paladin variants.

I climbed to rank 2 last month with a highlander list. It hasn't been performing so hot against the current meta. Its big strength was being able to stand against face hunter while still putting up a fight against Warrior, as other classes have come back into the meta (Mage, Warlock, and Priest particularly) it's been finding it harder and harder to go the distance.

[Joran]

Kind of wish I had a screenshot, but I lived the Pogo dream as Shudderwock in Battlegrounds.

Biggest golden one I got was a 118/118 and managed to score 3 triples + 1 extra (most in the 20-50 range), which is 10/15 total Pogos in the game. If I knew what I was doing and wasn't sitting at 8 health very early, they could have been bigger (had to play one of the triples without hero power because I was scared of losing).

Thankfully the days of Divine Shield Poisonous Murlocs was over, so I got a pretty easy win, even though my last opponent managed to stick a Bran and get really chonky dudes.

Edit: Oh god, not sure what was wrong with my head, but managed to kill myself twice with Demons. Both involved Battlemaster; first time I forgot I was at 1 and played the 2/4 buffer. 2nd time was as Rafaam and for some reason thought i picked up a Battlemaster instead of a Bran, so played as if I was going to play Bran + Battlemaster and panicked and played the wrong 2/4.

[Geno9999]

I am having an terrible time trying to climb out of Rank 10 with Pirate Warrior, sinking my WR to the 40s%. Though one game, I ran into a Tip the Scale/Murloc Paladin: evolved a Kor'kron Elite with a Witchy Lackey to hold onto the board... and got Duskfallen Aviana. It was turn 7 or 8 so the Paladin was probably going to play Tip the Scales anyway, and I did manage to hold off that and the second Tip the Scales with Restless Mummies, but I had taken too much damage by then and got finished off by their weapons.

Having a much better time with a Galakrond Warlock though, 9-7 so far.

Spoiler: Decklist

Show

### Wretched Sacrifices
# Class: Warlock
# Format: Standard
# Year of the Dragon
#
# 2x (1) Blazing Battlemage
# 2x (1) Flame Imp
# 2x (1) Grim Rally
# 2x (1) Voidwalker
# 2x (2) Dire Wolf Alpha
# 2x (2) EVIL Genius
# 2x (2) Hench-Clan Hogsteed
# 2x (2) Knife Juggler
# 2x (3) Dragonblight Cultist
# 2x (3) Fiendish Rites
# 2x (4) Devoted Maniac
# 1x (4) Veiled Worshipper
# 2x (5) Faceless Corruptor
# 2x (5) Shield of Galakrond
# 1x (6) Kronx Dragonhoof
# 1x (7) Galakrond, the Wretched
# 1x (10) Sea Giant
#
AAECAf0GBNMB6qwD47QD8b8DDTDZB7EIwgjchgOInQPHnQPorA P5rgP+rgOqrwPTrwOCsQMA
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone
# Generated by HDT - https://hsreplay.net

Don't have a second Veiled Worshipper, but the deck seems to be doing fine without it, and I don't want to craft anything before the details of the nerfs are announced. Older versions had a second Sea Giant, 2 Scarab Eggs, and one Plague of Flames. Hench-Clan Hogsteed has been a really good card to take the board before Devoted Maniac could come online, though not auto keep in the mulligan.

[heronbpv]

Aaaand the new round of nerfs for standard has been revealed. Summary below:

Spoiler

Show

Warlock - Fiendish Rites : Mana cost increased from (3) to (4).
Warrior - Scion of Ruin : Mana cost increased from (3) to (4) .
Ancharrr : Durability reduced from (3) to (2) .
Shaman - Dragon’s Pack : Now reads, “…If you’ve Invoked twice, give them +2/+2 .” (reduced from +3/+3).
Invocation of Frost : Mana cost increased from (1) to (2).
Rogue - Necrium Apothecary : Mana cost increased from (4) to (5).
Neutral - Dragonqueen Alexstrasza: Battlecry effect can no longer generate Dragonqueen Alexstrasza.

Finally something to help the crowd affected the most by Rogue's Apothecary deck (particularly the high legend players that were seeing it too much during play), which was sorely missing from last round of nerfs. This time Warrior is also hit, as the Galakrond build was getting bonkers (9/6 with rush for 3 doesn't rime with balanced IMO). And Shaman, while being not played as much since the first hammer hit, got hit again. And considering the commentary on the last VS Data Reaper report, it's well deserved. And no more neo-Alex chains.
Hopefully this means the rush for over-aggro (and the respawn to glory of CW; sorry, Zevox!) can be stopped this time, since the worst offender in Rogue got hit by the hammer as well, and maybe we can finally get a less degenerate midrange game for once? Still hoping for a decent Paladin deck to play...

As for Battlegrounds, some nice changes too!

Spoiler

Show

Heroes

Shudderwock
Burbling: Cost reduced from (2) to (1) .

Queen Wagtoggle
Wax Warband : Give a random friendly Mech, Demon, Murloc and Beast +2 Attack . (instead of +1 Health)

Infinite Toki
Temporal Tavern : Cost reduced from (2) to (1) . Now reads, “Refresh Bob’s Tavern. Include a Minion from a higher Tavern Tier.”

Patches the Pirate
Has returned to the Battlegrounds Hero Pool.
Fire the Cannons! : At the start of next combat, deal 4 damage to two random enemy minions. (increased from 3 damage)

Pyramad
Has returned to the Battlegrounds Hero Pool.
Brick by Brick : Give a random friendly minion +3 Health . (increased from +2 Health)

Minions

Golden Soul Juggler
After a friendly Demon dies, deal 3 damage to a random enemy minion twice . (instead of 6 damage once)

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

Battlegrounds : Selfless Hero’s Deathrattle will now only affect minions that do not already have Divine Shield.

They increased the hero pool size! And the returning got their powers slightly changed, together with the three buffed heroes. Plus, as if demons were not getting good enough, the upgraded juggler power means we don't trade spread for focus fire anymore, which is quite good!
And now Selfless Hero is a 6 star minion in the 1 star range... strange.

[Zevox]

Aaaand the new round of nerfs for standard has been revealed. Summary below:

Spoiler

Show

Warlock - Fiendish Rites : Mana cost increased from (3) to (4).
Warrior - Scion of Ruin : Mana cost increased from (3) to (4) .
Ancharrr : Durability reduced from (3) to (2) .
Shaman - Dragon’s Pack : Now reads, “…If you’ve Invoked twice, give them +2/+2 .” (reduced from +3/+3).
Invocation of Frost : Mana cost increased from (1) to (2).
Rogue - Necrium Apothecary : Mana cost increased from (4) to (5).
Neutral - Dragonqueen Alexstrasza: Battlecry effect can no longer generate Dragonqueen Alexstrasza.

Seems largely unnecessary, to my mind (especially the Warlock one, that card's already kind of iffy), but whatever at this point. At least it's not more Classic cards.

Hopefully this means the rush for over-aggro (and the respawn to glory of CW; sorry, Zevox!)

You say that as if Control Warrior wasn't still glorious. I'm having plenty of success with it.

As for Battlegrounds, some nice changes too!

Spoiler

Show

Heroes

Shudderwock
Burbling: Cost reduced from (2) to (1) .

Queen Wagtoggle
Wax Warband : Give a random friendly Mech, Demon, Murloc and Beast +2 Attack . (instead of +1 Health)

Infinite Toki
Temporal Tavern : Cost reduced from (2) to (1) . Now reads, “Refresh Bob’s Tavern. Include a Minion from a higher Tavern Tier.”

Patches the Pirate
Has returned to the Battlegrounds Hero Pool.
Fire the Cannons! : At the start of next combat, deal 4 damage to two random enemy minions. (increased from 3 damage)

Pyramad
Has returned to the Battlegrounds Hero Pool.
Brick by Brick : Give a random friendly minion +3 Health . (increased from +2 Health)

Minions

Golden Soul Juggler
After a friendly Demon dies, deal 3 damage to a random enemy minion twice . (instead of 6 damage once)

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

Battlegrounds : Selfless Hero’s Deathrattle will now only affect minions that do not already have Divine Shield.

They increased the hero pool size! And the returning got their powers slightly changed, together with the three buffed heroes. Plus, as if demons were not getting good enough, the upgraded juggler power means we don't trade spread for focus fire anymore, which is quite good!
And now Selfless Hero is a 6 star minion in the 1 star range... strange.

Cool stuff, by and large - though the gold Soul Juggler change is a slightly double-edged sword, since with two shots it can now potentially trigger on-hit effects like Security Rover's or Imp Gang Boss' twice, assuming they have room to spawn things, and can wind up hitting different targets when you might really want all six damage on the same target. I do also wish that they'd consider nerfing Cobalt Guardian, and possibly Floating Watcher, personally, and bringing back Amalgam (though perhaps as a 3-star instead of the 2 that it was before).

I really like the changes to Shudderwock and Toki, personally. Waggtoggle's surprises me and I'm not sure how good it will be - looks scary at a glance, but durability is often more important than attack to actually winning, plus her power is focused on a menagerie strategy, which is much weaker now than it once was. Pyramad, well, I'm glad they buffed him, but I wish the buff had been being able to choose who gets the health buff, rather than just increasing it from 2 to 3 like that. And Patches, honestly, I don't know why they bothered, bumping his damage up really won't make a difference. He's still just much worse Nefarian. I wish they'd brought back Mukla instead of one of those, honestly, he was the most fun and balanced hero they've rotated out. Nice to see them go beyond the arbitrary limit to the hero pool size though.

[heronbpv]

@Zevox:
About the Control Warrior: he rarely does now, does he? :D Gotta love the deck too, although the variations with proper finishers fit me better (then again, they're aren't control, right?).
Though I also wish to not go to the other end of the spectrum, were he is the absolute king. Control (Warrior) heavy metas are just as bad as the other ones. Stay in the middle of the range, game, please! Uther thanks you for that.

[Hamste]

I do think the soul juggler change is a good buff for it. Divine shields tends to be a lot more common than on hit effects so it nice they can easily pin them off again. The Wagtoggle change is insteresting. She might actually be really good now with the goal being hydra, mechs and then a good high health demon. Menagerie as a whole is still very hard to pull off but being able to boost attack is pretty good.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Aaaand the new round of nerfs for standard has been revealed. Summary below:

Spoiler

Show

Warlock - Fiendish Rites : Mana cost increased from (3) to (4).
Warrior - Scion of Ruin : Mana cost increased from (3) to (4) .
Ancharrr : Durability reduced from (3) to (2) .
Shaman - Dragon’s Pack : Now reads, “…If you’ve Invoked twice, give them +2/+2 .” (reduced from +3/+3).
Invocation of Frost : Mana cost increased from (1) to (2).
Rogue - Necrium Apothecary : Mana cost increased from (4) to (5).
Neutral - Dragonqueen Alexstrasza: Battlecry effect can no longer generate Dragonqueen Alexstrasza.

Finally something to help the crowd affected the most by Rogue's Apothecary deck (particularly the high legend players that were seeing it too much during play), which was sorely missing from last round of nerfs. This time Warrior is also hit, as the Galakrond build was getting bonkers (9/6 with rush for 3 doesn't rime with balanced IMO). And Shaman, while being not played as much since the first hammer hit, got hit again. And considering the commentary on the last VS Data Reaper report, it's well deserved. And no more neo-Alex chains.
Hopefully this means the rush for over-aggro (and the respawn to glory of CW; sorry, Zevox!) can be stopped this time, since the worst offender in Rogue got hit by the hammer as well, and maybe we can finally get a less degenerate midrange game for once? Still hoping for a decent Paladin deck to play...

Based on my secondhand experience, Dragon's Pack and Invocation of Frost seem like good nerfs; Dragon's Pack just gives so much tempo, and Invocation of Frost is a no-brainer since it's a 1-mana 2/1 with rush that augments Galakrond and puts a freeze out. It's just an auto-include. I've seen the Apothecary combos, and yeah, makes sense they're pushing it back a turn. Based on the Alex chains, yeah, I think avoiding Infinite Alexstrazsa is a good idea, so that you don't suddenly spawn a billion dragons on a lucky highroll. Oh, yeah, Scion of Ruin, I've seen that one be a powerhouse, and it'll still be powerful but not quite as busted, hopefully. And Fiendish Rites....yeah, at 3 mana for two 2/1 imps and any other bonuses to minions, absolutely massive power level for zoo decks.

Seem like good nerfs overall, at least based on the play I've seen.

[Rynjin]

The only one I look sideways at is Fiendish Rites. It's good, but not worthy of a nerf IMO.

[Stevesciguy]

Invocation of Frost surprised me when it was revealed. Glacial Shard still sees play in a couple decks in Wild, and IoF is Glacial Shard with Rush. Not surprised it's getting knocked back a turn.

A tad bit disappointed that Apothecary is getting nerfed, but it's also way less problematic in Wild than it is in Standard. Probably for the best.

On the other hand, kind of glad they nerfed DQ Alexstrasza. It hasn't happened to me personally, but the potential high roll that card allowed for was just off the scale. Definitely needed to be reined in.

Ancharr nerf is alright, less durability means they'll have to hold back with it until they can get some buffs on it.

[Geno9999]

The nerfs overall seem good, though I do echo the question about nerfing Fiendish Rites. Was Warlock really that much better than Druid at making a wide board? Is this a premptive nerf because there's a Imp Gang Boss 2.0 from the Adventure?

Though on the Dragonqueen Alexstraza nerf, they honestly should just make overall rule that Discover/Random card effects are not able to create a copy of the original card (except when it's related to what's in your deck, like Stitched Tracker or Tracking.)

[Thomas Cardew]

Invocation of Frost surprised me when it was revealed. Glacial Shard still sees play in a couple decks in Wild, and IoF is Glacial Shard with Rush. Not surprised it's getting knocked back a turn.

A tad bit disappointed that Apothecary is getting nerfed, but it's also way less problematic in Wild than it is in Standard. Probably for the best.

On the other hand, kind of glad they nerfed DQ Alexstrasza. It hasn't happened to me personally, but the potential high roll that card allowed for was just off the scale. Definitely needed to be reined in.

Ancharr nerf is alright, less durability means they'll have to hold back with it until they can get some buffs on it.

I had one game which DEFINITELY would have either made me rage quit or irrevocably tilted me for that night had I been on the receiving end.

I was playing Whizzbang Handlock against a constructed handlock and was just getting out played. I made several misplays early, and every single thing I did he efficiently answered. At the end, I was decked out. He had 10 cards in hand (size 12 hand) and was at 30 hp 6+ cards in his deck. I had like 6 cards in hand, about to draw my last card, at like 14 hp, an Aranasi Broodmother on board while he has a giant and something else.

I generated the discover a dragon lackey, get DQ Alexstrasza into DQ Alexstrasza and something else. 2nd DQ Alexstrasza gets me another 8/8 dragon and the paladin discover a dragon who gives me classic Alexstrasza.... Next turn, he clears the broodmother and 1 8/8 and drops a taunt.

I clear his taunt, drop OG Alexstrasza to put him at 15 and swing my other two Alexstrasza for 16 winning that game off of nothing but dumb luck RNG high roll.

I mean Pure Skill.

[Stevesciguy]

Galakrond's Awakening has been properly announced! It comes out on the 21st. Here it is on Hearthstone's website

And it looks like the LoE is getting hero cards! I've been waiting for Druid to get another hero card, so I'm pretty happy unless they do something weird and give each class different kinds of legendaries

[Thomas Cardew]

Galakrond's Awakening has been properly announced! It comes out on the 21st. Here it is on Hearthstone's website

And it looks like the LoE is getting hero cards! I've been waiting for Druid to get another hero card, so I'm pretty happy unless they do something weird and give each class different kinds of legendaries

Disappears is ambiguous wording... Presumably that means destroy as in death rattles trigger. Is the reborn mech intend to keep magnetic effects? Because then it's stupidly strong. If not, I'm not sure it's that great Other than for swarmy paladin decks which I really don't want to come back, Odd paladin once was enough.

I thought Chaos Gazer looked ridiculous at first, then I noticed it specified playable card. I still think it's slightly too strong and should have its stat line nerfed at a minimum. Even with out that, the game just isn't balanced around opponents being able to discard your cards so I suspect it will be very unfun.

Speaking of nerfs, how would people rank the following nerfs for Invocation of Frost : (1) Costs 2 mana (2) Only targets minions (3) Random enemy (4) Random enemy minion ?

[Rynjin]

Disappears is ambiguous wording... Presumably that means destroy as in death rattles trigger. Is the reborn mech intend to keep magnetic effects? Because then it's stupidly strong. If not, I'm not sure it's that great Other than for swarmy paladin decks which I really don't want to come back, Odd paladin once was enough.

I'm pretty sure "Disappears" is a mechanic I think Hearthstone has needed for a while: a "Banish" effect. The monster is gone; removed from play; extinct. It does not trigger on death effects. It is not in the Graveyard. It cannot be resurrected or otherwise brought back. It is GONE.

Speaking of nerfs, how would people rank the following nerfs for Invocation of Frost : (1) Costs 2 mana (2) Only targets minions (3) Random enemy (4) Random enemy minion ?

I think nerfed to 2 mana was fine. "Only targets Minions" is such a minor nerf it may as well have not been changed, and the other two ideas introduced more unnecessary randomness to the game. Some randomness is fine, but stuff like that is bad for teh game's health.

[Thomas Cardew]

I think nerfed to 2 mana was fine. "Only targets Minions" is such a minor nerf it may as well have not been changed, and the other two ideas introduced more unnecessary randomness to the game. Some randomness is fine, but stuff like that is bad for teh game's health.

I'm mostly just curious what people's thoughts are, and if random enemy is considered worse then only minions or random minion. I've won several games mostly against warriors and rogues, but also several Galokrond shamans and warlocks by stopping them from swinging with their claw to either finish me or clear a minion. I've also seen shamans open with it as a turn 1 play. If it only targets minions you lose that.

I agree too much randomness is bad but blizzard doesn't. Hence the massive number of discover cards, add a random, and ****ty mage spells.

Speaking of mechanics hearthstone doesn't have but could, what would people think of a refund mechanic? A reverse overload. Spells or minions which are costed to prevent their early play, but return mana after being played.

[Zevox]

Galakrond's Awakening has been properly announced! It comes out on the 21st.

...and it is exactly as expected. Still unreasonably priced to buy with gold, but comes with a whole bunch of cards that will likely help define the meta. Well, guess I have a little under two weeks of Standard left, then.

[Stevesciguy]

...and it is exactly as expected. Still unreasonably priced to buy with gold, but comes with a whole bunch of cards that will likely help define the meta. Well, guess I have a little under two weeks of Standard left, then.

I disagree with that statement. I've been saving my gold for maybe a week, and already have enough for one of the wings. Add into that that I have almost two more weeks before the adventure actually releases, and a week between each of the wings going live, and I won't need to do anything more than complete daily quests to afford them.

That seems entirely reasonable to me.