Another Nerf Patch Coming Soon – Galakrond Decks, Pirate Warrior, Deathrattle Rogue – More Info Next Week

When the last nerf patch was coming out just a little over 2 weeks ago, Iksar also mentioned that they will look at the data and see if another nerf patch will be necessary. No wonder, because the first one was done very quickly, before the meta even had time to settle yet. And we’ve just learned that a second nerf patch is indeed coming, and it’s coming soon(-ish?).

We should learn more about it next week, so if I had to make a guess, I would say that it will be released the week after (January 13-17). Because of that, I didn’t expect another nerf patch – remember that later in January we’ll be getting a solo adventure, which comes with 35 new cards in total, so I didn’t think that they will want to release a patch shortly before that (since the new cards should change the meta anyway).

As for the decks that will get hit – Iksar has specifically mentioned “some of the Galakrond decks”, and possibly non-Galakrond builds like Pirate Warrior or Deathrattle Rogue. This is NOT an official announcement, of course, so it doesn’t mean that those decks will get hit – but since they were mentioned, there’s a solid chance that it will happen. As for the “Galakrond decks”, Galakrond Shaman is actually still one of the best decks after the nerfs, so it might see another small tweak. But, to be honest, all of the Galakronds besides Priest’s (which is, frankly, terrible) are played in some T1/T2 decks, which means that they all might be potential candidates.

What are your guesses? Which decks would you like to see nerfed?

P.S. The patch will also come with some small balance changes for Heroes in Battlegrounds! It probably won’t be a big patch with new minions / Heroes, but we might always see some Hero rotating out and another coming back in.

Stonekeep

A Hearthstone player and writer from Poland, Stonekeep has been in a love-hate relationship with Hearthstone since Closed Beta. Over that time, he has achieved many high Legend climbs and infinite Arena runs. He's the current admin of Hearthstone Top Decks.

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40 Comments

  1. MilesTegF
    January 7, 2020 at 10:10 am

    Regarding Battlegrounds, lately i’ve noticed that there is an unbalace regarding Mechs. in almost every game i’ve played, the advantadge tend to be taken by mech setups. Im not saying other tribes/strategies are always inferior, but i think the flexibility of the mech tribe tends to make it stronger, for example, even if you dont get a Scrapbot or Iron Sensei, you can still make a very strong team with the other mechs. Other tribes i think are much more dependant on getting specific minions to be strong (Like with Murlocs, if you dont draw a King, your late game is doomed).
    I dont play that much (maybe 2-4 games a day) but the last week and a half, i’ve noticed this, that most (ofc not all) of the games, the stronger teams tend to be made around mechs.

    So, while i think hero balance is important because some heroes are very inferior to others, i also think some balance needs to be made regarding tribes.

  2. Nephilim99
    January 7, 2020 at 5:19 am

    Another idea, make invoke trigger your current hero power instead of galarond hp

  3. Nephilim99
    January 6, 2020 at 4:20 am

    How about card that if you invoke twice become invoke-thrice instead

    • Darayavahu
      January 6, 2020 at 6:49 am

      That actually sounds fantastic, especially as the special card effects revolve around 3s, it’s fitting and a good nerd, wouldn’t do much to Shaman, but it would slow Shaman down slower.
      Maybe buff the Priest Galakrond to discover a minion and discount it? Or buff their Galakrond synergy card by making it only require 1 invoke, or just lower its mana cost?

  4. Mhump23
    January 5, 2020 at 12:11 pm

    Doesn’tBlizzard want any deck to perform well? It seems like anytime a deck starts winning they feel like it should be nerfed. Maybe people should learn to play better…These nerfs are getting ridiculous.

  5. HELLJOKER
    January 5, 2020 at 7:57 am

    I would love to see galakrond priest buff

    • Albionflux
      January 6, 2020 at 4:21 am

      change the hp to discover a priest minnion, same flavor but less chance of getting a useless card

  6. Nerose
    January 5, 2020 at 7:33 am

    Dang it! I crafted cards after the last nerf…

    • Darayavahu
      January 6, 2020 at 6:51 am

      I feel your pain, and I saw the Regis video about a probable nerf in Dragonblight cultist… right after I disenchanted my unfortunate 12+ of it. If they hit that, I missed out on so much dust…

    • HuntingFor90
      January 6, 2020 at 5:19 pm

      If they nerf something you get full dust value so it won’t cost you anything

  7. Shurchil
    January 5, 2020 at 4:45 am

    So normally I would be more than happy that a dev team is that passionate about balancing but for hearthstone it feels kinda overkill at the moment. Nerfing in a period of less than 2 months seems so off for HS especially since we are used to 4-6 months of a deck being op.
    For me personally I am more than angry because I crafted pirate warrior and deathrattle rogue after the first nerf because they seem fun and strong and I thought it might be done with the nerfs for now.
    Reading that those decks get nerfed is kinda disappointing and throws off my whole dust plan. Because I doubt they will nerf the legendaries I crafted for the decks therefore I will not get the dust back.
    Maybe I am just blind of anger and disappointment right now but this nerf over nerf thing gets out of hand in a game like hearthstone. I was hoping they would go for the buff-way more after the last buffs were actually kinda succesful. Guess I was wrong.
    Too bad.

    • JoeBar
      January 6, 2020 at 2:12 am

      It’s exactly the same when BliBli nerfs cards, we lose the dust wasted on other archetype cards crafted for the nerfed deck.

      Honestly, i think they are comfortable with this, as it provides good earnings with following extensions releases with people still lacking the most cards and putting 50$ in the game every extension.

    • CD001
      January 7, 2020 at 4:36 am

      There are a lot of cards that are complete garbage and only a few that are overpowered – it’s far easier to balance the game by nerfing the OP cards than buffing everything else.

      Besides, to quote The Incredibles, “when everyone’s Super… no one will be.” – buffing has much the same effect as nerfing, it’s just a crap-tonne more work and nobody gets full-dust refunds.

      The problem with *not* balancing anything is that the meta completely stagnates around a couple of OP decks and we get Shamanstone v3 (I remember the original Shamanstone era with Tunnel Trogg and Totem Golem) … which is pretty boring all round.

  8. Vincent
    January 5, 2020 at 4:38 am

    At the moment in my exp it’s about who gets Galakrond first wins (or DR/Ancharr/Dragonqueen). That’s not fun so another nerf patch is welcome.
    Potential nerf candidates I see: Galakrand Legendaries, Necrium Apothecary, Scion of Ruin, Ancharrr and pref Dragonqueen Alexstrasza too and I still would like to see Malygos move to the Hall of Fame.
    I do fear Quest Resurrect Priest will come out on top which is a boring deck to play against.
    Also Blizzard should compensate all players for these patches by giving 5 free card packs or better just give a free legendary (1600 dust).

    • Beerdserkr
      January 5, 2020 at 10:20 am

      If they move Maly to the hall of fame I’ll lose my shit, I just crafted him, I’m having a lot of fun with Maly Handlock.

      • HuntingFor90
        January 6, 2020 at 5:20 pm

        If they move a card to the hall of fame you get full dust value and can keep him so you don’t miss anything

    • Darayavahu
      January 6, 2020 at 6:54 am

      Or maybe they just give you straight dust, that would be sweet.

  9. Spangler
    January 5, 2020 at 4:28 am

    We get 35 new cards soon? Did i miss something?

    • Shurchil
      January 5, 2020 at 4:47 am

      The solo adventure for Decent of Dragons will give us 35 new cards. I guess it is like Karazhan and Blackrock. Who pays gets new fancy legendaries.

      • Snufflux
        January 5, 2020 at 5:44 pm

        if you’re just smart with gold it shouldn’t be an issue. saved up 6000 prior to the expansion and i already have 2200 saved for the solo adventure. it takes like 3 games at most to bang out a daily challenge, which isn’t too hard, especially now that the win 3 games quests are now play 3 games.

        • Darayavahu
          January 6, 2020 at 6:55 am

          I just spent all my 2200 gold on packs… welp, there goes my wallet!

  10. X15d
    January 5, 2020 at 2:16 am

    not sure if a nerf is really necessary, I’m fine with a hit to the apothecarry and warrior galakrond (to hero power or maybe scion) but really not much is needed

  11. Trollguy119
    January 5, 2020 at 2:03 am

    I hope they don’t nerf ma boi flik

  12. Heinz206
    January 5, 2020 at 12:22 am

    Highlander Galakrond Rogue and Galakrond Warrior probably are going to get killed

    • PitLord
      January 5, 2020 at 2:03 am

      I hope so, there are only rogue and warrior on ladder must be nerfed to the ground

      • Shurchil
        January 5, 2020 at 4:48 am

        Pls shut. Really. There is shaman. “OPOPOP NERF OLOLOL”
        Now there other decks that are strong (NOT OP FFS!!!) and you start crying for nerfs again.
        I hate this community so much.

  13. H0lysatan
    January 4, 2020 at 10:32 pm

    ever since the last nerf, I’ve been trying to find a suitable replacement deck.
    And now I’ve found it.
    wasted about nearly half of my cards collections into dust to create Handlock Galakrond and Malylock
    (there goes about near 5000 dusts)

    Please don’t nerf Warlock, Please don’t nerf Warlock..

    • Beerdserkr
      January 5, 2020 at 12:07 am

      Warlock isn’t even on anyone’s radar, its safe.

      • Shurchil
        January 5, 2020 at 4:50 am

        It is really strong (and fun!) tho. I really enjoy it and also get stomped by zoo gala decks.
        It is not on everyones radar yet. But it will after another stupid nerf wave.

        • Beerdserkr
          January 5, 2020 at 10:19 am

          I also playing both decks, Maly Handlock is my favourite deck right now, even though I dont win often with it.

  14. Beerdserkr
    January 4, 2020 at 9:11 pm

    Just leave the game be for crying out loud, enough is enough.

  15. SlyFox
    January 4, 2020 at 8:07 pm

    Quite expectable seeing another balance patch due to the fact that this is ”probably” the most powerful expansion set in all of hs history.