New Big Changes Coming to Hearthstone – Nerfs to Innervate, Spreading Plague, Fiery War Axe, Hex, and Murloc Warleader!

Big changes coming to Hearthstone in an upcoming patch, nerfs to Innervate, Fiery War Axe, Hex, Murloc Warleader, and Spreading Plague!

Update: Ben Brode has commented on some of the issues players are having with these proposed changes.

You will receive a full dust refund for Murloc Warleader and Spreading Plague once the patch is live. There’s no official release date for the patch.

If you haven’t already defeated The Lich King, first you should check out our guide, and second be sure to do it before the patch because Murloc Warleader makes winning the battles a whole lot easier in its current state!

In an upcoming update, we will be making balance changes to the following cards:

Innervate

Now reads: Gain 1 Mana Crystal this turn only. (Down from 2)

Fiery War Axe

Now costs 3 mana.  (Up from 2)

Hex

Now costs 4 mana. (Up from 3)

Murloc Warleader

Now reads: Your other Murlocs have +2 Attack. (Down from +2 Attack, +1 Health)

Spreading Plague

Now costs 6 mana. (Up from 5)

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Developer’s Note:Basic Cards and Our Stance on Hall of Fame

After careful consideration, we chose to make changes to three Basic class cards: Innervate, Fiery War Axe, and Hex. While they can be regarded as staples in those classes’ card repertoires, too many Basic and Classic cards played in individual decks means less fun when new expansions are released.

Cards in the Basic set serve several purposes in the game, so we would rather make balance adjustments to them instead of moving them to the Hall of Fame, like we have done for cards in the Classic set. We are also trying to limit Hall of Fame changes to the start of each Hearthstone Year, which is why Murloc Warleader—a Classic card—is receiving a balance change instead of moving to the Hall of Fame.

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Innervate

Several powerful variations of Druid are currently seeing play, and all of them utilize Innervate. Innervate creates explosive starts to the game that can be difficult for the opposing player to recover from. This change leaves Innervate as a simple Basic card and slows down the explosive start potential, while ensuring that it will be utilized in decks that revolve around playing inexpensive spells.

What other changes did we consider?

We considered a few other options for Innervate:

  • Refresh 2 Mana Crystals.
  • Gain 2 Mana Crystals this turn only and increase the mana cost to 1.
  • Gain 6 Mana Crystals this turn only and increase the mana cost to 4.

Since Innervate is a basic card, we need it to be clear and simple. Along with Wild Growth, these cards inform newer players that Druids create mana as a part of their class identity.

We  kept in mind that cards like Counterfeit Coin were strong in combination with other support cards, such as Gadgetzan Auctioneer, Edwin VanCleef, and Combo cards. With the right support cards for Innervate, it may end up still seeing play, but won’t be in every deck—which is ultimately what we’re aiming for with this change.


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Fiery War Axe

Fiery War Axe has been a powerful Warrior weapon since the launch of Hearthstone. Already great tempo for its cost, Fiery War Axe is well complimented by Pirates and cards that synergize with weapons. Raising its mana cost by 1 will slow down the Warrior’s tempo and lower the overall power level of the card.

What other changes did we consider?

The other option we considered for Fiery War Axe was to lower its attack to 2, but that change didn’t feel intuitive enough. Generally, changing the mana cost of a card is less disruptive, because you can always see the mana cost of cards in your hand. Despite the increased mana cost of Fiery War Axe, we expect that it will still see play—other 3 mana 3/2 weapons, like Eaglehorn Bow, can be found in decks that may not have synergy with the weapon’s card text.


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Hex

We’re not making the change to Hex due to a current power-level problem. Shaman is a class that currently has a lot of flexibility, but is lacking in both class identity and identifiable weaknesses. Changing Hex makes Shaman a bit weaker against big minions and worse at silencing—having both strengths and weaknesses in a class is important.

We are very wary of cards that also incidentally work as a silence. If a player wants to utilize a card with a silence effect, they should be giving up something else. For example, if a player decides to include Spellbreaker in their deck, then they are playing a card that is weak in some situations. Priest is an exception to this rule—silence is a part of their class identity.

Even though Hex is not always played in the more aggressive Shaman decks, we will be making this forward-thinking change with the overall identity of the class in mind. This includes avoiding Shaman cards that function as direct and powerful removal. We will continue moving forward with this design philosophy to help reinforce that ideal.


Developer’s Note:Regarding Murloc Warleader and Spreading Plague

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Murloc Warleader

Murlocs are good at taking an early lead, and if a player can’t clear the board in time, the game can ultimately snowball to victory using cards like Murloc Warleader. Removing the Health buff from Murloc Warleader will make it easier for players to clear the board of murlocs, and still have it remain a Classic build-around card. Simplifying health buff interactions is an additional benefit of this change. For example, in its current state, having a Murloc Warleader in play then using Wild Pyromancer and Equality would not destroy other murlocs on the board, leading to unclear interactions for some players.

What other changes did you consider?

We considered changing both Rockpool Hunter and Murloc Warleader due to the current strength of Murloc Paladin in the early stages of the game. Changing either Rockpool Hunter or Murloc Warleader would accomplish this, but there are extra advantages to changing just Murloc Warleader: The simplification of health-giving buffs and additional room for future Murlocs since Warleader will be around longer than Rockpool Hunter.


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Spreading Plague

Spreading Plague is a great defensive tool for Druid to protect themselves against aggressive decks, but it was too efficient at 5 mana. Raising the mana cost to 6 will slow the card down slightly, while still allowing for the defensive minions Spreading Plague creates to be utilized in the later stages of the game.

What other changes did you consider?

We considered changing Spreading Plague to 7 mana rather than 6, since it is currently the top performing card in Jade and Taunt Druid decks. However, since we are also changing Innervate, we decided to only add 1 mana to the cost of Spreading Plague.


Developer’s Note: Regarding Other Community Card Discussions

The community has mentioned other cards in balance-related discussions, such as Ice Block and Ultimate Infestation, and we wanted to talk about those cards as well even though we are not making any changes to them at this time.

Ultimate Infestation

Our team has discussed making a change to Ultimate Infestation since it feels bad to lose to. However, our data shows us how good each individual card performs in a deck relative to other cards in that deck. Spreading Plague ended up being the best performing card in Jade and Taunt Druid, Innervate was in the top three, and Ultimate Infestation was somewhere around the middle—but it felt much more powerful since it has a huge effect when played.

We considered changing all mentions of the number 5 in Ultimate Infestation to 4, or removing one of the effects entirely. With the other changes we are making to Druid, ramping out Ultimate Infestation before turn 10 should happen less often, so we decided to leave it as is.

Ice Block

We’ve seen discussions about moving Ice Block to the Hall of Fame. As previously mentioned, moving cards to the Hall of Fame occurs at the start of the Hearthstone Year, which will occur with the first expansion release in 2018. Our general stance regarding Hall of Fame is that we want to avoid moving cards mid-year.

We are excited for these changes, and we look forward to seeing how they will shake up the game.

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Once these card changes are live, players will be able to disenchant the changed non-Basic cards (Murloc Warleader and Spreading Plague) for their full Arcane Dust value for two weeks. Basic cards cannot be disenchanted and will not be available for an Arcane Dust refund.

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82 Comments

  1. SteelKing
    September 6, 2017 at 9:39 pm

    The issue is that in nerfing FWA, you are not just hurting the unbalanced Pirate Warrior. You are hurting EVERY deck that depends on it. It is a staple in being able to keep a handle on the early board, and without it I can’t imagine any form of late game Warrior surviving long enough to win. Just think of the 1/3s! In addition, if you want to make the game attractive to beginners, hard-nerfing a powerful and versatile basic is not going to help them learn and enjoy the game. Finally, I mean, it’s the Fiery WIN Axe! It’s SUPPOSED to be awesome! It has been there before Pirate Warrior, and will be there after. If Blizzard is worried about class identity, then they just made a significant mistake! The weapon class NEEDS strong weapons in the same way that Warlocks need life trading, or Paladins need strong buffing.

    And let’s make this clear:
    The other 3/2 3 mana weapons ALL HAVE TEXT. FWA DOES NOT. FWA set the standard for stat-mana ratio. The other weapons are validated in their higher mana cost by card text, THEY ARE NOT THE STANDARD! On pure stats alone FWA is not competitive right now, and that is a shame for this iconic card.

    Hex didn’t need the nerf. Shaman has no ping, which is why the card was balanced. And honestly? Taunt vs 1 attack on a 1-health minion? Really not an issue that Blizzard should be fretting over to the point of nerf. On issues of identity? Wait a while and see how everything settles before doing something permanent. If you still don’t like it? Weaknesses and strengths should develop naturally. Intentionally weakening a card for the point of it being weak, WITHOUT also including or highlighting a strength seems like a short-sighted move.

    Innervate is ruined. Same statements regarding the FWA apply here. Iconic, basic, enduring,etc. The idea of refreshing the mana crystals would have fixed Blizzard’s early-game issue AND helped with UI. As it stands now, it is a Counterfeit Coin without Combos or a smart name. And I don’t even like Counterfeit Coin.

    I like Hearthstone, but to the developers out there: please be careful. Overzealous nerfing will kill a game as surely as a lack of it.

    • HarryJ
      September 7, 2017 at 7:00 am

      The brass at Blizz told Brode to sell more cards.
      His answer was to nerf powerful basic / classic cards.
      In the “design space” created they will put must-have expansion rares/epics/legendaries, and to get them you will have to spend $$$.
      They gamble that you are hooked-into H-stone enough that you will pay.
      Nuff said.

  2. CD001
    September 6, 2017 at 5:22 am

    So Warrior – the ultimate weapon class – now has the worst 3/2 weapon in the game?

    It’s Eaglehorn Bow without the synergy with secrets…
    … or Rallying Blade without the synergy with Divine Shield
    … or Shadowblade without the immunity

    Innervate is now boring; would have been far more interesting to have it refresh mana crystals you’ve already used this turn – might have seen use in late-game focussed combo or miracle decks still but neatly sidesteps the T1: Vicious Fledgeling (and similar) issue.

    The Hex change doesn’t really do much but there was nothing wrong with Hex as it was anyway – now it’s a distinctly worse Polymorph; Taunt on the Frog matters in a class that can’t kill 1 health minions with it’s hero power.

    The Murloc Warleader nerf… hmmm… oki. The card needed a rebalance, I guess, since it was previously buffed (sort of – it used to give ALL other Murlocs, yours and your opponents’, +2/+1) – and yes, Murlocs get unpleasant really quickly when they start to get tricky to remove.

    The Spreading Plague nerf makes sense – especially when combined with the Innervate nerf as it essentially prevents Crypt Lord to Spreading Plague in consecutive turns, early game. Though I still think Druid has too many tools to deal with aggro now – especially since Pirate Warrior and Murlocadin have just taken a hammering as well.

    Overall: 6/10 – could do better 😉

  3. arkane
    September 6, 2017 at 1:35 am

    This will turn out to be a Jade Druid Buff. Good Job Blizzard.

  4. Advocaat
    September 6, 2017 at 12:35 am

    Very understandable nerfs actually… making highlander priest the top deck – highlander priest by itself costs like $150, so yeaaaa… money to blizzard

  5. Joseph
    September 5, 2017 at 4:38 pm

    murloc synergy rely’s on snowballing early board control. pirate synergy also has weapon synergy and captain also protects your pirates. warleader nerf is b.s. just nerfing because some o.p. palidan cards make it too good… that’s stupid.

  6. Praikon
    September 5, 2017 at 3:58 pm

    Well , just because the community start crying about the unbalanced Aggro druid or jade a few days , not even a month after the KFT expansion you change it instantly.
    Guess something the people don’t get a vote.The Director of a movie don’t ask the audience if they like a scene but if they don’t its okay they will remove it. NO ! You watch the movie as it is.
    So now the aggro decks are GONE.And we suppose to play 25-30 minutes games?Like HL priest mirror matches?Or Quest mage vs Quest mage? Just let the expansion flow for a few months.

    • Taglierino
      September 5, 2017 at 5:49 pm

      Unfortunately aggro decks aren’t gone, anyway i hope aggro decks die soon.

      • Hello
        September 6, 2017 at 12:02 am

        You definitely don’t want aggro to die. It is healthy for a good metagame and without it, you’d have only the greediest decks making everything way too slow.

      • Praikon
        September 6, 2017 at 3:26 am

        With A FWA 3 mana pirate Warrior is slow , with inervate Gain 1 mana Token druid its not so strong.

    • Carleman
      September 5, 2017 at 7:17 pm

      Get your fact straight my friend. There is a LOT of movie preruns before they lunch them and they do actually change them a lot according to viewers comments. Just so you know.

      • Praikon
        September 6, 2017 at 3:28 am

        Well , I don’t believe thats true. Anyway I think its a really quick decision.

  7. mm
    September 5, 2017 at 3:52 pm

    “Spreading Plague is currently the top performing card in Jade druid” what a joke
    you can fire the guy that said this, is not true at all, UI is the best card, i don’t even need to look at any stat to say that, but i did and stats confirmed that UI is by far better that SP

    • mm
      September 5, 2017 at 4:01 pm

      blizzard forgot that we also have access to stats, they are either liar or retards

      • Chocubu
        September 6, 2017 at 5:05 am

        I guess UI is epic while SP is just rare; that alone already makes a huge difference in terms of its availability. I have only one UI, whereas I have 9+ SPs… I’m sure their criteria/algorithm for determining “performance” of cards isn’t as simple as you’d have imagined… Regardless, I doubt it matters whether or not their explanation’s a reason or an excuse – outcome would’ve been the same.

  8. Ren
    September 5, 2017 at 3:35 pm

    This is a better nerf for FWA
    Add this text to the card: each turn reduce the attack of this weapon by one. This way the card could be used to deal with mana wyrm u others but no for buffs in pirates

  9. Fanderay
    September 5, 2017 at 3:13 pm

    In my opinion the cards that really deserve a nerf are fiery war axe and innervate.
    I actually like the way they will nerf axe but I can’t say the same thing regarding innervate because now it is just a mere coin. I would have preferred a nerf like Kripp said: 4-mana cost “gain 6 mana crystals this turn only”. It would have maintened the same effect but with a heavier mana cost.

    Also we finally have hex = polymorph.

    • TAbril
      September 5, 2017 at 3:20 pm

      And when will we have mage control cards with overload?

      • Hello
        September 6, 2017 at 12:03 am

        What does your statement have to do with anything Fanderay said?

        • TAbril
          September 6, 2017 at 8:14 am

          Polymorph costs 4 in a control deck, with control spells, without any mana handicap.
          Hex costs 4, and if you trie a control deck, you will have control spells with mana handicaps.

          Thats why. It’s not very bad, but it indicates that shaman may be, now and in the future, distanced of possible “control” types of game. Also in the last expansions we did not receive draw… If this is the new class direction (bloodlust direction), and I do like shaman as a midrange control deck, I m just not happy with it.

  10. BlueyesOwl
    September 5, 2017 at 3:01 pm

    Oook…
    Let’s welcome all the Priestdome era till next year.
    Good call, HS team…. bravo… We thought you couldn’t do worst… Oh… guessed wrong… Cause it seems that you can !!!
    These nerfs are just a rush move to make the croud stop crying… You do that alright, cause they will simply leave.
    I will say it again…
    It’s getting boring, this Dev’s team is awful and this year is the worst ever for HS.
    Insteed of nerf cards, just “nerf” Devs.
    Brobe, sorry m8 but you’re a failure.

    • mm
      September 5, 2017 at 3:14 pm

      jade druid will still be the best deck in the game after the nerf
      innervate nerf hurts token much more that jade
      if you have enough skill to play UI the game is over

      • lanakias
        September 5, 2017 at 3:32 pm

        target my face with ultimate infestation and still wins the games..That is power.

      • BlueyesOwl
        September 5, 2017 at 8:01 pm

        I didn’t said that Jade druid will not be the best deck, but now it will have a bit of compatition against Priest.
        The only thing that kept Priests down were aggro decks and now aren’t so strong anymore.
        Aggro decks in HS always were about face atks and speed. They need to have both those factors to succeed, if you take out one factor they just become unplayble. (e.g. face hunter, quest rogue, zoo/discard zoo, now Pirates and token druid, etc)

  11. TAbril
    September 5, 2017 at 2:54 pm

    So…

    (1º) The problem with pirate warrior was related with weapons and they nerfed the fastest one. The deck is still an option, but not so unfair/punishing in the beginning of the game against other decks. Nice! (5*)

    (2ª) The problem with murlocs was related with the snow ball they make. This snowball will continue to exist, but with Murloc Warleader nerf will be more accessible to deal with it. Nice! (5*)

    (3) The Hex nerf was not a problem (in the meta or in the game), I’m not disappointed, just surprised because if we are talking about identity, shaman it’s the one with overload cards, and cheaper spells (in comparison with other classes) make more sense to me to be there… Just saying… (2*)

    (4) About druid… Yeh… Aggro druid will be fairer to play against, that’s true. But having in mind jade druid, the problem with the class it’s the massive ramp-draw, and that will stay… Spreading Plague nerf was not a nerf, more like an adjustment to reality, and that’s great, but any of the druid nerfs really nerf jade druid. It may be slower, but it has the ramp-draw it needs… The jade druid problem it’s not a card, or solved with just one card, it’s a problem created by the agglutination of cards! (0*)

    =(

  12. mm
    September 5, 2017 at 2:32 pm

    i can’t belive UI will not be nerf, it is a 7 for 1 trade, is imposible to control decks to beat this card, aggro decks are ok against druid the main problem is that control decks have no chance.
    also jade should cap at 6-6, more that 6-6 for one mana is too good.

    • lanakias
      September 5, 2017 at 3:06 pm

      I wonder all this time who is the mastermind and take those calls for the cards design and for the nerfs..Who is the genius?Is one person or is a whole team?First they create 5 broken cards of druid and after nerf only the one.And the nerf is pathetic..They nerf irrelevance cards who no one complain about them..Because in this meta is not issue..The WHOLE community asks to nerf “Ultimate Infestation” and they say no..Blizzard who trolling?You made jade druids even more strong now..Who is the mastermind?. I want to know.. To show him self and say “hello i’m the mastermind and i made those broken cards and now refuse to nerf them”.. I can’t believe with my fcking weak english sit here and try to get one truly answer about those bad changes again.. I dont care if nerf any card of the game..The only matter for me is to nerf/delete ultimate.. Because is broken and because asks for it the WHOLE community.. We made you and we NEED some respect..I’m very angry about all this trolling..

      • TAbril
        September 5, 2017 at 3:36 pm

        Jade druid was not nerfed, sad true, but UI nerf was not enough… You remove it, but people can run Gadgetzan Auctioneer and cheap spells. Druid dont have Inervate, but it will have small taunts and time to do the same ramp-draw game (with UI or without). What they need to do it’s a soft and general nerf across all druid ramp-draw cards (not all all, but to the overall).

      • Squirrel
        September 6, 2017 at 3:49 am

        Ultimate infestation should be good, it’s 10 mana…the problem is all the mana ramp and the 5 mana 7/35.

        I agree with all thease adjustments. I think preparation should go down to two or cost 1 and wild growth should loose the excess mana ability too.

  13. Nick
    September 5, 2017 at 1:44 pm

    Fiery War Axe

    ” Generally, changing the mana cost of a card is less disruptive, because you can always see the mana cost of cards in your hand”

    So now we are officially balancing the game for people who don’t bother reading card text. I have no words.

    Who ever was responsible for even bringing up this “issue” should be immediately fired from Blizzard before his idiotic views spread to other members of the team.

    • TAbril
      September 5, 2017 at 2:59 pm

      The nerf was good. the reason given was not!

      It seems that they test the game with ai’s that play on curve… That explain some of the nerfs…

  14. BenjoM
    September 5, 2017 at 1:21 pm

    How can they just remove Ice Block?? That’s the most essential Mage spell and it’s included in every deck. Make it cost more but don’t remove it. Mage will be ruined.

    Thank God for the Murloc and War Axe nerfs! Murlocs and pirates have plagued the ladder for far too long.

    • EXtinct
      September 5, 2017 at 1:59 pm

      It is not the most essential. People are relying on the card too much and it’s strength to delay lethal options for even a turn is practically “cheating” for that archetype. A class that majorly uses spells to burn the enemy out while standing unaffected while casting? Seems to me that it will benefit Warlock better

  15. Nick
    September 5, 2017 at 12:43 pm

    They nerfed Pirate Warrior/Jade Druid/Token Druid and Murloc Paladin,which I think is good cause all these Decks were top tier… The thing is the did it in the wrong way…

    Innervate: No way this card will see play after the patch…. It’s just Counterfeit Coin now but Druid doesn’t have combo cards to activate so the card is pretty pointless…. I think changing it to “Refresh 2 Mana Crystals” would have been a way better nerf… No more turn 1 Vicious Fledgling or turn 8 Ultimate Infestation but the card would still have been useful,especially in Token Druid…
    Fiery War Axe: As much as I love seeing Pirates being nerfed hard now this card just sucks….. It’s basically a vanilla Rallying Blade/Shadowblade/Eaglehorn Bow and right now that’s just not enough to see play…. It’s too slow for Pirates and probably also for Control…. I agree that this card was a nightmare in the early game but now no one will dare to play it again…. Now how is a Warrior supposed to deal with Mana Wyrm and co? Control Warrior was struggling already and this nerf is most likely the nail on the coffin for the Deck…. Pirates are more or less a problem but nerfing this card is certainly not the right way to fix them….
    Hex: I don’t know,I’m simply speechless…. Seriously,this is gotta be one of the most ridiculous nerfs I’ve ever seen….. Just why? Why would you do that? I mean,the first card you’d compare this one to is obviously Polymorph…. Now, imo Polymorph cost more cause the sheep doesn’t have Taunt and Mage can ping it while Shaman needs to waste an attack or another card to get rid of the frog,so why on earth would you change this card? The only Shaman Deck that viable right now is Token and that doesn’t even run Hex! And Control Shaman has never been viable in Standard, so again why would you do something so stupid?!?!
    Murloc Warleader: I don’t think it was that needed but I hate Murlocs with a passion (and will gladly get the dust refund from this card that I never use) so I’m happy about it…. At least this nerf doesn’t outright make the card trash….
    Spreading Plague:This is probably the most anticipated and the only nerf that really makes sense here…. I’m just glad they didn’t make it 7 mana or it would’ve been utterly awful,at 6 mana I suppose it’s still playable maybe not in double copy but it still should be ok in a board centric meta…
    P.S. When are we going to admit that the Jade mechanic and especially Jade Idol was an utter failure and just get rid of that instead of releasing pointless “tech” cards or nerfing other cards instead of the one that is the real problem?

    • lanakias
      September 5, 2017 at 2:49 pm

      Are you blind man?Who nerf jade druid?wtf you say?you are drunk or something?

  16. mm
    September 5, 2017 at 12:29 pm

    i hate the FWA nerf, nerf stupid pirates instead, poor control warrior
    is clear that they don’t want to give dust refund that is why UI is not nerf, is a epic. And that is why they will never nerf the ridiculous patches that is such a inconsistent and unfair card
    i hope that a lot of people abandon this game

    • mm
      September 5, 2017 at 12:32 pm

      honestly i don’t believe in the lie that they tell, SP is not better that UI it simply gives less dust back, also UI is much better against control decks, and they hate control decks, aggro forever

      • mm
        September 5, 2017 at 12:37 pm

        good bye Hearthstone, i will wait for the dota card game, i’m sure is impossible to be worst that hearthstone, i only play HS because it have good graphics, if you don’t want to damage your brain a recomend you do the same

        R.I.P

      • Hello
        September 6, 2017 at 12:11 am

        Your “logic” is flawed. Why would Blizzard ever care about you getting 600 dust more back? After the Hall of Fame rotation of Sylv and Rag they even gave you more dust than a full refund (1600 + 400 after disenchanting).
        They don’t hate control decks. Innervate nerf is a nerf to Token Druid, FWA nerf to pirates. Please don’t talk stupid stuff just because you are hurt over a nerf.

  17. Ben
    September 5, 2017 at 12:05 pm

    Is this serious ? These nerfs are shit. I don’t get the point to adjust some cards whose nobody really complain about until that insane Druid spells of KotFT. We’ve been bendroderized in the ass.

    • TAbril
      September 5, 2017 at 3:18 pm

      “We’ve been bendroderized in the ass.”

      You were so much that you even called yourself Ben. Just joking =P

  18. Team special 5
    September 5, 2017 at 11:22 am

    Ben Brode here. We heard Jade Druid is too powerful!

    So we nerfed its 3 biggest counters into the ground: Aggro Druid, Pirate Warrior and Mulroc Paladin.

    Cry more you pieces of shit! Brode out! Druidstone forever, Druidstone for years!

    • Nick
      September 5, 2017 at 1:20 pm

      It’s funny because I feel like thats genuinely what he thinks/feels.

    • JoyDivision
      September 6, 2017 at 12:07 am

      I second that 100%.

      Most idiotic nerfs since HS Beta.

  19. Aphotic
    September 5, 2017 at 10:47 am

    They nerfed druid, but they also nerfed two key cards for decks that counter jades (murloc pala and pirate warr), so jades will remain more or less the same imo. Oh, and “ramping out Ultimate Infestation before turn 10 should happen less often” is bs, since they still have an insane amount of tools to get crystals.

    Hex nerf was totally uncalled for.

    • Hello
      September 6, 2017 at 12:12 am

      Ramping into UI should happen less often as they took one ramp tool away/ made it worse. Thus, less ramp, ergo ramping into UI will happen less often.

    • Squirrel
      September 6, 2017 at 4:06 am

      They are trying to give shaman an identity. I get it.

  20. ????
    September 5, 2017 at 10:43 am

    really? innervate nerf? not ultimate one?

  21. lanakias
    September 5, 2017 at 10:38 am

    So ultimate remains the same..Your team is pathetic..the community ask ONE nerf and you still REFUSE to give it..I sit here and i watching all the blame you take..The troll is real

    • Perry Manson
      September 5, 2017 at 10:41 am

      They nerfed Pirates and 2 card of the druid, let’s see how it works before complaing. come on.

    • lanakias
      September 5, 2017 at 10:46 am

      People go in the Facebook official page and the forums and speak all for the 20 mana card..They troll us,we give the same..Ultimate remains the same..They DONT respect the community..

    • blueflame
      September 5, 2017 at 11:02 am

      infestation isnt the problem. the problem is druid was really safe to get 10 mana, and the only weakness is aggro deck

      • Ribbuster
        September 5, 2017 at 11:50 am

        I agree. The only problem with infestation was if it was played on turn 6 with 2 innervates. It never directly won the game unlike innervate and spreading plague against aggro

      • TAbril
        September 5, 2017 at 4:01 pm

        I agree. But the problem has not been fixed. The list will change, yes, but it will stay with the ability to protect itself, and to do mass ramp-draw. In practice it’s the same that was before… Also, to think that an aggro deck is the counter excludes automatically thinking about what really makes druid jade extraordinary against slow decks. The mass ramp-draw like no other deck! (it’s not just UI, it’s all druid ramp-draw together)

    • Hello
      September 6, 2017 at 12:14 am

      So just because the community asks for something you should automatically give it to them? What if the community asks for 20$? Or 500 free packs for everyone? Or to make Rag Firelord a 1 mana Warlock common that shoots your own face?

  22. KingArthas
    September 5, 2017 at 10:36 am

    I realize that fiery war axe is a basic tool for pirate warriors but it’s also a “must have” card as a ctrl warrior player in order to deal with all those aggro decks! If blizz wanted to nerf pirate warrior, they should simply do sth about that ridiculous arcanite reaper or those pesky weapon buffs…

    • Perry Manson
      September 5, 2017 at 10:45 am

      fiery war axe is a good nerf, ctrl warrior have a lot of tools to menage aggro decks and Midrange hunter, Control Paladin and Murloc Paladin run a 3/2 cost 3 weapon. In this way Pirate warrior is still a competitive deck but lose a strong turn one play, i think is enough.

      • blueflame
        September 5, 2017 at 11:04 am

        you are forgeting something. both weapons have text

      • mm
        September 5, 2017 at 12:55 pm

        control warrior is dead

      • Toker Joker
        September 5, 2017 at 2:26 pm

        you’re insane, war axe is the only pre turn 3 play a warrior has not to mention overloaded on the 3 slot already` and warrior relies a lot on combo if you bring up brawl or sleep with the fishs you’re already dead by the time you can use those, remember those 2/3s and 3/2s the opponent played turn 1? now you’re gunna take 9 to 12 hp dmg from those……

        blizz be like, we heard pirate warrior was good? so we cucked control’s 1 early game keystone card xd enjoy druidstone with a side of SMORC

  23. Dukeawesome1
    September 5, 2017 at 10:29 am

    So wait, is ice block going into the hall of fane next year?

    • Evident - Author
      September 5, 2017 at 10:31 am

      They have been discussing it, but it hasn’t been confirmed yet.

      • Mdmali2
        September 5, 2017 at 11:50 am

        It seems like the post pseudo-confirmed it

      • Squirrel
        September 6, 2017 at 4:36 am

        If it were me I would move ice block, wild growth, preparation and gadgetzan auctioneer to the hall of fame. You are never going to intentionally print cards stronger then those.

        Also I might add vilespine slayer and nourish to the core set to help give back to the classes. Those feel like core cards to me that are at an appropriate power level and cost for thier rarity.

        Mage can get ghastly conjure or something else that is playable, but not OP. Or they can just kick rocks.

    • BenjoM
      September 5, 2017 at 1:13 pm

      This is fricken devastating. EVERY mage deck has ice block and many builds rely on it. Mage will be ruined if ice block is removed….

  24. HarryJ
    September 5, 2017 at 10:23 am

    Wow.
    I predicted a band-aid. I fear we are getting full-blown incompetence instead. 🙁

  25. Kingmhd
    September 5, 2017 at 10:22 am

    Isn’t Innervate a coin now??

    • Sargiii
      September 5, 2017 at 10:25 am

      Agree… Coin / Rogue Coin xD

  26. Gnondpomme
    September 5, 2017 at 10:19 am

    Why nerfing hex ? Did someone ever say this card was overpowered ?

    • Thascout
      September 5, 2017 at 10:37 am

      Not really overpowered, but it is a much better alternative to polymorph, doing the same thing but costing 1 less and not even giving the frog 1 attack.

      • 5uc
        September 5, 2017 at 10:51 am

        but frog has taunt

        • Swuirrel
          September 6, 2017 at 4:38 am

          They are giving shaman a stronger identity. They want it to have less silence and hard removal. It is not a power level concern.

    • lanakias
      September 5, 2017 at 10:40 am

      the hex is the most OP spell in the game..is true man sorry

    • JoyDivision
      September 6, 2017 at 12:17 am

      The most stupid thing is: Hex is one of the best cards (the best card?) against Big Priest … which might be an even stronger deck now … which will now be harder to fight against with the shaman class.

  27. IBlastoise
    September 5, 2017 at 10:16 am

    Atleast but not least, RIP NoBrain Pirate Warrior. <3

    • Sargiii
      September 5, 2017 at 10:23 am

      Blizz should nerf Jade Druids and Raza Reaper Priests in first place.

      • Kuolema
        September 5, 2017 at 11:44 am

        THIS is a nerf to jade druid…

        • Sargiii
          September 5, 2017 at 12:28 pm

          Where ? Blizz just nerfed decks that had chance vs Jade…
          Meanwhile Jade will be just little slowly, but still at top…

      • Hello
        September 6, 2017 at 12:17 am

        Why in the world should they nerf Raza Reaper Priest?! I have played against it maybe 10 – 20 times since KFT release and it is not even a Tier 1 deck? Don’t ask for nerfs just because you are frustrated by a loss against it.

    • Perry Manson
      September 5, 2017 at 10:37 am

      I don’t think Pirate warrior is dead. i think will be strong enough to be competitive but not too much to be considered OP. maybe have lost the coin+war axe start, but there are stronger 1 turn plays.