Analysis of the Saviors Of Uldum Nerf Patch (August 26)

Despite the fact that Saviors of Uldum featured some of the most powerful individual cards in the history of the game, none of the nerfed cards belong to Hearthstone’s latest set – a fact that should tell you everything about the troublemakers targeted in this round of changes, slated to go live on August 26th.

Dr. Boom, Mad Genius – Now costs 9 mana (up from 7 mana)

cardchanges_arrow.png

Don’t underestimate the impact of this nerf: not only do you have to survive almost 25% longer against an aggro deck even if you want to play the Boomster on curve, you will also not have a chance to utilize the new hero power on the turn you play the card – or do much else that’s impactful apart from casting Shield Slam. Almost no card can survive a two-mana cost increase, but there’s a world where this might be an exception: Dr. Boom, Mad Genius will still be very effective in slower matchups – as it essentially generates endless removal over time with the rushing Mechs – and the class has so many anti-aggro tools that it could even carry it as a semi-dead card against SMOrc attempts.

To put it another way, there’s hardly another card you’d prefer to have in the current Control Warrior builds which are chock full of value generation and removal. The real concern is whether the archetype as a whole can handle consistent pressure from midrange decks with the occasional spikes – looking at decks like Highlander Hunter, for instance –, and if that’s the case, the long-term rewards of the card may still be big enough to keep it around, even potentially at the cost of pushing Control Warrior more towards a Taunt-based direction.

Luna’s Pocket Galaxy – Now costs 7 mana (up from 5 mana)

cardchanges_arrow.png

This change is an admission of a failed (or arguably too successful) experiment, and the card will likely go back to being unplayable again for much of the same reason we’ve discussed above: a price increase like this means you have to survive longer and commit more mana/tempo to gain the effect. Coupled with the next change we’re going to look at, it’s likely going to force a reimagination of the archetypes it’s included in, and since its payoff will once again become a lot less consistent due to the extra costs, it’s likely going to fade away again, back to the levels of play it saw in the past when it cost seven mana.

Conjurer’s Calling – Now costs 4 mana (up from 3 mana)

cardchanges_arrow.png

This was the straightforward way to address the rampant Mage archetype, and the change puts a premium on casting both sides of the Twinspell on the same turn. By itself, the lesser-discussed engine of the deck was its ability to not sacrifice the tempo that’d normally be required to fill up its hand prior to Mountain Giant plays by using Mana Cyclone and a plethora of cheap spells: this remains unaffected going forward. However, changing Conjurer’s Calling and Luna’s Pocket Galaxy could mean a fairly big hit to the Highlander Mage archetype, and even though the standard Cyclone builds will likely make it through this firestorm, they will also need to think about new ways to finish off the match.

Extra Arms – Now costs 3 mana (up from 2 mana)

cardchanges_arrow.png

This change came out of nowhere: Priest finally had a semi-viable deck after all this time and now it loses one of the more important tools that helped it stick on the board. It’s somewhat weird because the archetype does not have a particularly high winrate on the Standard ladder, and while it is occasionally frustrating to play against, the unfair situations don’t often stem from this card. File this alongside the Hex nerf and hope that Anduin still has something viable to work with otherwise.

Barnes – Now costs 5 mana (up from 4 mana)

cardchanges_arrow.png

This one’s for all the Wild fans out there, and it follows in line with the Extra Arms nerf in the sense that the class actually doesn’t have that high a winrate in the format. However, cards (and archetypes) like these don’t mesh well with the lack of ability to interact on your opponent’s turn and getting 2-mana Ragnaroses (Ragnarosai?) shooting massive fireballs at you on turn five is an incredibly frustrating experience. Different Standard environments have already established that a resurrection-based Priest archetype is workable without this card, and the fact that it was kept around but slowed down somewhat should be enough of a hit on the winrates of an already languishing archetype to deal with most concerns about the pesky theater director.

Yellorambo

Luci Kelemen is an avid strategy gamer and writer who has been following Hearthstone ever since its inception. His content has previously appeared on HearthstonePlayers and Tempo/Storm's site.

Check out Yellorambo on Twitter!

Leave a Reply

13 Comments

  1. Enemy
    August 25, 2019 at 4:13 pm

    It’d be cool if “more arms” was 2 mana.

  2. Riptide
    August 23, 2019 at 12:22 pm

    So…. am I going to get dust for Barnes? Or maybe cash back lol

  3. Skoopy
    August 23, 2019 at 4:22 am

    My summary:
    Hunter untouched, will stay as strongest class.
    All Quests going to profite from these nerfs.
    Control Warrior still Tier 1.
    Only really good Priest Deck getting nerfed (i think its fine.)
    Reno Mage will stay strong, Luna will see still play.
    The interaction with CC and Galaxy was really strong, this effect is now not as strong as before, but still good.
    Mountain Giant untouched.
    Token, face, aggro, midrange will profite in any way from that.
    Decks like Quest Shami, Token Druid, Face Rogue will highter their winrates.
    Prismativ Lense untouched, by rising popularity for aggro maybe, Murloc Pally becomes a bit weaker at some case.
    Hunter as class staying on the top by far.
    The difference in Winrate from bottom to the top will stay.
    Warrior still can handle aggro very well.

  4. JoyDivision
    August 23, 2019 at 4:22 am

    Actually, as a Wild player, getting Barnes’d and the fetched minion is Ragnaros is the best case scenario when playing with a deck that contains some minions, because most of the time, you can just ignore the Firelord, play more minions and attack the Priest down.

  5. VirginMinion
    August 23, 2019 at 2:12 am

    Ragnaros->Ragnari maybe?

  6. Kretz
    August 22, 2019 at 9:25 pm

    should i craft the cards that are getting nerfed?

    • Draegarn
      August 22, 2019 at 10:33 pm

      Not in this case, because is not a Hall of Fame rotation like the one with Genn, Baku, Vanish and Mindblast.

    • CroMario
      August 22, 2019 at 11:12 pm

      You can at least play with them and dissenchant them for the same value, so nothing lost nothing gained.

    • OldManSanns
      August 23, 2019 at 5:44 pm

      Only if you want to try them out for the next week, then dust them for full refund before the offer expires. You won’t net any dust gain, but maybe you wanted to see what all this Pocket Galaxy hype was about?

  7. HS
    August 22, 2019 at 8:38 pm

    I like the extra arms nerf because cleric + EA is too powerfull opening. And the deck is tier 1 for sure, probably will remain tier 1.
    Once again hunter scaped the nerfs, as i predicted, and will probably be the best deck if the meta don’t go full aggro , control warrior may be boring but is a big part why is not a full aggro meta yet.
    What beats hunter? zoo, murlocs and token druid.
    RIP mage
    Very nice nerf to barnes, finally, i think will no longer be part of big priest

  8. Draegarn
    August 22, 2019 at 8:20 pm

    Good analysis!

    I think the change of Combo Priest was expected by some member of the community that recognize the power of that deck so early in the first turns.

    The Dr. Boom nerf can allow now the use of Mojomaster Zihi as a tech in slow decks.