Buffs! Buffs Everywhere! – A Look at the Rise of the Mechs Announcement

In a historic and unprecedented move, Team 5 opted to buff a subset of cards from The Boomsday Project while also releasing a brand new legendary minion as part of a new event slated for the 3^rd of June. The Rise of the Mechs event also marks the beginning of a new arena season, but the real highlights here are the previously underperforming cards that will truly have a chance to shake up the metagame going forward.

Immediately after announcing a set of nerfs, Team 5 rolled out an upcoming event which will feature permanent buffs to existing cards and a brand new Legendary minion (likely as a Baku/Genn replacement) in a bid to shake up the metagame. This marks the first time the developers decided to buff existing cards to fill a particular design space instead of simply printing new ones in a later expansion. This lines up with the post-Ben Brode leadership’s willingness to make faster and more disruptive changes, something which bodes well for the game considering how often the community found the ladder experience too stale for its liking.

It remains to be seen how impactful these changes will turn out to be, but the precedent itself that’s being set here should be exciting enough for Hearthstone fans. With more regular card adjustments that now cut both ways, even a stale metagame can be injected with excitement by providing new things to mess around with. Even if none of the buffed cards manage to make an impact (which seems unlikely), they will provide enough room for experimentation alongside the new Legendary minion to satisfy the tinkerers.

Speaking of which, SN1P-SN4P is a hilariously named robotic crab with three keywords to boot: Magnetic, Echo and Deathrattle. It’s certainly got potential in the more aggressive Mech decks. The Twitterati is already ablaze with concerns about a Priest “OTK” with Coppertail Imposter, Reckless Experimenter and this particular card, but it feels a bit more like a fever dream than anything else right now. (Let’s also not get into the whole discussion about the use of the Echo keyword vis-à-vis Witch's Brew: let’s just say that these sorts of inconsistencies are odd in a market-leading video game.)

The Buffed Cards – a SN4P verdict

While it’s impossible to predict how the metagame will shake out after the combined effects of the nerfs and the buffs take hold, we can nevertheless examine the buffed cards at face value to speculate about their potential viability in this brave new world.

Druid

Gloop Sprayer: 7 mana instead of 8 – A change like this seems more than appropriate if you consider the gutting of Druid’s evergreen ramp tools. That said, a card like this can only work as a combo finisher tool or a curve-topper in a tempo deck, neither of which seem particularly viable for Druid right now. This cost reduction could make this a strong tool later down the line if the class receives appropriate cards in the upcoming set, but it’s likely not good enough on its own right now.

Mulchmuncher: 9 mana instead of 10 – The question is whether a Token Druid deck would even want something like this in the ultra-late game, and for an archetype that’s trying to go wide instead of tall, the answer could very well be no. That said, if the Warrior matchup remains as strong as it is for the deck, maybe there’s enough space to include this card now that it’s reduced in price.

Hunter

Necromechanic: 4 mana instead of 5 – Now that the card passes the vanilla test (and has enough health to survive against most threats when played on turn 4), it seems like an excellent way to smooth out the curve of either the faster or the slower Mech Hunter builds.

Flark's Boom-Zooka: 7 mana instead of 8 – This remains an inconsistent removal spell that has more issues than just its cost, and thefore remains unlikely to see play in any deck.

Mage

Unexpected Results: 3 mana instead of 4 – A really interesting change, one that makes the card an excellent choice for a sort of Tempo Mage that doesn’t exist right now. While it likely isn’t good enough to make that archetype viable by itself, it definitely has potential now. (From a pure power level perspective, it’s going to be a pretty good Arena draft pick as well!)

Luna's Pocket Galaxy: 5 mana instead of 7 – This is a scary one. While the built-in inconsistency greatly limits the card’s potential (as you can’t guarantee that a specific card will still be in the deck when you play this), a combination of Kalecgos, Malygos, Alexstrasza, Jepetto Joybuzz and this could very well reach the critical mass required for some kind of a Freeze Mage renaissance.

Paladin

Crystology: 1 mana instead of 2 – One mana for a tutor that draws two cards is obscenely good and will likely warp Paladin builds as long as it stays in the rotation. It was already good enough to see play in the different combo decks, and while this change won’t improve their anti-aggro matchup by itself, it’s a definite boon for the class.

Glowstone Technician: 5 mana instead of 6 – Unfortunately, this is probably still too small and weak to enable an archetype that never saw competitive play in the history of Hearthstone. Dragon Paladin memers will probably enjoy tossing it onto the pile though!

Priest

Extra Arms: 2 mana instead of 3 – We can thank our lucky stars that Radiant Elemental and Shadow Visions are no longer in the rotation, or the Divine Spirit/Inner Fire combo decks would be running rampant. As it stands, there’s not even a remotely viable tempo-based Priest archetype around, but if the aforementioned OTK remains in the game, this could potentially see a part of that kind of an archetype.

Cloning Device: 1 mana instead of 2 – Even if you ignore the effect, yet another one-mana spell can only help Nomi Priest going forward.

Rogue

Pogo-Hopper: 1 mana instead of 2 – COMMENCE HOPPING! Let’s just say Control Warrior will not be running rampant anytime soon.

Violet Haze: 2 mana instead of 3 – Getting two random low-tempo cards for the same price as two in your own deck (Arcane Intellect) never really made sense from a power level standpoint. The card is probably still too weak to see play in the “Thief” builds, but it’s likely going to be a Dragon Roar-esque excellent Arena pick (if not quite as strong) going forward.

Shaman

The Storm Bringer: 6 mana instead of 7

Thunderhead: 3/6 instead of 3/5 (+1 health)

These changes will greatly benefit a token-based archetype, similar to the one A83650 brought to Worlds. That deck was never very far off of viability, and with the potent Murloc package introduced in Rise of Shadows, it could finally be its time to shine.

Warlock

Spirit Bomb: 1 mana instead of 2 – This change puts the card more in line with Soulfire, taking four life instead of a card (without the ability to go face). Self-damaging synergies are no longer relevant for Warlocks, and it’s difficult to imagine a Zoo deck opting for this either instead of or alongside Soulfire, it might be good enough to see play in a slower Warlock archetype. The problem is, of course, is the complete absence of those decks in the metagame, and it seems unlikely that this change is going to fix that by itself.

Dr. Morrigan: 6 mana instead of 8 – As weird as this is, the new mana cost puts this card somewhat in line with Cairne Bloodhoof in the right build. Probably still not potent enough to see play, but it’s now less of a complete meme than it was before.

Warrior

Security Rover: 2/6 instead of 2/5 (+1 health)

Beryllium Nullifier: 4/8 instead of 3/8 (+1 health)

While neither of these cards are particularly strong by themselves, even after the buffs, their increased value in the Control Warrior package (Dr. Boom, Mad Genius and Omega Assembly) are going to be a definite concern going forward.

That said, it’s great to see Team 5 making bold moves with long-requested elements of the game – here’s hoping it’s a sign of further things to come!