Blizzard just posted a teaser of the upcoming balance update for Standard, Wild and Battlegrounds modes! It’s the first update for Across the Timeways expansion. While this set is much more playable than the last one (which was probably the weakest one in the history of Hearthstone), many of the new decks still don’t have room to shine and the meta is mostly dominated by older stuff (with maybe a couple of new cards as extras).
In Standard, it looks like the patch is solely focused on nerfs, with 16 card changes. While it’s hard to say how they will be affected, it should be a big meta shift at the top. The patch hits almost every older top meta deck (Quest Warlock, Fyrakk Rogue, Leech Death Knight etc.) and even some “problematic” decks that aren’t necessarily Tier 1 (like Owlonius Druid). We’ll see how it affects the field and whether new decks will finally have some time to shine. Personally I’m a bit sad that we didn’t also see some buffs to new cards, because there’s definitely a room to do some buffs (e.g. to Priest’s Handbuff package or Rafaam Warlock) without a worry that those decks will suddenly become Tier 0 and dominate the meta. But it is what it is, let’s hope for the best.
In Wild, we’re getting two card nerfs – to Malchezaar's Imp (Discard Warlock) and Holy Wrath (HW Paladin). The first one has been dominating the Wild meta for months now, while the latter was already nerfed in the past (by making it harder to pull off in mid game) but still remains ever popular and it’s a strategy that many players don’t like to keep facing over and over again.
And finally, the Battlegrouds patch is mid-sized, with a total of 14 minion/spell changes and 3 removals from the minion pool. As usual, those BG patch teasers only show Minions Spells, but it’s safe to assume that we’ll also get some other changes like updates to Heroes and Buddies. We’re also close to the next Battlegrounds season (likely to drop around early December) which itself should provide a massive meta shake-up.
Until the full patch notes are released, we only know what cards are affected and not how! The patch will drop tomorrow (November 13), most likely around 10 AM PT / 19:00 CET. Patch notes are usually released an hour before the update itself (at 9 AM PT / 18:00 CET).
For now, check out the teasers below:
Standard
Nerfs
- Sanguine Infestation
- Corpsicle
- Battlefiend
- R.C. Rampage
- Dive the Golakka Depths
- Sparkling Phial
- Resuscitate
- Sandbox Scoundrel
- Metal Detector
- Escape the Underfel
- Ultralisk Cavern
- Testing Dummy
- Chemical Spill
- Fyrakk the Blazing
- Ancient of Yore
- Arkonite Defense Crystal
Wild
Nerfs
Battlegrounds
Buffs
- Goldrinn, the Great Wolf
- Fire-forged Evoker
- Fauna Whisperer
- Peggy Sturdybone
- Eternal Knight
- Carapace Raiser
- Oranomonos, the Wilted
- Catacomb Crasher
- Noisul of the Many Faces
Nerfs
- Lord of Ruins
- Coldlight Diver
- Young Murk-Eye
- Lost City Looter
- Azerite Empowerment
Removed From Pool
- Transmuted Bramblewitch
- All-Seeing Elder
- Cultist S’Thara
Looking at the list, it’s surprising it’s taken the team this long to hit some of these – and certainly the bulk of them feel very deserved. Sanguine Infestation and the core components of Rogue’s combo spam are certainly cards I’m not shedding tears over even though Leech Death Knight is one of my favourite archetypes from 2025. Hitting Warlock’s consistent packages also feels reasonable, especially with the DK Tourist additions. How the turns table, that the classes with the best and worst quests of Un’Goro in 2017 now find their roles reversed in 2025. I absolutely enjoyed Quest Warlock for the Lost City meta and I can’t blame the team for wanting to revert the buff.
Nerfing Dive the Golakka Depths confuses me. Even with Firegill the deck still feels more okay than anything else. The deck feels basic but boring once you take it out of the limited Brawl formats where a consistent +1/+1 snowballing buff actually shines. Maybe all of us just hate the deck on sight and wouldn’t lose any sleep if it disappeared. “I am not sorry,” remarked Wronchi’s latest iteration of Uther.
Hitting Ancient of Yore and Arkonite Crystal seems to suggest that the devs really want all out aggro to succeed this meta. I suppose after eating crap for most of this year and some of the most notable nerfs, they’re tossing Demon Hunter and Hunter a few bones, but this is certainly going to hurt the slower decks like Rafaam Warlock quite a bit. I wonder what’s likelier, hitting the mana cost or armour gain?
I have little idea of what goes on in BG these days since I finished my season track. I haven’t enjoyed or adapted well to Buddies as a mechanic compared to Trinkets and Quests. But I’m surprised that Carapace Undead still needs the help. My experience has mostly been relying heavily on the consistency of Undead builds, or watching most players default to Undead for the same reason. Can someone explain to me why Coldlight Diver is so vital to the point where it needs nerfing? Also Cultist S’Thara? No issues with Bramblewitch going away, that minion always felt miserable to play against.
I personally prefer this type of balance patching, it’s more player friendly. I have roughly 4600 dust worth of cards on that list, which will be nice.
Once the meta resettles I’ll be able to put together a new decent deck from the ashes.
The last couple years it’s just been nerfing a common here, a rare there, maybe get back 200-400 dust.