Blizzard just posted a teaser of the upcoming balance update for Standard, Wild and Battlegrounds modes! It’s most likely the final balance update before Patch 35.0 (CATACLYSM patch).
In Standard, the update is very small, with just a single nerf to Warmaster Blackhorn. It’s a free Legendary from CATACLYSM released in Patch 34.6, which has quickly proven to be quite controversial. Its power level was probably a bit too high for such a disruptive effect, it could straight-up destroy many strategies. While it’s a Standard nerf, it’s also going to affect Wild, as the card became a popular tech in that format right away.
In Wild, we’re getting 3 nerfs in total, targeting some of the most popular/strongest builds. The biggest target is clearly Warlock, with both the Discard version and the Egg version getting nerfed. Combo Druid decks are also targeted with Ysiel nerf – the card has been a backbone of Druid OTK decks for a while now. I wonder why they haven’t targeted Lightspeed OTK Priest though, it’s a fast OTK deck that most players dislike, so it fits the bill for a deck they would nerf in the format.
As for the Battlegrounds, it’s a pretty sizeable update, the first one after the mid-season shakeup that happened in Patch 34.6. The patch is mostly focused on buffs, with a couple of nerfs targeting Beetle strategies. Also do keep in mind that teasers like this usually only show changes to minions and spells, but the patch itself is usually bigger. It’s safe to assume that we’ll get some changes to e.g. Heroes, Timewarped cards or Anomalies on top of those.
Until the full patch notes are released, we only know what cards are affected and not how! The patch will drop tomorrow (February 24), 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
Wild
Nerfs
Battlegrounds
