Blizzard just posted a teaser of the upcoming balance update for Standard, Wild and Battlegrounds modes! It’s the first balance update after the The Embers of the World Tree mini-set – a release that has shaken up the meta, but not necessarily in a good way.
In Standard, the patch addresses pretty much all the outliers that got overpowered after the mini-set – mostly Imbue Druid and Imbue Hunter. But it also nerfs some of the decks that were strong in the pre-mini-set meta, which is wise, because otherwise we might just slide back to the previous meta and no one wants that (we had that for a month already). We’re also getting a few buffs – to Imbue Priest and Paladin, but also Dark Gift Warlock and Warrior. All of them are currently underperforming by a huge margin, so those buffs would need to be quite impactful for us to see the decks playble.
We’re also getting a few Wild nerfs, targeting Paladin decks (basically all of them used Order in the Court, which makes it an interesting nerf target), Shadow Priest, Draka Rogue (and other niche OTK decks using Scabbs), as well as the Saronite Chain Gang (most likely a nerf to the infinite Velen, Leader of the Exiled copying). We also have two bans – to Grove Shaper and Everburning Phoenix (as an answer to two OTK decks – Mill Druid and APM Juggler Rogue).
And finally, ie also have a mid-sized Battlegrounds update, mostly focused on Murlocs, Elementals and Quilboar. I assume that we’ll also get a bunch of Trinket changes on top of the minion changes listed in the teaser.
Until the full patch notes are released, we only know what cards are affected and not how! The patch will drop tomorrow (May 22), most likely around 10 AM PT. Patch notes are usually released an hour before the update itself. It’s not the official timing, but that’s how it works for most of those balance updates.
For now, check out the teasers below:
Standard
Here’s a full list of Standard cards that are getting changed in the patch:
Buffs
- Blessing of the Dragon (Paladin Imbue Hero Power)
- Blessing of the Moon (Priest Imbue Hero Power)
- Spirit of the Kaldorei
- Overgrown Horror
- Darkrider
- Shadowflame Suffusion
- Living Flame
Nerfs
- Cliff Dive
- Symbiosis
- King Plush
- Tending Dragonkin
- Flickering Lightbot
- Harbinger of the Blighted
- Cursed Campaign
- Shaladrassil
- Naralex, Herald of the Flights
- Sing-Along Buddy
Wild
Here’s a full list of Wild cards that are getting changed in the patch:
Nerfs
Bans
Battlegrounds
And here’s a full list of Battlegrounds changes:
Buffs
- Glowing Cinder
- Lokholar Frostforger
- Hackerfin
- Bream Counter
- King Bagurgle
- Murky
- Three Lil’ Quilboar
- Eternal Knight
Nerfs
- Fire-forged Evoker
- Landlubber
- Mechagnome Interpreter
- Shoalfin Mystic
- Needling Crone
Mixed/Rework
- Tranquil Meditative
