21.0.3 Balance Update – Eight Constructed Card Nerfs + Five Battlegrounds Hero Buffs – Coming Tomorrow (August 17)

First balance update of United in Stormwind was just announced. Patch 21.0.3 will drop tomorrow (August 17) and it will target both Constructed and Battlegrounds. The patch also includes Arena microadjustments and a bunch of bug fixes.

For Constructed, the following cards will be changed:

• Battleground Battlemaster – Now costs 6 mana (up from 5).
• Conviction (Rank 1) – Now costs 2 mana (up from 1, applies to all ranks).
• Darkglare – Now is a 3 mana 3/4 (up from 2 mana 2/3).
• Flesh Giant – Now costs 9 mana (up from 8).
• Granite Forgeborn – Now has 4 Health (down from 5).
• Il'gynoth – Now is a 6 mana 4/8 (up from 4 mana 2/6).
• Incanter's Flow – Now costs 3 mana (up from 2).
• Kolkar Pack Runner – Now is a 3 mana 3/4 (up from 2 mana 2/3).

As you can see, three of those changes might seem like side-grades – mana cost is upped, but so are the stats. However, they are definitely nerfed. Putting the same effect on a card with a higher cost makes it much worse – those cards are first and foremost played for their text and how they synergize with other cards, making them cost more means that it will be harder for them to take off (or perform OTK combo in case of Il’gynoth – here the stats are irrelevant 99% of the time). Other changes are all straight up nerfs.

Here are all the nerfs presented in visual form:

Now, when it comes to Battlegrounds, the following Heroes will be changed:

RETURNING HERO

Shudderwock

• Old: Burbling [Costs 1] Your next Battlecry this turn triggers twice. → New: Snicker-snack [Costs 0] Add a 1/1 Shudderling to your hand that repeats all Battlecries you’ve played. (Twice per game).

HERO UPDATES

Dancin’ Daryl

• Hat Trick
  • Old: [Passive] After you sell a minion, randomly give a minion in Bob’s Tavern +1/+1 twice. → New: [Passive] After you sell a minion, randomly give a minion in Bob’s Tavern +1/+1 three times.

Fungalmancer Flurgl

• Gone Fishing
  • Old: [Passive] After you sell a Murloc, add a random Murloc to Bob’s Tavern. → New: [Passive] After you sell a minion, add a random Murloc to Bob’s Tavern.

Maiev Shadowsong

• Imprison
  • Old: [Costs 1] Make a minion in Bob’s Tavern Dormant. After 3 turns, get it with +1/+1. → New: [Costs 1] Make a minion in Bob’s Tavern Dormant. After 3 turns, get it with +2/+2.

Malygos

• Arcane Alteration
  • Old: [Costs 0] Replace a minion with a random one of the same Tavern Tier. → New: [Costs 0] Replace a minion with a random one of the same Tavern Tier. (Twice per turn).

As you can see, in the case of Battlegrounds all five changes are buffs. Team 5 took some of the most underwhelming Heroes (+Shudderwock, which was removed from the pool back in Patch 20.8) and made their Hero Powers significantly stronger. It’s hard to say whether those changes will make them worth picking, but at the very least they should no longer be bottom of the barrel.

And finally, Arena update and bug fixes:

Arena Balance Update

We’ve updated the appearance rate of cards to ensure class balance remains close to the ideal 50% win-rate. Specifically, the win-rate of Druid, Warrior, and Demon Hunter should now be decreased. The win-rate of Mage, Priest, Rogue, and Shaman should now be increased. The win-rate of the other classes should be roughly the same as before.

Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

• Updated the Stealer of Souls animation to now only trigger if the card ends up in your hand (it does not trigger for cards that are Cast When Drawn, such as Soul Shards). The animation will also no longer trigger if the drawn card already costs Health instead of Mana (such as when you have two Stealer of Souls in play).
• Fixed card text errors for Psyfiend and Florist (no functional change to either).
• Fixed a bug where Prismatic Jewel Kit would trigger when effects returned a Divine Shield minion to the owner’s hand or moved a Divine Shield minion from the owner’s hand to the owner’s deck.
• Fixed a bug where Seek Guidance (the Priest questline) would sometimes count the original Cost of cards, instead of the Cost actually paid for the card.
• Fixed a bug where the Initiate Set version of Eye Beam did not properly display card art in the Collection Manager.
• Fixed a bug where Reborn Rites, The Lich King’s Battlegrounds hero power, caused players to disconnect from the game server.
• Added interactions between Pave the Way (part of the Paladin Questline) and Duels-specific hero powers.
• Fixed various bugs in Book of Heroes Gul’dan and Book of Heroes Illidan.
• Fixed a bug where Duels achievements were not tracking properly.
• Fixed a bug where Witchwood collection achievements triggered even though the requirements were not yet met.
• (Updated) Fixed a bug where completing all Book of Heroes installments would not display the proper achievement or give the proper award. All players who have already completed all 10 Book of Heroes will automatically receive the proper award of a Golden Standard pack at a later date.

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