Big Battlegrounds Rework Coming Tomorrow (August 31)! 37 New Minions, Two New Heroes, New Keyword (Avenge) And More!

Blizzard has just posted more details about the big Battlegrounds minion rework. It happens tomorrow (August 31) and should release alongside Patch 21.2. Here’s a summary of all the changes

• 37 new minions replacing the old ones.
• 2 new Heroes – Master Nguyen and Cariel Roame.
• New keyword – Avenge – “do something after X friendly minions die” (e.g. Avenge (2) means that the effect will trigger after 2 minions die).
• Rating Reset – your hidden MMR will remain intact, but your visible MMR will be down to 0
• 15 damage cap until the first player dies (to prevent some early high-rolls).
• Darkmoon Prizes have been completely disabled
• Players with Battlegrounds Perks are more likely to see newly released Heroes during the two-week early access.
• Turn timer for T3-T9 has been increased by 5 seconds (I’m honestly not sure why), they might adjust turn timers more in the future.
• New cosmetics (you can see a sneak peek in the trailer).

Read more in the official blog post below:

Are you ready for the biggest Battlegrounds update to date?! To start, we’re introducing an entirely new Battlegrounds specific keyword, Avenge, that does something after (x) friendly minions die. Then, we’re replacing 37 minions with new ones and adding two new Heroes! You can get an idea of how the Avenge keyword works by checking out those new minions below.

Before you do, we’ve made a few fundamental changes we want to make you aware of. We’ve added a damage cap of 15 damage until the first player dies, meaning that no player can take more than 15 damage from combat until the first player in a lobby dies or disconnects. We’ve also increased turn timers so that everyone has time to get familiar with the new content: the length of turns 3-9 have been increased by 5 seconds. Everyone will start fresh with this update as ratings will be reset with the 21.2 patch to make way for a new season.

General Updates

• Battlegrounds Specific Keyword added, Avenge: Does something after (x) friendly minions die.
• The length of turns 3-9 have been increased by 5 seconds. We may further adjust the length of turns sometime in the future.
• Darkmoon Prizes have been disabled.
• All players’ Battlegrounds ratings have been reset for a new season.
• Damage cap of 15 damage has been added until the first player dies. Please note that the damage cap does not check for player deaths until the start of each Recruit Phase, meaning if someone concedes, disconnects, or dies during the Recruit Phase (Is Wrath Weaver ever really on your team?), the damage cap will still be present for that combat.
• Players with Battlegrounds Perks are now more likely to be offered new Heroes during the two-week early access period that follows their initial announcement. In every lobby during the two-week early access period, the option to play with new Heroes will be distributed at random between players with Battlegrounds Perks. No player will be offered more than one new Hero.

New Heroes

Master Nguyen

• Power of the Storm [Passive]
  • At the start of every turn, choose from 2 new Hero Powers.

Cariel Roame

• Conviction (Rank 1)
  • Give a random friendly minion +1/+1. (Upgrades at Tavern Tier 3.)
• Conviction (Rank 2)
  • Give three random friendly minions +1/+1. (Upgrades at Tavern Tier 5.)
• Conviction (Rank 3)
  • Give five random friendly minions +1/+1.

Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to the Heroes above before they’re formally released on September 14.

New Minions

BEASTS

Leapfrogger

• [Tier 2, Beast] Deathrattle: Give a friendly Beast +2/+2 and this Deathrattle.

Sewer Rat

• [Tier 2, Beast] Deathrattle: Summon a 2/3 Turtle with Taunt.

Bird Buddy

• [Tier 3] Avenge (1): Give your Beasts +1/+1.

Reanimating Rattler

• [Tier 4, Beast] Battlecry: Give a friendly Beast Reborn.

Palescale Crocolisk

• [Tier 5, Beast] Avenge (2) and Deathrattle: Give another friendly Beast +6/+6.

DEMONS

Impulsive Trickster

• [Tier 1, Demon] Deathrattle: Give this minion’s maximum Health to a friendly minion.

Icky Imp

• [Tier 1, Demon] Deathrattle: Summon two 1/1 Imps.

Impatient Doomsayer

• [Tier 3] Avenge (3): Add a random Demon to your hand.

Kathra’natir

• [Tier 4, Demon] Your other Demons have +3 Attack. Your Hero is Immune.

Insatiable Ur’zul

• [Tier 5, Demon] Taunt. After you play a Demon, consume a minion in Bob’s Tavern to gain its stats.

Famished Felbat

• [Tier 6, Demon] At the end of your turn, each friendly Demon consumes a minion in Bob’s Tavern to gain its stats.

MECHS

Pupbot

• [Tier 1, Mech] Divine Shield

Mechano-Tank

• [Tier 4, Mech] Avenge (2): Deal 6 damage to the highest Health enemy minion.

Grease Bot

• [Tier 4, Mech] After a friendly minion loses Divine Shield, give it +2/+1 permanently.

Holy Mecherel

• [Tier 5, Mech] After a friendly minion loses Divine Shield, gain Divine Shield.

Omega Buster

• [Tier 6, Mech] Deathrattle: Summon six 1/1 Microbots. For each that doesn’t fit, give your Mechs +1/+1.

MURLOCS

Saltscale Honcho

• [Tier 2, Murloc] After you play a Murloc, give two other friendly Murlocs +1 Health.

Swolefin

• [Tier 3, Murloc] Battlecry: Gain +2/+1 for each other friendly Murloc.

SI:Sefin

• [Tier 5, Murloc] Avenge (3): Give a friendly Murloc Poisonous permanently.

Seafood Slinger

• [Tier 6] Battlecry: Make a Murloc Golden.

DRAGONS

Evolving Chromawing

• [Tier 1, Dragon] After you upgrade your Tavern Tier, double this minion’s Attack.

Whelp Smuggler

• [Tier 2] After a friendly Dragon gains Attack, give it +2 Health.

Tarecgosa

• [Tier 3, Dragon] This permanently keeps enchantments from combat.

Prized Promo-Drake

• [Tier 4, Dragon] Start of Combat: Give adjacent minions +1/+1 for each friendly Dragon.

Prestor’s Pyrospawn

• [Tier 4, Dragon] Whenever another friendly Dragon attacks, deal 3 damage to its target.

PIRATES

Defiant Shipwright

• [Tier 2] After you upgrade your Tavern Tier, add a random Pirate to Bob’s Tavern.

Briny Bootlegger

• [Tier 3, Pirate] At the end of your turn, if you have another Pirate, add a Gold Coin to your hand.

Peggy Brittlebone

• [Tier 4, Pirate] After a card is added to your hand, give another Pirate +1/+1.

Tony Two-Tusk

• [Tier 5, Pirate] Avenge (5): Make another friendly Pirate Golden permanently.

Nosy Looter

• [Tier 6, Pirate] Every two turns, add a random Golden minion to your hand.

ELEMENTALS

Smogger

• [Tier 3, Elemental] Battlecry: Give a friendly Elemental stats equal to your Tavern Tier.

Dazzling Lightspawn

• [Tier 4, Elemental] Avenge (2): Elementals in Bob’s Tavern have +1/+1 for the rest of the game.

Recycling Wraith

• [Tier 4, Elemental] After you play an Elemental, your next Refresh costs (0).

Master of Realities

• [Tier 6] Taunt. After a friendly Elemental gains stats, gain +1/+1.

QUILBOAR

Gemsplitter

• [Tier 3, Quilboar] After a friendly minion loses Divine Shield, gain a Blood Gem.

NEUTRAL

Budding Greenthumb

• [Tier 3] Avenge (3): Give adjacent minions +2/+1 permanently.

Witchwing Nestmatron

• [Tier 4] Avenge (3): Add a random Battlecry minion to your hand.

Updated Minion

Arm of the Empire

• Old: 5 Health → New: 4 Health

Removed Minions

Tavern Tier 1

• Fiendish Servant
• Vulgar Homunculus
• Micro Machine
• Murloc Tidecaller
• Dragonspawn Lieutenant

Tavern Tier 2

• Pack Leader
• Kindly Grandmother
• Steward of Time
• Waxrider Togwaggle
• Southsea Captain
• Tormented Ritualist

Tavern Tier 3

• Arcane Assistant
• Imp Gang Boss
• Infested Wolf
• Iron Sensei
• Hangry Dragon
• Bloodsail Cannoneer
• Warden of Old
• Crystalweaver
• Thorncaller

Tavern Tier 4

• Virmen Sensei
• Hexruin Maurader
• Junkbot
• Toxfin
• Herald of Flame
• Qiraji Harbinger
• Bolvar, Fireblood
• Security Rover

Tavern Tier 5

• Sneed’s Old Shredder
• Nat Pagle, Extreme Angler
• Seabreaker Goliath
• Ironhide Direhorn
• Mythrax, the Unraveler
• Mal’Ganis
• Faceless Taverngoer

Tavern Tier 6

• The Tide Razor
• Lieutenant Garr

Source