(Live Now!) Hearthstone 27.4.2 Patch Notes – Standard, Wild, Twist Battlegrounds and Duels Changes, Bug Fixes

Update: The patch is out now! Since it’s a data-only update, it should be live on both PC and mobile.

Patch 27.4.2 was teased for a couple of weeks now, but it was finally “announced” yesterday. It’s one of the biggest patches in history – if not the biggest. It contains a lot of changes across all formats – Standard, Wild, Twist, as well as some Battlegrounds and Duels adjustments. Just like nearly every patch, it also comes with some bug fixes, although not that many.

The patch will be released later today (at 10 AM PT / 19:00 CET, so in just 30 minutes, if it follows the usual schedule). It’s going to be a data-only patch so it should release on both PC and mobile at the same time.

Here’s a full list of card changes and how they’re getting changed:

Standard

Buffs

• Down with the Ship – Now requires 1x Unholy Rune (instead of 1x Unholy + 1x Frost).
• Tomb Traitor – Now requires 1x Unholy Rune (instead of 1x Unholy + 1x Frost).
• Frost Queen Sindragosa – Now requires 1x Frost Rune (instead of 1x Blood + 1x Frost).
• Tyr's Tears – Now resurrects minions “from your class” (instead of Paladin minions). The change doesn’t affect the card in Paladin but makes it actually usable when generated by other classes.

Nerfs

• Symphony of Sins – Movement of Pride now draws a random minion (instead of the highest Cost minion).
• Coppertail Snoop – Now is a 3/2 (instead of 4/3).
• Spitelash Siren – Now is a 5 mana 2/6 (instead of 4 mana 2/5).
• Starstrung Bow – Now is a 5/2 (instead of 6/2).
• Craftsman's Hammer – Now gives 3 Armor per hit (instead of 4).
• Sanitize – Now costs 5 mana (instead of 4).
• Contaminated Lasher – Now is a 3 mana 3/3 (instead of 2 mana 3/2).

Ban

• Gadgetzan Auctioneer – Removed from the Core Set.

Twist

Remember that all of the Twist cards are also in Wild, so nerfing e.g. Warlock in Twist also affects the deck in Wild (and I’m glad that it does, because Wild was a horrible experience since Caverns of Time). Tirion and Jaraxxus buffs will also affect Standard since those two cards are playable in that format right now.

Buffs

• Cenarion Hold – Now costs 1 mana (instead of 2).
• Dragonfire Potion – Now costs 5 mana (instead of 6).
• Bronze Dragonknight – Now has Taunt.
• Tirion Fordring – Now is an 8/8 (instead of 6/6).
• Lord Jaraxxus – Now costs 8 mana (instead of 9).
• Elemental Destruction – Now has Overload: 2 (instead of Overload: 5).
• Al'Akir, the Winds of Time – Now gives 8 Armor (instead of 5 Armor).

Nerfs

• Chamber of Viscidus – Now costs 3 mana and has 2 durability (instead of 2 mana and 3 durability).
• Tiny Knight of Evil – Now gains +2/+1 per Discard (instead of +2/+2).
• Dark Bargain – Now costs 4 mana (instead of 3).
• Blast from the Past – Now costs 4 mana (instead of 3).
• Ivory Rook – Now is a 4/3 (instead of 4/4).
• Jade Telegram – Now costs 4 mana (instead of 3).
• The Scarab Lord – Gong now is a 0/1 (instead of 0/2).
• Blade of C'Thun – Now costs 7 mana (instead of 6).
• Trial of the Jormungars – Now costs 6 mana (instead of 5).

Wild

Nerfs

• Firemancer Flurgl – Now costs 4 mana (instead of 2).
• Spirit of the Frog – Now costs 5 mana (instead of 3).
• Scargil – Now costs 5 mana (instead of 4).
• Kabal Lackey – Next Secret you play costs 1 mana (instead of 0 mana).
• Shadow Essence – Now costs 7 mana (instead of 6).
• Gadgetzan Auctioneer – Now costs 7 mana (instead of 6).

Ban

• Mechwarper – Banned in Wild.
• Tony, King of Piracy – Banned in Wild.

The patch also contains some changes to Battlegrounds (Anomalies, minions) and Duels (Hero Powers, Treasures, Card Pool).

Check out the full patch notes below:

Patch 27.4.2 is a data-only balance patch, launching today, with the updates across modes.

Hearthstone Updates

Dev Comment: We have a lot of card changes in this patch, and a lot to share about why these changes are being made. 

For the Standard-focused changes, we’re addressing both power outliers and play experience outliers in this patch. When we buffed Warrior in our last balance patch, we did so knowing that they’d get more powerful tools in the Mini-Set, but we wanted to make sure that the deck hit, so we erred on the side of over-buffing it, knowing that we’d have the option to make a small correction back down if we needed. Now that the Mini-Set has landed, Warrior is looking like one of the most standout classes, so we’re making those adjustments. Hunter also has one of the strongest decks in the format, and we’d expect it to get even stronger after the other changes we’re making in this patch, so we’re making a small adjustment to bring its power down a little as well. 

Movement of Pride is an adjustment to take away the negative play experience of cheating out a super-early Sargeras. Coppertail Snoop is an adjustment to a powerful deck and a negative play experience, by taking away some of Mech Rogue’s burst and snowball potential. 

Spitelash Siren and Gadgetzan Auctioneer are also combined power and sentiment issues, but mostly focused on the higher end of the ladder. For a long time, Auctioneer has been a card that only popped up in Standard when it was up to no good. In this case, the Mini-Set provided a critical mass of effects that allowed for a deck that used Auctioneer to consistently draw through its entire deck and OTK as early as turn 5. That’s not the bar we want for Standard, regardless of the deck’s overall winrate. In this case, it did look like the deck was trending towards being very powerful as it was getting refined, but we needed to make an adjustment no matter what. With this patch, we’ve both removed Auctioneer from Standard and increased its cost by 1, since it was a problem card in Wild as well. 

For the Wild-focused changes, Caverns of Time is our first ever direct-to-Wild expansion. We don’t plan to make regular Wild updates of this scale, but some cards from Caverns ended up needing some adjustments, and that presented us with a special opportunity to make adjustments more generally. 

Wild is a mode that’s inherently full of powerful interactions, but we still want the mode to feel like you’re playing Hearthstone. That’s why these adjustments focus on the biggest play experience outliers in the mode—decks that are frustrating now and that, if we didn’t step in, would likely remain frustrating for a long time. There are some strong Wild decks that we didn’t touch in these changes because, though they’re powerful, they still generally fit in the Hearthstone mold. We’ve found that Wild players often have different goals for the mode so we expect that some players will wish we hit more or different things, but we hope that these adjustments will make the mode more fun for more players overall. 

Finally, for the Twist-focused changes, we’ve seen that the Wonders format was faster than we wanted, not leaving much room for some of the cards that are evocative of this Wonders era. The adjustments in this patch are targeted at weakening the format’s clearest power outliers, and, at the same time, buffing some late-game payoffs and control tools. We hope that these changes, plus next month’s Twist modifier, will allow some room for slower strategies to exist in the format. 

The following cards have been adjusted to be less powerful:

Movement of Pride (generated by Symphony of Sins)

• Old: Draw your highest Cost minion. Reduce its Cost by (6).
• New: Draw a minion. Reduce its Cost by (6).

Coppertail Snoop

• Old: 4 Attack, 3 Health
• New: 3 Attack, 2 Health

Spitelash Siren

• Old: [4 Mana] 2 Attack, 5 Health
• New: [5 Mana] 2 Attack, 6 Health

Starstrung Bow

• Old: 6 Attack, 2 Durability
• New: 5 Attack, 2 Durability

Craftsman’s Hammer

• Old: Whenever your hero attacks, gain 4 Armor.
• New: Whenever your hero attacks, gain 3 Armor.

Sanitize

• Old: [4 Mana]
• New: [5 Mana]

Contaminated Lasher

• Old: [2 Mana] 3 Attack, 2 Health
• New: [3 Mana] 3 Attack, 3 Health

Gadgetzan Auctioneer

• Old: [6 Mana]
• New: [7 Mana]
• Gadgetzan Auctioneer also has been removed from the Core Set, so it is no longer Standard legal.

Chamber of Viscidus

• Old: [2 Mana] 3 Durability
• New: [3 Mana] 2 Durability

Dark Bargain

• Old: [3 Mana]
• New: [4 Mana]

Tiny Knight of Evil

• Old: Whenever you discard a card, gain +2/+2.
• New: Whenever you discard a card, gain +2/+1.

Blast from the Past

• Old: [3 Mana]
• New: [4 Mana]

Ivory Rook

• Old: 4 Attack, 4 Health
• New: 4 Attack, 3 Health

Jade Telegram

• Old: [3 Mana]
• New: [4 Mana]

Scarab Gong (generated by The Scarab Lord)

• Old: 0 Attack, 2 Health
• New: 0 Attack, 1 Health

Blade of C’Thun

• Old: [6 Mana]
• New: [7 Mana]

Trial of the Jormungars

• Old: [5 Mana]
• New: [6 Mana]

Spirit of the Frog

• Old: [3 Mana]
• New: [5 Mana]

Firemancer Flurgl

• Old: [2 Mana]
• New: 4 Mana]

Scargil

• Old: [4 Mana]
• New: [5 Mana]

Shadow Essence

• Old: [6 Mana]
• New: [7 Mana]

Kabal Lackey

• Old: The next Secret you play this turn costs (0).
• New: The next Secret you play this turn costs (1).

Mechwarper

• Now banned in Wild.

Tony, King of Piracy

• Now banned in Wild.

All versions of the above cards that can be disenchanted, will be eligible for full dust refunds for two weeks following Patch 27.4.2.

The following cards have been adjusted to be more powerful:

Down with the Ship

• Old: [Frost, Unholy]
• New: [Unholy]

Tomb Traitor

• Old: [Frost, Unholy]
• New: [Unholy]

Frost Queen Sindragosa

• Old: [Blood, Frost]
• New: [Frost]

Tyr’s Tears

• Old: Resurrect 3 different Paladin minions. Set their stats to 2/2. Forge: Resurrect another.
• New: Resurrect 3 different minions from your class. Set their stats to 2/2. Forge: Resurrect another.
• Dev Comment: This will make the card better when generated by other classes.

Tirion Fordring

• Old: 6 Attack, 6 Health
• New: 8 Attack, 8 Health

Lord Jaraxxus

• Old: [9 Mana]
• New: [8 Mana]

Cenarion Hold

• Old: [2 Mana]
• New: [1 Mana]

Dragonfire Potion

• Old: [6 Mana]
• New: [5 Mana]

Bronze Dragonknight

• Old: Battlecry: If this has 5 or more Attack, summon a copy of this.
• New: Taunt. Battlecry: If this has 5 or more Attack, summon a copy of this.

Elemental Destruction

• Old: Deal 4-5 damage to all minions. Overload: (5)
• New: Deal 4-5 damage to all minions. Overload: (2)

Al’Akir, the Winds of Time

• Old: 5 Armor
• New: 8 Armor

Battlegrounds Updates

Anomaly System Update

Each week’s new Anomalies will now have a slightly smaller appearance bonus in higher-rated lobbies (they will still have an appearance bonus for the first week they are added compared to all the other Anomalies, but not as large of one). Lower-rated lobbies will still have the same offering bonus as before.

Anomalies Updates

Big League

• Old: Only Tavern Tiers 3, 4, 5, and 6 exist.
• New: Only Tavern Tiers 3, 4, 5, and 6 exist. Start with 10 extra Armor.
• Dev Comment: Also, Demons are now banned from this Anomaly.

Everything’s On Fire

• Old: At the start of the game, take 30 damage. After another hero dies, regain 5 Health.
• New: At the start of the game, take 25 damage. After another hero dies, regain 5 Health.

A Faire Reward (the Triple Reward)

• Old: Discover a Darkmoon Prize.
• New: Discover a Tier __ Darkmoon Prize.
• Dev Comment: Darkmoon Prizes are now locked based on the Tier you were at when you tripled, instead of giving a Prize based on the Tier you’re at when you play them.

Yogg-iseum

• Old: At the start of each turn, all heroes spin the Wheel of Yogg-Saron.
• New: At the start of each turn, all heroes spin the SAME Wheel of Yogg-Saron.
• Dev Comment: This is a text-only wording update for clarity.

Golganneth’s Tempest

• The following heroes are now banned from games with this Anomaly: A.F.Kay, Captain Eudora, Dinotamer Brann, Elise Starseeker, Forest Warden Omu, Fungalmancer Flurgl, Galakrond, Kurtrus Ashfallen, Ozumat, Scabbs Cutterbutter, Silas Darkmoon, Overlord Saurfang, Professor Putricide, Xyrella, Yogg-Saron, and Y’Shaarj.

Minion Updates

Imposing Percussionist

• Old: [Tier 5] 6 Attack, 6 Health
• New: [Tier 4] 4 Attack, 4 Health

Shady Aristocrat (Sire Denathrius’s Buddy)

• Old: [Tier 2] 2 Attack, 2 Health
• New: [Tier 3] 3 Attack, 3 Health

Piloted Whirl-o-Tron (Sneed’s Buddy)

• Old: [Tier 3] 4 Attack, 3 Health. Battlecry: Copy a different friendly minion’s Deathrattles.
• New: [Tier 5] 5 Attack, 4 Health. Start of Combat: Copy all other minions’ Deathrattles (except Piloted Whirl-o-Tron).
• Dev Comment: Yes, ALL. With this update, Piloted Whirl-o-Tron has been returned to the “Bring in the Buddies” Anomaly’s Buddy pool.

Street Magician (The Great Akazamzarak’s Buddy)

• Old: 5 Attack, 3 Health. Deathrattle: Put a random Secret into the Battlefield.
• New: 3 Attack, 5 Health. At the end of your turn, cast a random Secret.

Minion Pool Updates

• Keyboard Igniter and Spark-ling have been removed from the minion pool.
• Felemental has been returned to the minion pool.

Duels Updates

Hero Power Update

Dino Tracking

• Old: Discover a Beast. Give it +1 Attack.
• New: Discover a Beast. Give it +1/+1.

Passive Treasure Updates

Starving

• Old: After the first time a friendly Beast dies in your turn, draw a minion from your deck and give it +1 Attack.
• New: After the first time a friendly Beast dies in your turn, draw a card.

Corrupted Felstone

• Old: After you cast a Fel spell, give the left- and right-most minions in your hand +1/+1.
• New: After you cast a Fel spell, give the left- and right-most minions in your hand +2/+1.

Treasure Pool Updates

• Starving has been moved to Pool 1.
• Unlocked Potential has been moved to Ultra Rare.

Card Pool Update

• The Caverns Below has been banned from initial deckbuilding and all card pools.

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Duels] Hunter-class heroes can now be offered Arcane Passive treasures.
• [Duels] Warrior-class heroes can now be offered Pool 2 Fire Passive treasures.
• [Events] Clarified the text on an event daily quest requiring that you “experience an Anomaly” must be completed in Traditional Hearthstone, not Battlegrounds.
• [Collection] Fixed a bug where Signature Cenarius was not showing up in collections.

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