Blizzard just posted a teaser of the upcoming balance update for both Constructed and Battlegrounds! The patch is scheduled for this Thursday (August 29). It’s the second balance update in Perils in Paradise. We suspected that there’s going to be a patch before the mini-set, but we didn’t know exactly when – turns out it’s really soon!
It’s a relatively big update, mostly focused on buffs instead of nerfs. That might be a good decision given that the nerfs usually just make the strongest decks shift positions around instead of giving some room for the weakest classes to shine. In Standard, there are only two nerfs – to Tidepool Pupil and Doomkin. The former is one of the most common cards in the game right now and it activates some powerful synergies, while the latter creates some frustrating gameplay patterns when facing Druid (especially when it’s copied multiple times). On top of those, we’re getting 14 card buffs (you can find a full list below).
The patch also contains a few long-awaited Wild changes. Three cards are getting nerfed – Wildpaw Gnoll, Secret Passage, and Sorcerer's Apprentice. Gnoll and Passage are obvious choices because Rogue has been completely dominating the Wild meta for a while now. As for Apprentice, that’s more curious – it’s probably an answer to Ignite Quest Mage. Apprentice was a vital part of the OTK combo, but I don’t think the deck was particularly dominating. I suspect that they do it as a pre-emptive nerf because it might have gotten stronger after Rogue’s nerf.
And finally, in Battlegrounds we’re getting lots of changes, again mostly buffs. 9 minions and 1 Hero are getting buffed, 3 minions are getting nerfed. We’re also getting 2 minions added to the pool.
Until the full patch notes are released, we only know what cards are affected and not how! The patch will drop on Thursday (August 29), most likely around 10 AM PT. Patch notes are usually released an hour before the patch itself. Keep in mind that this is just an educated guess based on the previous similar patches, the timing hasn’t been confirmed yet.
For now, learn more about the patch below:
Standard
Here’s a full list of Standard cards that are getting changed in the patch:
Nerfs
Buffs
- Treasure Hunter Eudora
- Maestra, Mask Merchant
- Metal Detector
- Furious Fowls
- Mystery Egg
- Fetch!
- The Ryecleaver
- Food Fight
- Boom Wrench
- Watercolor Artist
- Raylla, Sand Sculptor
- Marooned Archmage
- DJ Manastorm
- Ci'Cigi
Wild
Here’s a full list of Wild cards that are getting changed in the patch:
Nerfs
Battlegrounds
And here’s a full list of Battlegrounds changes in the usual teaser images.
The Apprentice nerf can be blamed on Chalice Mage. Stalling with Ice Block, copying Apprentice then spells to the face seems pretty nasty to lose against. I know “fun and interactive” is essentially a meme now but this deck is not either. It’s stall then Kill and if Rogue drops, this deck may pull forward. Either way, pretty sure it’s pissing enough gamers off for Blizzard to do something about it.
Glad to see some nerfs in Wild, Rogue has been suppressing the format for some time. Also, Pack Rogue is boring to play and boring to play against.
The Mystery Egg buff sounds interesting though. Egg Hunter is quite sturdy in Wild currently – with fast Rogues nerfed, the class is due for an upswing. However, Pirate DH, which is scary (finally! A good DH deck in Wild!) may have something to say about that. Time to sideboard Hungry Crab (not really).
Mass production?????????
Is this not considered an issue??
Miracle rouge is fine right??
Combo mage is never fine,, but I never see it anyway.
Why won’t they nerf Questline warlock? The deck is okay but mass production is not please just make it two mana or something :0
Yeah the Seed deck can suck to play against but Rogue is a bigger priority in Wild at the moment. It’s had three tier 1 decks sitting there for months. Long overdue. Most of the more powerful Warlock Seed decks are running Giants, not really Mass Production because while it can trigger the Quest, adding cards to your deck can conflict with the fatigue finisher.
Massproduction doesn’t conflict with fatigue it makes it turbo and allows them to instantly kill control decks in the late game. Nothing stopping them using giants too.
Control decks have many tools to stop combo decks now,, but none of them are fast enough to interact with questline warlock in a meaningful way. Steamcleaner would be a great counter. But they will kill you with fatigue if you play that.
I’m not seeing it as much, the wild meta is so diverse right now it makes me very happy that the new sets are shaking it up so much.
But I refuse to not be scared of this and i do feel that hurting secret passage will make alot of viable Rouge decks too weak for wild which is sad because the class has alot of diversity aside from the most played.
Like are they targeting alexstraza which is the strongest or pirates which is just the most popular.
From my experience on wild ladder,, I usually win against miricle and pirates if I draw some good board clears. Pretty easily, but are they too fast for decks without these options like other aggro or midrange decks :s
Honestly don’t mind my rant,, this’ll patch will drop and I’ll probably be complaining about egg hunter instead lol