Blizzard just posted a teaser of the upcoming balance update for both Standard and Battlegrounds! It’s the first balance update in the Emerald Dream (and thus first in Year of the Raptor).
In Standard, it’s a medium-sized patch with a bunch of nerfs and buffs. As for the nerfs, the patch seems to mostly target the old StarCraft decks and overperforming cards from last year (including The Ceaseless Expanse, which is now in ~50% of decks at higher ranks). From the new Emerald Dream cards, Hideous Husk and Amphibian's Spirit are the two that got nerfed. Which isn’t a surprise, as both are part of the high tier meta decks that might become too strong after other things get changed. Buffs, on the other hand, are mostly focused on the underperforming Imbue decks.
Battlegrounds portion of the update is about the same size overall, but puts some focus on adding and removing cards from the minion pool and not just straight-up nerfs and buffs. And yes, that includes the infamous Captain Bonerender leaving the pool.
Until the full patch notes are released, we only know what cards are affected and not how! The patch will drop tomorrow (April 4), 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
- Symbiosis
- Kaldorei Priestess
- Lunarwing Messenger
- Living Garden
- Aspect's Embrace
- Resplendent Dreamweaver
Nerfs
- Hideous Husk
- Amphibian's Spirit
- Murmur
- Food Fight
- The Ceaseless Expanse
- Travelmaster Dungar
- Seaside Giant
- Arkonite Defense Crystal
- Spawning Pool
- Lift Off
- Chrono Boost
- Artanis
Battlegrounds
And here’s a full list of Battlegrounds changes:
Buffs
- Prized Promo-Drake
- Fireworks Fanatic
- Mythrax the Unraveler
- The Boommobile
Nerfs
- Big Brother
- Tidemistress Athissa
- Stitched Salvager
Mixed/Rework
- Utility Drone
- Sanctum Rester
Added to the Pool
- Upbeat Frontdrake
- Utility Drone
- Sanctum Rester
Removed from the Pool
- Cyborg Drake
- Captain Bonerender
- Pilgrimp
The only surprise here is somehow no nerf to the insane 70% win rate when played terrorscale stalker.
They just love Deathrattle Hunters, but yeah it’s almost distressing to see the best deck left unaddressed while it’s clearly problematic :/
Resplendent Dreamweaver is getting a buff? Seems already a good card.
Yeah I use it in aggro imbue druid and its one of the better cards in the deck, can pretty much always have it active by turn 3/4 and not much survives it that early. I assume the buff will reduce the number of imbues needed to just 1, so other classes can actually play it on curve.
The card has a 0.4% play rate. Almost no Imbue decks run it. It seems solid on paper, but it’s just not good enough of a pay-off in this day and age.
I didn’t know that. I came back to Hearthstone after 5 years hehe.
Where do you see the % play rate?