Now that we’ve looked at the Best Decks of 2017, let’s take a look at the biggest events that occurred in Hearthstone throughout the year. For the most part I’m going to actively avoid too much streamer drama, but there are a couple events that stick out in particular that I will cover. Let me know in the comments if you think I missed anything!

Biggest Additions/Events in Hearthstone During 2017

Small-Time Buccaneer and Spirit Claws Nerfs + Ladder Floors Announcement

Date: February 14th

Remember your good friend Small-Time Buccaneer? Well, he was one of the strongest aggro pieces in one of the more powerful decks we had ever seen (Aggro Shaman). Early in the year the meta was dubbed Shamanstone due to the super high play frequency of the class that was largely due to the power of (among other cards) Spirit Claws and Small-Time Buccaneer. After what seemed like way too long, Blizzard implemented nerfs to these two powerful cards. Shaman would still carry on as one of the strongest decks due to the power of Tunnel Trogg and Totem Golem, but they would soon be rotated out of Standard.

Ranked Ladder Floors were also announced at this time. These allow for you to get to Rank 15, 10, or 5 and not fall back any further. You can then potentially experiment with new decks without worrying about losing your ranks on the ladder. It was a great addition to the game, and hopefully just the beginning of what’s to come for changes to the ladder.

Year of the Mammoth Announcement

Date: February 16th

We were all very much aware of the rotation coming early in the year, but we weren’t aware that Blizzard would be adding the Hall of Fame to help shake up the meta. The Hall of Fame took 6 cards from the Classic set (Azure Drake, Conceal, Ice Lance, Power Overwhelming, Ragnaros the Firelord, and Sylvanas Windrunner) and added them to this new set which would only be playable in the Wild format. Promos and reward cards were also added to the set: Captain's Parrot, Elite Tauren Chieftain, Gelbin Mekkatorque, and Old Murk-Eye. This was huge news at the time, because it was always conveyed that cards in the Classic set were safe from rotation. Thankfully, Blizzard gave players full dust refunds on all of the cards that were moved to the Hall of Fame which tamped down some of the outrage.

The Hall of Fame wasn’t the only thing coming to Hearthstone, we also learned that there would no longer be Adventure modes. It was pretty well established that each year would be Expansion, Adventure, Expansion, but instead we would just be getting three expansions but with single-player content attached to them.

Arena Changes from Wild to Standard Announcement

February really was an eventful month for announcements now that I look back on it. Arena would be switched to Standard and along with it came distribution changes to certain cards like Abyssal Enforcer and Flamestrike, as well as making it so Gold cards would be usable as well. Blizzard now has the ability to tweak frequencies of card appearances at will, and have seemingly done so to Hunter recently which was the highest win-rate having class prior to the changes.

Lifecoach Leaves Competitive Hearthstone

Date: February 25th

At the time, Lifecoach leaving the competitive Hearthstone scene was a pretty big deal because the game was at a serious low due to Shamanstone and what was deemed to be excessive RNG. Gwent was making some waves at the time, and was looking like a good potential option for competitive card players. Lifecoach’s exodus was seen as a potential jumping off point as the first of many, but time went on with few players actually leaving the scene and Hearthstone continued to maintain its popularity.

Ben Brode Rhymed His Way Into Our Hearts

Date: March 1st

Little did we know at the time that the lack of a theme song for Journey to Un’Goro would launch a rap career. Ben Brode, Hearthstone Game Director, responded to the outcries of Reddit users with this legendary rap theme for Un’Goro. If you haven’t heard it yet, make sure to put the speed to 1.25 or 1.5x for the ultimate experience.

You can also check out his return to the mic with his rap for Arthas and Knights of the Frozen Throne:

Friendly Quest Completion & Deck Importing Announcement

Date: May 16th

Maybe one of the most helpful updates for me to be included in Hearthstone was deck importing. You might not know this, but I was manually typing in just about every deck that was added to the site prior to this update. It was just a faster way to do things, but now that deck importing is a thing I can just use the code and save myself some additional worsening to my carpal tunnel! Friendly Quest Completion was also a great addition that helps new and old players finish their quests in a potentially more enjoyable environment.

Kripp Presses the Button

Date: June 2nd

I’ve actively tried to avoid too much streamer related stuff, but Kripp finally pressing the button to disenchant his massive collection of duplicates after 3 years warrants an inclusion on the list. He was trying to keep all of his cards so he could eventually craft a full golden collection, but ultimately he never had enough dust to do it and decided to finally disenchant the extras. Ben Brode actually said at one point if Kripp had pressed the button it would have “brought down Hearthstone” (Source), so maybe we’re lucky he waited. Check out the video below for the full story and watch the button press!

If you were disappointed by the actual button press this follow-up video might help fill the void:

Hearthstone Card Pack Changes Announcement

Date: June 22nd

During every expansion cycle we inevitably arrive at Hearthstone’s cost. Now that they’ve made it so there’s no longer Adventure Modes it has become increasingly expensive to get into the game. This has led to a lot of players not even recommending it to friends due to the cost. One way Blizzard decided to help with this situation was making it so you would no longer receive Legendaries in a pack that you already own. You also now receive a guaranteed Legendary in the first 10 packs of a new set. These have been a good start to helping players get into the game, but Blizzard has some more work to do to appease the community.

The Great Nerf of 2017 Announcement

Date: September 5th

Early in Knights of the Frozen Throne Druid was headed towards the levels of popularity that Shaman reached early in the year. Blizzard decided it was time to make nerfs to Innervate and Spreading Plague. However, these wouldn’t be the only nerfs as they would expand it out to Fiery War Axe, Hex, and Murloc Warleader. This was a huge nerf as it targeted cards that were core to Druid, Shaman, and Warrior as well as lowering the power level of the ever present Murloc tribe. This led to the rise of Tempo Rogue and Prince Keleseth, while also bringing forth the powerful Highlander Priest.

Overall, these nerfs did what they were supposed to do for Druid by reducing its power-level, but they punished slower versions of Shaman and Warrior which were already seeing little play.

Dungeon Runs

Date: December 7th

When it was announced there was kind of a palatable disappointment about Dungeon Runs. There was only a card back to be won if you completed it with all classes (some packs were later added to the rewards for playing), and the Kobolds theme itself wasn’t super exciting to most players. However, once we got a chance to watch Day9 run them with Ben Brode the opinion started to change on the new single-player mode. It helped that we could now see that these wouldn’t exactly be a walk in the park and they would require some smart choices and play. When we finally got this mode in our hands, most people really enjoyed it! It became the standout part of the expansion and littered the front page of the Hearthstone subreddit with screenshots and videos for the first few weeks.

I hope that Blizzard will continue to add onto this idea, because it allows them to explore wacky and powerful things that might not make sense in the actual game.

That’s everything, have a happy and safe New Years and good luck in 2018!