The upcoming balance update can’t come soon enough. It was already teased last week, and I hoped that it might release earlier this week (after the mini-set’s launch), but it looks like we’ll have to wait some more. The current state of both Wild and Twist formats is horrendous, with only a few strongest decks viable in both of those formats.
From the initial teaser, we already know that Warlock is being looked at, but now we have a Neutral card joining the target list – Gadgetzan Auctioneer. At least that’s what Hearthstone’s Final Design Lead Aleco has teased on Twitter (X).
The card has been plaguing Wild players for a while now, so-called Tony Druid has been a very uninteractive deck that players had to deal with for a while now. But it looks like a similar play style has came to Standard in a form of Miracle Druid. It’s hard to say whether the main target is Wild’s Tony Druid, or maybe they don’t want this kind of deck in Standard, but it’s safe to say that if you want to play it, you should probably do it now before it’s too late.
As for WHEN the patch drops, that’s still a big unknown. The original teaser said that it’s going to be a hotfix “shortly after the mini-set”. Since it didn’t drop this week I hoped it would, it will almost definitely launch next week (otherwise it wouldn’t be “shortly after” anymore). My guess would be either Tuesday or Thursday because those are the usual patch days.
A message for the Miracle Druid enjoyers pic.twitter.com/gGpJG0TU9h
— Aleco (@AlecoGereco) September 22, 2023
Good riddance. Tony Druid brought me back nightmares of Togwaggle Druid. Glad to see that nerf. Didn’t they say they were looking at Warlock in particular?
Nerf candidates/predictions:
– Chamber of Viscidus: Will go to 3/4 mana, durability will drop to 2, or # of cards to choose from will drop to 2. This card is what revive Discardlock.
– Soul Barrage: Will only affect enemy minions and not the opponent or will drop to 4 damage. I am amazed they have not done this yet.
– Tiny Knight of Evil: Discards will only give +2 Attack but not Health. This is how they dealt with Murloc Warleader back in the day.
– Gadgetzan Auctioneer: Will go to 7 mana or will only draw on the first spell cast each turn.
Chamber: Could also reduce the cards drawn to 1.