Along with the nerfs today, it looks like Arena has also gotten an update. Mind Control Tech has been removed from draft, some old cards are being restored, and the appearance rate of some cards is being updated.
In this Arena update we’re adjusting the appearance rate of a number of cards, restoring older cards to the Arena, removing a Mind Control Tech from drafts, and adjusting Arena buckets.
Read on for details!
Appearance Rates
Cards from Rastakhan’s Rumble now have a +50% appearance rate in drafts – The bonus appearance rate for the most recent set has returned to freshen up Arena with newer cards.
Draft
A number of cards were removed from Arena for balance reasons in the past. Our new systems provide tools to tweak balance in other ways, and we would prefer to make Arena as true as possible to the cards available in Hearthstone.
The following cards are once again available in Arena picks:
Druid
- Savagery
- Soul of the Forest
- Mark of Nature
Hunter
- Starving Buzzard
- Timber Wolf
- Snipe
Priest
- Mind Blast
- Lightwell
- Inner Fire
Shaman
- Dust Devil
- Totemic Might
- Ancestral Healing
- Windspeaker
Warlock
- Sacrificial Pact
- Sense Demons
- Succubus
Warrior
- Warsong Commander
- Charge
- Rampage
The following card will no longer appear in Arena picks:
Neutral
- Mind Control Tech – Minion based combat plays a major role in the Arena, and Mind Control Tech is a (3) mana card that can unreasonably punish playing multiple minions. While we love that there are cards that help players come back from unfavorable positions, we recognize that the high variance gameplay of Mind Control Tech could create a negative Arena experience. As a result, Mind Control Tech is no longer able to be drafted.
The following cards will remain unavailable in Arena drafts:
- Hero Cards
- Quests
- Whizbang the Wonderful
- Vicious Fledgling
- Ancient Watcher
- Humongous Razorleaf
- Odd/Even Cards
Bucket Adjustments
This is a snapshot of the current Arena buckets. Keep in mind that card promotion or demotion is almost entirely based on whether a card has a very high or very low pick rate. Adjusting buckets helps change the average composition of Arena decks so they feel more varied.
You can download a snapshot of the Arena buckets for this time period on the forums.
> Odd/Even Cards will remain unavailable in Arena drafts:
Wow, arena without any cards. Neat.
Looks like blizzard is listening to the community. Kripp made a whole video about just that card just about a week ago