It finally happened! Blizzard has announced that they’re banning Stealer of Souls in Wild. The card has been plaguing ladder ever since mini-set’s release. In case you don’t play the eternal format – the issue was combining it with Plot Twist or other cheap card draws, followed by a card that makes you immune (such as Violet Illusionist or Mal'Ganis) into more draw etc. In the most extreme cases, Warlock could either seal the game or even win as early as Turn 3 (probably more like Turn 5-6 on average, but it was still way too quickly).
The decision is really interesting, since it’s the first time they’re banning a card on the ladder instead of nerfing it. Previously, cards were banned in other formats like Tavern Brawl, Arena or Duels, but never in Constructed. It’s a big deal and a great way to adjust Wild format without unnecessarily nerfing cards that aren’t problematic in Standard.
The card will be banned in a small update next week (on Wednesday), and it will be eligible for a full Dust refund for the two weeks. What’s worth mentioning is that, according to Alec Dawson, the plan is to adjust the card and remove the ban once Forged in the Barrens rotates out to Wild (otherwise the card wouldn’t be playable in Constructed at all).
We’ll be banning Stealer of Souls in Wild in a small update next week. Stealer of Souls will still be playable in other formats, and will be eligible for a full dust refund for two weeks after this change goes live.
— Hearthstone (@PlayHearthstone) June 11, 2021
Current plan is to adjust the card at that point in time and remove the ban. If any adjustments happen to Stealer of Souls before that (ex/ a standard nerf) we’ll also re-evaluate its inclusion in Wild.
— Alec Dawson (@GW_Alec) June 11, 2021
Good riddance. I hated that deck. I play Darkglare Warlock anyways which – while powerful – has obvious flaws. Wild is lopsided enough for many classes as-is.
The Hall of Fame for standard essentially operated as a “ban” from the format. Baku & Genn in the more recent era serve as examples of cards that were outright banned from the format early into their existence for balance purposes rather then nerfing the cards.
THIS is some funny shiz
Because a “ban” mean that the community is going to ask for more ban
Blizzard should have just nerf it or make it a “big demon”
Like 8 mana 4/8 taunt with same effect (so you can still plot twitst & HP but cannot drop a immune card)
You could still play an immune card same turn if he were 8 mana. Plus the “big demon” change would likely make him more unplayable in standard than he already is.
Well the point is not to entirely kill that combo, since you can still thaurissan it to do the SoS + plot + violet
The problem is that this combo is too easy & to connsistent to do (by t6 you seal the game)
I just thought to give him another identity than « a early/mid game demon with a powerful effect » (he is not good in constructed anyway)
Tbh you can give him other change, I just thought this morning to change it to: same stat but you demon cost Hp instead of mana
Lol just noticed the comment below with the go instead of mana for demon
Guess I am not innovative enough :p
Even tho I have almost no faith in these developers, it makes sense to solely ban something from Wild that’s also available in Standard (and/or that just got released).
things that are only in Wild and have always been in Wild should not get banned (in some cases they should get unnerfed).
Finally, everything gonna be normal next week.
Roflmao
dont like bans like in yugioh
also im no standard Expert but i dont think this card is played in any decent standard Deck
just make different balance for classic/standard/wild (or is this too much work?)
dont create 20 different Gamemodes if you cant Balance even one of them
Tbh it’s not played in any Standard decks, because Warlock doesn’t really exist in Standard. It’s actually a pretty good Zoo card, but we might need another expansion to unlock its full potential.
It feels like they have plans for the card in Standard, otherwise I don’t see a reason why they wouldn’t just nerf it instead of temporarily banning it with an intention to nerf it later.
So, this option was available after all.
Literally can’t call it Wild anymore.
And this has just opened a whole gate of complains to get other cards to get banned as well.
Mana cheating cards, as well as absurd mana gain.
What have they done.
I think it’s fair to say that the main issue was how ridiculously consistent the deck is, akin to pre-errata Hysteria-Wretched Tiller. The problem with Stealer of Souls is that there’s no way to fix the card like they did with Hysteria, short of making it useless – I’ve seen suggestions like making it such that it only converts the cost for drawn Demons.
I’ll agree that the ban is a radical solution, but the idea that is just opens the floodgates to additional ban demands is a bit much. I doubt that players who want certain cards nerfed or removed would halt their complaints if Stealer of Souls wasn’t banned. Regardless, I think most would agree that the devs really dropped the ball by forgetting the interactions of Plot Twist. A nigh-perfectly consistent Mecha’thun OTK is not something anyone should consider healthy for the game.
Nah dude. The real problem wasn’t on SoS itself, but the interaction of zero health cost when combined with immunity. SoS don’t need to be nerfed, just the mechanic of health cost card. Instead of taking damage equal from the cost, they could just reduce the health directly instead. (Immunity still work if the card text itself cause damage to hero)
But what I’m trying to say is, when they start introducing a ‘radical’ change like this, eventually, something else gonna happen.
Either new mode, more banned cards, or maybe there will come some combo with the banned cards where you can’t play.
People can argue whether it’s good or bad, but one thing for sure. Hearthstone is too inconsistent with their decision. It starts when they removed evergreen classic, and HoF.
I think the change you suggested makes a lot more sense. If its a wild format – it’s a wild format. Will they eventually have a new mode? Almost wild and really wild?
SuperWild.
And that’s just stupid. Obviously.