Sorry, Hunters and Rogues — Blizzard just announced plans to nerf two of the most powerful Hearthstone cards, which will likely force many of you to drastically change your strategies.
Nerf #1 is Leeroy Jenkins, which is one of the most versatile cards in any deck but might be most useful for Miracle Rogues. Jenkins will now cost 5 mana instead of 4.
Nerf #2 is Starving Buzzard, one of the Hunter’s cornerstone cards, which will now cost 5 (!) mana instead of 2. It will also get a slight attack and health buff, taking it from 2/1 to 3/2.
Here’s Blizzard’s explanation:
Leeroy Jenkins created a strategy that revolved around trying to defeat your opponent in one turn without requiring any cards on the board. Fighting for board control and battles between minions make an overall game of Hearthstone more fun and compelling, but taking 20+ damage in one turn is not particularly fun or interactive. This was occurring when Leeroy was used in combination with other cards like Power Overwhelming, Faceless Manipulator, Cold Blood, Shadowstep, and Unleash the Hounds, among others.
The amount of cards Starving Buzzard allowed Hunter players to draw ultimately ended up being too excessive for its low cost. This change will allow the Hunter’s opponent more time to react to both the Starving Buzzard and the cards drawn by its power.
Expert cards that are being changed can be disenchanted for their full cost for a limited time once this balance change goes live. The currently targeted date of this balance change is September 22nd.
Consensus in the Hearthstone community appears to be that both of these cards needed to be nerfed, but that the Buzzard mana hike is a bit hefty. Should be interesting to watch what happens, though. I’m curious to see how this will affect Hunter decks — and whether they will even keep using the Buzzard at all.
Comments
7 responses to “Blizzard Nerfs Two Popular Hearthstone Cards”
Take that you hunting miracle rouging pieces of shit. Now we can go back and all hate zoo.
Don’t forget those Handlock scumbags too. No more Leeroy + double Power Overwhelming + Faceless Manipulator 20 damage combo.
Buzzard is only for card draw. It had no other purpose. Without it I’ll be out of cards by turn five. =(
Buzzard is to expensive to have in decks now.
Good, been taken out by Miracle Rogue Leeroy too many times with absolutely no way to react. You can see it coming too from the first few rounds and there’s almost nothing you can to to stop it.
Thank god that Leroy is getting nerfed. That card is beyond overpowered simply because of the combo potential and sheer value. Why bother having a ‘drawback’ if it is almost never possible to take advantage of it.
As for buzzard, that’s a really heavy nerf although the buzzard + unleash the hounds always meant hunters had card draw AND moderate clear whenever the board was getting flooded.
Maaaaan I was just getting good at Hearthstone as a hunter now I am boned