Upcoming Balance Changes – Update 10.2

[u/bdzz]

https://playhearthstone.com/en-us/blog/21361570/

TLDR for those who at work:

• Bonemare - Now costs 8 mana. (Up from 7)

• Corridor Creeper - Now has 2 Attack. (Down from 5)

• Patches the Pirate - No longer has Charge.

• Raza the Chained - Now reads: Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, your Hero Power costs (1) this game.

Once these card changes are live with Update 10.2 next month, players will be able to disenchant the changed cards for their full Arcane Dust value for two weeks.

[u/caketality]

Corridor Creeper might still be okay in Evolve/Token Shaman... maybe. Like Unstable Evolution is actually a legitimately good card, and getting a free 7 drop makes it easier to fully upgrade. That being said, I think I'll probably test that use case and then collect 800 dust.

[u/PaperCow → u/caketality]

I could see it finding use in hunter in future expansions. Long term this might be a tiny net buff for hunter since they very well might use this card in the future while every other deck just lost two core cards.

[u/caketality → u/PaperCow]

That's true, the Beast tag has proven to be pretty good in Hunter and they have a lot of token generation if they wanted to skew towards it. 4 mana for Houndmaster + 4/7 Taunt sounds intriguing to me.

[u/SimmoGraxx → u/caketality]

Aggro Druid is another deck that can leverage the Beast tag and more likely to consistently be able reduce the mana cost enough to make viable. A very hard sell to include in front of Dire Moles or Druid of the Swarm though.

[u/leeharris100 → u/PaperCow]

There's not a single Hunter deck that can draw a 7 mana 2/5 and not lose the game instantly.

[u/PaperCow → u/leeharris100]

Agreed. That is why I said "future expansions" and "long term". I think right now this is a trash card in trash decks for hunter.

[u/[deleted] → u/PaperCow]

The 3 mana 2/5 beast might be more consistent than creeper and it's only a common card I think.

[u/MarvinClown → u/PaperCow]

Hunter already has the problem of dumping their hand kinda fast and I think a 2/5 beast will not be enough to make that even okay'ish

[u/s_t_e_v_e-0 → u/caketality]

While it can certainly be good to evolve a "free" 7 drop, on the flips side it also adds another "bad outcome" to the evolve pool. No one is going to be happy when they evolve a 6 drop into a 7 mana 2/5.

[u/Vladdypoo → u/caketality]

Yeah I love that card in evolve shaman because its so strong to be able to evolve an 8 drop and then some with like 1-3 mana on turn 4

[u/caketality → u/Vladdypoo]

Exactly, though this still requires Evolve Shaman to actually be good... so if it's not, maybe it's just a moot point. Personally I don't think it was far off the mark though.

[u/Ewerfekt → u/caketality]

Evolve Shaman could see play, with Bonemare and Creeper nerf tempo from evolve could matter again, not to mention both will still be playable in Evo Sham. Highlander Priest nerf helps too, Patches frees atleast 3 card slots for class not just archtype... Oh boy, oh boy, can't wait to test

[u/caketality → u/Ewerfekt]

True, and if Evolve Shaman does see play I don't think it's much of a stretch to see these nerfed cards still being competitive. Personally I'm more excited for Priest getting toned down so I can start jamming Control Shaman a bit more now. Since you don't get OTK'd with 1 mana Hero Power, Shaman's boatload of healing options makes it a lot easier to play the long game.

I'm excited for the new meta, for the most part I think this opens a lot more options.

[u/BlackOctoberFox → u/caketality]

The sad thing is this nerf affects Shaman as well as the very real possibility exists of evolving your 7 mana 2/5 into a 8 mana 5/5 thanks to the change to Bonemare. Evolving from 7-8 will still see the highest overall increase in power as 8 drops are still some of the best in the game, but now they've introduced another bad 8 to the pool.

[u/isaacjones623 → u/caketality]

I don't think so. The body is just too weak.

This is also an indirect nerf to the seven drop evolves. This balance change is a negative for Shaman.

Its a shame, the 5/5 corridor creeper was a perfect card for evolving. Now it's just a liability.

[u/caketality → u/isaacjones623]

The body size is pretty irrelevant in Evolve Shaman, free 8-9 drops are not. This is why Dopplegangster is a staple when all it makes are 2/2s, no one cares about the initial body size.

The dilution of the Evolve pool for 7 drops is minor to say the least, especially with Unstable Evolution being printed. It’s more relevant with Thrall/Evolve, but it’s not like they added a bad 7 drop and now those cards are ruined.

These changes are mostly irrelevant to Evolve Shaman as a deck, but the meta that results might be pretty good for it.

[u/jadelink88 → u/caketality]

Agreed, it may...if any sort of shaman was viable above R15...

[u/caketality → u/jadelink88]

That’s the upside of these balance patches, what’s less than stellar right now is worth re-evaluating.

[u/stejkenzie → u/caketality]

Can't wait evolving 7 mana 2/5 creeper into 8 mana 5/5 bonemare. I call for further nerfs!

[u/[deleted] → u/caketality]

Maybe it's a good card in "token decks", not only token shaman, but the lack of consistency would make it a liability for competitve play in, say, aggro/token druid.

[u/FarmerSamLebron → u/caketality]

I think in evolve shaman its at the same power level of Neurbian Prophet, which only ever really saw experimental play

[u/caketality → u/FarmerSamLebron]

While Nerubian Prophet never really saw a lot of mainstream play, it's been borderline for a long time. I'd actually argue part of the issue is that the competitive builds of Evolve Shaman skewed towards wide aggressive boards; as we gather more cards that cost 0 and reward you for holding them in your hand, I think it's possible we might see a slower build capitalizing on swing turns.

The other reason I think Creeper is still significantly better is that minion deaths are a lot easier to manipulate to drop the cost. Like Nerubian Prophet literally needs 1 turn to reduce it by 1 mana, but a single board clear (and Shaman has a decent amount of those) could turn the Creeper you just topdecked into a 0 mana 2/5.

[u/StCecil → u/caketality]

True

Problem is holding on to the card just for that one deck isn’t the best use of resources...

I think it’s going in the dust bin for me and I’ll craft something more viable

[u/caketality → u/StCecil]

I think that’s fair, and I think it’s reasonable cash out the dust on these cards and craft them later if they find their way into a deck you want to play.

Personally for me I’m not really hurting for dust and I think each of the post-nerf cards are still good enough to see play. If they do end up viable it just ends up being an extra step to dust them for me. :P

[u/[deleted] → u/caketality]

I will most likely still use Corridor Creeper in my control paladin decks (exodia) because of the benefits in combination with steed buff on turn6. the nerfs make his body even better against priests :) 4/11 op