Six cards nerfed after HCT Summer Playoff

In the update coming out after the May HCT Playoff, Blizzard will be making balance adjustments to the following cards:

Naga Sea Witch – Will cost 8 mana. (up from 5)

In the previous 9.1 update, Blizzard changed the rules to increase stability in the game system. This change affects Naga Sea Witch directly when Effect: ‘Your cards cast (5)’ is applied to the cards. This allows the combo cost to be reduced on the giants, which in turn leads to their mana cost being easily reduced to 0.

Blizzard thought Hearthstone would be better if there was stability in the game, and ‘Naga Sea Witch Giants’ became the archtype deck in the game (Wild). However, this deck can easily create strong cards on the table that the vast majority of classes cannot match. By increasing Naga Sea Witch to 8 mana cost, the idea of ​​this deck remains the same, but the Naga Sea Witch Giants combo will be delayed until later in the game. Here, the opponent has more tools to confront the giants.

Spiteful Summer – Will cost 7 mana (up from 6)

After the rotation of the Year of the Raven, the Spiteful Summoner became stronger and more stable when used in decks with 10 mana spell cards. That’s because the 10 mana cost minions in Standard have been reduced, so players can summon powerful minions from the effects of the Spiteful Summoner. Even considering sacrificing low spells in order for the Spiteful Summoner to unleash its power, Blizzard believes that increasing the card’s mana cost to 7 will match the power of the minions that are spawned when combined with other cards. high mana cost spell like Ultimate Infestation.

Dark Pact – Restores 4 health (down from 8)

There are two aspects that make Dark Pact strong. With only 1 mana, it can be combined with Carnivorous Cube, Possessed Lackey, and Spiritsinger Umbra to create game-changing combos. It also gives Warlock the healing potential to actively cast Lifetap (Hero Power) and use cards like Kobold Librarian and Hellfire without feeling too concerned. Blizzard won’t touch Dark Pact’s mana cost, as it can still be used to make cool combos, but Dark Pact’s healing will now be less. That forces Warlock to carefully consider how much health he is willing to trade during the match.

Possessed Lackey – Will cost 6 mana (up from 5)

Some combos using Possessed Lackey make the match too difficult for the opponent in the early-mid game. The 6 mana increase will delay the powerful combos generated, giving the opponent a chance to breathe.

Call to Arms – Will cost 5 mana (up from 4)

Currently, there are three popular Paladin decks: Even Paladin, Murloc Paladin, and Odd Paladin. Of these three decks, Even Paladin and Murloc Paladin were the two strongest stable archetypes in the first few weeks since The Witchwood launched. Increasing Call to Arms to 5 mana will limit this card from being used in Even decks and somewhat reduce its power when used in other Murloc and Paladin decks.

Blizzard hopes players will continue to experiment with Call to Arms 5 mana in Odd Paladin decks, but they believe this card won’t have much of an impact. Because Odd Paladin cannot use 2 mana minions (ie Call to Arms can only summon three 1 mana minions if the player uses this card in the deck).

Note: With this change, Blizzard is adjusting the formula for the “Greymane’s Alliance” deck. It will now have two copies of the Saronite Chain Gang to replace Call to Arms.

The Caverns Below – The quest reward, Crystal Core, changed to: For the rest of the game, yours minions are 4/4 (reduced from 5/5)

Deck Quest Rogue easily copes with slow, control and fatigue decks, but struggles with the vast majority of other archetype decks. The line between decks being too strong against ‘very slow’ decks and being too strong against most inactive decks is very clear. By changing the quest reward, the minions turn into 4/4, instead of 5/5, Quest Rogue is still a reasonable choice to play against super slow decks late in the game, but will be less favored when confronting. with mid-range deck controls.

Source: playhearthstone