Galakrond Shaman: Fastest nerf analysis in Hearthstone history

We’ve just seen the fastest nerf in Hearthstone history: four of the Galakrond Shaman decks (3 Shaman and 1 Neutral) have been tweaked, but will this change be enough to change the meta? And why has this deck emerged to dominate the meta right after the Descent of Dragons expansion? Let’s find us.

How Galakrond Shaman ruined the meta

Before getting to the effects of nerfing cards in Galakrond Shaman, let’s first analyze why this deck is so superior and therefore offers an unhinged experience to non-Shaman opponents. . Starting with the Quest card from Uldum, Hero Power after completing the Quest helps Quest Shaman easily defeat heavy Control decks including Warrior, a deck that mainly clears the table and drains the opponent’s resources rather than occupying the table.

In theory, a pretty good way to deal with big “cheat” decks in the mid to late game, is to play an Aggro deck and try to finish them off as soon as possible. However, the reality of Shaman’s resources is effective enough to stand even in this very difficult bet. The Quest Shaman version has several cards that can clear the table like Sandstorm Elemental nice Mind Control Techand we’ll have to wait and see if this deck makes the meta as annoying as it used to be.

In the case of Galakrond Shaman, the Rush effect from Galakrond’s Hero Power when Invoke made the problem even worse, the Elementals 2/1 Rush can punch anything their opponents play. Also, combos Mogu Fleshshaper + Mutate can quickly end a good match Faceless Corruptor easily eliminate the opponent’s minions. And if that wasn’t enough, 2 wolves 5/6 words Dragon’s Pack will cause many Aggro opponents to immediately surrender.

Rush mechanics have gradually replaced Charge over time, the reason being that the design team wanted to work towards minions fighting for goals instead of punching faces. However, the price of a Rush minion from effects to stats is decreasing day by day: from Swift Messenger and Muck Hunter next Dragonmaw Poacher and Faceless Corruptorresulting in Galakrond Shaman being able to play up to 6 draw cards (Novice Engineer, Far Sight and Mana Tide Totem), though not a combo deck. The aforementioned Neutral clearing cards will gradually make Tempo decks less efficient and allow decks to become more greedy (ie, being able to use more draw cards or value creation cards).

It’s also worth noting that a deck that doesn’t really care about the table can also be used against decks like Galakrond Shaman, and it’s not surprising that Holy Wrath Paladin is another solution for dealing with Shaman. However, Shaman can also have some healing cards, for example Lifedrinkers or similar, and Galakrond Shaman is even capable of exerting tremendous pressure that makes combo decks extremely hard to resist to have any hope of a combo.

Plus, strong Midrange Shaman decks have always produced terrible and boring metas in the past: Midrange Shaman in the Karazhan era, or more recently Evolve Shaman in the Doom in the Tomb event. It’s not surprising that the design team immediately made changes to limit the power of a class that similar decks of that class have seriously damaged the meta.

In short, nerfing Galakrond Shaman makes perfect sense for the above reasons, and the design team did not hesitate to do it right in the second week of Descent of Dragons. We do not yet know how this change will change the meta, but for the time being, we can consider that we have returned to the starting point of this expansion and the meta will change a lot in the near future. One thing that cannot be changed is that the first two weeks of Standard were a waste of time and even negative emotions for many players.

How Nerf Affects Galakrond Shaman

And now we’ll talk about the nerfed cards. Based on the factors discussed above, it’s not surprising that these cards are nerfed in order to reduce Shaman’s ability to take the table.

CORRUPT ELEMENTALIST: UP TO 6 MANA FROM 5 MANA

This nerf card slows Galakrond Shaman significantly. Shaman needs more time to make two good 2/1 Rush Dragon’s Pack as well as slow down the Galakrond upgrade. Like the other card changes, nerfing this minion to 6 mana doesn’t cause it to die completely (it even has a slightly better interaction with Mutate), which makes this deck weaker, giving other decks a chance to appear in the meta.

SLUDGE SLURPER: DOWN 1 ATTACK FROM 2 ATTACK

This is a big change and makes a lot of sense. We all know Sludge Slurper will be a very powerful minion for nearly every Shaman deck, and the truth is that all Shaman decks use this Murloc. It interacts well with Overload, speeds up Quests, interacts with other Murlocs, and can affect the table directly if Lackey likes it. This minion’s aforementioned roles will remain unchanged, but it will be weaker early game, and that makes this change effective.

FACELESS CORRUPTOR: OFF 4 ATTACK FROM 5 ATTACK

Reducing from 5 to 4 attack is an important change for cards of this type, eg Darius Crowley. This card will most likely still be available in fast decks because of its ability to utilize leftover tokens to buff/trade. Like the two cards above, a nerf 1 attack doesn’t make this minion completely useless, but it’s probably enough to make it more balanced.

MOGU FLESHSHAPER: UP TO 9 MANA FROM 7 MANA

With this change, the Mogu + Mutate combo becomes much more difficult, requires the opponent to have a larger table and also causes Shaman to spend more mana to make the combo. Pretty sure many Shaman decks will choose to drop this combo to add value or add other cards to occupy the table, especially the Rush Neutral cards.

The meta is going to change a lot over the next few weeks and we can expect this expansion’s meta to become much more engaging.

According to Hearthstonetopdecks