The latest Hearthstone update nerfs popular decks in the hopes to improve the balance of the digital trading card game. The update released a little earlier than expected and changes some of the cards, which has had major repercussions for a few powerful decks.
PC Gamer explained how the five cards impacted by the balance improvements will specifically affect players who enjoy Druids, Paladins, Shamans, and Rogues.
Druids will need to rethink their use of Wild Growth and Nourish cards as they have had their mana costs increased by one. This means the new cards will now cost three and six mana respectively as Blizzard believed they were too strong and were becoming overused and boring. A lot of Druid decks focus on bringing in more mana early to the game and in this case, these cards are still viable. If, however, you have a deck that goes for speed, you may need to find some substitutes.
It’s not a card that you see too often but Level Up is also going to cost one additional mana. This will make it a little bit harder for some Paladin decks to flood the board with minions, making them a bit easier to deal with, especially for slower decks.
The Hearthstone update nerfs The Saronite Chain Gang as well, which has had its army creating abilities reduced. This card’s Battlecry is now more deliberately worded to summon that specific creature again rather than a copy of it. This means that cards that copy its ability like Shudderwock will still only summon Saronite Chain Gang and not an extra Shudderwock.
Rogue’s Leeching Poison had its mana cost reduced. It’s still been nerfed, however, by no longer bestowing permanent Lifesteal onto your weapon. You still get the ability for one turn but that’s it. Blizzard believes this fits more in with what a Rogue deck should be and was simply far too strong before.
