I for one approve of the new nerfs.
I would have preferred waggle pick nerfed over prep so we keep the classic set how it is, but I understand how prep is a little op. And at least the nerfs are a lot better than the nerfs last year with equality and ramp. Blizzard did not think about those nerfs properly.
Elysiana is a good nerf too. Still good but not insane with a bounce effect.
I still think that druid should be un-nerfed. They are the worst class in the meta atm. Sure, there will always be a worst class but I think the gap between druid and the second worst class is pretty substantial. If the nerfs were to be undone druid would be in a good place on the tier list. Probs tier 2.
And in terms of token druid. It gets worse as every day goes by. I beat a token druid with my heal druid easily the other day!
Excuse me for jumbling all these topics into one post. I can’t be bothered to make separate ones.
Druid is doing okay. Token is a solid Tier 2. Nerfs on ramp were justified. Wild Growth was too flexible. I’d revert Nourish nerf though. Rogue nerfs were fair however.
You guys need to stop bringing that up as an excuse. Classic cards must and should remain generic; promoting niche synergies like Alexstraza or Knife Juggler do, not be auto-included in every deck. Preperation was op. 3 mana Tempo at the start of the game is like cheating a turn.
Overall, im pretty happy with the direction Hearthstone is taking. Devs werent born yesterday, 99% of nerfs that have taken place through Hearthstone’s history are justified. I just wish they were faster. On the other hand, you cant really blame them for that. Data need to be collected before taking any action, you dont wanna act biased and nerf random cards cause people are too lazy to counter the Meta.
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Token Druid is also the only viable Druid deck right now, and it hasn’t changed at all since the start of the expansion, so it’s getting a little stale. I don’t want to get into this again, but the Druid problems were caused by Ultimate Infestation, Spreading Plague and Branching Paths, not the ramp cards.
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While I do understand your reasoning as to why Preparation was a strong tempo card (I mean it was, come on), you also need to realize that many of Rogue’s expensive spells become completely unusable at their cost without the help of Prep. Cards like Sprint, Vanish, Wanted, Academic Espionage, Necrium Vial, Wanted and Unidentified Contract are garbage without Prep, and it would be nice seeing at least some of them being buffed in order to compensate.
I don’t think druid needs un-nerfing to be honest…token druid has barely dropped below 54-55% winrate since day one and un-nerfing some of those cards could potentially give it too much…innervate alone could cause problems in token druids hands. However, I do think SOMETHING needs to be done with druid to make other archetypes more viable. There’s just not enough variety in the meta at the minute. In the upper ranks you are literally just facing token druid, mech hunter, tempo rogue, control warrior. Soon that list will be down to just 3 because at the moment all the other archetypes just don’t have the power to compete with them consistently
Vanish, Academic Espionage, and Unidentified Contract are, in my opinion, still viable without Prep. Vanish is a full board clear for 6 mana. AE for the full 4 mana is indeed very low tempo but there should be a drawback for adding that much value. And UC is like Assassinate but at 1 extra mana and with a bonus effect worth way more than 1 mana.
Wanted! is in my opnion garbage both with and without Prep.
Necrium Vial is garbage in a random deck or most Arena drafts, but can be pretty strong in a deck built around it. For instance, Necrium Vial on a Mechanical Whelp is pretty strong (and possible without Prep if you save or acquire a coin).
Or if you don’t want to depend on a coin, how about using Necrium Vial on Blightnozzle Crawler (for insta-removal of a big minion), or on Weaponized Pinata (for the memes)?
That leaves Sprint as the only card where I agree with you that it needs Prep. So it is probably good that Prep is still available. I don’t think you can make the point that Prep / Sprint for to draw 4 card for 5 (instead of 4) mana is unplayable.
(And the cards that I consider relevant even without Prep obviously also still benefint from a 2-mana discount).
Agreed, AE provides extremely good value just by itself and has, in the past, proved capable of being almost broken if used early with prep and combined with a buffed up spectral blade. Unidentifed Contract, again, is decently valued imo given that its basically a buffed Assassinate for 1 mana cost more, in fact I think rogues were spoiled getting Walk the Plank on top of Assassinate and Sap. Vanish, in another classes hands, I could agree would be almost unusable, but rogue can actually gain incredible value from it’s use by bouncing back combo minions.
Wanted! is indeed garbage, it was garbage when it came out and it will likely be garbage until it rotates out.
Necrium Vial, for me, provides stupid value if used properly. Deathrattle rogue in the last meta was an archetype that I was surprised didn’t get more of a following. It had a high skill cap, but it was very strong if played right.
So all in all I actually agree with the assessment that sprint is really the only card that’s going to be majorly affected by the nerf to Prep, but 4 card draw for 5 mana is still really good value when you compare it to like likes of Arcane Intellect and Nourish
Unidentified Contract is still bad imo, but mostly due to Rogue not being a value-oriented class (the Prep nerf still hurt it though);
Necrium Vial can no longer be used as a Tempo Card, and while your examples are cute, they can only be accomplished by turns 9-10 AND depend on too many variables (saving the coin as a tempo class smh);
Sprint as a 5 mana draw 3 cards provides no tempo whatsoever, and seeing as Rogue has better draw options (Myra’s, Raiding Party is still decent,…), it will likely see even less play.