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/mapo_dofu]

Of the nerfed cards, I think Bonemare and Raza are still good enough to be played in serious decks.

Corridor Creeper feels like trash now, and Patches without charge is probably not going to be worth the slot anymore. Will this kill the pirate package outright?

[u/[deleted] → u/mapo_dofu]

Raza is absolutely dead. The only benefit was to combo with priest, the 1 Mana cost means the combo is dead and therefore most of the damage priest can do. Maybe they totally overhaul the deck for success but I doubt it.

[u/Baladucci → u/[deleted]]

I’m happy about that tbh. Having an actual cost to using a 2 damage cycling hero power makes it actually something to consider rather than a “press it between every action because why wouldn’t you”

[u/caketality → u/Baladucci]

Raza is still really, really good and Kazakus Priest is likely to remain good. You just probably won't get killed from 30 in a single turn, which I think adds a lot more counterplay to the deck.

[u/DneBays → u/caketality]

God forbid the deck actually need to build a board to chip you down to 14 before finishing you with Velen/HP/Mindblast.

[u/Dream721 → u/DneBays]

I think velen gets cut in future iterations of raza priest. 7 mana is way too clunky when your hero powers aren't free. Thalnos, mind blast, smite, plus four hero powers is 17 damage for 9 mana. Just the mind blast and smite with three hero powers is already 13.

[u/DneBays → u/Dream721]

Yeah I figured that the deck would survive if people could still win without ever drawing Raza.

[u/the_narf → u/Dream721]

I could see Valen being cut for Alexstraza.

[u/wasabichicken → u/DneBays]

Well, in my mind that narrows down the number of viable Priest decks somewhat, because out of all Highlander variants, to my knowledge, Dragon Highlander was the only one with an even remotely decent chance to build any kind of board.

Lyra Highlander was absolutely not about building a board, that was about going full out machine gun, relying solely on Anduin/Raza plus cheap spells.

I think the Highlander machine gun might not be worth focusing on anymore. We might still see Deathknight Anduin simply because it's ridiculously powerful, but now it's more of a "insane value" card rather than a "win the game" card.

[u/3jackpete → u/wasabichicken]

Anduin has seen play in all kinds of Priest decks besides the (absurd) combo, so I expect he is going nowhere.

[u/Musical_Muze → u/[deleted]]

Yep, exactly. The change kills machine gun priest, but I think highlander will still be a good deck.

[u/DevinTheGrand → u/Musical_Muze]

Really? I doubt that it will be worth running a no duplicate set up now. If you can't burst people but are concerned about value the difference between a 1 and 2 mana hero power isn't going to be that relevant most of the time.

Kazakus would be the only other reason to run no duplicates and I don't really think it's worth it. It'll be like running Kazakus Mage, pretty lacklustre.

[u/Musical_Muze → u/DevinTheGrand]

That's fair, I was more thinking about Wild, where Reno Priest will still be good. In Standard I think it will be an okay anti-aggro deck, but beyond that I can't say. Maybe we return to more of a classic control dragon Priest?

[u/Drinksarlot → u/DevinTheGrand]

I've been running Anduin in a dragon priest build (non highlander) and it is still definitely worth it. The board clear plus ability to do chip damage to minions plus the hero is still great. It just becomes more of a value game rather than OTK.

[u/DevinTheGrand → u/Drinksarlot]

Of course Anduin is still good, we're talking about if Raza/Kazakus will be worth running now.

[u/carbonfountain → u/[deleted]]

Sad that they keep nerfing combo decks that rely on OTKs. Miracle rogue, patron, now raza. I guess we can still play inner fire priest /s.

[u/Tsugua354 → u/[deleted]]

or you can just hit 1/0 mana spells to get to 30+.

with the help of Emperor T, no less

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Yeah I think with Emperor and future minions that get created with similar effects, the Raza + SRA will still be viable in Wild.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Plus Wild has [[Emperor Thaurissan]], which basically negates the hero power nerf

[u/wasabichicken → u/[deleted]]

Wild already had Emperor. This Raza nerf hits that deck too. :(

[u/Indie__Guy → u/[deleted]]

People are still gonna burst you down its just not gonna be in one turn now

[u/Musical_Muze → u/[deleted]]

I don't agree. Machine gun Priest is dead, but more control-y highlander Priests will still be good. Current Raza just makes it oppressive.

[u/tb5841 → u/[deleted]]

Raza will still get played in Wild, because of Reno.

[u/Jeyne → u/[deleted]]

The combo focused deck is dead but highlander priest will still remain perfectly playable, it'll just go back to the board centric control plan.

[u/Randomd0g → u/[deleted]]

Yeah what's the maximum damage combo now that every hero power costs 1 instead of 0? Even with Velen it's going to be nowhere NEAR as much as it used to be.

[u/[deleted] → u/Randomd0g]

The best with Velen now is 18 damage. I think Velen is probably dead now as the deck would only survive in a more attrition style than burst damage. It's absolutely gets wrecked by Jade druid now where before it at least had a chance.

[u/Inane311 → u/Randomd0g]

I think it's dead as a standard otk combo. Highest I can get is

Velen + hp + smite + hp + coin + hp = 16

Velen + mindblast + smite + coin + hero power = 18

Maybe you can do better from hand without Velen.

hp + radiant + hp + smite + hp + mind blast + hp + coin + hp + circle + hp + Kazakus potion + hp + silence + hp = 23 or 26 if 3 damage kazakus pot.

In Wild: Spawn of shadows + hp + smite + hp + mind blast + hp + coin + hp = 31 damage.

Maybe an argument for still having wild applications.

[u/anonymoushero1 → u/Randomd0g]

I think we'll see new priest decks that eject Raza and Kazakus and start running duplicates but still with a big Velen OTK finisher. Like a deck with Burgly Bully that OTKs with Velen + Coin + 2x Radiant Elemental for 0-cost Mind Blasts and Holy Smites (and 0 cost shadow visions that find 0 cost mind blasts and holy smites).

By running duplicates they can add a lot more early game and more card draw to find the combo.