Yesterday's announcement that Blizzard will be nerfing three Rogue cards plus Archivist Elysiana led to the inevitable online clapback: "Hey, how about you try buffing some cards instead?" But of those people complaining, I think literally nobody expected buffs to actually ever happen. But here we are, just a day later, and that is exactly what is happening. Yep, for the first time since (we think) the game left beta, Blizzard is actually making some bad cards better. What a time to be alive.
The changes will come as part of Hearthstone's Rise of the Mech event, which gears up on June 3. Additionally, the event will see the arrival of a brand new neutral legendary mech, SN1P-SN4P—let's just call it Snip-Snap for now—of which all players will get a free golden copy. As for the buffs, each class will see improvements made to two cards from The Boomsday Project expansion. Note that these will be permanent changes, so will persist after the event ends.
"For this update, we decided to take two The Boomsday Project cards from each class give them a little power boost," said the design team in a blog post. "Since we think all the chosen cards can lead to fun and interesting experiences, we think these changes will make you think differently about how you’re currently building decks. Our hope is that some of these updated cards will show up consistently until the next set rotation, while others inspire completely new decks without having a lasting negative impact on their respective classes. If the goal of a balance update is to address metagame outliers, the goal of the Rise of the Mech update is to inspire some new fun ideas."
You can check out the changes below, but it's safe to say there are some interesting stuff here—like slashing 2-Mana off the Mage's Luna's Pocket Galaxy. I do wonder whether enhancing two Warrior Mechs—which are already great discoveries off the Dr Boom, Mad Genius Discovery Drone hero power—is a wise idea, but again, here we are. Generally, it's going to be super interesting to see how this plays out. We've long advocated for the release of mid-expansion content, and buffing cards is a relatively easy way of injecting new life into the meta. More of this please.
Druid
- Gloop Sprayer to (7) Mana. (Down from 8)
- Mulchmuncher to (9) Mana. (Down from 10)
Hunter
- Necromechanic to (4) Mana. (Down from 5)
- Flark's Boom-Zooka to (7) Mana. (Down from 8)
Mage
- Unexpected Results to (3) Mana. (Down from 4)
- Luna’s Pocket Galaxy to (5) Mana. (Down from 7)
Paladin
- Crystology to (1) Mana. (Down from 2)
- Glowstone Technician to (5) Mana. (Down from 6)
Priest
- Extra Arms to (2) Mana. (Down from 3)
- Cloning Device to (1) Mana. (Down from 2)
Rogue
- Pogo-Hopper to (1) Mana. (Down from 2)
- Violet Haze to (2) Mana. (Down from 3)
Shaman
- The Storm Bringer to (6) Mana. (Down from 7)
- Thunderhead to 3/6/ (Up from 3/5)
Warlock
- Spirit Bomb to (1) Mana. (Down from 2)
- Dr. Morrigan to (6) Mana. (Down from 8)
Warrior
- Security Rover to 2/6 stats. (Up from 2/5)
- Beryllium Nullifier to 4/8 stats. (Up from 3/8)
The new card, Snip-Snap, will be added to your collection if you log in between June 3 and July 1. If you miss the event, you'll still be able to craft a normal version of Snip-Snap for 1600 Dust, but you'll hate yourself for doing so. Please also note that the golden Snip-Snap will be soulbound, meaning you can't just disenchant for dust. You monsters. And honestly, why would you want to. With the Magnetic and Echo keyword, this is flexible minion that can potentially generate big buffs in the late. It's definitely going to see play in Mech Hunter, Paladin, and probably most Warrior builds.
Finally, there's a new Arena season, with a new set of expansions entering rotation from June 3. Here's what you'll be drafting from:
- Classic
- Basic
- Goblins vs. Gnomes
- The Grand Tournament
- Karazhan
- The Boomsday Project
- Rise of the Shadows
To see all the card changes in action, as well as Snip-Snap's first outing, check out the Mech-vitational event on June 3-4 via twitch.tv/playhearthstone.
