https://outof.cards/hearthstone/4600-updated-hearthstone-rolls-out-patch-2301-hotfixes-for-pandaren-importer-diamond-loatheb-achievement-battlegrounds-duels-plus-more
Quote From Blizzard
Patch 23.0.1 is a server-side hotfix, deploying right now. The patch includes balance changes to Battlegrounds and Duels, a pre-emptive balance change for Standard, and bug fixes.
Balance Changes:
- In order to prevent an unintended interaction after Standard rotation, Pandaren Importer is changing from a 2-mana 1/3 to a 3-mana 2/4. Because this is a server-side patch, Pandaren Importer will appear as though its stats have been affected by an in-game effect. This will be updated in an upcoming patch. Because of this change, regular copies of Pandaren Importer will be able to be disenchanted for their full dust value until April 20 at 10 a.m. Pacific. (Golden copies of Pandaren Importer are not craftable because they were on the United in Stormwind rewards track).
- Sub Scrubber (Ini Stormcoil’s Buddy) has been moved from Tavern Tier 2, to Tavern Tier 4. Because this is a server-side hotfix, the Tavern Tier will not appear correctly at hero selection or when hovering over the Buddy Meter. This will be updated in a later full patch.
- Varden Dawngrasp and Ini Stormcoil have been moved from Armor Tier 2 (2-5 Armor) to Armor Tier 1 (0 Armor).
- Wildfire and Malygos are banned from deck creation in Duels.
- The Legendary Loot and Unstable Magic Passive Treasures were moved to the Ultra Rare Pool 2.
Quote From Gallon
Brian Kibler: Importer is one of my favorite cards and I’m super sad it’s what is getting nerfed as a result of this.
Think the team agrees. This is an unfortunate interaction that we wanted to fix before launch, which meant we had to nerf an otherwise totally fine card. Once there are enough spells in Rogue where you aren’t guaranteed a shadowstep, I think it’s highly likely the nerfs reverted.
Quote From DeckTech
It was important to the team to move on this quickly, before the set went live. That limited the options–updating functionality under the hood requires code changes, updating card text and functionality requires code changes and localization.
How doable was increasing the cost of shadowstep instead?
I wasn’t in those talks, but I would expect it was one of the options considered. But the Core Set was built with the entire year in mind, whereas importer was a fringe playable card, so I’m not surprised it didn’t win out.