Power creep: current cards that are way better than cards that were nerfed in the past

Multiplayer Discussion
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Manari Mosher is way better than pre-nerf dark iron dwarf
Jandice Barov is a better than pre-nerf sylvanas
Cram Session is way way way better than pre-nerf Nat Pagle and Novice Engineer combined
Goody Two-Shields and Darkmoon Dirigible are both way better than pre-nerf Argent Commander (also, they make Scarlet Crusader cry)
Il’gynoth OTK is better than the pre-nerf molten giant warsong commander combo

Cairne Bloodhoof, Ysera, and almost every other big legendary used to be good but has been horrible ever since jade druid came out. In the rare instance that a game lasts to turn 9, someone has their infinite damage combo ready and a 4/12 dragon is a joke.

Ragnaros used to be mandatory in every control deck. Now Runaway Blackwing is far stronger than Rag was, yet still horrible in constructed. The power creep is especially bad in the late game.

Should designers care about power creep? IDK. Overall the game seems pretty well balanced except with a variety of good decks. But I have a lot of golden legendaries from back in the day that used to be good but are now completely useless due to power creep.

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you clearly wasnt around for sylvanas then

rag can go face, that is a huge difference

power creep is a natural part of most games that receive frequent updates, if everything always is worse than the original cards then the updates would have 0 effect

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some of those comparisons dont even make sense.

i mean… sylvannas and jandice? What do these two even have in common.

powercreep is when you print a similar but better card. Not print a completly unrelated card without anything to compare it to.

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Runaway Blackwing can also attack.

Powercreep is what sells packs.

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Power creep is certainly a thing. However, your first paragraph is comparing neutrals to class-specific cards, and from the beginning it has often been the case that cards limited to one (or a few) classes may be stronger than neutral cards.

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Both are 5 mana legendaries that almost every deck plays on curve for tempo. Jandice gives you 12/12 of stats for 5 mana. At least people were able to play around Sylvanas’ deathrattle.

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you dont play sylvannas “on curve”… facepalm.

the two cards are completely different, they serve different decks, purpose, and gameplay.

if your comparison is really just “5 cost legendary” i have bad news for you.

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DI Dwarf was neutral, and part of a very effective neutral aggressive package that almost every class could run. It was nerfed to remove that capability as a neutral. Mosher is a class card, and doesn’t have that same risk.

Jandice is nowhere close to as good as Sylvanas.

Rag could hit face, and the difference between 8 and 9 mana is quite large.

While I completely agree that the power level of the game is way higher than it used to be, your choices are exceptionally poor and focus on minor increases in specific cards rather than the state of the game. You’re missing the forest for the trees, to put it simply.

Why not look at cards that generate full boards on turn one, or end the game when played on turn five?

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Yeah some of these comparisons make 0 sense…

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And Blackwing can attack freely while it shoots. Rag just shoots.

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those comparison dont make sense
when people make" power creep" threads they compare similar cards most of those arent even close !

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I did notice one actual power creep in FotB.
Wound Prey
Deal 1 Damage. Summon a 1/1 Hyena with Rush.
Strickly better than
On the Hunt
Deal 1 Damage. Summon 1 1/1 Mastiff.

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The topic has merit, but the examples aren’t the best of examples.

Many cards aren’t “strictly” better, but they may well be better because their most common use is just more efficient and specific than previous cards.

Cram Session is just better than Research Project was for Mage combo decks, if you just have some Spell Damage minions.

Overgrowth is more efficient ramp “gain 2 mana crystals” than Nourish.
Breath of Dreams is better Wild Growth in Druid decks with dragons. (And they nerfed the Classic cards so these expansion ramp cards would be appealing for their Mana cost)

Free Admission is almost like Sense Demons, but with a potential upside if you build your deck around Demons only.

Swindle, Secret Passage, Foxy Fraud, draw you cards more efficiently than Elven Minstrel does.

Nitroboost Poison, while it gives a minion and your weapon +2 attack, +1 less than Tinker’s Sharpsword Oil, it costs 3 mana less, and can target a minion, instead of a random friendly one.
The downside of needing to be Corrupt is somewhat negated by being at 1 mana, and Oil needing Combo.

School Spirits does the same 2 damage AOE as Demonwrath, but also shuffles 4 healing in your deck that has synergy. The “upside” of Demonwrath not damaging your own demons can be had by using Firebreather instead, which also gives you a 4/3.

Sword Eater: 3/2 weapon with 2/5 Taunt, vs Arathi Weaponsmith 2/2 weapon with 3/3.
Better weapon, and the 5 health and Taunt is more valuable than just 1 more attack.

And how about all the Rush minions? Lots of value in that. Doctor Krastinov vs Captain Greenskin, Rush is valuable, and Greenskin was played mostly in Rogue and Warrior to begin with, even though other classes could use it too.

Hand of A’dal is practically better than Potion of Heroism, and Flash of Light, especially for those early game stats. There are small cases where the older spells are better, but you want specific situations/decks for that (eg: Heal Paladin)

All the Librams can be cost-reduced, so while Libram of Justice starts off more expensive than Equality, it can become much better, especially since it comes with a 1/4 weapon.

This makes Libram of Wisdom comparable to Sound the Bells. Not strictly better, but since the Libram can be played across multiple turns and allow each minion to be buffed +1/+1 and traded within the same turn, it is more versatile.

It is a little concerning seeing the Forged in the Barrens cards, it signals a new level of synergistic cards allowing to be more broken because they are less general and more specific to a deck type.

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