This is probably the worst expansion launch since Ashes of Outland, the meta feels miserable with aggro and scam decks dominating and not leaving barely any room for experimentation. And just like in AoO, we need an emergency patch in the next few days, not the usual 1-2 wèeks time. This time not only 2 new decks are broken (Murloc Paladin and Loh Druid) but almost all of the new cards are unplayable and will remain so even if those 2 are nerfed so the usual approach of nerfs first and buffs later won’t cut it, we’d just go back to last meta. The devs need to throw in a lot of buffs as well.
First of all they should implement some general rules:
- limit armor gain to 30
- limit HP max to 60
- make it so minions don’t resurrect dormant
- Stealth only lasts 1 turn
The high-priority nerfs (ASAP):
Ravenous Felhunter/Felbat - resurect 2 different minions
Loh, the Living Legend - 8-mana, “your minions that cost (12) or less cost (5).”
Colossus - instead of twice add "repeat on all enemy minions "
Dive the Golakka Depths - “Murlocs you summon gain +1 attack.”
Dragonscale Armaments - 2-mana
Flickering Lightbot - 3-mana, costs (1) less for each turn you’ve cast a Holy spell this game.
Arkonite Defense Crystal - instead of Deathrattle, “Battlecry: gain 4 armor. Also triggers on Launch.”
Also I wouldn’t mind nerfs down the line to some other over-the-top cards like:
Brittlebone Buccaneer - 2/3
Infested Breath - 3-mana 3-damage
Ballhog - 2/3
Dreamwarden - “…gain +1/+1”
Spirit of the Kaldorei - “…gain +2/+2”
Dreambound Disciple - hero power costs (1)
Preparation - reduce the next three spells you cast this turn by (1)
Shadowstep - 1-mana, reduce cost by (3)
Menagerie Jug - 4/4, buff 3 minions by +2/+2
Add in some reverts to nerfed cards that wouldn’t be as problematic today:
Umpire’s Grasp - 3-mana, reduce cost by (1)
Surfalopod
Party Fiend
Shaladrassil - 7-mana “after you’ve played…” (uncorrupted by Ursol), but Dream costs 1
Buffs :
From the Year of the Raptor:
The only quests I’d buff for now are the DK and Shaman ones since I think they’re the hardest to complete. The others didn’t feel as weak when I tried them, except maybe for Rogue but that one is due to the lack of support so I’d try buffing other cards from the set first.
Reanimate the Terror - 14 corpses, -1 blood rune
Paleomancy - 2-mana
Alara’shi - 3-mana 3/3
Bugsquasher - 3-mana 4/3
Entomologist Toru - 7-mana
Forbidden Shrine - “Spend all your mana, gain a random spell of that cost. It costs 0.”
Q’onzu - 2-mana 2/3
Vault Breaker - 2-mana 1/3
Titanographer Osk - “Battlecry: Discover and cast a ** Titan** ability.”
Merchant of Legend - “Legendary from another class.”
Ambush Predators - 2-mana
Eyes in the Sky - “…then shuffle copies of the other 2 into your deck”.
Renferal the Malignant - starts at 2 cards
Opu the Unseen - 5-mana
Spirit of the Mountain - 6 minion types
Typhoon - 8-mana
Sleep Paralysis - 4-mana, 3/5 demons
Whispering Stone - 0/10
Deathrot Maw - 3/8
Hungering Ancient - 7-mana 5/6
Story of Sulfuras - 4-mana
From the Year of the Pegasus:
Travel Security - 3/3
All Terrain Voidhound - 6/11
Magtheridon - 7-mana
Cruise Captain Lora - 6-mana
Gorm the Worldeater - dormant for 4 turns
Furious Fowls - 5-mana 3/2
Exarc Hataaru - 4-mana 4/4
Wind-up Enforcer - 4/7 taunt
Power Spike - 5-mana, add “(or in your hand if you have no minions)”
Pipsi - 8/4
Envoy of Prosperity - 4/5
Anchorite - 2/5
Chalk Artist - 3-mana
Mystified To’cha - we all had a laugh at the 42 meme, now it’s time to rework it into an usable card
Delayed Product - 3-mana
Sensory Deprivation - 5-mana
Petty Theft - 1-mana
Dust Bunny - 2-mana 2/2
Agency Espionage - 3-mana
Robocaller - starts at random numbers
Goldbeard - pirate doesn’t die
Caress, Cabaret Star - 4-mana 4/4
Planetary Navigator - overload (1)
Gamemaster Nemsy - 4/6
Line Cook - 2/5
Fireworker - 7/5
Botface - 8-mana
Safety Expert - 9-mana
Replicator-Inator - 4-mana 4/4
From the Core Set:
Aldrachi Warblades - revert
Deadly Shot - 2-mana
Fal’dorei Strider - 3-mana 3/3
Hench-Clan Burglar - 3-mana 3/3