Recently, I wrote about the Grim Patron deck and how it was a negative influence on Hearthstone. Well, after much griping from the community, Blizzard did something. Congratulations all, Blizzard finally responded!
Throughout its history, Hearthstone has very rarely had extreme nerfs to cards. Some famous examples include Blood Imp, Starving Buzzard, and Leeroy Jenkins as well as a previous version of Warsong Commander. Each time such an extreme nerf occurred, it killed off a deck that relied around it and was considered overpowered or unbeatable.
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So, what does this new balance change mean for Hearthstone? First off, let’s examine the balance changes. Warsong Commander now gives Charge minions +1 attack while it is on the battlefield instead of giving minions with less than 3 attack Charge when they enter the battlefield. Basically, this turns a keystone of one of the most powerful decks in Hearthstone into a piece of garbage. Was this the right change? Probably not. Warsong Commander could have been changed into a different form that preserved its ability to interact or have received a stat buff with its ability changed instead of become pretty much useless. Once again, Blizzard has killed a deck that is both fun and bad. Bad for meta, but exciting for viewers, much like Miracle Rogue and the old OTK Warrior.
However, the removal of Grim Patron Warrior is not the salvation of Hearthstone meta. Unfortunately, there is still another deck that loves to win unfairly. In fact, StrifeCro pointed out on Twitter that with the death of Grim Patron Warrior decks, Secret Paladin decks are now one of the dominant forces in Hearthstone. Where once the meta was “counter Grim Patron”, now players have less than a month to figure out what the most powerful deck is. Blizzcon should be full of interesting decks from players due to the meta being shaken up this badly so close to Blizzcon. Hopefully, this change is followed by others to fix a deck so powerful that one of its keystones, Mysterious Challenger, who is otherwise known as “Dr. 6”, is nicknamed after Dr. Boom, a card generally thought to be the most powerful Legendary in Hearthstone.
