Blizzard Nerfs Two Popular Hearthstone Cards

Sorry, Hunters and e19 Rogues—Blizzard just announced plans to nerf two of the most powerful Hearthstone cards, which will likely force many of you to drastically change your strategies. Nerf #1 is Leeroy Jenkins, which is one of the most versatile cards in any deck but might be most useful for Miracle Rogues. Jenkins will now cost 5 mana instead of 4. Nerf #2 is Starving Buzzard, one of the Hunter’s cornerstone cards, betdog which will now cost 5 (!) mana instead of 2. It’ll also get a slight attack and health buff, taking it from 2/1 to 3/2. Here’s Blizzard’s explanation: Leeroy Jenkins created a strategy that revolved around trying to defeat your opponent in one turn without requiring any cards on the board. Fighting for board control and battles between minions make an overall game of Hearthstone more fun and compelling, but taking 20+ damage in one turn is not particularly fun or interactive. This was occurring when Leeroy was used in combination with other cards like Power Overwhelming, Faceless Manipulator, Cold Blood, Shadowstep, and Unleash the Hounds, among others. The amount of cards Starving Buzzard allowed Hunter players to draw ultimately ended up being too excessive for its sbfplay low cost. This change will allow the Hunter’s opponent more time to react to both the Starving Buzzard and the cards drawn by its power. Expert cards that are being changed can be disenchanted for their full cost for a limited time once this balance change goes live. The currently targeted date of this balance change is September 22nd. Consensus in the Hearthstone community appears to be that both of these cards needed to be nerfed, but that the Buzzard mana hike is a bit hefty. Should be interesting to watch what happens, though. I’m curious to see how this will affect Hunter decks—and whether they’ll even keep using the Buzzard at all.