hearthstone 10 New Cards, Vanish & Mind Blast to Hall of Fame

[Zadina 923]

In the next major update, new cards will be added to Classic card packs while two old favourites are going away.

With many cards being added to the Hall of Fame during the years, there were gaps in the Basic and Classic sets. Blizzard has announced today their replacements and went on a lengthy explanation on class identity.

Eight replacements were needed for the Classic set: 5 Neutral cards and for Warlock, Druid and Paladin.

Blizzard Entertainment

We’re always assessing the prominence and impact of cards from every set, including Basic and Classic, and will continue to make changes when we believe it makes for a healthier meta-game and a better experience for players. This may come in the form of additions to the Hall of Fame or with the introduction of new cards that we feel bring some fresh new options to players, while still being healthy for the game.

When moving Classic cards to the Hall of Fame, we always look to introduce new cards to this set in order to keep a healthy amount of easily-obtainable cards available to players in Standard format games.

Here are the cards:

Blizzard Entertainment

Since these are Basic and Classic cards (and so not subject to set rotation), we want to be careful with their power level so that Hearthstone can continue to feel fresh with each new year. At the same time, we’d like to provide effects that are natural for their class and can be useful in the right circumstances.

With this update, Team 5 has decided to add two more cards to the Hall of Fame and introduce their replacements. If you've been paying attention to recent interviews and news, you won't be surprised to learn that Mind Blast and Vanish are going away.

Here is Blizzard's reasoning on why these cards are rotating out of Standard:

Blizzard Entertainment

While we like Rogues’ knack for getting out of sticky situations with targeted removal,

Vanish allows them to effectively clear an entire board. This negates one of their intended weaknesses, reduces our ability to design towards their strengths, and makes it much harder for players to strategize against a Rogue.

Mind Blast gives Priests the ability to inflict a large amount of direct Face damage. We want to limit the amount of damage that Priests are able to deal from their hand, which will allow us to make cards that better emphasize their strengths in controlling the game.

And here are their two replacements:

Blizzard Entertainment

For Priests, we’ve added Radiance since we wanted to have a low-cost spell that could be used for tricky spell synergies that also provided a powerful baseline heal for the class.  Plaguebringer provides Rogues with another way to destroy minions and further establishes this class as the masters of Poison.

All the new cards will be available through crafting and/or Classic card packs.

The blog post also contains a lengthy introduction on class identity and a breakdown of each class's strengths, limitations and weaknesses. It's a very interesting read:

Blizzard Entertainment

Establishing Class Identity

When defining a class’s identity, we’re primarily concerned with staying true to the following three guidelines: adhere to a class’s “fantasy”, define the things the class should excel at, and establish where the class should struggle.

When looking at the fantasy of each class we want to capture the emotion of the class through gameplay. That could mean charging headfirst into battle as a Warrior, wielding devastating magical spells as a Mage, or plotting the perfect combination of moves as a Rogue. Once we know what makes a class tick, we can make better decisions about what cards fit and empower that fantasy.

Establishing stronger class identities serves several purposes.  Giving classes better defined characteristics allows us to have more freedom when creating new mechanics. We can push further into the extremes knowing that each class has downsides to balance out new power. It also enables more counter-play when there is a clearer understanding of a class’s strengths and weaknesses. For example, the knowledge that a Druid is weak against big minions lets you start planning your strategy from the start of the match, with little to no knowledge of your opponent’s specific deck.

Class Breakdown

Here’s a brief look into how we currently picture each of the classes:

• Strengths: These are the things that a class focuses on and excels at.
• Limitations: These are aspects that might show up a few times in a class, but they are very limited in power level and the number of cards.
• Weaknesses: These are aspects that a class either doesn’t have or struggles to achieve effectively.

Druid: Attuned with nature, Druids rely on the magic of the wild, massive beasts, and swarms of woodland creatures. Their toolbox allows them the versatility to pivot from defense to aggression. However, they have limited ways to directly clear out enemy minions.

• Strengths: Mana generation, giant minions, minion swarms, card draw, Beasts
• Weaknesses: Destroying big minions, board clear

Hunter: Hunters use their wit, ferocity, and an army of beasts fighting alongside them to destroy their competition. Although they lack in defense, their aggression allows them to push through before they need it. A well-timed Secret or Deathrattle can help them gain clutch advantages against their opponent.

• Strengths: Beasts, face damage, Secrets, Deathrattle
• Limitations: Card draw and generation, board clear, Taunt
• Weaknesses: Healing

Mage: Mages have mastered the arcane arts and use their wide range of spells to take on even the most aggressive of opponents. Their defensive cadre is limited—while a good Mage usually has a useful tool to deal with any situation, a great Mage conjures the right tool when they need it.

• Strengths: Spells (big and small), damage spells, Secrets, board clear
• Limitations: Minion swarms
• Weaknesses: Healing, Taunt, minion buffs

Paladin: Paladins are great champions who support their minions with buffs, healing, and divine shields; however, they are not afraid to get their hands dirty when the time comes. They are methodical, controlling the battlefield through debuffs and focused attacks instead of destructive spells. Strength and persistence are the keys to a Paladin’s victory.

• Strengths: Minion swarms, minion buffs and debuffs, healing, Divine Shield, Secrets
• Limitations: Cost reduction
• Weaknesses: Direct damage spells, destroying big minions

Priest: Priests balance holy light and shadow magic to defeat their opponents. They control a battle’s outcome using powerful spells with situational applications. While not the most aggressive, they are able to generate, copy, and use combinations of cards to create a powerful army.

• Strengths: Healing, narrow but powerful spells, copying, single-minion buffs, Deathrattle
• Limitations: Card draw
• Weaknesses: Face damage spells, multi-minion buffs

Rogue: Rogues hide in the shadows, planning for the perfect time to strike. They may be sneaky and nimble, but they lack strong defenses and regeneration, forcing them to act quickly to incapacitate an opponent. Their innate ability to generate, draw, and burgle cards allows them to build up and execute on many synergies.

• Strengths: Combo cards, destroying individual minions, card draw, weapons, Deathrattle
• Weaknesses: Taunt, healing, board clear, multi-minion buffs

Shaman: Shamans wield the power of the elements along with their trusty totems. While they may not be able to generate resources as quickly as a Mage, they are able to overload their Mana Crystals with lightning, allowing them to ramp up for a burst of power faster than other classes. Shamans are thus rewarded for planning a few turns ahead by tuning their mana curve. Shamans also have strong tools to adapt to many situations. Although they are not as versatile as a Druid’s Choose One cards, they are able to extend their capabilities in ways other classes might not be able to.

• Strengths: Minion swarms, damage spells, Totems, Elementals, Murlocs
• Weaknesses: Card draw, card generation

Warlock: Sometimes sacrifices need to be made for power, and when you get demons involved this is often the case. The Warlock is comfortable with this bond and can manage all their resources (including their Health) in order to defeat their opponent. Their inherent ability to draw cards—with a sacrifice—allows them to keep the power flowing.

• Strengths: Powerful sacrifice effects, card draw, minion swarms, disruption, Demons
• Weaknesses: Face damage spells, big healing

Warrior: Warriors thirst for the battlefield. Primarily a martial class, they incorporate Armor, weapons, and minions to destroy their opponents. The minions who fight alongside each Warrior tend to be bigger and stronger, and they employ Rush and Taunt to control the flow of battle.

• Strengths: Armor, weapons, Taunt, destroying minions
• Limitations: Card draw and generation
• Weaknesses: Face damage spells, multi-minion buffs, minion swarms

Neutral: Neutral cards allow classes to extend their strengths to reach a specific goal with their deck or to make up for some of their weaknesses. For example, a Paladin can add Neutral Murlocs to help them round out their deck, or a Hunter may use a Neutral card that gives them a small amount of healing so they can stay in the fight longer. These cards are generally lower in power level so a class can never completely overcome their weaknesses.

(source)

[Monlyth 75]

I'm glad that they're giving us a solid definition of what they think each class' identity should be. I think it'll help with discussions about whether or not a deck is problematic, how it should be addressed when a class is too strong or too weak in the meta, and allow people to easily identify when a class has strayed too far from its core identity.

[SirSlapzAlot 28]

6 hours ago, Monlyth said:

I'm glad that they're giving us a solid definition of what they think each class' identity should be. I think it'll help with discussions about whether or not a deck is problematic, how it should be addressed when a class is too strong or too weak in the meta, and allow people to easily identify when a class has strayed too far from its core identity.

Im very sad about the priest class though. OTK decks have always been my favourite because the require you to stay on alert and count card the whole game.
with them killing off almost every OTK deck with the latest expansion I have only been playing the dalaran heist lately.
 

Though I do like these new classic cards to be honest ?  

[Guest]

New cards look interesting.

Only Barrens Stablehand looks very bad.

7 Mana for 4/4 + Summon a beast.

Aren't there lots of 1 or 2 mana beasts? and only very few beasts with a high manacost?

Won't you get most of the time a 4/4 and something like 2/3 for your 7 mana? Sure, you could get King Krush - but IMO the card doesn't offer a good risk / chance ratio. I do not like the card, too much RNG. The range of getting a 1 mana beast or King Krush is much too high. It's like a spell that does 0 damage. Or 20. Depending on luck alone.

Or am I missing something?

[Monlyth 75]

11 minutes ago, SirSlapzAlot said:

Im very sad about the priest class though. OTK decks have always been my favourite because the require you to stay on alert and count card the whole game.
with them killing off almost every OTK deck with the latest expansion I have only been playing the dalaran heist lately.
 

Though I do like these new classic cards to be honest ?  

You know, Blizzard has consistently nerfed or HoF'd any OTK strategies that become popular, ever since the beta. I'm not surprised at all that Mind Blast ended up on the chopping block.

And honestly, I feel very differently about the removal of another OTK card. Frankly, I think it's one of the best things to come out of this update. I think Hearthstone's design just isn't a good fit for OTK decks, because there's almost no hand disruption or counter cards or "instants" to protect yourself from such combos. People always complain about OTK decks anytime they actually start to gain traction, because the whole strategy of an OTK deck basically consists of playing Solitaire until you've drawn into all of your combo pieces. There's very little counterplay to an OTK strategy in Hearthstone, and a lack of counterplay always leads to frustration, no matter what game you're talking about.

[Smorod 33]

Siegebreaker looks good but the name doesn't match the ability. A minion with taunt creates a siege condition, it does not break it.

Gift of the Wild is an alternative to The Forest's Aid in Token Druid, for the poor now and for others when that card rotates out of Standard in 2 years.

Righteousness is quite versatile and looks pretty good to me, if you already have good board when you play it, you can get a lot of value from it.

Brightwing is so cute, and very good in my opinion, and a good addition to the pool of dragons too. I know that Legendary minions vary a lot in quality but, you basically draw a card for 1 mana so it can't be that bad really.

High Inquisitor Whitemane has huge value if played at the right time, and still a decent body for the cost if the opportunity does not arise. Good one.

Barrens Stablehand on the other hand looks very weak to me. Outcome is way too uncertain for the cost. And he is not even a beast himself. There are more 3-cost and under beasts than 4-cost and over, so on average you lose value. And many beasts have a battlecry which you'll miss, so it's even worse than it seems.

SI:7 Infiltrator looks good, body is pretty decent for the cost and you get the battlecry as a bonus. It's a cheaper Chief Inspector really. This card will definitely see play whenever we have a Secret deck in the top meta. I'm only surprised that this is a neutral card, when SI:7 Agent is a Rogue card.

Arcane Devourer seems too slow. I doubt that a 5-life body at turn 8 will stay long enough on the board to use its effect. Well, maybe in Freeze Mage with Ray of Frost.

Plaguebringer is excellent, Rogue usually doesn't miss small minions to sacrifice. Looks like the new Vilespine Slayer to me.

Radiance by itself seems weak, but could find its way in Control Priest combo decks (Miracle Priest comes to mind).

[Monlyth 75]

20 minutes ago, Smorod said:

Siegebreaker looks good but the name doesn't match the ability. A minion with taunt creates a siege condition, it does not break it.

Well, breaking a siege just means that you caused a siege to end. It can mean that the attackers overwhelmed the defenders, or it can mean the defenders forced the attackers to retreat. So the Siegebreaker's name is still technically correct, since it stops the enemy from besieging your face.

 

Quote

SI:7 Infiltrator looks good, body is pretty decent for the cost and you get the battlecry as a bonus. It's a cheaper Chief Inspector really. This card will definitely see play whenever we have a Secret deck in the top meta. I'm only surprised that this is a neutral card, when SI:7 Agent is a Rogue card.

The SI:7 works for the Alliance and the King of Stormwind, so they could be feasibly working for any of the nine classes. I think Blizzard printed this card just so they no longer have to print an anti-Secret tech card for every Standard year, which is understandable.

Edited June 25, 2019 by Monlyth

[Guest]

32 minutes ago, Smorod said:

Plaguebringer is excellent, Rogue usually doesn't miss small minions to sacrifice. Looks like the new Vilespine Slayer to me.

I agree, it's a great card IMO. However, Vilespine Slayer has the benefit of ignoring taunt + divine shield.

[FanOfValeera 253]

9 hours ago, Zadina said:

Druid: Attuned with nature, Druids rely on the magic of the wild, massive beasts, and swarms of woodland creatures. Their toolbox allows them the versatility to pivot from defense to aggression. However, they have limited ways to directly clear out enemy minions.

• Strengths: Mana generation, giant minions, minion swarms, card draw, Beasts
• Weaknesses: Destroying big minions, board clear

Yeah, so don't mind me change druids identity to 'Gain a couple gazillion armors throughtout the game' starting from KoFT. The last time there was a semi-viable beast druid, it was 2016. Oh, and mana generation is dead *cries in 3 mana Wild Growth and 6 mana Nourish*.

9 hours ago, Zadina said:

Rogue: Rogues hide in the shadows, planning for the perfect time to strike. They may be sneaky and nimble, but they lack strong defenses and regeneration, forcing them to act quickly to incapacitate an opponent. Their innate ability to generate, draw, and burgle cards allows them to build up and execute on many synergies.

• Strengths: Combo cards, destroying individual minions, card draw, weapons, Deathrattle
• Weaknesses: Taunt, healing, board clear, multi-minion buffs

Combo cards are not a strong point. Its the identity of the class. Some of them are actually horrible, and in some situations, them being a combo is a viability.

Let me remember the weapons rogue had so far, other than the hero power of course. I think the only ones which saw actual play Kingsbane and Waggle Pick. A little bit of Necrium Blade in a niche deck. Correct me if I am wrong here. We are talking about a game going for 5 years. 2 and a half weapons, and so few playable weapon buffs. Deathrattle part is super questionable too. Anyways.

10 hours ago, Zadina said:

Shaman: Shamans wield the power of the elements along with their trusty totems. While they may not be able to generate resources as quickly as a Mage, they are able to overload their Mana Crystals with lightning, allowing them to ramp up for a burst of power faster than other classes. Shamans are thus rewarded for planning a few turns ahead by tuning their mana curve. Shamans also have strong tools to adapt to many situations. Although they are not as versatile as a Druid’s Choose One cards, they are able to extend their capabilities in ways other classes might not be able to.

• Strengths: Minion swarms, damage spells, Totems, Elementals, Murlocs
• Weaknesses: Card draw, card generation

We are talking about a class with one of the best value hero cards in game. It literally gives you a card for every minion you play. I believe this is more than enough card generation.

 

For the newly introduced cards. I dont think any of them are particularly strong. I kinda like the 7-mana legendary, she might have some niche uses in decks which utilize rush/charge minions, or deathrattles. Like hunter. 

[Keizoku 185]

Myeah... Not exactly an impressive pick, but then again the point is to reduce the core cards' powerlevel. Let's see:

- Siegebreaker is a decent card for Warlock, that can be useful whether you're ahead or behind. Probably the best designed card of the whole bunch.

- Gift of the Wild and Righteousness are just win-more cards. Meh...

- Brightwing would be somewhere between usable and decent. He's cheap, he's a dragon, but then again RNG will make a humble Faerie Dragon equivalent or even better in too many cases. Will give us some Trolden highlights at least, which is always nice.

- High Inquisitor Whitemane looks good on paper. Whether you'll actually both need and succeed to sacrifice your board, drop her and then not get boardcleared right behind it remains to be seen. 

- Barrens Stablehand is RNG garbage, just dust it.

- SI:7 Infiltrator is anti-secret tech. 

- Arcane Devourer is way too slow, even for a Miracle rogue/mage/priest deck.

- Plaguebringer... I have trouble assessing this one. On one hand it is a one mana "Sacrifice a minion: destroy target Minion" spell attached to a 3/3/3 body, which is extremely powerful... On the other you need a minion in play that must be able to attack and to attack what you want it to kill and not a taunt. Give your weapon poisonous, now that would have been absolutely hilarious; but here time will tell...

- Radiance is just weak.

[Smorod 33]

1 hour ago, FanOfValeera said:

Let me remember the weapons rogue had so far, other than the hero power of course. I think the only ones which saw actual play Kingsbane and Waggle Pick. A little bit of Necrium Blade in a niche deck. Correct me if I am wrong here. We are talking about a game going for 5 years. 2 and a half weapons, and so few playable weapon buffs.

Class identity is about available cards, it doesn't imply that these cards are all good. You can't deny that Rogue is one of the 5 Weapon classes.

For what it's worth, I've seen Spectral Cutlass being played quite a bit last year, and Assassin's Blade is a staple in all starter Rogue decks.

Also note that finally writing down these class identities should help Hearthstone developers design cards in the future. So don't just compare what they wrote with where we are  now. As I read it, it is also a roadmap for upcoming expansions. Kind of.

[Smorod 33]

It is worth noting that they carefully preserved the number of class cards, card types (spell or minion) for each class and card rarity for each class. We can almost establish a 1:1 mapping of replacements, with only a few possible permutations.

As a trivia point, I also noticed that they somewhat attempted to preserve minion types, although not in a 1:1 way, more like best-effort. Siegebreaker is the demon which replaces Doomguard, Brightwing is the dragon which replaces Azure Drake, and Arcane Devourer is the elemental which replaces Ragnaros the Firelord and Molten Giant. Oddly enough, no murloc to replace Coldlight Oracle. Maybe they prefer to have them in expansions so that the Murloc Shaman archetype changes over time.

[PaasHaaS 81]

Radiance feels like a joke. That's about the 3rd copy of the same weak card now.

[FanOfValeera 253]

2 hours ago, Smorod said:

Class identity is about available cards, it doesn't imply that these cards are all good. You can't deny that Rogue is one of the 5 Weapon classes.

For what it's worth, I've seen Spectral Cutlass being played quite a bit last year, and Assassin's Blade is a staple in all starter Rogue decks.

Also note that finally writing down these class identities should help Hearthstone developers design cards in the future. So don't just compare what they wrote with where we are  now. As I read it, it is also a roadmap for upcoming expansions. Kind of.

If you want to add a keyword, card type, minion type and etc. to class identity, you want the included cards to be good. Warrior always had a strong weapon for example, but Paladin didn't, so its class identity is not weapons. Hunter has better eapons than Rogue, but its not a class identity for them. If not, that means the class identity doesn't mean much to the design team, and they shouldn't use the term loosely every time they make a balance change.

2 hours ago, Smorod said:

It is worth noting that they carefully preserved the number of class cards, card types (spell or minion) for each class and card rarity for each class. We can almost establish a 1:1 mapping of replacements, with only a few possible permutations.

Its actually not almost, but exactly the same number of each rarity. If I recall, before the first replacement cards were printed (Pilfer, Icicle and etc.) they said that they wanted to keep the numbers the same.

[Smorod 33]

8 minutes ago, FanOfValeera said:

Its actually not almost, but exactly the same number of each rarity.

It's actually not almost, but exactly what I said ?

"Almost" in my sentence refers to the ability to map the old card to its replacement. If there was only one removed card with the same class, type and rarity, then you have a 1:1 mapping. But for example the 2 neutral Legendary minions have been replaced by 2 neutral Legendary minions, so you can't say which is replacing which, hence no 1:1 mapping. Not that it really matters though.

11 minutes ago, FanOfValeera said:

If I recall, (...) they said that they wanted to keep the numbers the same.

Correct, they said it about class and rarity, which seemed pretty obvious. My point was that they extended the mimicry down to card type, and to some degree, to minion type.

[Hanz39 53]

Priest got deprived of the only wincon he ever had aside 'removing everything'... priest weakness should be: end a game without your defeat. Prophet velen + Mind Blast was a pretty decent wincon. Now you are only left with the option of destroying everything the enemy plays since well you don't do any damage aside the damage you have already on the board for the enemy to see.

They need to give loads of Rush minions to Priest like they did with warrior or the class won't see play anymore. Since it's basically a trash version of the warrior class. And until Dr. Boom rotates Priest is 100% unplayable since loses guaranteed to warrior.

5 heal to face as a spell is a joke, if it was a 1/1 with the battlecry or deathrattle but a spell... nobody ever played the warrior card that give 5 armor for 1 mana Iron Hide... who will play this that can't even be played at turn 1.

Unless they do something big in the next expansion priest is on the verge of extinction right now with the current pool card you can't make a single playable deck that has a decent winrate.

They shoulda have sent Inner fire to HoF to remove stupid lucky OTK not a card that is played at turn 9 in the best case.

Class Identity for priest seems losing games not much else with those cards... including the new wonderful replacement.

[Smorod 33]

I was watching Kripparrian's review of the new cards and he was mentioning the possibility to use the new Plaguebringer with Wild Pyromancer or Missile Launcher for full board clears. It's worth noting that this basically gets us back to what Vanish was offering, and which was supposedly not in Rogue's identity ?

More importantly it made me think of another cool combo: Plaguebringer on Knife Juggler will turn every minion you play into a potential almost-hard removal tool, if you are lucky enough not to hit the opponent's face, starting with Plaguebringer itself. With the current trend of having many small minions and/or small minion generators in Rogue decks, that could do serious damage to the opponent's board quickly. I wonder if it will work out well enough to see play.

[Keizoku 185]

5 hours ago, Smorod said:

I was watching Kripparrian's review of the new cards and he was mentioning the possibility to use the new Plaguebringer with Wild Pyromancer or Missile Launcher for full board clears. It's worth noting that this basically gets us back to what Vanish was offering, and which was supposedly not in Rogue's identity ?

Myeah... Not really. Vanish was a single card, and one that was tailored toward getting more mileage out of some of your own cards rather than just removal. These combos are quite costly resource-wise and only help you not losing the game. But you'll still end up at best with 2-3 less cards in hand, no mana and an (hopefully) empty board for your troubles; not so great for the tempo-based class.

Quote

Plaguebringer on Knife Juggler

This is already a much more believable threat (even if you just know the Juggler will do his best Ragnaros impression) since it doesn't wrecks your own board in the process. That one will definitely see some play in Lackey Rogue, either as base cards or as a tech in case of "Big" decks being frequent opponents.

Edited June 26, 2019 by Keizoku