New Changes: Big Deal, Maybe, Maybe Not?

Blood Imp: This change I believe was a bit steep in regards to Blood Imp’s attack. I do believe that the change was absolutely necessary and Blizzard had adjusted its abilities appropriately. However, I do find that, as minor as it may be, Blood Imp should have remained 1 Attack / 1 Health versus the current 0 Attack / 1 Health. That very well may be my picky side coming out, but in the long run I think it was a necessary change as the card was far too overpowered prior.

Sylvanas Windrunner: Sylvanas no longer costing 5 mana, but rather increasing to six mana seems like a fair change as she was quite overpowered in comparison to the other 5 drop minions available to be included in decks. I still stand firmly behind the concept that she is one of the most powerful cards in the game as her ability cannot be duplicated by any other minion as well as she can significantly alter the state of a game and or force your opponent to play certain cards to rid her of the board and miss out on a turn doing so. The change was fair and I do not think this has received much criticism as it appeared necessary.

Defender of Argus: This change has appeared to be extremely minor as the only difference was the attack of Defender of Argus being changed from 3 to 2. I find that this change to be quite insignificant as players are still going to keep this card in their constructed decks as its battlecry continues to make it one of the most powerful 4 drops in constructed as well as arena. This change has been somewhat overlooked which reflects the lack of caring by the hearthstone community as a whole. The card was very good before and will remain on the forefront of necessities in a handful of constructed decks.

Post-Patch Decks and Classes Finally Seeing Play:

In this section I am going to include some of the new decks that I am personally noticing getting a fair amount of play, however, I am not going to include decks such as control paladin, druid, aggro warlock, and others that have been seeing a consistent amount of play prior to this patch. These decks below are strictly decks that are gaining widespread attention that would not have been common prior to the patch.

Wrath of the Hunter: The hunter, commonly portrayed as the class unable to be played in constructed, is now rising to the forefront of competition and being played by 40%> of the constructed players. The decks sheer ability to dish out massive amounts of damage at once, as well as pick away at your opponents health consistently has left many classes unable to answer to this decks wrath. Personally, once I began to notice the significant amount of hunters playing ranked I had crafted a druid deck specifically to beat them 90%> of the time as well as remain competitive versus other classes. I believe that hunters win the majority of matchups due to the lack of healing potential by other decks as well as the hunters ability to overcome that health unless the opponent has many walls due to Ironbeak Owl silencing upwards of two of them.

Miracle Rogue: This deck has decided to make quite the comeback in constructed, yet this time around the deck is running some new unique cards which are traditionally non-standard in the original format of the deck. I believe that the deck is quite consistent when playing against the control matchup as they have sap to bounce minions and have the ability to burst upwards of 20+ damage in a given turn. I find the deck to be somewhat inconsistent versus heavy aggro decks as it tends to take quite some time to set-up the majority of the time, but versus the control matchup it appears to be able to hold its own ground.

Rise of the Windwalkers: Shamans are another class that are appearing to come across the forefront of competitive competition and are playing somewhat similar to a combo deck with the usage of Windfury + Leeroy Jenkins + Rockbiter Weapon. The power of the shaman is becoming more and more prevalent as it appearing to show its ability to be consistent and able to handle a good majority of classes. This is extremely exciting as I personally am fond of the class and enjoy seeing others notice its sheer ability to stand competitive at the upper ranks.

Conclusion

This patch has been quite an eye-opener as these six card changes have significantly affected the constructed echelon more than I believe most players had anticipated. The majority of players I would like to think are quite satisfied with the changes. The change to Pyroblast as well as to Unleash the Hounds and Blood Imp appear to have been the three most significant changes to have come from this patch as those three cards have altered constructed indefinitely.

This is not always a bad thing as I do believe that the concept of adaptation and finding ways to think outside of the box in order to overcome these new challenges are very valuable as they can create a stronger player in the long term. This appears to be a brief synopsis as to what the game is going to be like when the game goes live as well as incorporates new cards into the system. This is only the beginning of the many changes that will continue to occur, but finding ways to analyze these changes positively and be receptive in the way you, the player, approach future games through deck construction and performance will only work as a benefit in the long run.