Hearthstone’s latest balance patch focuses on nerfing cards that ‘remove player agency’

If you’ve played a collectible card game of any stripe, you’re probably familiar with card combos and deck strategies that effectively make it impossible for the opponent to play, whether they lock down moves, clear the battlefield, or allow a turn that just doesn’t seem to stop. It’s a playstyle that has unsurprisingly reared its head in Hearthstone and one that Blizzard means to address with its latest balance patch.

“Right now, there are a lot of cards that can remove player agency and raise the power level of the game beyond where we want for a 4-set meta,” the patch notes explain in their opening. “We don’t want these kinds of cards to make up the most powerful and prevalent archetypes in the game, especially if they create metagames where player agency feels low.”

The adjustments in question target cards that fall into three different categories: cards that end the game immediately, cards that provide uncapped sweeping of the board, and specific cards that are too strong in their decks.

The notes further point out that this patch doesn’t mean a “one and done” focus on these strategies, so players will want to prepare for more. There are some buffs in the patch as well, primarily around Whizbang’s Workshop cards, but it’s mostly about cutting those insta-win moments from the digital CCG.

source: official site[/source[

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