Patch 22.4 will go live next Tuesday (the 15th) and, while its main concern will be the Fractured in Alterac Valley Mini-Set, Team 5 did not ignore the other game modes. In that circumstance, Duels will receive one card nerf.
Not even a week has passed since we received the nerf to Vanndar Stormpike's Battle Tactics (click here to know the implication of this change), but Team 5 stepped in once again and addressed what was believed to be another power outlier - these meta fixes are becoming quicker and quicker!
Edit: while it's not strictly balance-related, shortly after this article was done writing, Kibler revealed Kazakusan for the Fractured in Alterac Valley Mini-Set. Given that all the Treasures this unit will offer you come directly from Duels (although with some minor adjustments), Associate Game Designer Ates "Tabayrak" Bayrak took the chance to highlight a rather amusing synergy, involving the freshly revealed Kazakusan and the Signature Treasure we're going to talk about in a bit, Infinite Arcane.
Quote From Tabayrak Ok now I will say it. Kazakusan-Infinite Arcane Mage with a draw package. Enjoy.
Is this the reason for the 5->7 nerf?? :|
One of many.
Infinite Arcane - Nerf Implications
Cost is now 7 mana (up from 5).
Hero Power Mage was one of the most prominent archetypes of the last few months, if probably not the best one. Good defense, stalling tools, value generation and large reach: this archetype had it all, and not even the nerf to Battle Totem (now rarer to find) seemed to slow it down enough.
A big part of Ping Mage's success came from Infinite Arcane: yes, you did (and will) lose your entire deck, but this Signature Treasure allowed you to avoid fatigue as long as you did not draw more than one card per turn. Mainly two things turned this Treasure into a power outlier. The first one is the fact that the cards you Discover are not totally random, but they are picked from your deck, meaning that they have a higher quality than average and they usually allow you to find the right combination of cards the keep you alive in otherwise unwinnable games and, most of the times, actually bring home the W.
Secondly, there's the interaction with Magister Dawngrasp: if Infinite Arcane is the only Arcane spell you've played in that game, Dawngrasp will cast it again, meaning that you'll Discover twice at the start of each turn, with more chances to find even more Dawngrasps and even more Arcanes.
While increasing Infinite Arcane's cost to 7 mana will definitely make it come down later and will also represent a riskier investment for the player (doing nothing on turn 7 is a much bigger deal than passing your turn 5), we think that the card is still very good, if not still problematic. Being 7 mana from now on, we'll see less of the degeneracy this Treasure provided, but no one says that, with future content release, the same issue won't surface again.
For this reason, there are two long term solutions, both of which have their own pros and cons:
- Make Infinite Arcane Discover not from your deck but from another pool of cards, like Mage cards, Arcane Spells and such. However, this would irremediably damage, if not kill the Signature Treasure.
- Remove the Arcane Spell School - we may still see 3 Mordresh Fire Eye in one game, but at least the [Hearthstone Card (Magister Varden) Not Found] synergy will be deleted once for all.
In conclusion, we do think Infinite Arcane will retain a good portion of its power even after the upcoming nerf, but we also think that it is right for us to wait and see how things develop and then, eventually, ask for another change.
What do you think of this nerf? What impact do you think it will have on the Duels meta? Let us know in the comments below!
Comments
Added a little tidbit because the reveal of Kazakusan.
as far as a tempo nerf this is pointless, playing it on turn 5 (or before) was stupid and would lose you games
That Magister Dawngrasp interaction you mentioned has a double edge. You do discover two cards but you draw only one. Meaning unless you've draw options, you're really just 50-50 your choice of cards each turn, getting worse as the game progresses. In my opinion, that's something you dont want.
In any case, that mana increase is relevant, because its not easy even for mage to cast 7 mana do nothing, especially in a format like duels. A timely one too, because with most of the more dangerous treasures getting rarer or removed altogether, there isn't really alot of burn decks available so obviously something like ping mage gets better.
Rally the Troops solves the issue.
To get around this problem with discovering two, but drawing one: many mages started putting mana feeder panther (whatever the hero power/draw synergy card is) into their decks that way if need be, they can hero power (something they want to do anyways) to draw the extra discovers, granted this limits their action pool each round to potentially 6 mana tops (assuming they do both of the aforementioned actions)
I agree that the mana increase is largely irrelevant IF they are ahead. Ping mage has no problem casting frost nova+infinite arcane and stalling a turn.
And I disagree with what Avalon said on if they change the treasure to discover from a different pool it will "kill" the card. Discover itself is random and can be tailored in sooooooo many ways. "Discover a spell, discover arcane spells, discover spells that cost 5 or more, etc etc...) Changing it is the only way to reign it in. The nerf will slow decks down, but right now this signature treasure is the go to treasure for nearly all semi competent mage decks. It needs to be taken back in so the other treasures can be given equal opportunity.
Avalon's assessment that changing the pool would kill the card is not without merit. Why'd you torpedo your deck without having first drawn your win con? Then this card just sticks in hand, doing nothing until you draw all the cards you need.
A pool of all cards, minions and spells is too inconsistent, while a pool of spells only is arguable more problematic.
To be honest, some of problem is partially the fact that mage's treasures aren't really all that enticing. Remove or nerf this down and what it does is everyone just plays embercaster, the second most popular treasure. Remove that, and suddenly mage gets destroyed in duels. Without a massive overhaul, I have to agree with team5's decision on this one.
Yeah, that's right!
"The first one is the fact that the cards you Discover are not totally random, but they are picked from your deck" Oh, so that's why this card was seeing play in duels. When I saw this card in decklists I thought it was a meme pick or some sort of early run winner.
I never knew that either! lmao