My biggest concern is that all this reward track tweaking and bug fixes are completely taking their focus away from balance changes, which are way overdue IMO. I've stopped playing the game for a while now until they do something about the state of the metagame.
Dude everyone knew it was a bug. How can anyone think that this was intentional.
Imprisoned Satyr and Scarlet Webweaver can trigger on a 0-cost minion in your hand if I'm not mistaken, haven't played those cards since their release. Counterintuitive, I know, but it does say "random card in your hand" so technically it should just select a random card regardless of the cost.
Twin Slice is going to be good as long as it is a cheap Twinspell; I think making it give only +1 attack for each slice keeps it playable but not auto-include in every DH list.
Blade Dance is one of the egregious cards to me for DH because there are so many ways to get ridiculously high attack for DH. I like the idea of changing it to be "Deal damage equal to your hero's Weapon to 3 random enemy minions." while keeping the mana cost the same. This change keeps the card as cheap removal, but requires weapon usage; moreover, it lets Team 5 experiment with a large attack "control" weapon at some point to have synergy with the card.
Shardshatter Mystic is definitely very strong, and I don't see why they power-crept on Duskbreaker, so it seems appropriate to make it a 4-mana 3/3, especially considering cards like Arcanosaur and, more recently, Fire Breather exist, which are obviously way worse than Shardshatter Mystic.
Mana-cheating only has potential to break the game, so I think nerfing Overgrowth to 5-mana is appropriate; it also gains new synergies in the process which would be cool and probably prevent the card from becoming unplayable. Maybe it should also draw 2 cards if you have 10 mana crystals?
I don't think Boggspine Knuckles is the problem, but rather the way the transform/evolve mechanic works. As many have suggested in the past, I think the evolve mechanic should be based on the mana-cost of the minion when it is played rather than what the card text is. Obviously, this method can complicate the coding of the game or in-game understanding, but it seems like using the green/redmodifiers for text that they already use for when a card's stats change would work in this context. I think this change makes transform/evolve higher skill while feeling less high-roll-y.
Bladestorm is definitely good, but not sure it warrants a nerf. It doesn't feel nearly as strong as other versatile board clears that have existed (e.g. Defile, Warpath), and it also doesn't feel horrible to play against.
As for Risky Skipper, I think changing its mana cost or its health makes the card unplayable. At 2 mana, it can't stop aggro and probably acts only as a weird combo card for armor. At 2 health, it can only stop the smallest of aggro boards and likely turns exclusively into a combo card similar to what happened with Bloodsworn Mercenary after its nerf. I believe the best change to the card that doesn't kill it is simply removing the Pirate tag. From a flavor standpoint, I hate this change, but from a competitive standpoint, it removes the abundant Pirate synergies in Warrior--specifically the targeted card draw--all while keeping the power of the card on the board.
In addition to these changes, I also think Libram Paladin is in dire need of changes. The problem with the package is not that it's strong, but that it is oppressive, infinite, versatile, and excessive. The package supports aggro, tempo, mid-range, control, and combo! If you want constant board buffs, Librams have you covered. If you want board clears, Librams have you covered. If you want defense, Librams have you covered. If you want tempo curve plays, Librams have you covered. The package desperately needs some kind of re-work, but I don't suspect we'll ever get it.
I agree with you on all points except a few:
DH is supposed to be an attacking class, not strictly a weapon class, so Blade Dance shouldn't be too much similar to Blade Flurry. I think the proposed mana change is reasonable given the reasons written in the article.
Overgrowth already draws a card at 10 mana, so I don't see why a buff that would make it too similar to Nourish would be required.
Also, I'm surprised none of these nerfs mention Aggro DH, the deck that shifted the entire meta in the state it currently is, the way I see it at least.
I would really like to see nerfs to the power level of aggro to enable more control decks and old gods to be viable. Aggro DH is way stronger than it should be and face hunter isn't unbeatable but it's so annoying to face it constantly because it's still a good and simple deck. OTK control warrior has too many tools with incredible armor game, sticky rattlegores and otk, but I'm not sure what should be hit. Evolve shaman is a high-variance deck, but the evolve weapon draw became more consistent and it's sad this rng fiesta is the only option for shaman.
Decks look fun, but I don't think the old gods are as viable as blizzard wanted, having introduced them in an aggressive meta with limited removal options.
This card is actually very good in the right deck that can play and draw/generate a lot of cheap cards. Other than backstab, I don't think there are better removal options for rogue.
Easy to survive a turn and good with [Hearthstone Card (sethekk weilveaver) Not Found] in play for a big value turn. Unfortunately, the fact that it can also target spells in hand already discounted to 0 breaks this card for me and makes it way more clunky to build around or play efficiently.
I completed the achievement that requires you to deal lethal damage with Mask of C'Thun, which I managed to do with rogue by generating one from Wand Thief. Felt good ngl
I agree, it's an understandable mistake that I'm sure everyone made upon first seeing the card, I know I did :D . Too bad Necrium Blade isn't in standard anymore.
Swindle draws a spell (not a minion) without its combo effect. A small mistake but still, the card is very different from Elven Minstrel and I would argue that it's better in most situations.
Well sure, if you have 3+ mana with a secret and both Kirin Tor Mage and this card in hand, of course you play the kirin tor instead. But you usually run way more secrets than kirin tor mages in your secret mage deck so getting a discount on your expensive 3 mana secret more often than twice is pretty good support for that deck. Kabal Lackey is a staple alongside the kirin tor in wild exactly for that reason, so I'm sure this will become a staple in secret mage in standard as well. Inconspicuous Rider casts the secrets from your deck, but you will draw your secrets more often than not so you cannot rely on it completely.
For ramp up I would say that Umbral Owl has the potential for being considered on this category.
And for weapon warrior we got Sword Eater and Ringmaster's Baton. So the only missing category onthis bingo will be Big Demons if we didn't consider Bladed Lady for it
The way the ramp up description is worded, Umbral Owl should definitely count
It's worded perfectly fine. It uses the same transforming mechanic, but it doesn't actually change the result based on Cost. The Evolve effect strictly relies to transforming minions into ones of different costs.
As long as there are multiple people disagreeing about its meaning, it means that things could have been worded in a clearer way. There is no such thing as an official evolve mechanic, Evolve is a card that uses the transform mechanic. Your second sentence is what should have been written in the bingo sheet explanations. I don't want to argue, I'm just bummed Revolve doesn't count because the bingo slot was too specific.
My biggest concern is that all this reward track tweaking and bug fixes are completely taking their focus away from balance changes, which are way overdue IMO. I've stopped playing the game for a while now until they do something about the state of the metagame.
Imprisoned Satyr and Scarlet Webweaver can trigger on a 0-cost minion in your hand if I'm not mistaken, haven't played those cards since their release. Counterintuitive, I know, but it does say "random card in your hand" so technically it should just select a random card regardless of the cost.
Pleasantly surprised about Nazmani, I actually started thinking the clunky mana discount was by design.
I agree with you on all points except a few:
DH is supposed to be an attacking class, not strictly a weapon class, so Blade Dance shouldn't be too much similar to Blade Flurry. I think the proposed mana change is reasonable given the reasons written in the article.
Overgrowth already draws a card at 10 mana, so I don't see why a buff that would make it too similar to Nourish would be required.
Also, I'm surprised none of these nerfs mention Aggro DH, the deck that shifted the entire meta in the state it currently is, the way I see it at least.
I would really like to see nerfs to the power level of aggro to enable more control decks and old gods to be viable. Aggro DH is way stronger than it should be and face hunter isn't unbeatable but it's so annoying to face it constantly because it's still a good and simple deck. OTK control warrior has too many tools with incredible armor game, sticky rattlegores and otk, but I'm not sure what should be hit. Evolve shaman is a high-variance deck, but the evolve weapon draw became more consistent and it's sad this rng fiesta is the only option for shaman.
I really dislike the current standard meta. It's mostly old decks, hyperaggro and infinite armor control warrior that can otk.
This list is amazing
Decks look fun, but I don't think the old gods are as viable as blizzard wanted, having introduced them in an aggressive meta with limited removal options.
This card is actually very good in the right deck that can play and draw/generate a lot of cheap cards. Other than backstab, I don't think there are better removal options for rogue.
Easy to survive a turn and good with [Hearthstone Card (sethekk weilveaver) Not Found] in play for a big value turn. Unfortunately, the fact that it can also target spells in hand already discounted to 0 breaks this card for me and makes it way more clunky to build around or play efficiently.
Yeah... Hemet Nesingwary Rend Blackhand
I completed the achievement that requires you to deal lethal damage with Mask of C'Thun, which I managed to do with rogue by generating one from Wand Thief. Felt good ngl
C'Thun, the Shattered shuffles neutral spells in your deck and it's a legendary card so they could also be considered legendary as they're unique
e.g. Eye of C'Thun
I agree, it's an understandable mistake that I'm sure everyone made upon first seeing the card, I know I did :D . Too bad Necrium Blade isn't in standard anymore.
Did you consider Acrobatics? In theory it should be better than Skull of Gul'dan since most of the cards cost 1 or 2 mana already.
Swindle draws a spell (not a minion) without its combo effect. A small mistake but still, the card is very different from Elven Minstrel and I would argue that it's better in most situations.
Also, I don't see how Tenwu of the Red Smoke can duplicate Ticket Master's plush bears since its effect is a deathrattle ?
This card is trash, it should either cost 5 or deal 5 damage to see any constructed play.
Well sure, if you have 3+ mana with a secret and both Kirin Tor Mage and this card in hand, of course you play the kirin tor instead. But you usually run way more secrets than kirin tor mages in your secret mage deck so getting a discount on your expensive 3 mana secret more often than twice is pretty good support for that deck. Kabal Lackey is a staple alongside the kirin tor in wild exactly for that reason, so I'm sure this will become a staple in secret mage in standard as well. Inconspicuous Rider casts the secrets from your deck, but you will draw your secrets more often than not so you cannot rely on it completely.
The way the ramp up description is worded, Umbral Owl should definitely count
As long as there are multiple people disagreeing about its meaning, it means that things could have been worded in a clearer way. There is no such thing as an official evolve mechanic, Evolve is a card that uses the transform mechanic. Your second sentence is what should have been written in the bingo sheet explanations. I don't want to argue, I'm just bummed Revolve doesn't count because the bingo slot was too specific.