Sylvannas Windrunner, Blood Imp and Defender of Argus are just three of the cards Blizzard plan to adjust.

Players of Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft will be interested to know that some 10 cards have been singled out by Blizzard in a second round of card adjustments the game has seen since entering Closed Beta. Currently these changes affect the following cards: Unleash the Hounds, Sylvanas Windrunner, Blood Imp, Defender of Argus, Pyroblast, Dark Iron Dwarf, Abusive Sergeant, Warsong Commander, Charge and Novice Engineer.

Here is a list of the upcoming changes:

• Unleash the Hounds’ mana cost is now 2 (down from 4)
• Pyroblast’s mana cost is now 10 (up from 8)
• Blood Imp is now a 0/1 and now reads: Stealth. At the end of your turn, give another random friendly minion +1 Health.
• Warsong Commander has been reworked and now reads: Whenever you play a minion with 3 or less Attack, give it Charge.
• Charge (the spell, not the keyword) has been reworked and now costs 3 mana. The card’s new power reads: “Give a friendly minion +2 Attack and Charge”.
• Abusive Sergeant now reads: Battlecry: Give a minion +2 Attack until end of turn.
• Dark Iron Dwarf’s buff now only lasts until the end of the turn.
• Defender of Argus is now a 2/3 (down from 3/3)
• Novice Engineer is now a 1/1 (down from 1/2)
• Sylvanas Windrunner’s mana cost is now 6 (up from 5)

You can read Blizzard's reasoning behind these changes HERE, but many of these cards are seen in so many decks that Hearthstone developers feel the need to either weaken them or increase their mana cost in order to make the cards feel less 'mandatory.' The real issue I have as a player in the beta is that while some cards are extremely powerful and should definitely be given a higher cost, cards tend to be nerfed rather than dealing with the game's problems at a fundamental level.

For example, I do not believe stats on popular cards should necessarily be nerfed, but rather other cards should be buffed instead or, even better, new cards introduced. Previously adjusted cards include: Shattered Sun Cleric, Flame Imp, Argent Commander, Mind Control, Starving Buzzard and Unleash the Hounds.

A powerful card such as Pyroblast certainly deserves to have its mana cost increased to 10, but such cards should also be limited to one per deck, just like legendaries. Mind Control also falls into this category. Something like the Blood Imp, a staple of any Warlock deck, is about to become a stealthed Young Priestess. Perhaps a better adjustment would have been to simply remove the stealth so that it may be targeted.

In conclusion, I would personally prefer to see more cards added to the game than see current cards made weaker, with some extra restrictions added to those cards that are universally considered to be problematic. Hearthstone is still a great game and I'm sure we'll see many more adjustments, but what do you think of these changes and what future adjustments would you like to see implemented by Blizzard?

Penny for your thoughts,

Qelric

Follow me on Twitter: @QelricDK