Bans in Hearthstone instead of Nerfs: A good decision?
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Less than two weeks after the release of the Wailing Caverns mini-set, the newly-printed Stealer of Souls brought the Wild meta to its knees, creating the ultimate non-interactive experience as players Plot Twist-ed their way to victory against their powerless opponents.
In response, for the first time in Hearthstone history, Blizzard has made the decision to ban a card in Ranked Play mode. In doing so, Blizzard chose the most responsible and parsimonious response to a complex problem, and showed just how far the game and its oversight have matured since its release. To understand why this decision was the right one, let’s look at how problematic cards have been approached in the past, and examine what the future looks like not just for this meta, but in a post-Ban environment in general.
Less than two weeks after the release of the Wailing Caverns mini-set, the newly-printed Stealer of Souls brought the Wild meta to its knees, creating the ultimate non-interactive experience as players Plot Twist-ed their way to victory against their powerless opponents.
In response, for the first time in Hearthstone history, Blizzard has made the decision to ban a card in Ranked Play mode. In doing so, Blizzard chose the most responsible and parsimonious response to a complex problem, and showed just how far the game and its oversight have matured since its release. To understand why this decision was the right one, let’s look at how problematic cards have been approached in the past, and examine what the future looks like not just for this meta, but in a post-Ban environment in general.
When looking at Hearthstone firsts, it’s useful to look at the all-father of collectible card games for guidance: Magic: The Gathering.Having existed for almost 30 years, Magic has seen it all, including its share of banned cards. And for a game that is mostly played in person with physical cards, nerfs are much harder to execute, so banning is rather normal.
Additionally, Magic has multiple levels of competitive constructed play, including their version of Wild (Vintage), Standard, and several modes (Modern, Pioneer) that encompass batches of cards throughout the game’s rich history. Each of these formats have cards that are banned, and they are banned for good reason.
Sometimes a card can be so influential and overpowering that the entire game and deck construction process centers on abusing and deflecting one card. That process is not fun, especially in Hearthstone, when such decks feel like playing ping pong against a wall.
Enter Stealer of Souls.
In Standard, this card has not seen any attempt at play whatsoever at a competitive level. One could imagine it being useful after a Lorekeeper Polkelt, allowing a player to play Stealer of Souls and then Life Tap into a haymaker early into the game.
So Lord Jaraxxus might come out a few turns early, but it would cost you 9 life to play, and then you would quickly drain your own life as you drew your deck’s most expensive cards. This sort of tradeoff is exactly the intent of the card’s design, and is a fair choice for a player to make.
With these terms, nobody in Standard sees this card being worth the tradeoff. Imagine then, Blizzard making this card even worse with a nerf because of its power in Wild.
The card would be completely doomed in Standard, and the abusiveness in Wild would still persist, because Violet Illusionist and Plot Twist are what break the card. With the ban, there is always the chance the card could find creative use in Standard, but the reign of terror in Wild will come to an end.
For
those who are upset that the card they paid for is no longer even playable, remember that while this is the first time we are seeing a “ban,” it is not the first time a card has been banned, even in Ranked Play.
Firstly, “balance adjustments” are routine, which sometimes materially change cards so dramatically that they become unplayable, resulting in a de facto ban. That notwithstanding, we also saw a “ban” in Standard, but done so before Blizzard had come to terms with that level of adjustment.
The reference, of course, is to the early rotation of Baku the Mooneater and Genn Greymane out of Standard via being placed in the “Hall of Fame.” Essentially, these cards were banned in Standard.
The result, it should be noted, was a smashing success. Prior to their rotation, Standard was overrun with even- and odd-cost decks, and almost every playable deck ran one of these two cards.
Balance adjustments became extremely fraught, with no better example than Giggling Inventor.
At 5 mana, Giggling Inventor added way too much value and protection to be fair. But at 6 mana, it just added the same value to even-cost decks.
So instead, it received a heavy-handed nerf to cost 7 mana, making it unplayable in everything. Foreseeing this same dilemma occurring for another year, Blizzard addressed the real problems: Baku and Genn.
As a result, Standard decks became way more diverse, and Wild kept on ticking. Now in Wild, we still see some even- and odd-cost decks, but they are not pervasive.
If “ban” had been in the lexicon at the time, Baku and Genn would have been banned from Standard, and the community would have celebrated.
Let us also not forget that banning in non-ranked formats has been commonplace in Hearthstone in non-ranked play.
In Arena, quests are banned, as was C’thun and his acolytes. In Tavern Brawl, lots of formats have banned cards, such as Patches the Pirate not seeing an opportunity to show up in several shows.
In duels, Tour Guide proved too problematic to balance and was removed altogether. In Battlegrounds, heroes and cards come and go all the time, such as Tirion Fordring being too honorable to be allowed in the fray, or Nightmare Amalgam being too strong a minion to include.
So, in every format, we have seen that the advantages of the ban are outweighing the disadvantages, and it is a sign of things to come.
But the best part about the arrival of the ban is the fact that it signals the potential of new ranked formats to come.
We already have Classic (though we would all be aghast if a card was banned in Classic), but perhaps the ban precedes a Magic-style arrival of other ranked formats. Much like Magic has Modern and Pioneer, with their own formats and own set of banned cards, we now have a deep enough card pool in Hearthstone to introduce other ranked formats.
With more than 500 new cards created every year, it only makes sense to subdivide the collection into eras, which will allow more opportunities to play different cards. We might, for example, see an “Extended Standard” format that reaches back to the Witchwood and includes present-day Standard.
Such formats would have the Wild feel, but exclude some of the more frustrating cards, like those that have rotated out of Classic and did not make Core Set (looking at you, Kirin Tor Mage!). And with those opportunities, comes problem scenarios, where nerfing a card would have unintended consequences.
The more elegant solution is to curate each format with a limited set of banned cards.
Ultimately, any card change can be polarizing.
Even if dust is refunded, it is not enjoyable when cards and decks we love are taken away. But we all understand it is necessary for the health of the game.
Banning, similarly, is also necessary, and it comes with an upside: the promise that we are at a watershed moment. A moment where the game reaches its full maturity and begins to expand into more diverse experiences and formats that find a place for all players to have fun.
The advent of the ban is the first step, but not the last, into the new era of a long-lasting, deceptively simple, insanely fun game.
This article was written by Deadnight, Hearthstone vlogger and perennial legend in both Standard and Wild. You can check him out on Twitter & Youtube.
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