Hearthstone Balance Patch next week: 3 Nerfs & 1 Buff
Blizzard just announced that next week, 4 cards will see a change, 3 of which are getting nerfed and one buffed!
Razormane Battleguard
Old: 2 Attack, 3 Health →New: 2 Attack, 2 Health
Arcanist Dawngrasp (Mage Questline final reward)
Old: Battlecry: For the rest of the game, you have Spell Damage +3. →New: For the rest of the game, you have Spell Damage +2.
Garrote
Old: Deal 2 damage to the enemy hero. Shuffle 3 Bleeds into your deck that deal 2 more when drawn. →New: Deal 2 damage to the enemy hero. Shuffle 2 Bleeds into your deck that deal 2 more when drawn.
Renew
Old: [Costs 2] →New: [Costs 1]
The first three cards will be eligible for the normal full-dust refund for two weeks following the patch. Renew, which will go up in power level, will not get a dust refund. Keep an eye out for Patch Notes early next week for dev comments on these balance changes and more. (Source)
A Game Designer (Gallon) shared why those changes will be made (Source):
Garrote: A fairly soft nerf to one of the better decks at high levels of play, this now requires 3 spell damage, up from 2, if you want to deal 30 from hand. Also opens up Armor gain to be more effective of a counter.
Arcanist Dawngrasp: Mainly a change looked at opening up more room for slower strategies in the meta.
Razormane Battleguard: Going down a health here will allow for more early game answers for the opponent. A fairly soft change to Taunt druid, and we’ll continue to monitor Taunt druid to see if any other changes will be needed.
Renew: Slower Priest decks are underperforming compared to the rest of the field, and reverting this nerf should add a bit more power back to those strategies.