Clifford Games: Naga Sea Witch, Nerfs, Death Knights and More 'Hearthstone' Weekly News in 'Touchstone' #112

Monday, 18 September 2017

Naga Sea Witch, Nerfs, Death Knights and More 'Hearthstone' Weekly News in 'Touchstone' #112

Hello everyone and welcome to another Touchstone Tavern, our weekly Hearthstone [Free] roundup of everything cool that happened last week. The most important news is that we are getting some important nerfs that should change the effectiveness of some powerful decks, although we'll have to wait and see their actual effect. We also got some fun Hearthstone competitions, a great article on designing Death Knights, and some fun videos. I'm glad to see the developers take relatively quick action and give us some nerfs that will hopefully help balance the classes a bit better. The team has been guilty in the past of waiting too long before nerfing cards, so I'm glad to see this wasn't the case this time around. Let us begin.

Designing Death Knights

Death Knights surprised every one when they were announced because not many expected Blizzard to add a Death Knight "class" in this way. This article talks about how the developers designed the Death Knight cards, how the whole process happened, the various iterations they went through and why some didn't make the cut, why they all get five armor, and much more. The story also has some great early Death Knight art that shows the evolution of the cards' visual style. I always enjoy learning about the development process behind a game like Hearthstone, and if you do too, you should take a look at this story.

The Most Misplayed Turn in Competitive History (?)

Misplays make for great Twitch moments, and last weekend's Dreamhack Montreal Grand Prix one had a misplay for the ages. It all happened in a match between CoachTwisted and Walaoumpa and included the troll card Nozdormu. You see, one of the players had more than enough damage to end the match, but the other player dropped Nozdormu, which turns the turn into 15-seconds long. And panic ensued, which led to a lovely misplay and a surprising loss after that. Head over here to see for yourself and feel a bit better about your own skill.

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Oktoberbrawl Is Under Way

There's a fun competitive event going on right now called Oktoberbrawl, and, as we wrote about earlier this week, it gets players involved in a fun way. I won't go over all the details on how the tournament works, but I will say that it lets Twitch Prime members pick sides in a war between Light and Void and help each of those two teams by winning matches. Check out the story here and see whether you want to participate.

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Balance Patch Coming Today

Today is the day when some of the most well-known cards in the game meet the nerf hammer, so get ready. As we wrote about last week, September 18th is the date the update drops that will nerf cards like Innervate, Fiery War Axe, Hex, and more. Druid and Warrior seem to be the most impacted from this nerfs, with some pros complaining that Warrior is going to be week for months to come. What do you think about these nerfs? Check out our story with more details here.

Get Popular Cards and Card Backs as a Phone Case

If you like showing your love for the game in any way you can, you might want to check out this story about FabZat producing official, high-quality 3D-printed phone cases that depict some very popular cards, including the infamous Dr. Boom. There aren't that many cards to pick from at the moment, but if people buy them, the company plans to make many more. Any specific cards you would like to see as phone cases?

Naga Sea Witch Won't Be Reversed

As you might know, a change in the way Naga Sea Witch works has had a really great impact on Wild ladder, and it looks like Blizzard won't be changing it back any time soon. The change has a direct impact on Giant cards, with Wild now being flooded with all kinds of Giant decks. There was a moment recently when one player managed to play all seven of the game's giants on the board at the same time. As this story points out, Blizzard confirmed this change as intentional and isn't planning on reversing it. The card might be nerfed in the future if it ends up being a big problem, but nothing will happen any time soon. Read the rest of the story here.

Polymorph Boar (Almost) One-Turn-Kill Is Great

As this story reminds us, some players play the game for the fun of it, and some are just crazy mad scientists who try to pull off the craziest stunts. HysteriA is the latter, and he proved it with a one-turn-kill using Polymorth Boar, the spell that turns any minion into a 4/2 with Charge. The player used Emperor Thaurissan to drop the mana cost and then put together a crazy combo that produced a crazy amount of damage. Check out the story and the video here.

New Strategy Relies on Running Out the Clock

This article points out something not many know: matches end in a draw after 90 turns. But since no deck could go that far without dying from fatigue, developers hadn't have had to worry about it, until now. A new Warrior deck based on Dead Man's Hand can create a match where neither player can win the game, so the HCT Americas Summer Playoffs instituted a new rule where if 90 turns go by and no one wins, the player with the highest combined health and armor total wins the game. The story goes on to talk in more detail about this new Fatigue Warrior deck and how it works, so read up in case you have to play against the deck.