The Year of the Dragon has brought many changes and firsts for Hearthstone. However, with new cards, keywords and tournament formats come new problems.
Through a combination of cards being removed and lack of “late-game-bomb cards” like Bloodreaver Gul’dan, both ladder and tournaments are suffering, Masters Qualifier winner Daniel “GVv” Giovino said.
GVv comes from a background of control, with the occasional midrange deck like Cubelock sprinkled in. Despite Warrior being one of the strongest decks in the meta, games are too slow, even for him.
“You need to keep things interesting,” GVv said. “You can’t just play passive all the time.”
He said people don’t want to play 40-minute games only to lose and feel like they’ve wasted all that time.
“I’ve never seen a turn limit myself,” Masters Qualifier winner Zack “GamerRvg” Kannass said. “I’ve never actually played the turn limit.”
GamerRvg recently climbed to legend with Warrior. Despite never reaching turn limit before, he saw it two or three times in his first week with the deck.
The problem is further amplified in the new Specialist format.
GVv said since multiple control mirrors happen simultaneously in a round, Specialist tournaments run especially slow. In one round, he waited approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes.
“That was the most frustrating experience I’ve had in Hearthstone tournaments,” GVv said.
It’s quite rare people bring more than two control decks in formats like Conquest said Koosha “StormFever” Jahani, HCT Oakland top 16 finisher. It’s even rarer to play against another control-heavy lineup. However, since Warrior is one of the two most popular decks in Specialist, mirrors aren’t too uncommon.
He said one of the most egregious offenders of slow-play is Archivist Elysiana. Being able to essentially shuffle in 20 cards and extend the game close to turn limit slows down the game incredibly.
“Right now a popular strategy, in Specialist especially, is you have Elysiana and multiple bouncers in your sideboard and you basically never hit fatigue,” StormFever said.
GamerRvg said the turn limit isn’t intended to actually be reached; it’s just there to prevent game-breaking bugs. Ideally, two meta decks “going at it” would never reach fatigue.
GamerRvg said Elysiana also makes players’ decisions feel irrelevant. Mirrors can feel “coin-flippy” as many matches are solely decided on who got better Elysiana cards. He said Elysiana is one of the most random cards ever printed, on the same level as Yogg-Saron, Hope’s End.
A visual representation of the overwhelming strength of Warrior and Rogue in Specialist tournaments. Credit: @ShangHighHS.
Although Warrior and Elysiana are problems, GVv said the main culprit is Rogue. He said Rogue pushes out many Warrior counters like Khadgar Mage and Hunter, while also being unfavorable into Warrior.
“Warrior eats all the Rogue, right?” GVv said. “So if there was no Rogue, Warrior would not have its free dinner.”
This relationship makes a feedback loop. Generally, more Warrior counters being played means more Rogue which means more Warrior.
Solutions
GVv acknowledges the strength of Edwin VanCleef and Preparation, but thinks the best nerf would be to Sap. He said Rogue is especially good versus single targets and Sap puts the class over the edge. The card negates big minions and destroys archetypes which rely on taunts.
GamerRvg isn’t a fan of nerfing basic cards. He said nerfing EVIL Miscreant and Raiding Party would be more effective, especially since many Rogues aren’t running Sap. He proposed increasing the cost of Raiding Party by one and decreasing the health Miscreant to three. Reducing the amount of Lackeys Miscreant gets by one may also be necessary.
For Warrior, GVv and GamerRvg agreed Eternium Rover shouldn’t have three health.
“What one-mana one/threes have not been oppressive?” GVv said. “What one-mana one/three hasn’t been played?”
GamerRvg said the most necessary Warrior nerf is taking away Dr. Boom, Mad Genius’ battlecry.
GVv thinks taking away Dr. Boom’s battlecry will make it terrible. Although he likes Omega cards, he said Omega Devastator would be a good candidate for nerfs. Also nerfing Shield Slam to two or three mana could be needed.
Hitting Rogue and Warrior should alleviate the problem of slow games and shouldn’t require an Elysiana change.
If Elysiana continues to be a problem, the only realistic solution is banning the card from tournaments StormFever said. Although round timers or shorter turn limits could help, they’d be almost impossible to implement.
Although Specialist doesn’t directly impact ladder, there are many players who’re drawn in by competitive Hearthstone. StormFever said many players have professional aspirations, including himself.
“Hearthstone definitely makes it easy to get into the competitive scene compared to other games,” StormFever said.
Even if Rogue, Warrior and Elysiana aren’t problems in Specialist, GamerRvg said Blizzard needs to prevent two decks seeing the majority of play, as has been the case since the format’s inception.
GamerRvg likes Blizzard, but fears Hearthstone will go the way of Heroes of the Storm and completely lose support for tournaments, competitions and other esports. He worries people won’t enjoy watching the same decks being played constantly.
“Nobody’s actually watched the big tournament for Specialist,” GamerRvg said. “So I really want to see if the viewership likes it or not, because I have a very strong opinion that I think they won’t like it.”
GamerRvg said he’ll still enjoy watching professionals compete, regardless of the format.
