10 Hearthstone cards are being changed in second Ashes of Outland balance patch

Nine Hearthstone cards are set to be nerfed and one will be buffed, senior game designer Iksar announced on Twitter yesterday.

Some of these cards were previously teased to attract some changes in a recent AMA by the Hearthstone team. The official changes have now been revealed. 

The official list of cards and their changes is as follows:

• Battlefiend: Changed from one-mana 2/2 to one-mana 1/2.

• Altruis the Outcast: Changed from three-mana 3/2 to four-mana 4/2.

• Glaivebound Adept: Changed from five-mana 7/4 to five-mana 6/4.

• Kael’thas Sunstrider: Changed from six mana to seven mana.

• Bad Luck Albatross: Changed from three mana to four mana.

• Frenzied Felwing: Changed from four-mana 3/3 to four-mana 3/2.

• Open the Waygate: Changed from requiring casting six spells that didn’t start in your deck to achieve Time Warp to requiring casting eight spells that didn’t start in your deck to achieve Time Warp.

• Blood Bloom: Changed from two mana to four mana.

• Sacrificial Pact: Changed from being able to destroy any Demon to only being able to destroy a friendly Demon.

• Libram of Justice: Changed from six mana to five mana.

The standout cards from this list are Kael’thas Sunstrider, Frenzied Felwing, Sacrificial Pact, and Bad Luck Albatross.

With Kael’thas’ nerf, Blizzard is likely trying not to kill Kael’thas’ viability but reduce how often he can swing a game in a player’s favor.

The intent behind Frenzied Felwing’s change is to give opponents the chance to get back into the game by making it less durable so players can respond to it easier.

Sacrificial Pact is a relic of the past, so making it target only friendly Demons allows it to serve a function in decks like Galakrond Warlock without polarizing the meta for the newest class, Demon Hunter, in addition to making Warlock mirror matches less swingy.

Bad Luck Albatross was originally intended to fight against a surge of Highlander decks, but the play rate of the card became ubiquitous and the cost for what it did was too low. This change allows it to still serve its purpose as a tech card but makes it less splashable in every deck.

In addition to these card changes, Millhouse Manastorm in the Battlegrounds mode is also getting a nerf, with his Refresh and Minions costing two gold each. But upgrading Tavern Tiers costs one more.

Update April 17 2:30pm CT: Blizzard posted the full changes on Reddit.