Ten days after Hearthstone released their most recent card expansion, Voyage to the Sunken City, a member of the development team announced the first round of balance changes expected to go live next week.

In a series of tweets, Edward "Gallon" Goodwin, an Associate Game Designer on the collectible card game's development team, publicly announced a myriad of tweaks coming in a patch set for Tuesday, April 26.

The following changes were revealed:

Kael'thas Sunstrider Old: 6 mana, 4/7. Card text: Every third spell you cast each turn costs (0). New: 6 mana, 4/7. Card text: Every third spell you cast each turn costs (1).

Switcheroo Old: 3 mana. Card text: Draw 2 minions. Swap their stats. New: 3 mana. Card text: Draw 2 minions. Swap their health. New: This card has been banned from the Wild game mode.

Gallon's comments: Both of these changes are aimed at protecting the long-term health of the format.

Raid the Docks Old: Final quest step: Summon 2 Pirates. Reward: Add Cap'n Rokara to your hand. New: Final quest step: Summon 3 Pirates. Reward: Add Cap'n Rokara to your hand.

Pufferfist Old: 3 mana, 3/4. Card text: After your hero attacks, deal 1 damage to all enemies. New: 3 mana, 3/3. Card text: After your hero attacks, deal 1 damage to all enemies.

Miracle Grow Old: 7 mana. Card text: Draw 3 cards. Summon a plant with taunt and stats equal to your hand size. New: 8 mana. Card text: Draw 3 cards. Summon a plant with taunt and stats equal to your hand size.

Kazakusan Old: 8 mana, 8/8. Card text: Battlecry: If all minions in your deck are Dragons, craft a custom deck of Treasures. New: 8 mana, 8/8. Card text: Battlecry: If you've played 4 other Dragons this game, craft a custom deck of Treasures.

Gallon's comments: Kazakusan has been playing a critical role in Druid for the past couple of months, fulfilling a similar role to Deathstalker Rexxar as an entire win condition in one card. Going into our balance meetings, we knew we wanted to soften Druid across all ranks, and there were multiple angles that could accomplish that. While we could have nerfed their survivability, we worry that will lead to a more polarized metagame overall. We landed on a Kazakusan effect change as it should lead to healthier play patterns both playing as and against Druid. We also wanted to make sure that Dragon-focused decks could still tap into Kazakusan as a powerful top-end piece. Playing 4 Dragons is a fairly hefty requirement but should be achievable in most Dragon strategies.

Tim Rizzo is the editor and a reporter for Inven Global. He joined the company back in 2017.

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