With Standard the predominant format in Hearthstone, Wild doesn’t get a lot of love. But those players who do still partake may have found a crazy new deck to blow open that meta.
An undocumented change in the latest Hearthstone patch has changed the way some cards behave to create some of the craziest swing turns ever seen in the game.
Naga Sea Witch, a card that makes all the rest of your cards cost five mana while it’s in play, has been received a small adjustment to how it works with certain cards—the game’s giants.
The giants all have effects that reduce their mana cost. Molten Giant is reduced by how much damage you’ve taken, for example. It used to be that Naga Sea Witch would cancel out those variables and the giants would just cost five.
Many thought this would likely be a bug, but Hearthstone producer Tim Erskine confirmed it was intended after doing some investigation.
Now after this change, the giant’s effects are still live even after the reduction to five. So if you have Naga Sea With in play and have taken just five damage, your Molten Giant is now free.
The change also applies to some Standard cards, namely Aviana and Bright-Eyed Scout—but it’s not a big enough impact on these cards to likely have any effect on the Standard ladder.
Top Wild player Jesse “Control” Chrysler put this change to good use in a Druid list. Thanks to other cards like Aviana and Ultimate Infestation, the swings can be absolutely devastating.
Even if you’re not a regular Wild player, fire this up. It only takes a few Wild cards to build, and the feeling of being able to play six giants in one turn is something that will stay with you for a while.
