We are less than a week into the lifespan of Hearthstone’s new March of the Lich King expansion, and already the expansion is making waves through Standard.
Blizzard has already deployed an early balance patch that takes aim at two key cards in Standard. Sire Denathrius from Murder at Castle Nathria and Shockspitter, which debuted with March of the Lich King, have both received nerfs.
Before the patch, Sire Denathrius was a ten-cost 10/10 Legendary minion with Lifesteal, as well as a Battlecry that Deals five damage among enemies accompanied by an Endlessly Infuse effect which cost one to Infuse and deals one more damage. As of the patch, the Endlessly Infuse effect attached to Sire Denathrius will now cost two to Infuse.
In the case of Shockspitter, originally a two-cost 2/2 Beast with a Battlecry, it will now be a three-cost 2/2 with a Battlecry. Shockspitter’s Battlecry causes it to deal one damage, improved by your Hero attacks throughout the game. Luckily for anyone using the card, the Battlecry will remain unchanged.
According to a developer update accompanied by the balance announcement, the team set up this balance window to address changes they felt were needed immediately following the launch of the expansion. The hope is that they are able to address cards that are having too much impact on the shaping of the early meta.
As always when this sort of thing happens, both Sire Denathrius and Shockspitter have had their dust costs adjusted so that you can get rid of them for a full refund.
