Blizzard recently announced a number of upcoming nerfs to Hearthstone cards. Nerfs in general were expected, because after the release of the latest expansion, Knights of the Frozen Throne, the Druid class had risen to unprecedented dominance in terms of play rates on ladder and representation and ban rates in tournaments – reaching as high as 100% representation and 100% ban rate, thus effectively rendering best-of-five with one ban format into a best-of-five, no Druid format.
However, Blizzard did not only touch Druid, they also added a number of changes (nerfs) to other cards as part of a long-term plan for the game: they want to reduce the number of evergreen cards that see play in the rotating Standard format.
One of the changes has raised a significant controversy, that of Fiery War Axe. Let’s take a deeper look!
Continue reading “The Fiery War Axe controversy: why the change is unoptimal and players are upset”