Nearly six years after Edwin VanCleef entered the Hearthstone universe, he is receiving his first balance change. On Thursday afternoon, the Hearthstone development team released a blog post sharing three "small" balance changes that are set to go live on Friday, January 8.

The three cards (accompanied by developer comments) are:

The last few weeks have been the best Edwin has ever performed as an individual card (the highest win rate card in multiple Rogue archetypes). Alongside cards like Foxy Fraud and Shadowstep, the frequency of early 8/8 or 10/10 Edwin VanCleefs reached a point we are no longer comfortable with. We want to evaluate how the rest of Rogue's kit performs without this very powerful iteration of Edwin. Cards like Foxy Fraud, Swindle, and Prize Plunderer are important pieces for future expansions and card interactions, so we'll be keeping close tabs on how they perform with the influx of new cards and Edwin's nerf.

 

 

We're lowering the attack on Boggspine Knuckles in order to cut into the fluidity of Evolve Shaman, increasing the required investment of playing a 5-mana weapon without a free Dread Corsair, and reduce the overall damage output the deck is capable of over multiple weapon charges. This change lowers the amount of explosive plays available to Evolve Shaman and should create an overall healthier meta.

 

Elistra the Immortal, a Battlegrounds-specific unit, has been a staple in numerous team compositions every since she was released into the game mode a few weeks ago. By slightly adjusting the amount of punishment she can endure and dish out, the development team hopes to bring her more in line with other units in the Tier 6 pool.