The balance of Hearthstone is completely out of whack. The reason for this is a single card that is currently dominating every match. Blizzard wants nerfs.
In Hearthstone, the latest expansion “Showdown in the Wasteland” with a total of 145 new cards is live. In fact, there are a few more cards, as the new “Digging” mechanic provides the heroes with some pretty exclusive treasures. One of these treasures is so powerful that it has ruined and defined the entire meta on its own. Because nobody can currently stop the Warlock. The culprit is the Azerite Snake.
What is the Azerite Snake? The Azerite Snake is an exclusive card for the Warlock that can only be obtained through the new “Digging” mechanic. As it goes, there are increasingly better treasures until the Azerite Snake appears as the grand finale for Warlock.
For 4 mana, the Wild Elemental mix has stats of 5/5, but the real kicker is the powerful battle cry: Your hero steals 10 life from the enemy hero.
Although these treasures are supposed to be powerful and crucial for gameplay, the Azerite Snake is a particularly critical case. Because Warlocks are able to have it in hand after just a few turns and play it multiple times.
What makes the card so strong? The twist is that the snake not only deals 10 points of damage and heals the Warlock – it’s even worse. It reduces the maximum life of the character and increases it for the Warlock.
And as if that weren’t bad enough, the Azerite Snake bypasses armor. Druids, Mages, or Warriors with high armor values look silly when they suddenly have 30 or more armor but no life left and lose the match.
This means that after 3 played Azerite Snakes, the match is over – inevitably. Because each time the Azerite Snake is played, there is a swing of 20 life points – 10 deducted from the opponent and 10 gained by the Warlock. Thanks to various cards that can copy this Azerite Snake or return it to hand, it can be played 3, 4, or 5 times in a row. No one survives that.
What does the nerf look like? Blizzard has not revealed that yet. However, it is already astonishing that just a day after release, the developers announced on Twitter that they have identified the Azerite Snake as a problem and want to push a hotfix nerf.
If you plan to exploit the power of the Azerite Snake, you should hurry – because the days of its dominance seem to be numbered.
