#447 - The Angry Chicken: “Incanter's Flow Blah Blah Kill You”
09/00/2021
• Garrett • Jocelyn • Hat
Tracking Link:
https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/
Future Topics / Saved Emails
Intro
Welcome to The Angry Chicken!
Thanks to the Patrons over at Patreon.com/TAC
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News
Patch 22.0.2 is LIVE
Standard Nerfs
- Celestial Alignment - Old: [Costs 7] → New: [Costs 8]
- Dev Comment: Although Celestial Alignment is not usually a card used for from-hand, burst damage, it does frequently allow for absurd turns that happen a little earlier than we feel is healthy. Moving it up a mana should allow for more setup and counterplay before Celestial Alignment is cast.
- Alliance Bannerman - Old: 2 Attack, 2 Health → New: 2 Attack, 1 Health
- Dev Comment: Paladins have a very consistent, powerful package of cards that they can include in quite a few distinct strategies. Alliance Bannerman is one of these cards that can fit into a wide range of decks. Lowering its Health by one should tone down Paladin decks by a small amount across the board.
- Efficient Octo-bot - Old: [Costs 2] → New: [Costs 3]
- Dev Comment: Efficient Octo-bot has been a little too efficient at the upper echelons of play. We’re slowing it down as part of the general goal of toning down the power level of combo strategies.
- Snowfall Guardian - Old: [Costs 5] → New: [Costs 6]
- Dev Comment: Snowfall Guardian was designed with the intent of giving Freeze Shaman decks a powerful tool, but it is a little too efficient at locking up the board, especially when combined with cards like Brilliant Macaw. Moving it up one mana should soften the power of this interaction.
- Old: Deal 2 damage to a minion. If it dies, restore 4 Health to your hero. → New: Deal 2 damage to a minion. If it dies, restore 3 Health to your hero.
- Dev Comment: Touch of the Nathrezim is meant to be a solid removal option for slower Warlock decks, but the overall Health restoration in Warlock is slightly too high. This is meant to be a softer change that leaves Warlock with a powerful removal option, but reduces overall Warlock healing capabilities enough to bring that aspect of the class back in line.
- Old: [Costs 4] → New: [Costs 5]
- Dev Comment: Runed Mithril Rod was an incredibly strong tool in the first few days after the launch of Fractured in Alterac Valley. While players were able to find a counter to it in cards like Rustrot Viper, we believe going up a Mana here will lead to healthier play patterns for the game overall.
- Old: 2 Attack, 2 Health → New: 2 Attack, 1 Health
- Dev Comment: We’re reverting our previous change to Bloodsail Deckhand. Questline Warrior ended up slightly stronger than intended, and we believe it will continue to find success after this change.
- Old: After your opponent casts a spell, summon a copy of this. → New: After your opponent casts a spell, summon another Irondeep Trogg.
- Dev Comment: Irondeep Trogg has the capability of running away with games very early when combined with minion buffs like Noble Mount or Doggie Biscuit. Taking into account the rest of the changes we’re making with this patch, we want to adjust Trogg to remain a viable counter to early spells, but to better match the targeted power level of the format as a whole.
- Old: [Costs 2] 2 Attack, 4 Health → New: [Costs 3] 2 Attack, 5 Health
- Dev Comment: Mo’arg Artificer does too much, too efficiently for decks with large amounts of removal. Increasing its cost by one will make the card a little less efficient as a tool for cheap clears, large amounts of life gain, and combo finishers.
Standard Buffs
Dev Comment: Alongside the changes above, we’re also making a couple adjustments aimed at powering up slower Mage decks and the less powerful Hero Cards.
- Old: [Hero Power Costs 3] → New: [Hero Power Costs 2]
- Old: [Costs 8] 6 Attack, 6 Health → New: [Costs 6] 4 Attack, 5 Health
- Old: [Costs 8] → New: [Costs 7]
- Old: Hero Power: Deal 1 Damage. Honorable Kill: Gain +2 Damage. → New: Hero Power: Deal 2 Damage. Honorable Kill: Gain +2 Damage.
- Old: Increase the damage of your Hero Power by 1. → New: Increase the damage of your Hero Power by 1 this game.
- Dev Comment: This is a minor rework to make it so that Wildfire will now persist after swapping Hero Powers. Although we don’t envision this being dramatically impactful, we do think it will allow for a smoother gameplay experience with Hero Power changing cards like Magister Dawngrasp.
Battlegrounds
- Armor Tier changed from Tier 1 (0 Armor) to Tier 2 (2-5 Armor)
- Sneed’s Replicator | Old: [Costs 1] → New: [Costs 2]
- Fragrant Phylactery
- Old: [Costs 0] Start of Combat: Destroy your lowest Health minion. Give its Health to all your others. → New: [Costs 1] Start of Combat: Destroy your lowest Health minion. Give its stats to all your others.
- Old: 5 Attack, 5 Health → New: 3 Attack, 3 Health
- Old: 4 Attack, 5 Health → New: 2 Attack, 5 Health
Links
Hearthstone esports is getting an overhaul
There are a TON of changes coming to Hearthstone esports next year!
- World Championship was this past weekend
- Abysmal viewership numbers (peaked at less than 24k viewers)
- Lots of OTK Demon Hunter and Garrote Rogue, some are blaming a “we’ve seen it already”/combo heavy meta
- Posesi beat Glory in an all APAC, all Japan finals
- We almost had a repeat World Champion
- New Format: Trio
- All 2022 Masters Tours are online-only, but targeting in person events for Fall Championship and World Championship (return of BlizzCon? Or separate event?)
- 2022 World Championship will be 16 players
- Goal is to expand opportunities for players to reach the WC
- Grandmasters is no longer the only way in
- 6 Masters Tours and 2 Masters Seasonal Championships
- 8 players from Seasonal Championships are going to WC
- Masters Tour qualification
- 60 qualifiers for each MT
- Winners get invite, as well as Top-50 win rate over 10 qualifiers without winning
- 150 invites from ladder finishes (Top 50 from each ladder -> NA, EU, APAC)
- First three MT feed the first Seasonal Championship, second three feed the second SC
- Winners, plus Top 13 (most match wins combined over the three MT events)
- Grandmasters will be phased out by the end of 2022
- Grandmasters does not align with their goals for the esports program
- 4 week long Season 1
- Players will be reduced to 16 for Season 2
- Top 4 from each region in Season 1, 4 from Masters Tour (most points from last three MT in 2021, and first three MT 2022)
- Will form one single global region
- 3 WC invites from GM Season 1, only 1 invite from GM Last Call (Season 2)
- Rule tidbits (highly requested changes)
- Players are allowed to stream their matches, either on delay or in emote-only mode
- First selection error now a warning, not a game loss
- Masters Tour earnings depend on how many games you win, not your placement in the tournament (no tiebreakers determining prizing)
- Lobby Legends Tournaments
- Multiple one-off events
- Global event, with top Ladder players from NA, EU, APAC, and China
- Day 1 = group play, points for placement
- Top players in each group will go into Day 2 playoffs
- Prizing breakdown of $3,000,000 budget
- World Championship only $500,000 again
- BG Lobby Legends gets $500,000
- Masters Tour prizing is $1.5 million (half the budget)
Links
Winter Veil Event starts Dec 21
- Legendary quest chain with packs (6 total)
- Two seasonal Tavern Brawls
- Gift Exchange
- Wacky Waxy Winter Veil
- Winter Veil themed cosmetics for Hearthstone and BGs also coming
- Winter Veil goes until January 19th
- Alterac Valley battle ends January 11th, and the Alliance is winning?! BOOOOO (but also accurate)
Links
Outro
Patreon Thanks
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The back catalogue of TAC can be found over on TheAngryChicken.com and Youtube.com/Amove2. Follow the show on Twitter @TACpodcast!
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Personal Stuff
Joce where can you be found?
Follow Jocelyn @JocePlays
The Gamers’ Inn
Follow Garrett @GarrettArt
NOMOONart.com for Garrett’s stream designs.
Amove.tv: Into the Nexus | Let’s Talk About Star Wars | WoW Killer
Hat stuff
http://twitter.com/RidiculousHat
Coin Concede, Vicious Syndicate