With the release of the upcoming Boomsday Project expansion, Hearthstone will also be adding more changes to existing cards. The Hearthstone 12.0 update is closely related to the last set of changes we covered in our previous article on minion tribal tags and interactions.
To Beast, or Not to Beast
In an attempt to stay consistent with their changes to Witchwood Grizzly, any Beast cards that do not appear to be alive will have their tribal tag removed. The example provided was that of Ghostly Charger. This card already doesn’t see a whole lot of play, and the removal of the tag doesn’t really change any decks or synergies.
The implication is that the removal of tags will eventually be applied to all dead versions of cards. In the mean time, though, cards like Bone Drake will continue to be a Dragon. However, some players have argued that cards like Bonemare should be classified as a beast, if that is the case.
Blizzard Team 5 have clearly stated that they don’t want to affect the meta when it comes to tag changes. The cute Arfus is not losing his Beast tag for this reason. Players will still be able to discover him through Deathstalker Rexxar’s hero power. The other cards that will not be changed are Kindly Grandmother, Arcane Giant, Arcane Golem, and Bogshaper.
Copy a Card Buff?
A very important change to keep in mind when playing is the interaction when a card gets copied. The Hearthstone team have clarified the order and intended flow of interactions for the way that cards keep enchantments.
There are four different “zones” of play that a card can be in. As long as a card is moving forward or sideways in this flow chart it will maintain enchantments. If the card moves backward against the flow at any point, the enchantment is lost. The flows that will retain enchantments are as follows:
Deck -> Hand, Hand -> Play, Deck -> Play, Hand -> Hand, Deck -> Deck
Flows that will not retain enchantments are like these:
Play -> Hand, Hand -> Deck, Play -> Deck, Play/Hand/Deck -> Graveyard, Graveyard -> Play/Hand/Deck
For example, if Archbishop Benedictus is played, and an opponent’s deck that has been buffed by Prince Keleseth is copied, the Keleseth buff will be retained on the copied minions (Deck -> Deck).
When Mind Vision copies a buffed Kingsbane, the Kingsbane will have those buffs(Hand -> Hand).
If somehow Kobold Illusionist were able to pull a minion with the Deathrattle from Val’anyr attached to it, the 1/1 copy would have the Val’anyr Deathrattle (Hand -> Play).
To demonstrate a reverse flow, when a board of minions with enchantments is Psychic Scream’ed, they will lose the buffs (Play -> Deck).
Voodoo Doll Transformation Change
In a list of transformation changes, it is stated that any card that transforms will not retain any mana discounts or enchantments. The most important interaction is that with Voodoo Doll.
Silencing Voodoo Doll will make it such that the minion it has cursed will not die with its Deathrattle. Silencing the minion with the curse of Voodoo Doll will cause it to no longer die with the doll. Also, Transforming the minion with the curse also will cause it to not die to the Deathrattle.
For the official statement on the Hearthstone 12.0 Game Mechanics Update from Blizzard, including some changes not discussed in this article, go to the blogpost here.
Leave a comment below if there are any other changes you think they should make!
Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment via their official website and gamepedia.Â
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