by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

While a lot of people scream for nerfs when cards feel overpowered, I don’t see many people calling for buffs to long forgotten cards. In my mind, every non-joke card should at least be a decent fit in a viable deck. Also, the meta would grow a lot more interesting if a wider array of cards suddenly started seeing play. So without further ado…

Welcome back to Mending Mondays, a weekly feature where I, Dannie “IAmDiR23” Ray will take a look at some of the worst cards in the Hearthstone and evaluate why they are deemed to be horrible, and what could be done to fix them.

You knew this was coming, as soon as this card was revealed people started speculating that it would most likely make the top 5 worst Legendary in Hearthstone. A combination of undesirable stats, high mana cost, and an inconsistent battlecry made sure that nobody was too excited about Hemet Nesingwary making his way into the inn as a playable card. Can Mending Mondays put the thrill back into the hunt? Lets find out!

Why is it so bad?

How often do you see beasts played against you? If you take a look at the Classic set, most of the beasts aren’t really game changers. The most popular one is likely the Dire Wolf Alpha and that’s just a 2 mana minion. Naxx brought another popular neutral beast to the mix in the form of Haunted Creeper, another 2 mana minion but more importantly one that you most of the times DON’T want to kill.

GvG probably tried to give Hemet a few nice targets by introducing Malorne, Gazh’rilla, and Druid of the Fang. Sadly, those didn’t get a lot of consideration on the popular decks. But even then, those were class specifics, so would just want to have Hemet just to tech against Hunter? I mean, the best possible target you could see is a Savannah Highmane and since the Hyenas can revenge kill Hemet you don’t even get the initiative back.  The best target then its probably killing of an Animal Companion, and that’s even a few turns late for an on-curve answer.

But even if you had good targets. The 3 HP on Hemet is a huge liability, there are a lot of popular cards that take him out for little mana. Kinda negating any tempo swing that Hemet’s battlecry could’ve generated.

To summarize:

• Too easy to remove for a 5-drop.
• Can’t find decent targets reliably.
• Hard to find any kind of target for it.

Possible Improvements

Just like Wailing Soul, and Prophet Velen before him. Hemet Nesingwary is a card that might improve as more cards are introduced. But unlike the silencing Naxx card, I believe that if Hemet was to ever be considered a good option he needs to be tweaked up a bit.

The first thing I would be looking at is a mana cost reduction. We mentioned earlier that most of the common targets would be lower mana cost cards, and having a lower mana cost on Hemet would make him more of a natural counter.

He could also use a buff on the Health department, maybe a 6/5 Hemet would be a legit threat that sees serious consideration. But even a 6/4 statline would be a considerable upgrade.

The Results

Reducing the mana cost by 1 is usually a good way to make a lesser card suddenly become playable. 9 total stats is pretty good for a 4-drop, and the ability becomes a huge plus. The 3 Health is still there to make Hemet pretty easy to remove, and make sure that it doesn’t become an auto include in very deck.

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have been expecting this one. As a good hunter you would really love to take out two birds with one shot, and this is exactly the type of thing that could accomplish it. As I mentioned in my Dr. Boom balance analysis, BGH is kind of problematic card that has a huge impact on the meta. Basically big minions usually come with a big mana cost attached to them, being able to clear them for just 3 mana is huge. When you consider that the BGH also is a reasonable body on the board then the value intensifies.

Having the ability to kill a 7+ attack minion restricted to a legendary card, and more importantly to a 5 mana one, would add a lot of viablity to 7+ attack minions. Cards such as the Core Rager, Druid of the Fang, Fel Reaver, The Beast, Gruul, Velen, The Giants, Illidan, and Baron Geddon become just so much more valuable.

Perhaps Hemet would still not be strong enough with this change, if that turns out to be the case then by all means give him an extra point of HP.

On the Flip Side, Big Game Hunter would become a really good answer against Aggresive Hunters. Not only would it allow an early 2 for 1, but it also its 4 attack might open the possibility to race the Hunter if Explosive Trap isn’t a factor. This version of BGH taking down an Animal Companion would be just what you need to stabilize the match up against Hunter.

In all, this “Battlecry: Switcheroo” might go a long way towards shifting the meta out of hyper aggression and more into a control game. And isn’t that exactly what many people are clamoring for?

Do you think some of the versions above are still too weak? Maybe absurdly overpowered? Messing with cards without the ability to test them is actually pretty challenging, but I try to do my best.

Be sure to check out past editions of Mending Mondays, and if you have any suggestions, be sure to leave them on the comments or hit me up on Twitter @DannieRay23.

See you next Monday!