by hsdecktech - 7 years ago     show comments

On the heels of Ben Brode’s comments that the next Standard rotation may come with additional nerfs-to or rotations-of evergreen cards that threaten the “freshness” of the format (Brode’s comments may be found here), Vicious Syndicate has run an analysis of the most commonly played cards since Mean Streets of Gadgetzan was released. An idea behind the compilation is that the most commonly-played cards might be some of the worst offenders in terms of “freshness.” While such may not be completely accurate, for instance, if some lesser-played cards were to limit design space and thereby indirectly cause “staleness,” the raw numbers seem to be a great place to start. The entire Vicious Syndicate list and analysis may be found here.

Here are a few points of consideration:

• The list is of most commonly played cards, not cards most commonly included in decklists. This means that early-game cards will inherently appear higher on the list, as not all games make it to turn 5 or later.
• Neutral and non-legendary cards will likewise be more common as that they can be played more frequently than class cards or legendaries. Cards that are generally only played in Reno/Highlander/Singleton decks would have numbers similar to those of legendaries.
• Ben Brode only mentioned changes to evergreen cards (though several team members have mentioned that Small-Time Buccaneer and Patches are on the “watch” list for nerfs as well).

Based on those considerations, the following cards seem to stand out as possible nerf/rotate targets:

• Azure Drake (#3 overall most played card even though many games these days do not make it to turn 5)
• Fiery War Axe (#7 overall most played card, even though it is a class card)
• Bloodmage Thalnos (#12 overall most played card, even though it is a legendary)
• Note: although several evergreen Shaman cards make the list, nerfs/rotations to those cards appear less likely because of the impending natural rotation of many Shaman tools (including Tunnel Trogg and Totem Golem) and because any nerfs to the early pirate-package would hurt Shaman as well.

What cards do you think are on the chopping block? Let us know in the comments below.