Hearthstone Nerfs Quest Rogue, Better Late Than Never

Hearthstone’s Rogue Quest, The Caverns Below , is getting nerfed in an upcoming patch. “The Caverns Below is uniquely powerful versus several slower, control-oriented decks and played often enough that it’s pushing those decks out of play,” Community Manager Keganbe wrote in a Battle.net blog post. “This change should help expand the deck options available to players both now and after the release of the next expansion.”

You will now need to play five minions of the same name in order to finish the Quest, which turns all your minions into 5/5s. To an outsider who hasn’t spent much time playing Hearthstone or Quest Rogue, it might not seem like a big deal. To those of us who are well acquainted with the deck, this is pretty much a death sentence. Quest Rogue plays more like Solitaire than Hearthstone . You try to get Swashburglar, Fire Fly or Igneous Elemental in your starting hand and then the game begins.

Shadowstep , Gadgetzan Ferryman and Young Brewmaster all bounce minions back to your hand. If you don’t draw these minions, there’s no way for you to win the game. Getting two or three of these bad boys before your opponent steamrolls you with Evolve Shaman used to be doable, but after the change it’s almost impossible. Games of Quest Rogue are nearly always decided by turn five: if you have the Quest, Preparation and some Southsea Deckhands you win. If you don’t and your opponent isn’t playing something slow like Taunt Warrior, it’s gg.

The Hearthstone community has been pretty accepting of these changes, with many pros applauding Blizzard’s semi-quick fix to the Quest Rogue problem.

It’s good to see Blizzard nerfing cards instead of just hoping to fix the problem in the next set. Small-Time Buccaneer needed a nerf before it was released, but didn’t get one until a few months into the Mean Streets Of Gadgetzan meta. Team 5, the guys who develop Hearthstone , are only human and will fuck up. There’s no way to study every card to make sure none of them are going to break the game. That’s why nerfs like this need to happen as quickly as possible, so Hearthstone fans don’t get discouraged by the massive amounts of cheese and leave the game.

Personally, I don’t believe The Caverns Below was that big of a problem. The deck was extremely popular when Journey To Un’Goro was released but quickly lost it’s popularity when decks like Murloc Paladin took over. It’s hard to finish your Quest when three 5/3 Murlocs are staring you down on turn three. The deck has remained top tier, but never good enough to overtake the meta. After this nerf, The Caverns Below will be unusable, completely destroying the archetype.

Time to spam Control Mage until Hearthstone nerfs Meteor as well.