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Balance changes to Soulfire, Gadgetzan Auctioneer and Flare. GvG Cards now LIVE in Arena!

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Blizzard have published some balance changes in a patch that went live today. This patch also introduced the ability to pick Goblin vs Gnomes cards in Arena, along with a new game board, new animations, and a host of other tweaks. You can view the full patch notes below.


Blizzard Icon Hearthstone Patch Notes – 2.0.0.7234 – Goblins vs Gnomes Invades the Arena!


Thanks to a bit of meddlesome tinkering—and perhaps a little goblin-induced sabotage—all Goblins vs Gnomes cards are now available to choose from in the Arena!
 
You heard that right—those pesky pint-sized engineers (being an impatient bunch) have jury-rigged the Arena to give Hearthstone players a sneak peek at what’s in store when Goblins vs Gnomes officially launches next week. In doing so, they’ve calibrated things to throw all Goblins vs Gnomes cards into the Arena deck-building mix ahead of schedule. Speaking of peeking, Spectator Mode will also be online, so you’ll also be able to tune your transmitters in to watch your friends play!
 
Goblins vs Gnomes packs will be available to purchase via the in-game Shop upon the official release of Goblins vs Gnomes on December 8th!
 
Goblins vs Gnomes
  • Don’t let Goblins and Gnomes have all the fun building things: All Goblins vs Gnomes cards have been added to the Arena and can be chosen even if you do not have them in your Hearthstone collection.
  • All Goblins vs Gnomes cards can be found easily in My Collection using the search function, and all Goblins vs Gnomes cards have a “gear” watermark in the card text box.
  • Expert card packs have been renamed to “Classic” card packs. Classic card packs are still available to acquire in the in-game Shop as well as through Crafting Mode.
  • New minion type “Mech” has been added. Use Mechs along with other Mechs for surprising (often devastating) results!
  • An all-new interactive Goblins vs Gnomes-themed game board has been added. Turn the gears, wind the springs, and try not to blow anything up in the process. We warned you.
General
  • Spectator Mode has been added. Watch your friends play through their games of Hearthstone and observe their epic victories all with the click of a button! Spectator Mode is accessed through the Friends list by clicking on the “Spectate Match” button next to your friend’s name.
Card Changes

TMSG9Z7KJMT31417653396542.png

 
Flare now costs 2 mana, up from 1.
  • Flare allowed the Hunter an advantage versus decks that revolve around Secrets, while also allowing the Hunter to draw a card for little cost. We want to encourage a variety of decks in Hearthstone. With this change, Flare will continue to be useful against Secrets decks, but will be weaker against other decks.

KNUNL4L7BU9O1417653396561.png


Gadgetzan Auctioneer now costs 6 mana, up from 5.
  • Gadgetzan Auctioneer’s ability allows for a player to potentially draw many cards for little cost. Card draw and card advantage are important to the game – overall, games are less interesting when a player draws their entire deck. This change brings Gadgetzan Auctioneer’s cost more in line with its power level.

Z0H6RDGV1VAM1417653397200.png


Soulfire now costs 1 mana, up from 0.
  • Soulfire, along with fast and powerful minions, allowed Warlock rush decks to get ahead on the board and stay ahead. We’ve upped Soulfire’s mana cost by 1 to slow down the Warlock rush deck just a bit and allow more players time to react and interact against the Warlock.
Bug Fixes
  • The left-most enemy minion can once again be targeted on a full board if Counterspell counters a Secret.
  • Nozdormu, self proclaimed “Master of Time”, once again gives players 15 seconds a round instead of 30.
  • Blood Imps will no longer target Imp Masters with no life left. It’s dead, Jim.
  • Baron Rivendare in the Naxxramas Adventure has fixed his heater and will no longer cast Frostbolt on himself.
  • Faceless Manipulators will now copy the Echoing Ooze as well as its effect.
  • Faceless Manipulators will now copy the Echoing Ooze as well as its effect.
  • Faceless Manipulator now functions properly when targeting minions with Enrage that refuse to follow the rules.
  • Druid of the Claw is embracing his wild side and now becomes a Beast minion type upon switching Cat Form or Bear Form.
  • Multiple mechanical minions have been upgraded to Mechs, unlocking additional synergy with other Goblins vs Gnome cards: Harvest Golem, Damaged Golem, Alarm-o-Bot, Demolisher, Mechanical Dragonling, and all of Gelbin Mekkatorque’s AWESOME inventions.
  • Kel'Thuzad's mastery of undeath has been tempered and it will no longer resurrect itself after perishing at the hands of Ragnaros the Firelord.
  • Gnomes have been hard at work fixing Goblin “upgrades”, forcing our engineers to step in and fix the fixes that the gnomes “fixed”.  Ultimately, a number of display issues and other bugs have been resolved.
(source)


 
This is the first significant nerf we've seen to Zoo. Zoo is a deck that generally gets better as new efficient cards are released, since Zoo has access to them more consistently than other classes due to their hero power. Soulfire however, is a key and unique component to the deck and is definitely a key point to address if you want to reduce the power of the deck. Zoo will continue to be strong, but this may go some way to address its dominance.
 
Gadgetzan being increased to 6 mana is another promising looking change. Cards that read "draw a card every time you do something" are easily abusable effects and should be costed as such. This will be the 2nd serious nerf to the Miracle Rogue archetype in as many balance patches and it will be interesting to see if they can adjust again. As I mentioned in my GvG card spoilers thread, it seems that Blizzard are trying to push Tempo Rogue as a viable option in compensation for an upcoming Miracle nerf. Score one for me!
 
The Flare nerf is yet another hit to a class in Hunter that just keeps reasserting itself and remaining dominant. Blizzard have also stated that a neutral card will be added to the game to help deal with Secrets, so allowing Hunters to have continued access to such an efficient Secret removal card seems unfair. Flare will probably be cut from aggressive Hunter decks in favour of Tracking, since cycling for 2 mana is significantly worse than cycling for 1. The card remains powerful in terms of dealing with Secrets however.

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 1 - New reviewed decks with GVG cards should come in the next weeks or only after the new year?

 2 - I recently bought a 40 card pack, should i go for GVG or Classic card packs? I have only basic cards and naraxxamas cards.

 

Ty in advance!

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1. New decks will come very rapidly, and will be updated if and when I find ways to improve them, or better decks to replace them.

2. I think you should probably go for GvG cards, since there are less cards in the set and the density of good cards is a lot higher.

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