Blizzard just nuked one of the most toxic Hearthstone cards ever designed: "Yeah, our bad…"

GamesCard GameHearthstoneBlizzard just nuked one of the most toxic Hearthstone cards ever designed: “Yeah, our bad…“When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

(Image credit: Blizzard)

Cropped full art for the Hearthstone card Quasar.

The theme of Hearthstone’s latest card expansion, which is called The Great Dark Beyond, is building and launching increasingly powerful Starships. Unfortunately those sci-fi shenanigans have not been happening nearly enough for Blizzard’s liking, largely because a bunch of older cards and decks are so powerful that they’ve crowded out the new stuff. Which is why Team 5’s latest balance patch, which is live now, features a whopping 15 nerfs and 14 buffs aimed at getting the meta moving.

The experiences when this card does work are too sharp and end games too early, turning the dream into a nightmare to play against.—Blizzard

The experiences when this card does work are too sharp and end games too early, turning the dream into a nightmare to play against.

Was it super powerful? Not really. Quasar’s Rogue’s win rate according toHSReplay.netis hovering around the 40% mark, and theVicious Syndicate Data Reaperreport ranks it as a Tier 4 deck (which is the lowest). However, did Quasar feel absolutely obnoxious to lose to, as you watched your opponent draw their entire deck and cast a bazillion discounted damage spells? Absolutely. And from the content creators and players I follow, pretty much everyone but the degenerates piloting the deck seemed to agree that Quasar should never have been printed.

“Yeah, our bad…” reads the Blizzard blog post explaining the nerf. “Every expansion we like to make a few ‘dreamy’ cards that get players thinking about how far they can push the game. These cards aren’t supposed to be the most competitively viable; the fun of them is wondering ‘what if.’ Quasar mostly fell into that category—it certainly got the dreamers cooking and it hasn’t turned out to be a competitive power outlier—but the experiences when this card does work are too sharp and end games too early, turning the dream into a nightmare to play against.”

And so the hammer fell. Quasar now costs 8-Mana to cast, up from 6 previously. That kind of Mana increase is effectively the same as deleting the card. A strategy that was already sub-optimal will now be all but impossible, and the game will be better for it.

Cropped full art for the Hearthstone card Reno, Lone Ranger.

Also getting kicked into another solar system is Reno, Lone Ranger. It’s a neutral Hero card (ie it replaces your current hero power) that previously read: “Battlecry: If your deck started with no duplicates, empty the enemy board and limit it to 1 space for a turn.” That effect amounted to fully resetting your opponent’s board state. Reno even removed Dormant minions and Location cards, without triggering any Deathrattle effects in the process. Now, not only has the restriction that your opponent could only play a single minion on the following turn been removed, Locations and Dormant minions will remain in place.

Here’s the Blizzard’s spiel: “Reno has been a polarizing card since its release. He’s a necessarily strong payoff to singleton decks, which many players really enjoy, but playing against him can be really frustrating—especially his next turn board limitation. It’s been difficult to balance these competing player interests, and we don’t make this change lightly, but we felt Reno was due for an update (to no longer hit non-minions, Dormant minions, etc.) so we could give Starships a better chance to fly.”

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

Given that Reno already restricted your deck-building to not including duplicates, at 10 Mana it now looks wildly over-costed and play should plummet. Reno was such a hard counter to Starships, because you could spend many turns building yours only to see it go poof with no reward whatsoever. Again, that felt terrible, and Blizzard is correct to balance around play experience as well as pure power.

Starships will also get a helping hand from some of the buffs being dealt out, most notably to The Exodar, which auto-launches your Starship along with one of three bonus effects. It’s cost is dropping from 8 to 7 Mana, and its stats are changing from 6/10 to 6/8. That seems like averygood deal. “This last change is particularly spicy,” said Blizzard. “We wanted to make sure that Starships got a chance to shine, but we’ll keep an eye on this one after all the changes go live to make sure we didn’t push too far.” Don’t worry, when has buffing cards ever got Blizzard into trouble?!

As usual, all the nerfed cards will be eligible for full dust refunds for two weeks from today.

More about card gamesLegendary joker ports Balatro to the 44-millimeter screen of an Apple Watch, calls it ‘Wee Balatro’You should definitely grab today’s free Epic Store giveaway: this ‘dicebuilder’ might quietly be the best freebie of the seasonLatestI tried a sim racing rig that generates ‘wind’ at CES 2025 and it’s claimed to help keep VR nausea at baySee more latest►

More about card games

Legendary joker ports Balatro to the 44-millimeter screen of an Apple Watch, calls it ‘Wee Balatro’You should definitely grab today’s free Epic Store giveaway: this ‘dicebuilder’ might quietly be the best freebie of the season

Balatro being played on an Apple Watch

Legendary joker ports Balatro to the 44-millimeter screen of an Apple Watch, calls it ‘Wee Balatro’

Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles art

You should definitely grab today’s free Epic Store giveaway: this ‘dicebuilder’ might quietly be the best freebie of the season

LatestI tried a sim racing rig that generates ‘wind’ at CES 2025 and it’s claimed to help keep VR nausea at baySee more latest►

Latest

I tried a sim racing rig that generates ‘wind’ at CES 2025 and it’s claimed to help keep VR nausea at bay

Nitro Concepts CES 2025 booth with a sim racing rig that offered wind simulation from twin fans near the wheelbase.

I tried a sim racing rig that generates ‘wind’ at CES 2025 and it’s claimed to help keep VR nausea at bay

See more latest►

Most PopularAll Zenless Zone Zero 1.5 livestream codesAsus reveals three new Slash Travel Bags for carting around your ROG Ally—however, none of them are particularly fashion forwardToday’s Wordle answer for Friday, January 10We may not have a roadmap or balance patch just yet, but at least Path of Exile 2’s bugfix patch notes are funnyDeus Ex: Mankind Divided writer didn’t like the ending either: ‘Nothing is resolved’It seems like Square’s finally consistently taking the PC ports of Final Fantasy seriouslyLike a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii looks more like a zany RGG take on Black Flag than I dared hopeThe most important tool in Remedy’s new co-op FPS is the shower: ‘Saving water is essential’If you missed it over the holidays, this noir Half-Life 2 mod turns you into a hardboiled detective in Prohibition-era ChicagoPath of Exile 2 players are calling foul on Elon Musk’s high-level hardcore character after he streams his struggles with core game mechanicsAlan Emrich, the game designer and writer who coined the term ‘4X,’ has died

Most Popular

All Zenless Zone Zero 1.5 livestream codes

Asus reveals three new Slash Travel Bags for carting around your ROG Ally—however, none of them are particularly fashion forward

Today’s Wordle answer for Friday, January 10

We may not have a roadmap or balance patch just yet, but at least Path of Exile 2’s bugfix patch notes are funny

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided writer didn’t like the ending either: ‘Nothing is resolved’

It seems like Square’s finally consistently taking the PC ports of Final Fantasy seriously

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii looks more like a zany RGG take on Black Flag than I dared hope

The most important tool in Remedy’s new co-op FPS is the shower: ‘Saving water is essential’

If you missed it over the holidays, this noir Half-Life 2 mod turns you into a hardboiled detective in Prohibition-era Chicago

Path of Exile 2 players are calling foul on Elon Musk’s high-level hardcore character after he streams his struggles with core game mechanics

Alan Emrich, the game designer and writer who coined the term ‘4X,’ has died

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

A bunch of the best Steam Deck accessories on a blue background.

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

Thank Goodness You’re Here review

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback

Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback

3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

4Ikea Utespelare desk review

Ikea Utespelare desk review

5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals