Hearthstone official artwork for Bloodreaver Gul'Dan

After being teased for a couple of weeks now, Hearthstone's long-awaited and much-needed balance changes have now arrived. The intent behind all of these tweaks, as you might imagine, is to tone down some of the most oppressive decks currently in Standard and Wild, as well as hopefully ensure that more cards from The Witchwood expansion get to finally see the light of day.

With this in mind, it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to hear that Naga Sea Witch, Spiteful Summoner, Call to Arms, Possessed Lackey, and similar cards have ended up being the ones on the chopping block. However, unlike some of Blizzard's previous and rather questionable balance changes, I am very glad to say that these ones are actually quite reasonable and that it's likely these cards will still see some play! But enough babble from me, here's the full list of changes:

Spiteful Summoner - Will cost 7 mana, up from 6

Naga Sea Witch - Will cost 8 mana, up from 5

Dark Pact - Will restore 4 health, down from 8

Possessed Lackey - Will cost 6 mana, up from 5

Call to Arms - Will cost 5 mana, up from 4

The Caverns Below - Will not set all minions to 4/4, down from 5/5/5

As is tradition, you are able to get a full refund by disenchanting the above mentioned cards, and I would honestly recommend you do just that. Having boatloads of dust gives you the flexibility to play pretty much any deck or archetype you want, and if you ever decide you need some of the nerfed cards, just craft them again for essentially no cost. It really is a win-win situation.

Have fun, and if you're looking for new decks to experiment with I'd personally suggest trying out one of the Deathstalker Rexxar ones - they're a blast to play, and surprisingly consistent given the currently limited card pool!