Hearthstone’s Latest Card Will Shatter Control Warrior As A Class For The Next Two Years
Hearthstone’s “Platebreaker” cards looks to shake up the meta in a substantial way.
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As the launch for Hearthstone’s Descent of Dragons nears, a newly revealed common neutral card is sure to grab the spotlight and stir up mixed feelings within the player base. “Platebreaker” is a five-mana minion with five health and attack with card text that reads, “Battlecry: Destroy your opponent’s Armor.”
The release of such a card effect comes as a surprise. Developer Insights posted in June of this year laid out a clear path Blizzard would be taking for each class in Hearthstone expansions. As described in the blog post, the Warrior is, “Primarily a martial class, they incorporate Armor, weapons, and minions to destroy their opponents.” Armor was listed as a key feature for them.
Even without this explicit description, most players have associated Warriors with armor since Hearthstone’s release. In fact, the “Control Warrior” archetype has consisted of deck-building strategies focused on controlling the board. These characters are known for stalling the game, a tactic they can utilize due to their strong armor properties.
Because of this strong association, Platebreaker creates a problem from a design perspective. In essence, it targets an entire class archetype that has been a fan favorite since practically day one. Fibonacci, for example, is one of the best “Control Warrior” players in professional Hearthstone and has long preferred that style. He might now have to change gears.
Although the card falls into the tech category, its very properties further push Hearthstone into what many describe as a “rock-paper-scissors” problem. Imagine if a card was added stating “Battlecry: Your opponent can no longer cast Spells.” Some classes would make do, (such as Warlocks), but Magic heavy classes would suffer considerably.
The Wild format will see further impacts on Druid decks, which controversially gained the ability to add massive amounts of Armor through a spell card. Paladin’s, too, may feel the effects as the “High Priest Tikal” card adds armor at the cost of health. Platebreaker now feels unbalanced against that.
It’s still a bit early to tell if Platebreaker really will affect “Control Warriors” significantly. Its very design, though, seems unhealthy for such a strategy heavy game.
Source: outof.cards
Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/hearthstone-platebreaker-card/