Balance update v34: every card earns its place

Our biggest balance pass so far: 183 cards changed so that every card has its own reason to be in your deck. No more two cards with the same effect at different costs, no hero card outclassed by a neutral, and no card that is simply a worse copy of another in the same pool.

Your decks are safe: apart from four unfinished draft cards that nobody owned, no card was removed and no card became Legendary, so every deck stays legal.

Neutral burn is capped at 4 damage

No neutral spell or trap deals more than 4 damage any more. Nothing was removed — cost and damage went down together.

• Brave Ambush — 1 mana, 3 damage to an entering enemy (was 2 mana, 5 damage).
• Lost Pitfall — now freezes the entering monster and deals 2.
• Old Fortune — 4 mana Rare: 4 damage and draw a card (was 5 mana Epic, 7 damage).
• Tavern Snare — 2 mana Common: 3 damage to an attacker and draw a card (was 7 damage).
• Unsealed Edict, Wild Barrage and Wyrmfire Gout are cheaper and hit for less.

Removed draft cards

Sky Whisperer, Ancient Raider, Frost Adept and Blood Seer (unfinished Sylvara drafts) are no longer collectible — out of packs, crafting, the arena and the shop. Nobody owned a copy.

Every hero got a clearer identity

Hero cards now lean into what their hero does best:

• Aldric — Squires and armor: Squire summons gain Guardian, Banner Marshal buffs your Squires, more armor on Guardians.
• Seraphine — healing on almost every card; Sunlit Benediction is down to 2 mana.
• Kaelen — Sparks and fire: more Sparks from Firebolt, Cinder Tripwire and Scorched Notes; Twin Flames costs 2.
• Vex — Veil, Venom and Chain: Duskborn Poison gives all your monsters Venom, Throwing Knives and Shade Ambush gain Chain bonuses.
• Thrag — Beasts: Feral Tracker draws a Beast, Pack Roar wolves get Swift, Bonepicker Hyena grows when your Beasts die.
• Morwen — Skeletons and resurrection: many Undead leave a Skeleton behind, Ashen Revenant and Wailing Thrall resummon from your graveyard.
• Grimhold — armor everywhere: Deepstone Bulwark grows whenever you gain armor.
• Sylvara — growth: Mighty Growth adds Regenerate, Elder Treesage draws 2, Oaken Rejuvenation summons a Treant.
• Nyx — health as a price: stronger bodies that cost you life, Pact Pact now hurts you instead of healing.
• Zephyr — freeze and tempo: Cyclone Elemental, Gale Runner and Stormglass Scepter freeze; Frost Gust hits neighbors too.
• Isolde — Leech and Blood Thralls: Call the Thralls, Masked Reveler and Masquerade Duelist gain Leech.
• Maren — freeze and Merfolk: Coralshell Warden and Drowned Deckhand freeze, Bloodscent Shark costs 4.
• Ksarra — Broodlings: Hive Oracle, Molting Drone, Hive-Bone Flail and Scarab Juggernaut spawn Broodlings.
• Ixion — mill: Maw Beneath the Cellar, Starless Lance and Starspawn Eater put enemy cards into the graveyard; The Trench Sleeper costs 6.

Neutrals

Many neutral cards are now slightly weaker than the matching hero cards (for example Shield Bearer 0/5, Stone Sentry 2/4, Silence Chime 3 mana). In total there are 41 cost changes and 19 rarity changes.

See every changed card side by side in the full v34 card changes, or browse the card gallery.