“Everyone, get in here!”

This phrase sends shivers down most Hearthstone players’ spines, as it is the catchphrase of one of the most powerful and frustrating decks in the game: the Grim Patron Warrior. The deck has been very popular over the last few months, but Blizzard Entertainment has announced an upcoming change that will basically kill it.

The Grim Patron Warrior deck revolves around the Grim Patron card, a low-cost minion with a deceptively simple ability. The card’s text reads “Whenever this minion survives damage, summon another Grim Patron.” 

By itself this ability is fairly powerful, but what sends it into nearly game breaking territory is the way it interacts with another card called Warsong Commander. 

Currently, the Warsong Commander card gives the Charge ability to any minions with 3 or less attack power, allowing them to attack on the turn they are played rather than having to wait until the next turn. This creates a sort of chain reaction situation with Grim Patron, allowing a player to spawn a nearly endless supply of Grim Patrons that can all attack immediately. What makes this so frustrating is the fact there is very little other players can do to prevent the combo from happening.

Below is a video of the Grim Patron—Warsong Commander combo in action. Notice that the opposing player goes from nearly full health to dead in one turn, without any chance of responding:

This combo will soon no longer be possible thanks to changes Blizzard is making to Warsong Commander, which is losing its ability to grant Charge to other cards.

“Over the course of the short but impactful history of Hearthstone, we’ve taken a strong stance that we’d like to make changes to cards only when they are completely necessary,” Blizzard said in a blog post. “The direction of gameplay and the metagame should be defined by our players, and as the meta is evolving, many different types of decks can emerge.”

Blizzard added, “In the case of Warsong Commander, we felt this change was necessary to help expand both future design space and to stand by our overarching game philosophy that battles between minions and fighting for board control is what makes Hearthstone fun and compelling.”

Blizzard said that the change will likely happen next week.

While many players are rejoicing at no longer having to deal with Grim Patron decks, the change has major implications for Hearthstone’s esports scene, both for people who use Grim Patron and for those who use decks designed to counter it. With the Hearthstone World Championships beginning in just a few weeks, there are likely at least a few players scrambling to find a new strategy as a result of the change.

This demonstrates a major problem for professional gamers, who can have their entire strategy invalidated by unexpected changes to the game. Imagine a baseball coach being told he can no longer use left-handed batters, and you can see how this might be a problem for players who participate in tournaments that frequently feature prize pools of over $100,000.

Screenshot by Eric David