Card top money
https://redd.it/1q3ock8
@r_hearthstone
What's the Lore that it can't attack. Dude is ready to swing.
https://redd.it/1q3k07h
@r_hearthstone
battlecry keeps goin at the end like "i am stronger, i am better!"
https://redd.it/1q3dupk
@r_hearthstone
Want to know what decks will be losing cards come Rotation in March? Find out in this post! "Post 1: Druid, Death Knight, Demon Hunter, Hunter, Mage, Paladin"
https://redd.it/1q396r8
@r_hearthstone
"ME HAVE GOOD STATS FOR THE COST"
https://redd.it/1q37zg0
@r_hearthstone
Suffocation, no breathing
https://redd.it/1q31tt8
@r_hearthstone
I Have a Dream
https://redd.it/1q32dr1
@r_hearthstone
unless there’s a new cosmetic to promote. The devs do engage more internally with players in the Hearthstone Creators Program, but even that became rocky at points this year around the Un’goro launch. And we no longer have Hat (*As someone who still keeps in touch with him from time to time, Hat’s doing well and is very happy with his new gig. While you probably won’t see him post in those spaces anymore, he still lurks in HS adjacent communities from time to time.*)
------------
**Okay seriously, was 2025 seriously worse than 2024?** Honestly, it just depends on what you value and your personal preferences. I don’t think any longtime Hearthstone player would point to either year as being good ones. 2024 lost Duels, 2025 lost Twist (we all know it’s dead). 2024 had multiple instances of broken metas with actual Tier S decks after balance patches, whereas 2025 had balance that was fine but was incredibly lacking in viable new strategies that were added to the game. 2024’s low point might have been the weekly quest fiasco, whereas 2025 you just point to the 1 month period in July where they released $158 pets behind a predatory gacha, an expansion that had next to no impact on the format and the devs admitted it was designed to be bad, and their PR to the community during this time was a disaster because they let the contract of the person who previously did so expire. In both years, the game’s director showed up as often as Punxsutawney Phil’s shadow does on Groundhog Day, and only pokes his head if an upcoming expensive cosmetic is on the horizon. Pick your poison.
https://redd.it/1q2eidb
@r_hearthstone
first sequel expansion in the game’s history, leading to a lot of hype because of nostalgia. The main mechanics of the expansion (Quests and Kindred) are so underwhelming that buffs are required in an earlier than usual first balance patch. Quest decks are so bad that roughly 3/4ths of them at launch had a winrate worse than Splendiferous Whizbang decks. Un’goro’s launch was so disastrous that it [made longtime Hearthstone personality Brian Kibler quit the game indefinitely]( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5_KgENGbwU). Despite nerfing a double digit amount of cards in the first balance patch with the goal of making new strategies viable and making meekish buffs, Quests and Kindred still remain underwhelming (although the most aggressively buffed quest in Warlock’s becomes playable). After the first balance patch, the meta is relatively stable, but incredibly boring with players complaining about the lack of new, interesting decks to play. Despite nerfs, Cycle Rogue remains a playable deck.
* During the traditional second balance window, [Team 5 put out a blog post](https://hearthstone.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24223662/33-2-2-patch-notes) stating they were not going to make additional buffs to quests and admitted they intentionally designed quests to be bad because they thought quests were bad design. No one understands this logic at all, but it somehow unites the entire playerbase to be upset at Team 5’s design decisions. They also state they expect the miniset to shake up the meta and therefore don’t want to make any changes.
* The Un’goro miniset launches and becomes the most underwhelming miniset in the game’s history, having absolutely zero impact on the format. A buff patch is released, with the only notable impact being the Egg of Khelos buff, which was enough to make Egg Warlock a new viable deck. In the patch notes, [the devs reiterate they think quests being good is bad, and admit they really fucked up design in this expansion](https://hearthstone.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24223779/33-4-2-patch-notes).
* At some point during this time, the Arena format transitions from having a curated list of draftable cards to once again only having cards from current Standard sets draftable. No explanation for this change is given, although one can infer this is done because it requires significantly less dev work and resources.
* The Masters Tour Summer Championship happens. Although hype and interest surrounding this event is low, it’s at least promoted better than the Summer Championship in 2024.
* Across the Timeways is announced. During prerelease, players notice that the new Rewind mechanic caused major performance issues with lag, roping, and in some instances crashes. It’s so bad that for the first time in Hearthstone’s 11.5 year history, a card (Mister Clocksworth) is nerfed solely because of technical performance reasons and not because of balance reasons.
* Across The Timeways is released. The main mechanics of the expansion (Fabled and Rewind) are once again underwhelming and fail to create new viable decks, although for the first time this year people praise the design of a new mechanic. Despite nerfing a double digit amount of cards in the first balance patch with the goal of making new strategies viable, these new mechanics still remain underwhelming. After the first balance patch, the meta is relatively stable, but incredibly boring with players complaining about the lack of new, interesting decks to play. Despite nerfs, Cycle Rogue is a playable deck.
* The Masters Tour Last Chance Qualifiers happen shortly after the release of Across The Timeways. While I don’t believe a Last Chance Qualifier happened in 2024, hype and interest surrounding this event is low. From a viewership perspective, the tournament is a tough watch due to a bug where if any player plays a Rewind card, it breaks the spectator view completely with the game unable to update what’s actually happening, and the various casters left confused because they also can’t follow what’s happening.
* The Masters Tour World
A summary of why 2025 was potentially the worst year in Hearthstone's 11 year existence.
Hi there. You might remember me as the guy who does [summaries for Hearthstone podcasts](https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/1pu6eml/summary_of_the_12232025_vicious_syndicate_podcast/), [summaries of entire books about Blizzard](https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/1fz4aoz/ive_been_reading_through_jason_schreier_play_nice/), or even [summaries of JAlexander posts](https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/1gpwaln/power_creep_is_a_red_herring/lwtriza/). [After doing a post last year summarizing why 2024 was the worst year in Hearthstone's existence](https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/1hs75jq/a_summary_of_why_2024_was_the_worst_year_in/), I had zero intentions that I would be doing another one of these the following year. Sadly, 2025 was another rough year for the game for multiple reasons, so for the second time you're getting my annual summary on why last year was (potentially) the worst year of Hearthstone I've personally experienced. Here are all the notable bullet points that come to mind (if I'm missing anything notable, please feel free to mention it) -
-------------
* The Heroes of StarCraft miniset is released 3 weeks into January. These 49 new cards will represent the biggest meta shift in terms of introducing new decks to the format that the game will see all year. Despite the mostly positive reception to the miniset making the format feel fresh and new, players realize within the first few days that the StarCraft miniset actually made the format much more narrow in terms of the number of viable decks available to play on ladder.
* The StarCraft miniset also represents the fastest emergency nerf we’ve seen in the game’s history, as Shaffar is emergency banned from the game within 6 hours of launch due to its ability to make BGs sized minions in Zerg Hunter within the first few turns.
* The Year of the Raptor is officially announced. [Game Director Tyler Bielman shares some words](https://hearthstone.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24177978/welcome-to-the-year-of-the-raptor) about the upcoming Arena updates, the esports program getting a minimal upgrade due to China rejoining, and the exciting new cosmetics like Mythic Skins and Pets coming to the game. [Despite promising last year they intended to open up communication with the playerbase more as part of their "Fun, Focus, and Fearless" mantra](https://hearthstone.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24117144/hearthstone-update-looking-ahead), this would represent the only public comments Game Director Tyler Bielman would give for the entire year.
* The Twist format is opened in January and February with repeat formats. The format closes on March 1st with the promise of more information coming soon about the future of the format. Twist would remain closed for the remainder of the year, with no further information given.
* Core Set rotation happens, with an [unprecedented number of nerfs](https://hearthstone.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24187196/32-0-patch-notes) applied to cards remaining in the format with the goal of making sure the power level of the format isn’t too high for upcoming expansions. This patch also completely nukes the StarCraft miniset (especially Zerg and Terran cards), which will render those factions almost completely useless for the remainder of their time in Standard.
* Into The Emerald Dream is released. The main mechanics of the expansion (Imbue and Dark Gifts) are so underwhelming that buffs are required in the first balance patch. Despite nerfing a double digit amount of cards in the first balance patch with the goal of making new strategies viable, these new mechanics still remain underwhelming. After the first balance patch, the meta is relatively stable, but incredibly boring with players complaining about the lack of new, interesting decks to play. Despite rotation, Cycle Rogue is still a playable deck.
* A couple months later, the Embers of the World Tree miniset is released. Outside of Imbue Hunter and the
New and Returning Player Weekly Discussion
This weekly discussion is designed so that everybody may ask any and all questions regarding the game's mechanics, decks, strategies, and more.
Are you an experienced player, or have you picked up some knowledge along the way? Please help out by offering your opinions and best answers!
Please keep it clean and add more than just a one or two word response. Keep in mind not everything will have a 'best' answer.
Check out our wiki for answers to some common questions and links to terrific community resources about deck ideas, card info, and news!
See previous week's discussions.
https://redd.it/1pz80pk
@r_hearthstone
Has going second ever been this bad?
According to HS Guru, there's a whopping 8 decks with a net positive winrate going second with Cliff Dive reaching 53.9%, versus 42 (!) decks netting a positive winrate going first with Hagatha being at 67.2%, rank brackets are Diamond to Legend.
It currently feels like your deck choice doesn't even matter that much, in the area of ample mana cheat an additional card plus coin just doesn't cut it anymore.
I don't know how to fix this either, but I feel like there should be at least something done to balance this out, either reduce the amount of mana cheat (which should be done either way) or something else. It's just so frustrating going second currently.
https://redd.it/1q2q9gr
@r_hearthstone
Finally Legendary
https://redd.it/1q2ktsj
@r_hearthstone
Honestly sick of Zilliax Deluxe.
This card needs a nerf. its currently sitting at a 54.5% playrate in decks which is absolutely fucking insane as a neutral legendary, and its NEVER any mode except rush lifesteal taunt divine shield copy.
I have literally never seen an alternative mode, even once. Just nerf this mode and only this mode.
It clearly does its job way too fucking well. Giving all classes 12 burst heal with board clear and board presence at the very minimum, often times 24 heal. Miracle rogue? burst heal and control. Fucking deathrattle demon hunter? Burst heal and control. Midrange? Control? Aggro? ALL BURST HEAL CONTROL.
Any sort of minion based deck just feels "Well, he drew his zilliax before me, guess the board state means nothing until then.
https://redd.it/1q2ezho
@r_hearthstone
Championship happens. Although hype and interest surrounding this event is low, it’s at least promoted better than the World Championship in 2024. To show how little the meta has changed in a year, the 2024 champ mlYanming brought 3 out of 4 of the same archetypes to 2025 Worlds as he did in 2024. One of those archetypes is Cycle Rogue.
* Multiple other technical issues plague the game throughout the year. For some reason the EU region’s performance got so bad at times it was rendered unplayable and even disabled at points (*someone please correct me if I’m wrong on this*). An unknown bug forced both the OG Aviana in Druid and Wave of Nostalgia to be banned across all modes for a period of time. A $158 pet was disabled because of technical issues it was causing, without any compensation given to those folks who were foolish enough to spend $158 on a buggy cosmetic. Ungoro packs were issued as end of month ladder when Across The Timeways was the newest set.
* 2025 ends. Cycle Rogue is still a playable deck.
------------------
**This is too long and I don’t want to read all of this. So, what does all of this mean?** These are the two points I had listed in 2024 as to why that year was so bad…and they sadly still mostly apply to 2025.
1. **The game's design has still felt directionless the entire year, with no clear concrete direction the game is trying to go in.** This was the same point as last year, and while the game’s balance after major patches has improved compared to 2024, the meta has sucked if you’re a long time player with how few new strategies have been viable after each expansion. It’s extremely damning that the most impactful set we had all year in terms of creating new decks and shaking up the meta was a 49 card miniset released 3 weeks into the year. Imbue, Dark Gifts, Quests, Kindred, and Rewind are all main mechanics that were egregiously underpowered at launch (or a technical disaster in the case of Rewind). The rest of the year was filled with expansions and minisets that might add in a couple new decks if we’re lucky, provide a few new cards for old decks, and then watch which old decks become meta again after a major balance patch. Hell, we even had the developers admit they designed the core mechanic of an entire expansion to be bad on purpose because of…reasons? The same dev team also had a near three month window of an unchanged meta between the first major balance patch of Un’goro to the launch of Across The Timeways where they could have tested new decks against established old ones and fine tuned them if they couldn't compete with existing decks and…they just didn’t? The meta probably didn’t suck if you spent a year+ away from the game, but it sure did if you’re a regular player. If you asked the average player to name 5 decks they remembered playing this year, they’d probably struggle to do so…although they probably would remember Cycle Rogue was a deck that existed throughout the year.
2. **Developer communication with the playerbase remained fairly bad in 2025.** In 2024, I brought up the lack of communication about weekly quest changes, lack of communication about Hearthstone esports events, lack of communication about new boards, lack of communication about expansion trailers, lack of communication about Twist, and more. I also mentioned the only saving grace last year was the job RidiculousHat had done. To their credit, there has been some improvement on this front in 2025. There’s now an actual community manager, Hearthstone esports is trending in the right direction and was promoted better this year, and Battlegrounds seems to be the one mode where there’s actual dev communication on what their intentions are. However, dev communication around cosmetics (especially the rug pull on how pets would be acquired and their cost) and in constructed Hearthstone remained as bad as they were in 2024. We still have a game director that doesn’t engage with the community more than once a year unless there’s a new cosmetic to promote. The devs do engage more internally
Did you know the current Hearthstone Game Director Tyler Bielman has had zero public communication to the public player base for about a year and counting?
His last public comments appears to be about a year ago in Feb 2025:
>We have an amazing Hearthstone year ahead of us in 2025! Three great Hearthstone expansions, Mini-Sets, and Battlegrounds seasons will continue to make up the core Hearthstone experience and our primary focus for the year. The response to the Heroes of StarCraft Mini-Set has been amazing, and we’re excited to keep bringing fun new gameplay in all our releases this year.
>To that end, the major Arena update that we’ve been working on since last year is almost here. This update will refresh one of the original Hearthstone experiences and welcome a whole new generation of Arena fans!
>We’re also expanding our esports program this year, including competitors from China—where millions of fans returned to the Tavern last year, including our new reigning Masters Tour World Champion. Congratulations, mlYanming! With so many new competitors added to the Tavern, we’re bound to see some top-level play again this year.
>Finally, we’re going to keep expanding our product range throughout the year, especially in cosmetics. That includes new Mythic skins, Signature cards, and the upcoming Pets, which will launch as part of a new way to get cosmetics into your hands. We’re excited to keep creating more offerings for those of you who enjoy personalizing your representation in the Tavern.
>Personally, I’m dreaming about the next expansion—and I’m really looking forward to when Pets will be ready, too. I can’t wait for you all sink your teeth into the Year of the Raptor. Get ready, it all starts next week!
>\- Tyler Bielman, Hearthstone Game Director
And it is also quite ironic because many of these things he stated in the above short communication as things positive for the year ahead in 2025 turned out to be otherwise, leaving much to be desired when the dust eventually settled - Starcraft miniset; Arena refresh; release of Pets.
Says much about Tyler Bielman and his priorities/vision for the game as Director. Here's to a similar year ahead in 2026!
https://redd.it/1q3oont
@r_hearthstone
Job Interview: "What are your hobbies?" Me:
https://redd.it/1q3fifh
@r_hearthstone
Want to know what decks will be losing cards come rotation in March? Find out in this post! "Post 2: Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior."
https://redd.it/1q3982t
@r_hearthstone
No, I really did not forgot to gamble...
https://redd.it/1q37enc
@r_hearthstone
Free Card Pack
https://redd.it/1q33z0x
@r_hearthstone
Allow me to pass on this one :D
https://redd.it/1q30wru
@r_hearthstone
Championship happens. Although hype and interest surrounding this event is low, it’s at least promoted better than the World Championship in 2024. To show how little the meta has changed in a year, the 2024 champ mlYanming brought 3 out of 4 of the same archetypes to 2025 Worlds as he did in 2024. One of those archetypes is Cycle Rogue.
* Multiple other technical issues plague the game throughout the year. For some reason the EU region’s performance got so bad at times it was rendered unplayable and even disabled at points (*someone please correct me if I’m wrong on this*). An unknown bug forced both the OG Aviana in Druid and Wave of Nostalgia to be banned across all modes for a period of time. A $158 pet was disabled because of technical issues it was causing, without any compensation given to those folks who were foolish enough to spend $158 on a buggy cosmetic. Ungoro packs were issued as end of month ladder rewards when Across The Timeways was the newest set. The game literally did not work on Pixel phones for about 2 months.
* 2025 ends. Cycle Rogue is still a playable deck.
------------------
**This is too long and I don’t want to read all of this. So, what does all of this mean?** These are the two points I had listed in 2024 as to why that year was so bad…and they sadly still mostly apply to 2025.
1. **The game's design has still felt directionless the entire year, with no clear concrete direction the game is trying to go in.** This was the same point as last year, and while the game’s balance after major patches has improved compared to 2024, the meta has sucked if you’re a long time player with how few new strategies have been viable after each expansion. It’s extremely damning that the most impactful set we had all year in terms of creating new decks and shaking up the meta was a 49 card miniset released 3 weeks into the year. Imbue, Dark Gifts, Quests, Kindred, and Rewind are all main mechanics that were egregiously underpowered at launch (or a technical disaster in the case of Rewind). The rest of the year was filled with expansions and minisets that might add in a couple new decks if we’re lucky, provide a few new cards for old decks, and then watch which old decks become meta again after a major balance patch. Hell, we even had the developers admit they designed the core mechanic of an entire expansion to be bad on purpose because of…reasons? The same dev team also had a near three month window of an unchanged meta between the first major balance patch of Un’goro to the launch of Across The Timeways where they could have tested new decks against established old ones and fine tuned them if they couldn't compete with existing decks and…they just didn’t? The meta probably didn’t suck if you spent a year+ away from the game, but it sure did if you’re a regular player. If you asked the average player to name 5 decks they remembered playing this year, they’d probably struggle to do so…although they probably would remember Cycle Rogue was a deck that existed throughout the year.
2. **Developer communication with the playerbase remained fairly bad in 2025.** In 2024, I brought up the lack of communication about weekly quest changes, lack of communication about Hearthstone esports events, lack of communication about new boards, lack of communication about expansion trailers, lack of communication about Twist, and more. I also mentioned the only saving grace last year was the job RidiculousHat had done. To their credit, there has been some improvement on this front in 2025. There’s now an actual community manager, Hearthstone esports is trending in the right direction and was promoted better this year, and Battlegrounds seems to be the one mode where there’s actual dev communication on what their intentions are. However, dev communication around cosmetics (especially the rug pull on how pets would be acquired and their cost) and in constructed Hearthstone remained as bad as they were in 2024. We still have a game director that doesn’t engage with the community more than once a year
addition of Fyrakk to existing decks, this miniset has little to no impact on the format. Another balance patch with double digit card nerfs is done, but at least this time the buffs to the Priest and Paladin Imbue hero powers finally make them viable. Despite nerfs, Cycle Rogue remains a playable deck.
* The Masters Tour Spring Championship happens. Although hype and interest surrounding this event is low, it’s at least promoted better than the Spring Championship in 2024.
* After being delayed 4-6 weeks, the much hyped reworked Arena mode is launched, with the Underground Arena featuring a redraft being the highlight. Although no one is expecting the launch to be perfect, it launches in an extremely rough state. Players quickly realize the mode’s economy is significantly worse than before, since the new Underground mode requires 2x the entry fee and is impossible to go “infinite” on even if you’re a top player. You are reliant on getting the 2000 Gold “Crowd’s Favor” bonus to go remotely positive on gold, which has a miniscule chance of being rewarded to you after each run. The mode somehow launches in a state where it’s statistically better to go 8-2 and retire than it is to finish with 9 wins. Balance wise, the mode now features a handpicked curated set of cards instead of certain sets (and this list is not shared publicly for some reason). There are several incredibly broken buckets of cards that are tied to the Legendary card you get at the beginning of the draft, including inexplicably putting uncollectable Duels types of cards in certain buckets (3x Wishes with Dreamplanner Zephyrs). Despite being trash in Standard, Imbue decks become incredibly broken in Arena and warp the entire format around them. Players complain the mode was redesigned to extract gold/resources from Arena only players instead of improving the Arena experience.
* On June 30th, the very well established and well liked Hearthstone Influence Manager RidiculousHat announces that Blizzard is not renewing his contract and his time with them has likely come to an end. He’s more or less forced into re-applying for his job with the Senior Influence Manager position that opens up, which is ultimately given to someone else. Despite not being in his job title, Hat was the defacto Community Manager for the game for nearly the past 2 years until Blizzard finally formally hired someone for that role earlier in 2025 (*that person also has nothing to do with Hearthstone's shortcomings this year, I’ve heard nothing but praise publicly and privately from people that have worked directly with them*). There would be no one in Hat’s role for roughly the entire month of July. Not ideal, but not devastating as long as July isn’t the worst month of Hearthstone’s 2025 year.
* July 2025 becomes the undisputed worst month of Hearthstone 2025’s year. King Krush is announced as the first Pet to be released in Hearthstone at the launch of the 34.0 patch alongside the Lost City of Un’goro expansion. Official surveys asking people how much they would be willing to pay for a pet had options that went as high as $70. [The blogpost detailing King Krush]( https://hearthstone.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24216434/unleashing-king-krush-hearthstone-s-first-interactive-pet) revealed the pet would be locked behind a predatory Darkmoon Faire gacha system. After closer examination of the odds, people quickly realized that to unlock King Krush, you would need to spend $158 to unlock him unless you got lucky with 1/1000 odds. This is significantly higher than anyone was expecting based on the surveys Blizzard had sent out. Despite members of the Hearthstone Creator Program receiving the pet for free, the implementation of the pet King Krush sparked massive backlash among them and everyone else in the community. Team 5 would remain radio silent on this feedback for the rest of 2025 and would double and triple down on the Darkmoon Faire gacha system appearing more frequently as the year went on.
* Eight days later into July, Lost City of Un’Goro is released as the
r/Hearthstone Home
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https://redd.it/1pcp01g
@r_hearthstone
Health buff Priest in wild
https://redd.it/1q2oezu
@r_hearthstone
Bomb warrior is real and its here.
https://redd.it/1q2oikg
@r_hearthstone
Now what do we have here
https://redd.it/1q2jff0
@r_hearthstone
with players in the Hearthstone Creators Program, but even that became rocky at points this year around the Un’goro launch. And we no longer have Hat (*As someone who still keeps in touch with him from time to time, Hat’s doing well and is very happy with his new gig. While you probably won’t see him post in those spaces anymore, he still lurks in HS adjacent communities from time to time.*)
------------
**Okay seriously, was 2025 seriously worse than 2024?** Honestly, it just depends on what you value and your personal preferences. I don’t think any longtime Hearthstone player would point to either year as being good ones. 2024 lost Duels, 2025 lost Twist (we all know it’s dead). 2024 had multiple instances of broken metas with actual Tier S decks after balance patches, whereas 2025 had balance that was fine but was incredibly lacking in viable new strategies that were added to the game. 2024’s low point might have been the weekly quest fiasco, whereas 2025 you just point to the 1 month period in July where they released $158 pets behind a predatory gacha, an expansion that had next to no impact on the format and the devs admitted it was designed to be bad, and their PR to the community during this time was a disaster because they let the contract of the person who previously did so expire. In both years, the game’s director showed up as often as Punxsutawney Phil’s shadow does on Groundhog Day, and only pokes his head if an upcoming expensive cosmetic is on the horizon. Pick your poison.
https://redd.it/1q2eidb
@r_hearthstone
first sequel expansion in the game’s history, leading to a lot of hype because of nostalgia. The main mechanics of the expansion (Quests and Kindred) are so underwhelming that buffs are required in an earlier than usual first balance patch. Quest decks are so bad that roughly 3/4ths of them at launch had a winrate worse than Splendiferous Whizbang decks. Un’goro’s launch was so disastrous that it [made longtime Hearthstone personality Brian Kibler quit the game indefinitely]( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5_KgENGbwU). Despite nerfing a double digit amount of cards in the first balance patch with the goal of making new strategies viable and making meekish buffs, Quests and Kindred still remain underwhelming (although the most aggressively buffed quest in Warlock’s becomes playable). After the first balance patch, the meta is relatively stable, but incredibly boring with players complaining about the lack of new, interesting decks to play. Despite nerfs, Cycle Rogue remains a playable deck.
* During the traditional second balance window, [Team 5 put out a blog post](https://hearthstone.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24223662/33-2-2-patch-notes) stating they were not going to make additional buffs to quests and admitted they intentionally designed quests to be bad because they thought quests were bad design. No one understands this logic at all, but it somehow unites the entire playerbase to be upset at Team 5’s design decisions. They also state they expect the miniset to shake up the meta and therefore don’t want to make any changes.
* The Un’goro miniset launches and becomes the most underwhelming miniset in the game’s history, having absolutely zero impact on the format. A buff patch is released, with the only notable impact being the Egg of Khelos buff, which was enough to make Egg Warlock a new viable deck. In the patch notes, [the devs reiterate they think quests being good is bad, and admit they really fucked up design in this expansion](https://hearthstone.blizzard.com/en-us/news/24223779/33-4-2-patch-notes).
* At some point during this time, the Arena format transitions from having a curated list of draftable cards to once again only having cards from current Standard sets draftable. No explanation for this change is given, although one can infer this is done because it requires significantly less dev work and resources.
* The Masters Tour Summer Championship happens. Although hype and interest surrounding this event is low, it’s at least promoted better than the Summer Championship in 2024.
* Across the Timeways is announced. During prerelease, players notice that the new Rewind mechanic caused major performance issues with lag, roping, and in some instances crashes. It’s so bad that for the first time in Hearthstone’s 11.5 year history, a card (Mister Clocksworth) is nerfed solely because of technical performance reasons and not because of balance reasons.
* Across The Timeways is released. The main mechanics of the expansion (Fabled and Rewind) are once again underwhelming and fail to create new viable decks, although for the first time this year people praise the design of a new mechanic. Despite nerfing a double digit amount of cards in the first balance patch with the goal of making new strategies viable, these new mechanics still remain underwhelming. After the first balance patch, the meta is relatively stable, but incredibly boring with players complaining about the lack of new, interesting decks to play. Despite nerfs, Cycle Rogue is a playable deck.
* The Masters Tour Last Chance Qualifiers happen shortly after the release of Across The Timeways. While I don’t believe a Last Chance Qualifier happened in 2024, hype and interest surrounding this event is low. From a viewership perspective, the tournament is a tough watch due to a bug where if any player plays a Rewind card, it breaks the spectator view completely with the game unable to update what’s actually happening, and the various casters left confused because they also can’t follow what’s happening.
* The Masters Tour World
