Two weeks ago, Blizzard announced the latest Balance Update for the game Hearthstone. For those that are unfamiliar with the term, a balance update is when Blizzard either strengthens or weakens cards in the game to make the current “meta” more balanced. The December Balance Update nerfed (weakened) cards of the most powerful decks. This included key cards of Shaman, Druid, and Paladin Decks. The previous Balance Update made changes to Warlock, Warrior, and Wizard deck types. And it seemed like the more recent update targeted everyone else. Well… almost everyone.
When the dust cleared and all the nerfs were implemented the only deck that was spared from the update was the Hunter archetype. The Hunter Decks were boosted by the latest expansion of Rastakhan, and the new build of Deathrattle Egg Hunter was very potent. It was doing okay against the previous meta, but this updated made them formidable. Earlier, Druids and Shamans could wait it out, but now that those decks were nerfed, Hunters had a better chance.
How the Balance Update Unleashed the Hunters of Hearthstone
Being spared from any nerfs also meant that all the builds from the Hunter Type retained its strengths. So builds such as the Secret Hunter and the Spell Hunter were still viable options. While neither decks were Tier 1 decks, they still had enough firepower to bring down the Druids and Shamans now that they were weakened. The beauty of the Hunter deck is that it can be used in almost all the tiers. There are also several builds that even the most noob of players can run a half decent Aggro Hunter Deck and win.
The Balance update did a lot in maintaining the balance of the Meta, but it unleashed all the Hunters of Hearthstone. Hunters from the previous meta overplayed their Hunter decks, while players that had their decks nerfed switched to their own Hunter decks. What this meant was that you were going to be seeing a lot of Hunters on your daily grinds. And I mean A LOT. Several players have already complained about how all they seem to face are Hunters all day. Until the next update, or until a new build is discovered, Hunters will rule the realm of Hearthstone.
