Two weeks ago, Hearthstone head Tim said that Lil Rag was the "most busted" of the new minions added to Hearthstone Battlegrounds and predicted that it was likely to be nerfed. Today, Blizzard released the patch notes for Hearthstone 18.4.2, and once again we must admit that he was right.

Lil' Rag is currently a Tier 5 minion with 4 attack and 4 strength, but after the update it will be a 6/6 at Tier 6. At the same time, the other elemental, Gentle Djinni, will drop from Tier 6 to 5.

Of course, Lil' Rag is not the only one who will be changed in this update. His grown-up name is now the only Tier 1 hero in the game; he needs 5 more kills to activate Sulfuras' passive hero power, and his buff has been reduced to +3/+3.

As detailed in the full patch notes, the nerfs and buffs apply to all heroes and minions, with some removals: Bartendotron is out of the hero pool, and Whirlwind Tempest and Pogo-Hopper are out of the minion pool. Pogo's loss was particularly significant, illustrating how degenerate Pogo had become, playing every turn with Jandis Barov's hero power to replace his minions.

Associate Game Designer Cora Georgiou delved into some of the reasoning behind the changes in a short Twitter thread:

The Hearthstone 18.4.2 update will go live on October 15. A full list of Battlegrounds balance changes is available below.

Bartendotron has been removed from the Battlegrounds hero pool.

Ragnaros the Firelord

Maiev Shadowsong

Chenvaala

Patchwerk

Sindragosa

King Mukla

Whirlwind Tempest and Pogo-Hopper were removed from the Battlegrounds minion pool.