Blizzard has announced a new balance patch for Hearthstone. The patch changes 12 standard cards and also fixes a rather serious bug that locked the game state when Ethereal Conjurer was played. By patch numbering standards, 17.2.1 sounds like no big deal, but it really is a big one.

Looking at the list of changes, it's clear that Blizzard has two goals: a few weeks ago, the Hearthstone subreddit was making ridiculous custom cards to mock the OP-ness of Demon Hunter. The runner-up decks, Hunter, Rogue, and Warlock, will also be slightly tuned to avoid being second best to the current oppressors.

The "Priestess of Wrath," which will be nerfed from 6 attack/7 strength to 6/5, stands out as the most obviously needed adjustment. With a strength of 5, it will be easier to trade with minions and withstand commonly used spells.

"Overall, the biggest winner here would be Hunter. Only one Hunter card was nerfed, and that was Scavenger's Ingenuity, which is indeed a bonkers beast-buffing spell. Priest and Mage will probably be a little better by not being touched at all," explained Tim Clark, Hearthstone's resident expert, in slow little words.

"It's also worth noting that this patch is another clear example of how Team 5, Blizzard's Hearthstone development team, is becoming more interventionist about the metagame.

There is some optimism as to whether the tweaks will be enough to make Libram Paladin and Spell Shaman fashionable. Paladins really need an excellent 1-drop, and they are getting it now that the cost of the "Ordor's Attendant" has dropped. For Shaman, Torrent is starting to look like a very good card at 4 mana, and Lurker below was already a semi-potent force, so buffing health by 2 should be an automatic income.

A full list of changes follows.

Balance updates:

(The following 8 cards are eligible for full Dust refund until July 1)

Bug fixes: