Why Equality was Nerfed: Hearthstone Quick Take 

Sooo.. is it still all Genn and Baku's fault

Yeah, maybe shrink ray will see play with the equality nerf.

I'm surprised you didn't address Baku when talking about a 3 cost Equality, nor mentioned Shrink Ray as now only costing 1 more than Equality. More importantly, I'm surprised you didn't delve into the community's percieved gradual devaluation of the classic/basic set, netting Blizzard more profit from expansion cards. Between ideas like a rotating classic set, nerfing Baku and Genn in some way, or (gasp) buffing underperforming cards, I'd love to see what you think.

Watch as they still don't print any good board clears for Pala so we're stuck with a more expensive board clear. The big reason I'm against the nerf is because they're killing a staple identity card for a class from Classic, Fireball is technically unfair but it's a huge identity card for Mage, so are cards like Lightning Storm and Brawl. Why just kick the one in the dick for "limiting design space" (as if that's an issue at all for Equality) and ignore the fact that Brawl is more often than not as good as Equality Pyromancer without investing an extra card. Classes need strong cards in the classic set to form an identity around.

Based on your own theory of 1 mana= a 1,1 or more importantly a card, equality+consecrate is currently 6 mana and 2 cards, so essentially the equivalent of 8 mana, looking at it this way the 2 mana nerf brings it up to 8 mana and 2 cards, the equivalent of 10 mana, thus weaker than twisting nether. Just a thought.

I think that Equality should have been 3 except for the fact that it wrecks Even Paladin, meaning that the problem is actually Genn and Baku. Every time a new card is released, we have to consider how it fits in an odd or even deck. Many cards would actually be stronger if they costed 1 more. This should NEVER be the case. I cannot wait for Genn and Baku to rotate so cards can be valued on their own strength again. Edit: Also, while I'm a little annoyed by the Equality nerf, and not directly annoyed by the Flametongue Totem nerf, what I'm mad is how Blizzard nerfs the strong Classic and Basic cards, making the game more pay-to-win.

You forgot to talk about the Jaina nerf...

The equality Nerf was my final straw and lead to the unistall of the game

I'm sorry I really REALLY disagree. Giving every class unique and idenifyable strengths and weaknesses is the purpose of the classic set and this nerf does nothing to forward these goals. In my opinion this puts any idea of control paladin in the same spot as control priest. Control paladin will forever be looking for assistance from supplimental sets for early game board control. Before it was always POSSIBLE to get the two card combo to clear agressive over extension on turns 4-5 before the game snowballed out of control but that was contingent on drawing the combo to begin with which in itself is unreliable; now Palidin has to wait until turn 6 which is a full 2 turns that agressive decks now have to overextend and close out the game before paladin has a prayer of responding. Making the comparison between equality and hunters Mark was also apples and oranges in my opinion because the two classes have radically divergent game plans. (I think if hunters mark just said "this turn" then that would have been a sufficient nerf but that's another discussion ) I think this nerf misses the fundimental fact that equality is the combo enabler and is *almost* completely useless on it's own and should be judged as such. Was it's effect good: yes. Was it an effective combo enabler: yes. Can it be played on it's own as a board clear: NO. So why is it being treated on par with ckncecration that can check yes to all of those issues? Again arm chair deving here but if I was to have made a change I would have increased wild pyro to 3, as it has the historical president of comboing with equality, and this 1 Mana nerf to the "combo" makes several lines that keep the wild pyro alive to continue board clearing too slow (7-8 Mana vs 6-7mana). Blizzard should have introduced MORE board clears that competed for slots with equality, not nerf equality. Honnestly between this change and the previous druid changes I, a player who played since BETA and preordered every expansion, have quit the game. To me the classic set was a message from blizzard saying "this is hearthstone and these are how classes function" having the FUNDIMENTAL IDENTITIES of multiple classes change so many times in such a short amount of time just feels like an insult to us long time players who have supported the game through all it's changes.

Sure it seems logical. But your point is flawed on certain levels. You just dismiss the fact that paladin as a whole lacks actually good board clears aside from consecration. The rest of the paladin toolset relies on equality to become pseudo board clears. From avenging wrath to simply the token produced by the hero power. Also consider that paladin actually lacks good single target removal. Sure truesilver champion is excellent but after that you go to what? Hammer of wrath? Nope you need board centric tools like buffs to challenge the field. Now nerfing the only way a board centric class has to challenge the battlefield,is like taking the class out back, putting a hunting rifle on its head and pulling the trigger. These nerfs were absolutely wrong as a whole(excepting the spellstone).These are basic class cards which are meant to define and to provide a strong basis for each class constant through the years. I will go on a limp and say that this is Activision taking over and nerfing used basic cards so they can sell more packs in future expansions. I could be wrong of course and i really really really hope i am. Time will tell.

Speaking for myself, I'm just hating the nerfs as a whole because they are the only balance changes Blizzard has done for the game in recent years. Perhaps ever since launch. Either cards get more expensive, worse stats, or have their effect changed past the point of usefulness. The only change I can remember since beta that seemed more horizontal than a straight up and down power shift was Illidan (discarding and drawing cards for you and the opponent versus summoning 2/1 demon tokens), and that had to be four or more years ago. That plus the changes are hitting classic and basic cards, which for all intents and purposes of 'always staying in the game', seem like they're always at risk of being changed past the point of recognition with zero legacy support for playing them in their preferred forms. I get the nerfs, I understand the ideal intention of leveling out the game as the meta shifts over the years, but I'm not going to pretend to like the fact that the cards in the base set are being made weaker over and over again while new sets keep climbing in power. For lack of better phrasing, it feels like they're making the game less fair to players who don't want to get rid of their cards because they want to play with all of them in one cockamamie scheme or another nostalgic bender through Wild. I'm neither that optimistic nor trusting, especially not with Activision-Blizzard. I want balance changes other than nerfs and I don't want to wait 5 YEARS to see 'buff' thrown around the patch notes unironically.

Another point Id like to make, is that if Equality was nerfed to 3 mana, odd paladin would probably use it, literally making the "give all your minions poisonous" a reality by how much they flood the board.

"never has this card been in the meta with out pyro and concecrate," wrong, dude paladin would often run 1 or even two equalities WITH OUT either of those cards back in its hayday.

Love your videos!! One of those youtubers who deserves soooo much more subs. Keep up the great work :)

Lesser emerald spell stone should have been made an 11 cost card....

My problems stem from your first argument. Why do you need to nerf the card instead of just rotate it to the hall of fame? Equality was a staple in one of my favourite wild control paladin decks, where turn 6 pyro equality was often needed to stabilize. Now it has been nerfed just because Blizzard is printing lower power cards in standard. The fondness I had for the old equality has a lot of value to me, and most likely a lot of other people feel the same way. There is a reason that people were overjoyed molten giant was reverted and hall of famed. If you want to argue "but standard paladin still needs board clears" then they can print some more. Moreover, if the removal of equality leaves paladins in a situation where they have no real board clear, I would argue this nerf leaves us in a much similar situation, the only difference is they have a bad option instead of no option. My first thought to "it will still see play" was "of course it will, they have nothing else". Was there even a need to nerf it proactively? Meta predictions in the past show people suck at predicting where things will go (with a very small number of exceptions), there is no guarantee equality would be what made control paladin overbearing. And finally, what you said at the end really rubbed me the wrong way. "Painful reminders of a past better forgotten"? Are you f***ing kidding me? This statement makes me so mad, I loved pre-naxx HS. Hell, equality was even part of the Old Gods meta (N'Zoth Paladin), generally considered one of the best metas Hearthstone has ever had. Playing around the fact that paladin had 2 equalities (and very limited removal otherwise) has led to some of the most complex decision making I've experienced. This card has been a key part in some of the best times Hearthstone has experienced. I generally like your optimistic look on cards, but this seems like trying to pander to blizzard, or at least not understanding the other side of the argument.

And equality was never seen again. At least we have Libram of Justice but only if you can get cost reduction on it.

1. The solution is to nerf the OTK combos and print better tools for Aggro, not to nerf a balanced card that's useful for a wide variety of decks. 2. Equality IS dependent on mana. Equality combos now come out much later (Depending on the matchup, it may be too late to save you), and heavily restrict your ability to play cards on the same turn. In a Control v. Control matchup, it might not matter so much, but we're not always going to be in a Control-dominated meta. Control Paladin will be near-unplayable in the next expansion unless they get a huge amount of support. 3. Equality will only see play because Paladin has no other options for board clears. Equality-Consecrate is not equivalent to Twisting Nether, because Equality-Consecrate is a two-card combo. Control Paladin as a whole will be much weaker now, and it will now require constant support from new expansions to stay afloat, much like Druid and Priest. The only nerf I agree with is Emerald Spellstone. Every other card was a balanced Classic card that received an undeserved nerf because of new expansion cards, much like Wild Growth and Nourish in the previous patch.

My only problem is that I hate blizzard juggling even and odd costs for balance. It's clear the problem is Baku and gen, and I hope to God they remove these cards from the game.

The controversy revolving around these nerfs seems to be boiling down to opening up the possibility that instead of continually nerfing or "hall of faming" old cards, to simply rotate out the entire classic set. Do you think you could possibly explain the implications of if this were to happen, and/or offer some insight on which may be the better route to follow? The main support for rotating out the Classic set instead of continuing to nerf it, seems to typically follow two arguments: design limitations and balance across the entire game; whereas those against follow arguments related to the new player, returning player, and F2P experience. I'm curious which side you would ultimately support and how player experience may change if such a decision was made for rotating out Classic.

Not to mention that 3 Mana equality would mean odd paladin which would mean "3 Mana trade your board" (and then recover right after as every odd paladin does)

Pre nerf me making a paladin deck: "ok ive got equality, consecrate, and pyromancer. Time to build a paladin deck."

The only Nerf that I disagree with is the totem as even shaman is the only playable shaman deck in the game, and isn't even B tier.

I just wanna see a card “Give all friendly minions *Divine Shield*”

I don't think there's a serious problem with these changes specifically. The problem is with the static classic set. If they simply had a rotating classic set, more of these cards could be preserved as options in Wild without leading to stale patterns in Standard. Meanwhile, the list of remaining Basic/Classic offenders for stale patterns in Standard (if not now, then probably in the future) remains huge: Divine Spirit/Inner Fire, Velen, Frostbolt, Blizzard, Leeroy, Gadgetzan, Backstab, Preparation, Savannah Highmane, the list goes on and on. Basically, if Blizzard sticks with this design philosophy, then we're going to spend the next 3-5 years watching them slowly nerf the remaining I'm-not-sure-how-many cards in Basic/Classic that are leading to "stale play patterns."

nope, never see equality again

I couldn't even pass the first half of.the video, is absurd. Paladin does not have another hard board clear that is.reliable and nerfing basic and clasic sets only makes op standard cards stronger (baku in od paly and rexxar omfg rexxar...). This is pretentious bs.

I was gonna say I miss being able to Geist Hunter's Mark and Cold Bloods away but I couldn't see it through the seething rage of meeting nothing but Odd Aggro on the ladder.

As a budget Paladin player who has played for a year, Equality + (Consecrate / Wild Pyromancer) is the most frustrating board clear in the game, which results in the devs unable to make any pretty cool board clears for Paladin. I hope that this nerf will only result in more creative board clear options for Paladin.

Blizzard literally addressed the reason they didn't go to 3 mana on Equality was because then it would become available to Baku Paladin. Since Baku Paladin was the only Tier 1 deck not seeing any form of nerf, the last thing Blizzard wanted to do was unintentionally buff it.

You lost my respect by calling this a fine nerf

Equality got the nerf it deserved. The 4 Mana Wild Pyromancer Equality combo is so strong, you’ll probably never find a better board clear in the game. Only one thing can counter it and this is divine shield, which just so happens to be a card text Paladins like very much. Having a 6 Mana board clear is ok, it is still playable as you said it multiple times, but doesn’t feel as oppressive as the 4 Mana combo. Also it might bring is a new card in the non-Baku/Genn Paladins, being “shrinking ray” quite a good card all of a sudden for control paladin

As a wild player, I completely hate the changes to equality. In my last 10 matchups, I encountered 6 aggro/tempo murloc decks which can beat your ass before turn six. Asking yourself whether to keep this card in your Mulligan will now be a much more complicated question than ever.

Isn't it time for hearthstone to introduce a core set rather than classic?

Plus, if the nerf was only one mana, it could be run in Odd Paladin. They don't need a way to clear the opponent's board with just their hero power.

I'm happy with flame tounge totem's buff. I can use it in my odd shaman now. Thanks blizz.

I disenchanted what I could. The largest issue is the continual nerfs. We have never received any card buffs, and this is so strange to fathom with other card games on digital with mass appeal. Duel Links limits the number of cards, but they do allow the limits dependent on meta. A bunch of skills in Duel Links just got buffed because of quick OTKs, which is super helpful. Hearthstone should have done a rotating core set, but I do feel as though adding new cards to Classic was a good call. Hopefully, Paladin gets something because Rogue/Mage did each get a class card recently even though they are kind of underwhelming/unused.

This aged badly

Argument #1: Hunters mark combos with a 1 mana weapon that has 3 durability and negates all damage you would take to face from a big minion by combining it with hunter's mark. Paladin's equality affects both sides of the board and not just your opponents. Which isn't a downside if you have no minions on board but leaves your board vulnerable to a small board clear if you do have minions. Let's also consider that Hunter is the most minion focused class to play (even most if it's spells summon minions and sometimes summon them ontop of being removal). Then you have paladin who has aggressive deck options (most of which utilize baku so you can't run equality anyway, or consecration so the deck has no board clear potential). On the other hand of paladin you have control/combo potential with very few options for clearing the board, minion removal, etc. Not to mention, paladins rely on a 2 card combo to board clear effectively since vary little boards die to just consecration. So when you consider the other parts of what made equality good, it was mainly paladin's lack of a single card option for removing multiple 3+ health minions. I'd really like to see a spell for the protection paladin shield dmg spell (i forget the name) that hits 3 targets. Something like doing 2 or 3 dmg up to 3 targets, and if the opponent only has 1 minion then it does more damage to the single minion.

I would argue that this change won’t affect the game that much EDIT: especially the OTK deck, it’s a bigger hit to even pally than the OTK one

Arcane explosion would fix this... otherwise the control paladin is dead

It’s okay,we still have shrink ray

You forgot that 3 mana equality would be BROKEN for odd paladin

No doubt it would be still in play. But the sad fact is that I would die sooner than I manage to play a board clear.

Great video! Liked this one a lot

Also I don't think equality will be played much anymore, since shrink Ray costs 1 more and also hits attack.

The problem is that paladin lacks tools outside equality for taking back the board. Shrink Ray is literally the only other card they have for board clear. This nerf was handled at the wrong time. This kills wild paladin. This card should have been hall of famed.

"Not every nerf can go to aggro decks?" Unfortunately...

So my vote on Equality was that the card limited design space, which is why it was nerfed. It's really difficult to give paladin powerful control tools when they already have a ton of really really really good tools to wipe boards. Paladin can now receive MORE control tools and have more options that are interesting and engaging for players rather than less.

CONTROL IS NOT OTK REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I'd also like to point out that a 3 mana equality would allow odd Paladin to have a reasonably cheap way to remove shit tons of big annoying taunts with there base strategy of mash button win games, especially since you typically cant stop pally from using hp, and if they just swarm board with cards like firefly lost in the jungle and their hp, then you counter with say, warlock weapon into void lord or priest razzing o statue or something, they would be able to cheaply equality there way through

I'm all for there being balance changes made to the classic set, since it is the one set that will always stick around. And a lot of these changes probably should've entered the game around GvG. More important, I think, is the fact that Blizzard are not nerfing Genn and Baku, whose impact on the meta doesn't seem to warrant any other word than "oppressive" and has consistently been so since they were added.

honestly i've so many complaints, it's so good to have a video to show people to explain my point XD

Great! I was waiting for this since the last video. It was worth it. Your revies are best!

and blizzard still didn't make ultimate bulshit 12 mana, draw 5, deal 5, summon 5/5,. gain 5 armor.

I think they should've just made flametongue totem give +1 attack to all your other minions. +2 on adjacent minions just seems way too much for how early it's played. It'd be way more okay if it's value came with a wider board, the more minions you have, the more you benefit.

Fact: "Even Secret Hunter" now has access to the Emerald Spellstone. :3

Equality desperately needed a heavy nerf. It's been used in every paladin deck in every expansion (other than odd because duh)

I wonder why you didn't mention the valid game design decision that Blizzard was growing increasingly hemmed in by non-rotating cards that are nearly impossible to replace and must constantly be designed around rather than designed with. Players might not like that explanation, but it's a very real consideration. Leaving these antique cards that never go away at the high power level and value they have is practically demanding overwhelming power creep.

at 7:21 the " Still OP" is the same as "OP" both 2 mana and same text

as long as equality can be combod with either pyro or concecration it will see play. the only difference now is that you cant clear the board AND get a medium sized minion out aswell. so now you can only get out a small minion or hero power which is still totaly fine. boardclears that allow you to play medium sized minions are/were way to strong anyways.

My problem is that these nerfs are making the classic set further and further worse so it's even MORE necessary to buy tons of packs to be able to even reach decent ranks. Slowly FTP isn't becoming a viable option anymore.

I guess i dont have a good deck for my Paladin anymore, time to go back to the drawing board

Blizzard should add old favourites from wild to classic. Ie stuff that creates multiple decks. Add Reno & kazakus to classic Add yogg sauron to classic Add cthun and support to basic (good starting deck for new players to unlock while going through the tutorials) Add whizbang to basic (brilliant way to make the game more interesting for new players) Then buff all the cards which have been power creeped to a point where they still won't be played they aren't terrible. Variety from new sets should focus on inventive new deck types and cards with interesting interactions. Eg (Quest cards, deathknights, genn & baku) And these sorts of cards should be added into classic after rotating out. Then try to focus sets on cards that have very good synergy with each other and rotate out after a period of time.

So what was the most reliable version of shaman left standing after the numerous shudderwock changes, aka even shaman, just got gutted essentially leaving gimmicky stuff that is evolve kragwa shaman and maybe murloc quest shudderwock as the only decks left that could make some noise for a class that is either wholly dependent on inefficient otk combo's that are usually easier to pull off in priest/pally or is stuck trying to inefficiently build boards so you can buff via flametongue/bloodlust but usually failing as most your minions have little to no offensive pressence outside of those 2 buffers.

I think Kibler has the best take on this. It would be infinitely more elegant and favorable to the players, if Blizzard rotated the classic set instead of always trying to retrofit it to the current standard meta. It not only destroys many beloved decks and screws with the class identities, but also gives the whole game an air of transience and uncertainty. I may enjoy playing a certain deck right now, but there is absolutely no guarantee it will be available to me next year or even a few months from now. Definitely not a model I can support with my money or time.

As a guy who played nothing but paladin for 2 years post LOE, and got golden paladin before getting every class to level 60, I’ll say that I think the reason so many people are upset is that it was so powerful for too long. If this nerd happened in the year of the mammoth, I think it would have gone over better. We let its power stay too strong for too long, and now it seems a little late for it to be nerfed

I personally think equality needed a nerf anyways that and the lesser emerald spellstone were great but the other three nerfs were unneccesary. Baku and Genn are the OpOp.

So guys priest is the untouched class to go right? And I faced a good amount of 30% priests. They will explode I guess

I love Aggro, so this makes me sad, especially saying I only had cards for one competent deck, which was nerfed here. Hence why I despise this change, I have nothing left that COULD win me a game, other than stupid 1 mana warlock

Genn and Baku are runining the game

Now im only waiting to non-warlock-neither-warrior-control to come back

*"and about fUcking time"*

Thanks Sheldon

Before I address your points, I want to say I'm happy to see Blizzard being more proactive about making changes. I'm very disappointed that the only changes they ever make anymore are mana cost changes. I'd agree that all of these cards could have used looking at, but +1 mana for most of them (except spellstone) was, in a word, inelegant, and the two mana nerf for equality was too much. I'm not even sure these particular nerfs were what the meta needed right now, but I digress... Point the first: compaing hunter's mark to equality is a false equivalence. Beyond simply the fact that hunter's mark doesn't nerf your own board, leaving it vulnerable or severely limiting your ability to tempo swing with an equality clear, similar cards in different classes OUGHT to have different power levels due to the other cards in the class and the hero power. Hence why warlock cards are worse than other classes (their hero power is stronger) and why equality and candleshot don't exist in the same class. Hunter also has other options for hard removal, like deadly shot, whereas paladin does not. Again, this only makes the comparison less valid. Comparing equality to Shrink Ray is much more on-the-mark. Shrink ray is strictly worse than equality if you plan on removing the board that turn, but can greatly alleviate pressure sans clear and without a combo. Point the second: the long list of requirements for equality to be useful is why it was only two mana in the first place. It's useless on its own, as you say. That's why it should cost LESS, yet you are somehow arguing that means it should cost more because its "total effect" is distributed across other cards? WTH kind of logic is this? I also think you undervalue the importance of the paladin having to lose their own board to use equality without an activator (and make it vulnerable even with an activator). Paladin wants to be on board, even the OTK decks, and so equality's symmetric effect is very relevant (again, comparing to hunter's mark makes no sense). Point the third: All of your alternate suggestions address the second half of the combo, for which pyro and consecrate already exist (in the basic/classic set no less)... and thus your suggestions are comepletely pointless. What paladin needs isn't a new way to use equality, but a new board clear tool to use IN PLACE of equality, either on its own, or with pyro and consecrate, or with other cards. And yeah, no duh equality will still see play... if paladin wants a hard board clear, it has no other option. That does NOT mean the nerf was enough / was not enough, it simply reflects the meta and the toolset available to paladins (pseudo-removal such as Aldor Peacekeeper, quite bad in a world of cubes and rush). I also want to address this idea that 3 mana would be "still too op". Frankly, thats fine. Classes are supposed to have op cards that other classes don't have... that's how classes are defined. At least, that's what Blizzard's design philosophy was when Brode was still around. I'm also not sure even paladin, a mid range deck, should be running equality at all. Putting it to four mana instead of three for the sake of even makes no sense to me. Conclusion: Despire the fact that I agree with the idea equality should have been nered/rebalanced, I find all of your points very weak, and certainly not "logical". If spellstone were not also nerfed, control paladin would be unable to do anything about turn 5 12/12 from hunters, which is much more telling of the real effect of the nerf than "it will still see play". I think that nerf's the reason control paladin and equality will still see any play at all, and defintely still at a severe winrate reduction versus aggro. Wall of text, over.

This is just stupid, The problem people have with the nerf is that for the 3rd time the dev team is changing classic cards around Baku and Genn which are horribly designed, rotating cards, not that the nerfs make control/combo pala too weak. You are absolutely right but didn't address the issue most are frustrated with at all

That last comment perfectly summed up these nerfs (or any for that matter). If the card is still pretty good after the changes then maybe it was to strong before.

Disagree with your arguements. Paladin is one of the least played classes and equality is actually weaker now than it was back in the day because less decks requires you to stick minions to the board and because of more effects like deathrattle and battlecry, which still gets value even if minion is killed. Also keep in mind that in control paladin, it would take up SIX of your cards in your deck, with equality, concecration and pyromancer. SIX CARDS! Just to have a boardclear which would even be useless in a lot of matchups. So now paladins are the only class without any good single target removal OR boardclear, meanwhile priest and warlock have such a deep toolkit, that it is just stupid.

I disagree the mana cost doesn't matter much on control cards. Against aggro, there is a huge difference between a 4 mana board clear and a 6 mana board clear, or between a 6 mana board clear and a 8 mana board clear. The difference is around 20 to 40 face damage!

I guess it's a bit like Pot of Greed in classic Yugioh. Spell cards were mainly reactive, and Special Summon effects were not common, so drawing two cards for free wasn't THAT big of a deal, unlike today.

Wake me up when more then 2 classes are dominant in the meta...

it will see play because there is absolutely nothing else TO play

welcome to voice crack city

There's actually a far better reason - it was a massive design space limiter. We could never have any card like wild pyromancer and it's already one of those cards that maybe should be pushed into the hall of fame just because of the sort of shenanigans it can enable. Like I love Paladin and I hate the nerf - but I'm trusting blizzard will now be able to print cards for control paladin they were previously unable to do.

Equality was too op

My response: I run a Shirvallah OTK deck and still almost always use this card when I’m up against most decks. I kind of agree with the nerf but still feel sad inside.

See? Now, this makes sense! Why can't Blizzard just reason like that to explain the nerfs?

He forgot the fact Equality pyromancer AND concsecration is weak to divine shields which is more common now thanks to adapt and paladin cards in general. Which means Twisting nether > Equality Combo :`( Edit: The only reason its still playable is because its a must have in any paladin deck. Edit 2 : Also I know its good at times but don't trust the internet for playability, Ive had my side of the board shut down by a mage after I played Equality combo and guess which card did it. Hint you mentioned it.

Last time a not currently op control card in a kind of weak deck type was hex nerf and a set later they released hagatha. Shaman, Warrior and Hunter already have new Hero Cards for next rotation. Maybe next set is Paladin Hero?

Your entire argument hinges on control paladin, but miss the fact that equality consectation is one of the only ways midrange paladin has had to swing the board back in their favor, meaning their ability to re establish board position is much weaker.

You're making a bold comparison against warlock/mage, remember they are prime examples of classes with shit ton of different removal spells of high quality, saying that it's OK for equality to be worse bc it compares with some spells [of a class that has much better and more played options] is OK, no, it's not ok, that other classes have other means to clear boards, comparing them is like saying I have 1 dollar in my bank account and the ceo of a company also has 1 dollar [plus many more] thus, we are equally as wealthy

These nerfs are for the next expansion, they must fear aggressive strategies (Equality is sick value in those decks, at 2 mana)

3 mana equality would have ripped the meta apart. It would have made baku paladins sky rocket even more than now and make it unbeatable.

7:03 You're welcome.

Penniless big gamehunter is awsome in wild at 5 but this video is for standard, so all in all Nice video thanks!

I think the nerf should have been on timeout

How can this be a buff to spirit of the Tiger if any damage will destroy It after you use Equality??

I feel like nerfing cards should be done in such a way to keep them interesting rather than to drive them into unplayable territory. I also think buffing cards should be a consideration. It's okay to have bad cards, but how about a 4 damage hammer of wrath to make up for the huge wound that Equality left? Maybe Holy Light ought to heal 10 health at this point in the game's power creep. If the base set needs to evolve with the game, then that means while some things should get weaker, others should be made stronger.

Cold blood did not need a nerf.

I have had many games as a paladin where my only chance of victory were to get Equality Consecration in turn 6, or else i would lose, that's why i dislike the nerf to Equality, it felt like the reliable card to turn the tables in a game full of shitty draws and a hand full of late game, now if i experience the same situation... I lose in turn 7...