Hearthstone Battlegrounds Patch 19.2.1 is a small one, but the changes will still have an impact on the game. The originally 7/7 Elistra the Immortal has been nerfed to a 4/4. This is because of the card’s very good performance since she was introduced with the last Battleground’s content drop.
The card is a powerful tech card for late-game Battlegrounds. At 7/7 she was extremely strong if you managed to get the card early, and would essentially shut down some builds in the mid to late game. Will this nerf make a difference?
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This is a weird one, inasmuch it’s actually difficult to tell whether knocking 3/3 off the card is going to make a difference at all. Elistra is most strong as a tech card. Once destroyed, the card is still reborn with a divine shield, and will still protect your larger taunted minions.
The biggest difference this nerf makes is to her power as an early 6-drop. At 7/7 Elistra might kill off four or five enemy minions on her own, especially if you get a 6-drop on turn 5 or 6. It was a frustrating card to come up against, as you can’t even snipe any of the other cards.
At 4/4? The card is still strong, but not enough to wipe out almost all the enemy’s board on turn 7. This also doesn’t take away from the potential of buffing Elistra with a Lil Rag, or other means.
I imagine Elistra will still see play in Battlegrounds, and now won’t be a guaranteed pick if you’re trying to sustain yourself through the early/mid-game. Her tech capabilities are still in full-force, and she’s a very interesting card even with this small nerf.
The Battlegrounds patch also introduces some small bug fixes. Infinite Toki’s Temporal Tavern will now interact properly with the “New Recruit” Darkmoon Prize, and the same applies to Ysera’s Dream Portal.
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Overall, it’s a small patch for Battlegrounds, but the larger Hearthstone patch also addresses Standard. Edvin van Cleef receives a small nerf due to his strong performance in recent weeks, and Bogspine Knuckles is nerfed from 4 damage down to 3.
The next Battlegrounds update will likely arrive towards the end of January or the start of February. These small patches will stand in to make changes to new content introduced before the holiday break.