Still Got Chicken? Blizzard Nerfs Hearthstone's Leeroy And Buzzard

In a move that's likely to be cheered by a lot of fans, Blizzard has announced a couple of changes to two of its most powerful -- and difficult to react to -- cards in Hearthstone.

The changes were announced in a recent blue post from Community Manager Zeriyah and will go into effect on Sept. 22. Leeroy Jenkins will have his cost raised from four to five, while the Starving Buzzard, a staple of hunter Unleash the Hounds decks, will have its cost raised from two to five and its stats raised from 2/1 to 3/2.

As someone who's been beaten down by multiple Leeroys in one turn and agrees that "taking 20+ damage in one turn is not particularly fun or interactive," as Zeriyah puts it, I agree with the change. Increasing the cost by one should be enough to at least keep Leeroy from too easily triggering three-plus times in a turn, thus reducing his burst damage potential to that of, say, a Pyroblast.

And as someone who's played quite a few games with a hunter deck and the Buzzard/Hounds combo, I can see why those changes are being made, too. Unleash the Hounds was already altered to increase its cost by one, but apparently that wasn't enough. Let's just hope that Blizzard is a lot more careful in the future when it comes to making overly powerful, asymmetrical, minions with Charge.