If you’re one of the many Hearthstone players who like deploying Yogg-Saron late in a match, Blizzard has some bad news for you.

The old god – also referred to as Hope’s End – has been wreaking havoc on Hearthstone’s ladders since his arrival earlier this year in the Whispers Of The Old Gods expansion pack.

The reason for this is because when he is played, he casts one spell for every spell cast in a match and chooses the targets at random. This means that playing Yogg at the right time can allow a player to completely turn the tables on their opponent – using nothing but blind luck to do so.

Yogg has become such a game changer in Hearthstone, he’s become an essential card in the decks of pro players. In the last Americas Summer Championship, he was deployed no less than 20 times in various matches. Check out the video below for an idea of the havoc this old god can cause.

Well, it seems that Blizzard has taken note of Yogg’s shenanigans and has decided enough is enough. Over on Hearthstone’s official blog, the developer has announced a boatload of nerfs for the game and chief among them is the one concerning Yogg. Now, if one of the spells generated by playing the old god kills, transforms, silences, or removes him from the board, the card will stop casting spells.

All of a sudden, Yogg isn’t the last-ditch hope card of choice for both amateurs and pros. Furthermore, this nerf may kill off a lot of decks that are built around the card.

Hearthstone: Warrior and Shaman

If you’re a player who’s rather partial to either the Shaman or Warrior classes there’s more bad news on the way. The planned update nerfs class-specific cards for both and a couple of basic cards that have become commonplace in Warrior and Shaman decks.

Shaman players will see the cost of the Rockbiter Weapon raised from 1-Mana to 2-Mana and the Tuskarr Totemic will only be able to summon basic totems with his battlecry (in the past the totem was completely random).

Warriors will see the all-powerful Execute card go up in cost to 2-Mana (previously it was 1-Mana) and Charge drops to 1-Mana, while removing the +2 attack for the minion it’s played on. Oh, and you can’t use Charge to attack your opponent’s Hero in the turn it’s played.

Finally, Hunters will see the Call Of The Wild card, which summons all three of Rexar’s companions, raised from 8 to 9-Mana.

Let the complaining begin

It’s likely that the nerfs will irk a large number of players – they always do – but we think they bring some much needed balance to the game. Ever since Whispers Of The Old Gods was released, Warrior and Shaman have felt just a tad overpowered (so has Mage, but that’s a extended moan we can have another day).

Furthermore, with Yogg-Saron, while admittedly a lot of fun, started to feel like a cheap ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ card in some games. A nerf for this ugly old god has been long overdue.