Two months prior to the release of Uprising we pre-emptively banned Stubby Hammerers in Blitz because of the incoming hero Fai. Stubby Hammerers effectively functions as a start in play, free to activate, source of ~5-7 damage. In Blitz that equates to ~30% of a typical hero’s life total, which is too much damage relative to the cost to play and activate Stubby Hammerers.
In Classic Constructed, the ~5-7 damage Stubby Hammerers represents is equivalent to ~15% of a hero's life total. While we know this is a high rate relative to other equipment, we wanted fans to have the opportunity to play Fai with Stubby Hammerers for the Road to Nationals season that concluded last weekend along with the Calling Utrecht.
The Road to Nationals season demonstrated a very healthy meta-game, with strong hero diversity amongst top 8 representation and tournament wins, including Fai with Stubby Hammerers.
| Hero | Top 8's | WIns | Top 8 to Win Conversion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prism, Sculptor of Arc Light | 128 | 30 | 23% |
| Viserai, Runeblood | 145 | 26 | 18% |
| Fai, Rising Rebellion | 177 | 21 | 12% |
| Briar, Warden of Thorns | 138 | 21 | 15% |
| Lexi, Livewire | 76 | 13 | 17% |
| Oldhim, Grandfather of Eternity | 83 | 12 | 14% |
| Bravo, Showstopper | 70 | 8 | 11% |
| Dromai, Ash Artist | 88 | 7 | 8% |
| Dorinthea Ironsong | 46 | 7 | 15% |
| Dash, Inventor Extraordinaire | 48 | 7 | 15% |
| Levia, Shadowborn Abomination | 16 | 3 | 19% |
| Iyslander, Stormbind | 27 | 3 | 11% |
| Kano, Dracai of Aether | 7 | 2 | 29% |
| Ser Boltyn, Breaker of Dawn | 7 | 1 | 14% |
| Rhinar, Reckless Rampage | 31 | 1 | 3% |
| Katsu, the Wanderer | 32 | 1 | 3% |
Over the 7 weeks since the Uprising World Premiere, Fai deck lists and strategy have moved towards peak optimization, shown by Fai winning the European Champions Battle and the Calling Utrecht.
While we know there are tools available to beat Fai with Stubby Hammerers at the highest level of competitive play, for all the heroes that don't have access to those tools, Stubby Hammerers causes games against optimized Fai decks to end much faster than we believe is conducive to a positive game experience. This isn't something we want to see at prolific levels for instore play such as Armory, where we would like players to majoritively have engaging games with whatever their favorite hero is.
We are happy that Fai fans got to have a full season of competitive OP with "Stubbies", and the Calling Utrecht weekend stands as a record of what an optimized Fai deck could do with this innocuous little equipment.
With the Fai lists nearing optimization, we are calling time on Stubby Hammerers in Classic Constructed and look forward to seeing the diversity seen during the Road to Nationals season continue over the coming months, including Fai continuing to be one of the top contenders.
The following changes are effective from August 1, 2022:
- Stubby Hammerers is banned in Classic Constructed.
Next Scheduled Banned and Suspended Announcement
The next scheduled banned and suspended announcement (and Living Legend check) is August 30, 2022.