The idea of a new format is something that I have bounced around in my head for awhile, but considering the chaos that Wretched Tiller is causing, it seems like a good time to start a discussion.

So everyone is clear on what I mean by a new format, here is what I am proposing. A new format is created (I'll just call it Expanded for now) where all cards are legal, with specific problem cards banned. In addition to Expanded, a majority of the cards banned in Expanded should be looked at for unnerfing so that they can be used as originally intended in Wild. The banlist would be maintained consistently. I'm not going to suggest any theoretical bans here, just looking to define it is what I want so I can explain why I believe it's a good idea.

Point #1: Wild has gotten too polarizing For those of you who have been playing Wild for any amount of time, you have undoubtably noticed that wild breaks a lot. What is happening now with Wretched Tiller has happened several times before in the form of SN1P-SN4P and Star Aligner Druid. What's more is that these are just the tier 0 nightmare decks that are in contention for the best decks Hearthstone has ever seen; if you want to count lesser decks that have still warped the meta (which I think you should and I'll explain why in a second) then that list expands significantly, including terrors like Reno Priest, Darkglare Warlock, Quest Mage, Secret Mage, Darkest Hour Warlock, and many more.

Having strong decks is not a bad thing. You could do practically anything to the balance of Hearthstone and there would still be strong decks, those aren't going anywhere. The real kicker here however is the effect these decks have on the meta.

A deck like Quest Mage, though while it has fallen out of favor lately, is ridiculously strong against control decks while ridiculously weak against aggro decks. This is the key problem for all polarizing decks, they make your decisions matter less and decide the game before you've even played anything. These polarizing decks are getting more and more common, over the years we've seen Naga Giants, Darkest Hour Warlock, Aggro Druid, Odd Warrior, Turtle Mage, Quest Mage, and new kid on the block Tiller Warlock/Priest. Not all of these decks are even particularly "good", Odd Warrior is at best a middling force in the meta.

These decks aren't even inherently bad in moderation. There's a reason Blizzard keeps making these possible. If you're going to make compelling card designs then polarization is inevitable and it's okay that it has happened, now it's time to take the next step in Hearthstone's lifespan and address that polarization permanently.

Point #2: Nerfs won't work Perhaps a more controversial take, it is many people's first instinct when confronted with a clearly broken deck to suggest making it weaker. The issue with this approach ties into my first point, general extreme polarization is the problem with wild, not individual decks. We are years too late to try and fix this problem with nerfs. Any nerf you make to a deck will only provide temporary relief from the meta. Imagine last patch, if Blizzard had addressed the meta tyrants Reno Priest Darkglare Warlock and Secret Mage. I completely agree that the meta would have improved and been more enjoyable. However, 35 cards later Tiller decks would have arrived nonetheless and thrown the meta for a loop.

Nerfs are not bad, but they're not what we need anymore. Wild has been in a state of chaos for years and no matter what the future brings, I guarantee that this problem is not going to magically disappear.

Counterpoints I'm well aware the idea of a new format is not airtight, in fact there are reasons why I imagine the devs have not done this already. Here are a few:

-A new format would split the playerbase. Wild is already not particularly popular, and without Blizzards magic internal statistics it's impossible to tell if Standard players would even care about a third main format.

-Lots of work. Again, Wild is pretty small and I imagine even at the bare minimum it's no easy thing to create and curate an entirely new format. Going out of your way for such a small portion of the playerbase is a hard thing to commit to. That being said I do wonder the potential of a new format breathing life into Hearthstone's esports scene.

-UI is sacred. Adding a new button is not as trivial as most people think it is, it takes Hearthstone ever so slightly harder to navigate and potentially daunting for a new player, getting in the habit of adding buttons to fix problems is a slippery slope. Blizzard has found ways to integrate new formats as of late pretty well which makes this less of a problem, but still something to keep in mind nonetheless.

Conclusion I really do think that a new format would be a long term solution to many of the problems people have with Wild, and I'd love to get this idea into more people's heads, so please let me know what you think so we can at least start a discussion.