Blizzard really shook the foundations of Hearthstone this week by announcing new “standard” and “wild” formats of play, and decreeing standard to be the official tournament format. Standard format restricts players into making decks out of cards that were released in the last two years (plus cards from the basic and classic sets), while wild allows players to use any cards from Hearthstone history. This means that in standard, some of the most annoying cards in the game are getting the chop. Here are the 8 most annoying Hearthstone cards we won’t have to deal with in standard format anymore.

Piloted Shredder

Piloted Shredder is annoying because it eliminates choice. There are a lot of good 4-drops in the game, but Piloted Shredder is just hands-down the best one, meaning this guy got shoved into pretty much every deck under the sun. Combine that with the RNG factor, which led to things like a Doomsayer clearing your board, or a Millhouse Manastorm with no downside, made it one heck of a frustrating card that we’ll be glad to see the back of.

Shielded Minibot

Shielded Minibot was basically an auto-include card for every Paladin deck. A 2/2 with divine shield for just 2 mana – it won trades with pretty much every other 1 and 2 drop, and combined with Muster For Battle (which is also getting the chop) meant that aggro Paladins who could play cards on curve had an unstoppable early game.

Sludge Beltcher

Good old Sludge Beltcher was the hero that control decks needed, in a time where Face Hunters and Zoolocks were running rampant all over ladder. The problem is that he did his job a little too well, and dropping one on curve was almost always a good option. Aggro decks will breathe a sigh of relief to see him gone.

Mad Scientist

Mad Scientist is the reason we haven’t seen too many interesting new Mage and Hunter secrets. A 2/2 for 2 that could pull and play a 2 or 3 mana card was just ridiculous, and pretty much any Hunter or Mage deck that ran secrets ran this guy, and would try to hard mulligan for him. His removal could see the addition of some powerful new Hunter, Mage and Paladin secret cards… and maybe even some secrets for other classes!

Antique Healbot

There are few things more rage inducing in this game than playing against a Handlock, getting him down to single digits of health… and then watch him drop a couple of Molten Giants and a Healbot. Similarly, popping a Freezemage’s ice block and seeing him drop two of these babies the very next turn is just as disheartening. Going forward, fatigue decks will have to rely on Reno Jackson for their last-ditch cheese heals.

Velen’s Chosen

Control priests are already one of the most annoying classes to play against without a crazy spell that gives +2/+4 (and a bonus “fuck you,” +1 spell damage) for only 3 mana. The +4 health in particular, coupled with the Priest’s healing abilities, would safety put enemies out of range of soft removal like Fireball, forcing players to either use a hard removal like Polymorph, several small removals, or an Ironbeak Owl.

Unstable Portal

Either wins you the game, or is completely worthless, Unstable Portal is part of what started the “Casino Mage” joke. One of the most RNG-heavy cards in the game, Unstable Portal could do amazing plays like pulling out a Tirion Fordring on turn 5. On the other hand, and what seemed to be far too common whenever I was personally using the card, it could also give you a Captain’s Parrot…

Dr. Boom

Do I even need to say anything here? I don’t think anyone will be shedding any tears for Dr. Balanced.

What do you think of Blizzard’s new standard and wild formats for Hearthstone? Do you welcome the change, or do you find anything new scary and weird? What cards will you miss, and which ones will you be glad to be rid of? Let us know in the comments!