SN1P-ped in the bud.
Recently, Wild format player Eddetektor was banned from Hearthstone for ‘abuse of game mechanics’. They go into full detail on Reddit, but for your convenience we’ll tell you the main points that led to the ban.
Eddetektor plays SN1P-SN4P Warlock, a deck that takes advantage of Echo and Magnetic mechanics to throw a ridiculous number of minions onto the board and kill the enemy by repeatedly playing these cards. Usually, about 25 cards can be played per turn with quick movement and reactions before the turn timer runs out, as Eddetektor illustrates in their Reddit post complete with match replays.
The issue comes in when so many cards are played that turn times get extended. It appears to happen when both players are playing with decks that rely on long turns with extended animations, and Eddetektor claimed that their turns were only extended by ten seconds or so. Technically, players should not be able to take longer turns than is usually allowed, but it’s so hard to keep track of when you’re slamming down up to thirty cards in a turn, as well as being unreasonable to expect the player to refuse to take the extra time whilst the opponent might not.
Even after an appeal, Eddetektor’s account was blocked from accessing Hearthstone and took to Reddit to write the post.
Hearthstone’s moderation team clearly had this brought to their attention though, as Blizzard Community Manager Kauza responded with a Reddit post. Apparently, a number of bans were put in place after players played a seemingly impossible number of cards in a single turn. They acknowledged that the turn timer added time without cheating or outside influence being involved, and decided to roll back the bans as they look into the issue.
Many fans were dissatisfied with the response, as it appeared to be mostly brought about by the publicity and attention the original Reddit post garnered, but it is at least good to see that the legitimate players were unbanned, even if it took a significant amount more effort than it should have.
