Rend hearthstone

Hearthstone will make another major shift to its Standard play, Blizzard announced today. Starting with the next set rotation, the Basic and Classic sets will be removed from Standard play and replaced by a batch that Blizzard is calling the Core set. This comes alongside a few other changes, and a new Classic mode. It's all a little heady, so let's break it down.The New Core SetHearthstone introduced the Standard and Wild modes in 2016 to keep gameplay competitive without the collection of playable cards getting too large and daunting for newcomers. Standard combined the Basic and Classic sets with the most recent two years of expansions. Basic cards are gained by reaching level milestones with heroes, while Classic cards are the regular, vanilla set of cards that come in randomized Classic packs. Wild would house absolutely everything, including older expansions.Starting this spring, though, both Basic and Classic will be replaced in Standard with a new Core set. The Core set is a … [Read more...] about Hearthstone Introducing New “Core” Rotation, Classic Mode

Some big changes are on the way to Hearthstone , which will replace Basic and Standard cards in the Standard format with a new Core Set of 235 cards, free for all players, that Blizzard says is "intended to provide a modern collection of starting cards to players of all types and make Hearthstone even more approachable for newcomers." The Core Set will break down like this: 88 cards returning from Classic (54 class cards, 34 neutral cards). 54 cards returning from Basic (41 class cards, 13 neutral cards). 55 cards returning from Wild (36 class cards, 19 neutral cards). 4 cards returning from Ashes of Outland (4 Demon Hunter Class cards). 4 cards returning from Demon Hunter Initiate. 1 card returning from Hall of Fame (Shadowform). 29 new cards (20 Class cards, 9 Neutral cards). Cards in the new Core Set will be earned by leveling up each class, the same way as they're currently earned in the Basic Set. Cards will be awarded as players climb through levels 1-10 … [Read more...] about Hearthstone is getting a big shakeup with a new ‘Core Set’ and Classic Format

Remember what Hearthstone was like at launch, when Blizzard's card game was all the rage? That original 240 card set is coming back in a new way to play the game as it was in 2014. Classic Format is Blizzard giving Hearthstone the WoW Classic treatment. As detailed in a post on Battle.net , Classic Format lets you craft decks and compete using Hearthstone's original 240 cards as they were in 2014. When Classic format launches with the patch for the next expansion (so, before the expansion content itself unlocks), your entire collection of Basic, Classic, and relevant Hall of Fame cards will be mirrored and available for deck building in the Classic format, as they were in the 1.0.0.5832 patch of June 2014 (this is after Blizzard made "a few important changes" following the March 2014 launch). All balance changes since June 2014 are reverted. This means Warsong Commander can give minions Charge, Holy Smite can go face, and Leeroy Jenkins costs four mana. This goes both ways: … [Read more...] about Hearthstone is getting the WoW Classic treatment

Last night I beat Trump in a game of Hearthstone, and my hands are still shaking. For me, the Arena is Hearthstone's best mode. The "constructed" portion of Blizzard's wonderful card game has gone a little stale. You see the same decks over and over again, the same cadence to play, the same meta-game. In the Arena, decks are somewhat random. There is a skill to their construction, because you have to pick one from three random cards until you have 30. You don't know if the Mage you're fighting will use Flamestrike on turn seven, because the Mage may not even have Flamestrike in their deck. Last night I started a new Arena run and drafted a Paladin deck, mainly because I have a quest to win a few games with the Paladin, but also because the Paladin is strong in the Arena. Usually I'm never happy with my Arena drafts. I try my best to pick cards that combo with other cards, to maintain a mana curve and make sure I have plenty of late game big hitters. Usually I end up with a deck … [Read more...] about Last night I trumped Trump at Hearthstone

Hearthstone's big Blizzconline announcements include the game's next expansion, in-game year, and a strategy RPG mode named Hearthstone Mercenaries coming later in 2021. As announced last week, Hearthstone will soon get a big shake-up with the introduction of a new 235-card Core Set, which replaces the previous Basic and Classic sets. There's also a new Classic Format, so you can play Hearthstone exactly as it was when it launched back in 2014 . All of that arrives at the start of the Year of the Gryphon, which sorts and expands spell cards into seven-type groups, and also brings new expansion Forged in the Barrens. Horde players will feel right at home in this latest release, which is set in Kalimdor and feature numerous references to the World of Warcraft original. 135 new cards feature Shadow Hunter Vol'jin, quilboar raiders and (of course) Mankrik's wife . 10 new legendary character cards will be included, and there's a new keyword - Frenzy - which activates an effect … [Read more...] about Hearthstone’s next expansion homes in on Horde heartland Kalimdor

Selected Highlights: Ragnaros will likely return to the Core set in the future, but Sylvanas is less certain because she makes players feel bad The Duels mode isn't dead Battlegrounds won't necessarily become Hearthstone's biggest mode If players love Hearthstone Classic it will influence future expansions Blizzard knows it went too far with card generation from Lackeys There's no Hero card in Forged in the Barrens We've been writing for over a year now that the current Hearthstone development team is more aggressive about making big changes and introducing new content than at any point in the game's history. Obviously, that's resulted in some equally big controversies—the startling power of Demon Hunter , the game's first new class since, and the violent reaction to the new rewards track —to name two, but it's also resulted in a game that's more dynamic and exciting. You only have to look at the explosive success of the Battlegrounds mode, which now … [Read more...] about Hearthstone devs talk Core Set, Classic and Mercenaries mode, and why Duels isn’t dead

For the last few weeks a deck called Ramp Paladin, or Cheese Paladin if you're feeling unkind, has been sitting at the top of the meta in Hearthstone's Standard format . The aim is to use Nozdormu the Timeless to bump both players to 10 mana and then hit you with one of its big 10-drops, but also swamp you with Corrupted Clowns and Murlocs before then. Patch 19.6 hobbles Ramp Paladin with one seemingly minor change: increasing the cost of High Abbess Alura by a single point, from four to five. Alura's in the deck so Ramp Paladins can make use of her Spellburst ability to cast Tip the Scales, which summons seven Murlocs out of your deck. The deck's high winrate hinges on drawing her by turn four to flood the board before other decks are ready. As the patch notes explain, "When an individual card contains a large amount of a deck's winrate, as Alura does, it breaks the promises of a Hearthstone match. Instead of having a natural back-and-forth flow between players, games with a … [Read more...] about Hearthstone patch nerfs the top deck in Standard, brings changes to Battlegrounds

Blizzard has big plans for Hearthstone in 2021. The Year of the Gryphon will introduce three new expansions, each with its own mini-expansion, formulating a year-long narrative starring an all-new cast of characters. The underlying structure of the game will undergo a massive shift too, with the introduction of the Core set and new spell schools. And sometime later this year, a new Mercenaries mode will turn the familiar card game into a roguelike RPG. Fresh off the presentation at BlizzConline, we spoke with senior game designer Alec Dawson and associate game designer Cora Georgiou about the plans for the coming year and lessons learned from past expansions. For more on Hearthstone and the Year of the Gryphon, check out everything we know about Hearthstone's 2021 plans . BlizzCon 2021: Biggest Announcements Hearthstone's Next Expansion, Forged In The Barrens, Adds 135 New Cards Hearthstone Mercenaries, New RPG-Like Mode, Coming This Year Hearthstone's New Core … [Read more...] about Hearthstone In 2021 Will See More Big Changes And New Ways To Play

Blizzard is hinting, none too subtly, at a big Hearthstone reveal coming at this weekend's BlizzCon event: A brief teaser released today suggests the next expansion looks to be leaning heavily on the World of Warcraft source material (as opposed to stuff like League of Explorers, which does not.) The symbol that emerges at the end of the clip is that of the Horde, one of the major factions in WoW, which, along with the very overt orc chanting happening in the background, points toward the new set having a orcish vibe to it. Our in-house WoW expert Steve Messner might have it nailed down further: He suspects something based on Razorfen Kraul , a World of Warcraft dungeon located in the the southern part of the Barrens. It's the ancestral home of the quilboar , for one thing, who can quite clearly be seen surrounding the orcish figure at the center of the video, and there's also that wordplay in the YouTube video title: Quill you be ready? We already know that at least … [Read more...] about This teaser for the next Hearthstone expansion looks very Horde flavored

Blizzard has pulled the curtain back on the cards that will be included in Hearthstone's revamped Core set, which is due to launch when the Year of the Gryphon begins. Somewhat weirdly we still don't have the exact date for that, but it'll coincide with the release of the Forged in the Barrens expansion and the set rotation of the Standard format. You can see a gallery of all the Core cards on Blizzard's site. The Core set replaces the Classic and Basic sets as the bedrock of any Hearthstone player's collection. As such, you'll be able to earn all 235 cards for free, simply by playing the game and levelling up each class. That also means that many players will already have the cards unlocked once the Year of the Gryphon comes into effect. The intention on Blizzard's part regarding the Core set is twofold:To make it easier for new and returning players to get into the game by providing them with tools that aren't hopelessly underpowered, as much of the Classic and Basic … [Read more...] about All the cards from Hearthstone’s new Core set have been revealed