The Year of the Mammoth is on its last woolly legs — which means it’s time for the latest zodiac constellation in the starry, Azeroth nightsky to soar into the spotlight. Next up: the Year of the Raven:
Here are some key takeaways from the newest Hearthstone year announcement:
Hall of Fame entrants
A new Year means the usual shuffle of cards from Standard play to Wild, with the Whispers of the Old Gods, One Night in Karazhan and Mean Streets of Gadgetzan expansions’ cards making their way to the latter format. The following cards also make their way into Hearthstone‘s Hall of Fame, alongside such icons as Old Murk-Eye, Ragnaros the Firelord and Sylvanas Windrunner.
Ice Block
No more second chances for Mages. Does this spell the end of Freeze Mage?
Coldlight Oracle
Kingsbane Rogue has been a fun counter to current meta-defining decks like Spiteful Priest and Cube/Control Lock and Coldlight Oracle is a crucial component. Will the Elven Minstrel be enough to shoulder the burden in future Rogue decks?
Molten Giant
Molten Giant lumbers its way into the Hall of Fame and sees his mana-cost reverted to its original cost (from 25 to 20) to boot. So much for that Naga Sea Witch problem getting addressed.
Improved Quest rewards/requirements
Year of the Raven will also be implementing improved quests, with the old 40 gold cards seeing a 10 gold increase and 50 gold reward quests seeing more reasonable requirements. An example, per Blizzard’s official announcement:
Only the Mighty:
OLD: Play 20 minions that cost 5 or more. Reward 40 gold
NEW: Play 12 minions that cost 5 or more. Reward: 50 gold
Class Victory
OLD: Win 2 games with one of two Classes. Reward: 40 gold.
NEW: Win 1 game with one of two Classes. Reward: 50 gold
Class Mastery
OLD: Play 50 Class cards. Reward: 60 gold
NEW: Play 30 Class cards. Reward: 60 gold
In-game tourneys
Tired of setting up Hearthstone tournaments the old fashioned way? Fireside Gatherings will soon have you covered, as the game will see a tourney mode implemented sometime in the middle of the year:
We’re working on a feature that will help you run a Hearthstone tournament from your own home or Fireside Gathering! You’ll be able to create a custom tournament and invite your friends–all from within the Hearthstone game client. To start, the feature will include matchmaking and checking decks, but we’ll continue to add new features and functionality over time.
And perhaps the biggest news of all…
New druid hero, Lunara
Move over Malfurion — welcome Lunara, dryad of Dreamgrove and eldest daughter of the demi-god Cenarius to the fold:
To obtain Lunara players must win 10 games of Hearthstone in Standard Ranked or Casual mode.
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What do you think of the latest batch of cards added to the Hall of Fame? What about Lunara, the newest Druid hero? Are you ready for the Year of the Raven? Sound off in the comments.
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