Hearthstone throws out the basic set and brings in the core set. We reveal what this means for your collection.
For 2021, Blizzard’s card game Hearthstone seems to aim to change quite a lot of existing rules and habits. Not only is a new ‘Classic’ mode being introduced, but there are also some significant changes to the Standard format. The previously known basic and classic set is disappearing and will be replaced by something new.
What were those sets? The basic set was the previous core set of cards that players could earn completely for free by simply playing matches with all classes. The classic set, on the other hand, was the first card set of Hearthstone. There were always packs for these “evergreens”, such as from the weekly card chaos or sometimes for quests.
What comes instead? The classic and basic sets will be replaced by the new core set. The core set consists of 235 cards and will be available throughout the year in the standard game mode. The core set is made up of the following cards:
- 88 cards from the classic set (54 class cards, 34 neutral cards)
- 54 cards from the basic set (41 class cards, 13 neutral cards)
- 55 cards from the wild format (36 class cards, 19 neutral cards)
- 4 cards from the Ruins of Outland (4 class cards for Demon Hunter)
- 4 cards from the Initiate set of the Demon Hunters
- 1 card from the timeless classics (Shadowform)
- 29 new cards (20 class cards, 9 neutral cards)
In addition, the core set will be renewed every year. The developers will make a new selection of cards year after year, so you will have an updated core set with each new expansion of a year.
Is the new set free? Yes. The new core set replaces the basic and classic set and is completely free. No money or gold needs to be spent to acquire these cards.
For relatively fresh accounts, however, it may still be necessary to level some classes to level 10 to unlock all cards – just as it was the case with the classic set.
What is the plan behind it? The intention is to keep Hearthstone fresh each year. Currently, there is the problem that there are only 1-2 optimal decks for each class. New expansions bring many cards each time, but only one or two of them end up in the already highly optimized decks.
The developers want to create more variety here. If the core of all available cards changes every year, there should be a greater mixing in the meta. This way, new and exciting deck types should emerge every year, fostering a bit more experimentation.
What happens to the classic and basic sets? The two sets will be moved into the wild game mode and will be called “Archived Set”. There, the cards can still be used as usual, but not longer in the standard format.
What do you think of these plans? A good idea to keep Hearthstone fresh? Or would it require entirely different changes?
More news about Hearthstone can be found at Blizzconline – in a week.
