Does Hearthstone take too long for you? A new card could soon bring the Turbo mode – if both players want to.
Amid the flood of bigger announcements during BlizzCon, Hearthstone revealed some pretty cool details about its future. In addition to the Mercenary game mode and the new expansion “Forged in the Barrens”, the remnants of the core set were also presented. Among these are some real bang cards that promise plenty of variety and cool moments.
The core set will soon replace the Standard and Classic sets, bringing fresh air into Hearthstone. This also means that some brand new cards are being created, and old classics have been revamped. We would like to briefly introduce some of these highlights to you.
Nozdormu the Eternal has the potential to give Hearthstone a whole new “Turbo mode”. He is basically an evolution of the old Nozdormu, who reduced turn length to 15 seconds while he was in play. However, Nozdormu the Eternal works differently. Essentially, he is a solid minion with stats of 8/8 for only 7 mana, making him a good choice.
However, his effect is interesting. If both players’ decks contain Nozdormu at the start of the game, then all turns in this match will last 15 seconds.
You read that right – this is then a permanent effect, which will not change even with the death of Nozdormu. Anyone who wants to play “Speed-Hearthstone” should integrate Nozdormu the Eternal into their deck and hope that the opponent has done the same. This promises stressful but also extremely interesting rounds.
Mages can look forward to the legendary minion Aegwynn the Guardian. For stats of 5/5, this fine lady costs 5 mana and brings spell damage +2 as well as the deathrattle effect: The next minion you draw inherits these effects.
This means that you will have the “spell damage +2” effect and the transfer permanently in play until a corresponding minion is silenced.
This card ensures that Mages can basically always build a spell damage deck, even if they do not have many cards from the latest expansion.
The dragon lady Alexstrasza also gets a redesign with “Alexstrasza the Lifebinder”. For 9 mana, she still brings stats of 8/8 to the battlefield, but her battlecry has changed. Instead of setting a hero’s health to 15, she can now either deal 8 damage to an enemy or heal 8 health points to an allied character.
This makes the new Alexstrasza a pinch healing and a cool finisher at the same time. From turn 9 onward, everyone will have to expect to be burned by Alexstrasza.
Malygos also receives an overhaul and becomes “Malygos the Spellweaver”, which is quite interesting for all spell decks. Instead of, like his old version, increasing spell damage by 5, he has a different effect. The player draws as many spells until their hand is full.
However, this should be used with caution, as with a cost of 9 mana for the 4/12 dragon, there is little room left to play something else. This increases the risk of having too many cards in hand next turn and having to burn some.
This can also be worth it for decks that have very few spells and want to guarantee them in hand. Malygos the Spellweaver allows for many new combinations and will likely play a role in many decks in the future.
The black dragon aspect Deathwing also receives a small rework. Deathwing the Destroyer still costs 10 mana and has stats of a massive 12/12. Instead of annihilating all minions and discarding the player’s hand, the effect is a bit more targeted.
While all other minions are still destroyed, the player only has to discard one card for each minion killed. This gives Deathwing a tactical component and makes him playable even when you don’t have to destroy any more minions.
The core set is free: The best thing about the core set is that it is completely free and available immediately for all players. Only those who have not leveled their heroes to level 10 yet need to catch up in order to unlock all cards of the core set.
The innovations with the core set should ensure that Hearthstone feels fresh every year and that existing meta decks need to be significantly restructured. In the future, it will no longer be enough to only swap out a handful of cards each year – because with a rotating core set, that is simply not possible. That’s why the basic set is being thrown out.
What do you think of the new cards and the core set? A cool thing or does it bother you?
