Overwatch Archives may be all over the news, but Blizzard hasn’t forgotten its other games. In fact, Hearthstone, Blizzard’s free-to-play collectable card game, has just gotten itself a brand new expansion. Called ‘The Witchwood‘, it brings with it 135 new cards. The expansion takes Hearthstone players into Gilneas to help remove a curse on the city. The Witchwood also marks the beginning of the new Hearthstone Year: The Year of the Raven.
The woods around the city of Gilneas has been corrupted with vile magic. Despite not knowing what’s in the dark forest, the werewolf-like people of Gilneas are set to go to war with what’s inside. As you go deeper into the Witchwood, you’ll encounter the new cards and gameplay mechanics of Witchwood. One such addition is the Echo Keyword; you can cast Echo cards multiples times in the same go, depending on your mana levels. There are also two new legendary minions: Baku he Mooneater and Genn Greymane. They present new challenges to your deck such as only using odd or even cost card. In return for your troubles, you may get a game-changing Hero Power boost.
“The Witchwood brings a spooky Azeroth fairytale to life in a uniquely Hearthstone way,” says. Mike Morhaime, CEO of Blizzard Entertainment.”We can’t wait to see players sink their teeth into all the new cards and start shifting their deck-building strategies around Echo and the other new mechanics.”
You can check out some behind-the-scenes interviews with the Hearthstone dev team here:
The adventure continues with the new single player mode Monster Hunts. Coming in a fortnight’s time, it will bring you into the forest to take on the Witchwood curse in person. We’ll have to wait a while longer for more information on Monster Hunts from Blizzard though.
The Witchwood also marks the new Hearthstone Year: The Year of the Raven. Every Hearthstone Year sees a new set of cards for the Standard competitive format, which leads to huge changes to the established meta as well as making players experiment for with their decks. The new Hearthstone Year means there will be three card sets playable in the Wild format: Whispers of the Old Gods, One Night in Karazhan, and Mean Streets of Gadgetzan.
You can get your hands on The Witchwood on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS now. There are also some discounts on card pack bundles in the in-game store right now. The Witchwood card packs are currently quest rewards and prizes in the Arena right now too. Players can also craft cards from the new expansion through Arcane Dust from old, unwanted cards.
So what are you waiting for?! Login to Hearthstone now to experience the city of Gilneas for yourself. On top of that, you would also receive three card packs from the new expansion as well as a free Legendary card when you login. For more information on the new expansion, you can click here.
