Can you hear that? That’s the sound of Hearthstone‘s (Free) latest expansion, Whispers of the Old Gods, drawing nearer. How nearer, though, remains to be seen. What I do know is that we now know all four of the Old Gods, so I don’t think the release is too far off. There’s that rumor about an April 26th release date, but we’ll see whether that’s accurate or not. What I can see is the community’s excitement every time a new card comes out – even the bad cards – since we are all feeling the winds of change coming to the game. Let’s face it, it’s been hard to get excited about the game this last month when we all know that the meta’s about the change radically soon; it’s hard to put work into developing new, interesting decks when the meta has been the same for so long and when you know it’s a matter of weeks before whatever deck you develop ends up being useless in Standard. Still, we have some news to talk about like the last God reveal, some premature card evaluations, and more.
Meet Yogg-Saron, the Last WoG God
Hearthstone developers were in quite the mood when they designed Yogg-Saron, the last God of the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion. This guy is a ten mana 7/5 Legendary with a Battlecry cast a random spell for each spell you’ve cast this game (targets chosen randomly). Crazy, I know, but also quite entertaining and ripe for all kinds of videos. There are some details to keep in mind if you plan on playing Yogg-Saron (some subject to change). This battlecry affects all potential targets, including your own hero, the spells are randomly selected from all the collectible spells and one is cast for each spell you’ve played, when played in Standard Yogg-Saron will only cast Standard spells, and his spells might target himself but even if destroyed, the full Battlecry will still take place.
Also, spells cast by Yogg-Saron won’t buff Mana Wyrm or interact with Antonidas (or anything along those lines), the spells won’t interact with Lorewalker Cho, and you won’t get Overload if he casts an Overload spell (though that might change by the time the card actually comes out). I expect this Legendary to see plenty of play – though not in competitive decks – and if I find the card, I’m definitely building a deck around it.
Which God is the Best?
Now that we’ve seen all four Gods, we have an early (but possibly erroneous) idea of which one could be the most powerful or find a place in the most devastating deck. According to this story, a Rogue N’Zoth deck might be the one to do the most damage in the meta because we’ve been getting some strong deathrattle minions. As for C’Thun, he needs another card that helps consistency if he’s to become top tier. Check out the whole story and the reasoning behind those choices here.
We’ve Got New WoG Cards, and They are Promising
So, have you been enjoying the WoG spoilers so far? Here are some more cards unveiled this week, with some being more interesting than others. We got to see Warlock Legendary, Cho’ Gall, a 7-mana 7/7 card with a battlecry “the next spell you cast this turn costs Health instead of Mana," an interesting card that might see play. Some find it underwhelming, but I believe that’s a result of Blizzard toning down Hearthstone’s power level.
We also got 3-mana Warrior card Blood Warriors which adds a copy of each damaged friendly minion to your hand. This card might help midrange warrior decks by refilling your hand, and, of course, should see play in Patron decks. There have been even more cards revealed, so check them out here.
Various Changes (UI, Mulligan, etc) Should be Coming to the Game
According to Blizzard’s various tweets, as collected by HearthHead in this story, we might be seeing some UI changes soon. Brode talked about how Standard will bring lots of UI changes, including the ways sets are sorted, and golden and regular cards will again be shown together. The developers are also looking at the Mulligan phase because they don’t want players to see how many cards the opponent mulligans prior to both players hitting confirm. There are other comments too, including specific card interactions, so check out the story here.
March 2016 Ranked Play Rankings
After a tough, but not very interesting March season, tripp got Legend rank 1 in the Americas, with James, Osok, and Leoric following. Muzzy came in 6th and dog 16th, with most of the big names absent from the top places. If you want to check out the whole first 100, go here.
A Look at Cheating in Hearthstone
Pro player Jab wrote an article about cheating in Hearthstone that looks specifically at tournament cheating. In a time when the number of open cups awarding HCT steadily increases, cheating is becoming increasingly a bigger issue. Jab talks about how he’s been a victim of cheaters on many occasions and even unintentionally cheated himself. He then goes on to list all the common ways players cheat – like win trading on Ladder, changing cards in your deck during a tournament, getting outside assistance, using fake disconnects, and so on.
Many of these forms of cheating are avoidable if Blizzard implements an in-game tournament mode that organizers could use to run their tournaments. That way, the organizers could control things like deck submissions. An interesting article that points out how the more popular Hearthstone becomes as an eSport, the more people will expect tournaments to be run flawlessly. Read the story here.
The Largest Ever Playable Minion is Coming
Let’s all welcome The Ancient One, the biggest ever playable minion to set foot on a Hearthstone board. Coming in the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion, The Ancient One will be a 9-mana 30/30 (yeah, 30/30) minion that you can get by controlling two Blood of the Ancient One at the end of your turn. Blood of the Ancient One is a 9-mana 9/9 minion, so it’s gonna take some doing to get two of those on the board. Brode talked about wanting to give players who like deckbulding challenges a chance to see if they can pull this crazy combo off. The developers don’t think this card will see competitive play, but they see it as a fun deckbuilding challenge and a great “story moment." Do you like this card? If I get Blood of the Ancient One, I’m definitely building a deck around them.
3 New Hearthstone Legendaries
Strifecro’s WoG Review #1
Trump WoG Review #5
Kripp’s WoG Review #3
Savjz on Why Druid Combo Should be Nerfed
Best Bugs
Best Strifecro Moments
Best RNG #14
Funny and Lucky Moments #255
The Story of the Coin
Best Moments of Summoning Stone
As always, we have some good resources on the site for you in case you are new to the game or simply want to sharpen up your game. There’s never such a thing as too much help in Hearthstone, although with all the changes coming up, we might need to update everything.
