Deceptively simple in design but epically engaging, Hearthstone will be instantly accessible to players regardless of their familiarity with Warcraft or collectible card games. Whether players prefer to wield magic or arms in battle, strike from the shadows or head on—or have never given any of that much thought—they’ll be able to jump right in, create a deck, and get in on the card-slinging action.

In addition to honing their skills in practice matches against the computer and taking on their buddies via their Battle.net friends list, players can challenge each other in two competitive game modes. “Play Mode” features traditional head-to-head battles, with players facing off for a chance to increase their medal ranking and earn card packs along the way. And for a different type of challenge, players can enter “The Forge,” where they start each match by building a deck from a new set of cards, and then use that deck to duel other Forge participants. Aside from winning new cards, players will be able to round out their collections by purchasing new card packs or disenchanting some of their existing cards to craft the ones they’re missing.

With hundreds of cards to choose from, featuring a wide range of colorful Warcraft spells, weapons, and characters, players will have limitless possibilities for developing and fine-tuning their deck-building strategies.

Today, the Hearthstone team announced the dawning of a new Hearthstone Year: The Year of the Dragon!

WHAT’S A HEARTHSTONE YEAR?

• Each Hearthstone Year ushers in a fresh Standard format: we’ll introduce an updated card set rotation that will drastically change the meta, leading to more exploration and variety in deck types.
• When the first expansion of 2019 launches, we will transition into the Year of the Dragon, and the following card sets will become exclusive to Wild: Journey to Un’Goro, Knights of the Frozen Throne, and Kobolds & Catacombs
• Once we’ve entered the Year of the Dragon, all sets that are exclusive to Wild can still be bought from the online shop, and single player content will be available there as well.

 THE EVOLVING SINGLE-PLAYER EXPERIENCE

• For the first time in Hearthstone’s history, the Year of the Dragon will feature a continuous story told across all three expansions
• The Hearthstone mission team has doubled in size to create more robust solo adventures than ever before
• The first adventure of the year is set to release about a month after the Year of the Dragon begins and features nine all-new playable heroes, each with three Hero Powers and four starting decks, as well as friendly tavern encounters, multiple game modes, and worthy rewards
• The first chapter is free and additional chapters will be available for purchase (700 gold each, or $19.99 for all four)

HALL OF FAME

• The Hall of Fame is a distinction we give to certain Basic and Classic cards that move out of the Standard format and into Wild, encouraging new strategies to play with and against in Standard.
• This year, we’ll add the following cards to the Hall of Fame:
• • Divine Favor
  • Doomguard
  • Naturalize
• In addition to these three cards, Baku the Mooneater and Genn Greymane will also be moving to the Hall of Fame. We will also be moving their support cards: Gloom Stag, Black Cat, Glitter Moth, and Murkspark Eel.
• Players can keep their Hall of Fame cards and we’ll give them the full dust value for each one (up to the maximum number you could put in a deck) as if they were disenchanted.