Hearthstone’s upcoming expansion, Goblins vs Gnomes, is less than a week away, Blizzard has announced. The diminutive residents of Azeroth will get their time in the spotlight on December 8th in America, Oceania and South East Asia, and the 9th for the rest of the world, where they’ll be transformed into a multitude of cards.
The expansion adds over 120 new cards, from gnomish contraptions to the demon lord Mal’Ganis. Our Nick’s shown off the new cards, so check the list out.
Some balance changes will be made in a Goblins vs Gnomes patch as well.
“During the development of Goblins vs Gnomes, we kept an eye on the state of game balance as more Hearthstone matches were played with the new cards we introduced with Curse of Naxxramas,” said Blizzard. “After careful consideration we have decided to make balance changes to the following cards: Soulfire (Warlock), Gadgetzan Auctioneer (Neutral), and Flare (Hunter).”
- Soulfire now costs 1 (up from 0)
- Soulfire, along with fast and powerful minions, allowed Warlock rush decks to get ahead on the board and stay ahead. We’ve upped Soulfire’s mana cost by 1 to slow down the Warlock rush deck just a bit and allow more players time to react and interact against the Warlock.
- Gadgetzan Auctioneer now costs 6 (up from 5)
- Gadgetzan Auctioneer’s ability allows for a player to potentially draw many cards for little cost. Card draw and card advantage are important to the game—overall, games are less interesting when a player draws their entire deck. This change brings Gadgetzan Auctioneer’s cost more in line with its power level.
- Flare now costs 2 (up from 1)
- Flare allowed the Hunter an advantage versus decks that revolve around Secrets, while also allowing the Hunter to draw a card for little cost. We want to encourage a variety of decks in Hearthstone. With this change, Flare will continue to be useful against decks playing Secrets, but will be weaker against other decks.