Blizzard are making some cards from older expansions unplayable in Standard Format as a bunch of big changes head to Hearthstone in 2017, the Year of the Mammoth. Among those changes, Blizzard won’t be introducing any new Adventures this year.
We might need to update our list of the best Hearthstone decks again soon.
Standard began in the Year of the Kraken, otherwise known as 2016. In Standard, players are restricted to using recent cards, unless they play in Wild. For 2017, The Grand Tournament, Blackrock Mountain, and The League of Explorers will be heading to Wild when the first expansion hits.
Classic Hearthstone cards Azure Drake, Sylvanas Windrunner, Ragnaros the Firelord, Power, Overwhelming, Ice Lance, and Conceal will also be heading to Wild.
In a blog post, Blizzard say the neutral cards – Azure Drake, Sylvanas, and Ragnaros – are moving across because they were too strong, making them almost essential to many decks.
For players who own these cards, Blizzard will be supplying you with an Arcane Dust refund, and you will still be able to use them in Wild, of course.
Wild will be made a more appealing game mode, too, as Blizzard are trying to partner with third-party tournament organisers to set up competitive events. As well as this, Heroic Tavern Brawls will be coming to Wild eventually.
Now the extra juicy stuff. Remember when I said Adventures are being culled for 2017? That’s because Blizzard want to pump out more expansions, introducing even more cards and shuffling up the meta. It also removes the barrier of having to pay for Adventures to unlock cards, as expansion cards will make their way into digital card packs instead. Of course, you could buy those and hope the RNG doesn’t screw you.
There will be an expansion early on this year, one in the summer, and one towards the end of 2017. Blizzard say each of these expansions will house 130 cards. Some players might be worried about missing out on the single-player content bundled with the Adventures, but Blizzard say they will be releasing free single-player content along with the expansions.
Lastly, Rogues are getting a new hero: Maiev Shadowsong. She’ll be unlocked by winning 10 games in Ranked or Casual, again, after the release of the first expansion.