Hearthstone

Patch 29.4, launching tomorrow, brings an explosive new mini-set, Dr. Boom’s Incredible Inventions, and more!

Incredible New Inventions!

Dr. Boom’s tired of everyone calling Whizbang the world’s greatest inventor. So he kept tinkering away in the basement until he came up with something bombastic, something Gigantic, something... INCREDIBLE!

The Dr. Boom’s Incredible Inventions Mini-Set has 38 all-new cards. Get them in Whizbang’s Workshop packs or as a complete 72-card* Mini-Set. Get the normal version for $14.99 or 2000 Gold, or get the all-Golden version for $69.99 or 10,000 Gold. The all-Golden version comes with a bonus Diamond copy of the Puppetmaster Dorian Legendary minion! You can see all the cards from Dr. Boom’s Incredible Inventions Mini-Set in the official Card Library.

* 4 Legendary cards, 1 Epic card (x2), 17 Rare cards (x2), and 16 Common cards (x2).

Gigantify Your Fun!

Dr. Boom’s Incredible Inventions include a new keyword: Gigantify! Gigantify is like Miniaturize, but bigger: whenever you play a card with Gigantify, you get an 8-mana, 8/8 Gigantic version added to your hand. That’s huge!

Hearthstone Balance Changes

Dev Comment: Our last balance update was a massive shakeup with over 35 changes, based on our general design philosophy and overall health of Standard. With so many changes at once, we built this extra balance window into this content patch to catch a couple power and playrate outliers that have cropped up since those changes. We still have our regular hotfix balance window planned for a little after this patch, once players have had a chance to play with the new mini-set cards and explore the new meta.

Deepminer Brann

• Old: [6 Mana]
• New: [8 Mana]

Saddle Up!

• Old: [3 Mana]
• New: [4 Mana]

Upcoming Twist Season: Whizbang’s Heroes

Twist is back with a huge, all-new season in June: Whizbang’s Heroes! In Whizbang’s Heroes, choose from exciting new Heroes, each with their own pre-constructed deck, Hero Power, and unique passive effect.

Each Hero is unlocked if you have their corresponding Legendary card (the first-appearance card with the same name as the Hero—except Illidan, who is unlocked by Metamorphosis in Core).

Whizbang’s Heroes will launch with 19 Hero options:

• Illidan Stormrage*
• Al’Akir the Windlord*
• Arch-Villain Rafaam*
• Leeroy Jenkins*
• Kael’Thas Sunstrider**
• C’Thun**
• Nozdormu
• The Lich King
• Xyrella
• Patches the Pirate
• Sir Finley Mrrgglton
• King Krush
• Forest Warden Omu
• Dr. Boom
• Zul’jin
• N’Zoth, the Corruptor
• Brann Bronzebeard
• Guff Runetotem
• Arfus

Keep an eye out for more details closer to the start of the June Twist season!

*These heroes are unlocked by cards in Core, so they will be automatically unlocked for all players at the start of the season.

**These two cards were free login rewards for older expansions. If not already unlocked, C’Thun is automatically unlocked by having a Whispers of the Old Gods pack and going to the pack opening screen and Kael’thas is automatically unlocked by having an Ashes of Outland pack and going to the pack opening screen.

Arena Updates

On May 14, all current Arena runs will end and a new Arena season will begin. The Arena rules and draft pools will remain the same, except that cards from Dr. Boom’s Incredible Inventions will be added to the pool. However, the random generation and Discover pools will be updated to only include cards from Ashes of Outland onward.

In-Game Event: Dr. Boom’s Aisle of Mischievous Toys

Dr. Boom’s inventions are, of course, incredible, but one or two of them have been known to... have a little extra boom. From May 21 to June 11, complete Event Quests to earn Event XP on the special event rewards track. Complete the rewards track to earn 6 Whizbang’s Workshop packs and the Thunder Ape Shaman Hero Skin.

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• Dev Comment: As we continue iterating on our progression system, and our communications around it, we’re working on some updates that didn’t quite make it into this patch. Our next Weekly Quest update is planned for the next scheduled client patch, Patch 29.4.2.
• [Hearthstone] Updated Photographer Fizzle to now load his Snapshot in existing hand order instead of timestamp order (meaning, for example, Mini cards will appear where they are in your hand when the Snapshot is taken, even though they were added to your hand later than other cards).
• [Hearthstone] Updated the order of Discover options in Illidan’s Gift to match the order on the card’s text.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where The Headless Horseman unfroze upon drawing Horseman’s Head (finding your head is nice, but your body’s still on ice).
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Open the Cages would not trigger off Observer of Mysteries before disappearing.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a visual bug on some mobile devices where the enemy Secret zone overlapped and was difficult to see with hover. Fixed another visual bug on some mobile devices where the friendly Secret Zone couldn’t be hovered to see at all.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Dr. Stitchensew could cause disconnects in rare circumstances.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where a Spell Damage Chia Drake wouldn’t have the Spell Damage effect when control was swapped or a copy was summoned.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where a Cosplay Contestant cosplaying as Magtheridon, Unreleased would trigger its Dormant effect twice each turn. That’s not canon!
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Fairy Tale Slime didn’t update its text from the opponent’s perspective.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Spirit of the Badlands’s Mirage can create an extra, fake Mirage in hand—that was a bit too immersive.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Crimson Expanse wouldn’t create an exact copy under certain circumstances.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Felscale Evoker’s effect sometimes wasn’t tracking properly.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Battlegrounds Ratings were showing as stuck on 0 on tablet devices.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where tripling Marine Matriarch with Elemental of Surprise would turn off Marine Matriarch’s effect.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Slimy Felblood’s effect also applied to your Partner’s Tavern when activated in combat.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where passing a minion to your partner while they were in the Choose One interface soft locked the client.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where passing a minion to your partner while they are holding another copy of that minion, and the passed card forms a triple, blocks all functionality until the newly tripled card is played.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where minions affected by Suspicious Stimulant couldn’t be passed from hand.
• [Achievements] Fixed a bug where the Tick, Tick, Boom! Achievement didn’t track properly after Boomboss Tho’grun’s effect was updated.
• [Cosmetics] Fixed a bug where Favorited Coins weren’t showing for Coins generated in-game.
• [Cosmetics] Fixed a bug with Halveria Darkraven’s Hero Power animation.
• [Cosmetics] Corrected a few Battlegrounds Hero skins that had the wrong rarity listed in the Collection.
• [Shop] Fixed a bug where Mac desktop clients couldn’t access the Shop.
• [???] Updated a secret puzzle to account for the new Core Set update.
• Misc. other bug fixes and game improvements.

Patch 29.2.2, launching later today, contains big updates to Hearthstone and Battlegrounds.

Hearthstone Updates

Dev Comment: This patch is a little different than our usual balance patches—it’s more about the general design direction of the game than it is about particular power outliers (though we hit a few of those, too). Right now, there are a lot of cards that can remove player agency and raise the power level of the game beyond where we want for a 4-set meta. We’re looking at a variety of these meta-defining cards in this patch, from OTK-style cards to powerful AoE effects that make it feel like your minions don’t matter.

There will always be cool, dreamy cards in Hearthstone—that's part of what makes Hearthstone Hearthstone—but these types of cards can sometimes be disproportionately more fun to play with than play against. We don’t want these kinds of cards to make up the most powerful and prevalent archetypes in the game, especially if they create metagames where player agency feels low.

There are a few categories of changes in this patch. The first is cards that can end the game quickly when played, and which warp the entire game around whether you get to play them at the right time. No Duplicate cards are also a subsection of this. Being able to draw your deck to avoid the downside of these cards is an interesting deck construction challenge, but it has in large part devolved into turbo-draw decks that tend to be less interactive and not in the spirit of these cards.

The second category is powerful, uncapped board clears. We’ve made and will continue to make AoE effects, but these particular instances are too efficient at clearing the board, making minion-based strategies feel helpless.

The third category is cards that are just a little too strong in their decks and should be toned down a bit. Similarly, our Wild changes are to some clear power and play experience outliers in that Mode.

Finally, we’re making some buffs, too! A lot of the changes we’re making in this patch are to weaken new cards or strategies that came from Whizbang’s Workshop, but we don’t want to just go back to the meta we had before the expansion. So we’ve identified some underperforming Whizbang’s Workshop archetypes that we think better align with our overall goals for the format and infusing them with a bit more power to give them another chance.

This probably won’t be a one-and-done fix. We’re going to keep an eye on the game after these changes go live and continue to push towards a game that aligns with our design philosophy. To read more about this general philosophy, check out our Developer Insights post on the topic from earlier this week.

The following cards have been adjusted to be weaker:

Reno, Lone Ranger

• Old: [8 Mana]
• New: [9 Mana]
• Dev Comment: All the Showdown in the Badlands “No Duplicate” cards are also getting a further adjustment to their conditional effect, discussed below.

Zilliax Deluxe 3000 (Virus Module)

• Old: 1/3. Stealth, Elusive, Poisonous, Reborn
• New: 1/4. Elusive, Poisonous, Reborn

Gaslight Gatekeeper

• Old: [3 Mana]
• New: [4 Mana]

Snake Oil (Generated by Miracle Salesman and Snake Oil Seller)

• Old: [0 Mana]
• New: [1 Mana]

Wheel of DEATH!!!

• No text change, but the wheel counts at the start of your turns instead of the end of your turns.

Forge of Wills

• Old: [3 Mana]
• New: [4 Mana]

Imprisoned Horror

• Old: 5/5
• New: 4/4

Timewinder Zarimi

• Old: Battlecry: Once per game, if you’ve summoned 5 other Dragons, take an extra turn.
• New: Battlecry: Once per game, if you’ve summoned 8 other Dragons, take an extra turn.

Threads of Despair

• Old: [1 Mana]
• New: [2 Mana]

Sickly Grimewalker

• Old: [3 Mana] 2/4
• New: [4 Mana] 3/5

Sanitize

• Old: [5 Mana] Deal damage equal to your Armor to all minions. Forge: Gain 3 Armor first.
• New: [6 Mana] Deal damage equal to your Armor to all minions. Forge: Gain 4 Armor first.

Trial by Fire

• Old: [6 Mana]
• New: [7 Mana]

Boomboss Tho’grun

• Old: Battlecry: Shuffle 3 T.N.T. into your deck. When drawn, blow up a card in the enemy hand, deck, and board.
• New: Battlecry: Shuffle 3 T.N.T. into your opponent’s deck. When drawn, blow up a card in their hand, deck, and board.
• Dev Comment: T.N.T. can’t blow up other T.N.T..

Flash of Lightning

• Old: [2 Mana]
• New: [3 Mana]

Crash of Thunder

• Old: [5 Mana]
• New: [6 Mana]

Jungle Gym

• Old: 3 Durability
• New: 2 Durability

Time Warp (Open the Waygate’s Quest Reward)

• Old: Take an extra turn.
• New: Take an extra turn. (Once per game)

Floop’s Glorious Gloop

• Old: Whenever a minion dies this turn, gain 1 Mana Crystal this turn only.
• New: Whenever a minion dies this turn, refresh a Mana Crystral.

Snowfall Graveyard

• Old: [3 Mana]
• New: [5 Mana]

The above craftable cards, plus Miracle Salesman and Open the Waygate, will be eligible for a full dust refund for two weeks following Patch 29.2.2.

The following cards are adjusted to be stronger:

All Showdown in the Badlands “No Duplicates” cards (Gunslinger Kurtrus, Rheastrasza, Theldurin the Lost, Spirit of the Badlands, Elise Badlands Savior, Doctor Holli’dae, Deepminer Brann, Maruut Stonebinder, and Reno Lone Ranger)

• Old: Battlecry effect if your deck has no duplicates when played.
• New: Battlecry effect if your deck had no duplicates at the start of the game.

Manufacturing Error

• Old: [6 Mana]
• New: [5 Mana]

Sunset Volley

• Old: [10 Mana]
• New: [9 Mana]

Mes’Adune the Fractured

• Old: [6 Mana]
• New: [5 Mana]

Woodland Wonders

• Old: Summon two 1/5 Beetles with Taunt. Costs (3) less if you have Spell Damage.
• New: Summon two 2/5 Beetles with Taunt. Costs (3) less if you have Spell Damage.

Zok Fogsnout

• Old: [7 Mana]
• New: [6 Mana]

Chia Drake

• Old: 2/4
• New: 3/5

Hagatha the Fabled

• Old: [5 Mana] 4/4
• New: [4 Mana] 4/3

Aftershocks

• Old: [5 Mana] Deal 1 damage to all minions, three times. Costs (2) less if you cast a spell last turn.
• New: [4 Mana] Deal 1 damage to all minions, three times. Costs (1) less if you cast a spell last turn.

Botface

• Old: 3/9
• New: 4/12

Toyrannosaurus

• Old: 7/6, Rush. Deathrattle: Deal 5 damage to a random enemy.
• New: 7/7, Rush. Deathrattle: Deal 7 damage to a random enemy.

Shoplifter Goldbeard

• Old: [6 Mana]
• New: [5 Mana]

The Crystal Cove

• Old: The next minion you summon this turn has its stats set to 4/4.
• New: The next minion you summon this turn has its stats set to 5/5.

Crane Game

• Old: [9 Mana]
• New: [8 Mana]

Fly Off the Shelves

• Old: [4 Mana]
• New: [3 Mana]

Papercraft Angel

• Old: [3 Mana] 2/5
• New: [2 Mana] 2/3

Treasure Distributor

• Old: After you summon a Pirate, give it +1 Attack.
• New: After you summon a Pirate, give it and this minion +1 Attack.

Splendiferous Whizbang

• All Whizbang’s Experimental Decks except for Demon Hunter, Warlock, and Mage have been adjusted to be more Splendiferous.

Battlegrounds Updates

Dev Comment: Well met! We're so pleased that players have been enjoying the new Battlegrounds update as well as the new Duos mode! Overall, we are pretty happy with how both game modes are shaping up, but we wanted to help out some underperforming strategies. We went for a very wide approach this patch with a lot of smaller changes to smooth out the meta. We've also hit a few notable outliers, such as Greymane's Champion, Rylak Metalhead, Gem Smuggler, Iridescent Skyblazer, and Orc-estra Conductor, to give other cards more room to shine. We'll continue to monitor the game after these changes and make more adjustments as necessary. We hope you all have fun in the Tavern!

Hero Changes

Guff Runetotem

• Old: [2 Gold] Give a friendly minion of each Tier +2/+2.
• New: [1 Gold] Give a friendly minion of each Tier +2/+1.
• Dev Comment: Guff will also be going from 20 Armor to 10 Armor with this change.

Card Pool Changes

The following card have been removed from their respective card pools:

• The Uninvited Guest
  • Dev Comment: What part of “uninvited” did it not understand?
• Thorncaller
• Sacred Gift

The following cards have been added to their respective card pools:

• Humming Bird
• Prophet of the Boar
• Scarlet Skull
• Sister Deathwhisper
• Cloning Conch

Card Changes

Rylak Metalhead

• Old: 3/4. Taunt. Deathrattle: Trigger the Battlecries of adjacent minions.
• New: 5/3. Taunt. Deathrattle: Trigger the Battlecry of the minion to the left of this.

Goldshell Warden

• Old: 3/4. Battlecry: Give your other Beasts +1/+4.
• New: 2/4. Battlecry: Give your other Beasts +2/+4.

Iridescent Skyblazer

• Old: [Tier 4] 2/5
• New: [Tier 5] 3/8

Trigore the Lasher

• Old: [Tier 5] 6/2. Whenever another friendly Beast takes damage, gain +2 Health permanently.
• New: [Tier 4] 8/3. Whenever another friendly Beast takes damage, gain +1 Health permanently.

Mechanized Gift Horse

• Old: [Tier 5]
• New: [Tier 4]

Spiked Savior

• Old: 12/4. Taunt. Deathrattle: Deal 1 damage to your minions and give them +1 Health.
• New: 8/2. Taunt. Reborn. Deathrattle: Give your minions +1 Health and deal 1 damage to them.

Octosari, Wrap God

• Old: 5/6. Deathrattle: Summon a 2/2 Tentacle. (It gains +2/+2 permanently after you summon a minion in combat!)
• New: 8/8. Deathrattle: Summon a 8/8 Tentacle. (It gains +2/+2 permanently after you summon a minion in combat!)

Goldrinn, the Great Wolf

• Old: 3/3. Deathrattle: For the rest of this combat, your Beasts have +3/+3.
• New: 4/4. Deathrattle: For the rest of this combat, your Beasts have +4/+4.

Fiery Felblood

• Old: 4/3. Deathrattle: Minions in the Tavern have +3 Attack this game.
• New: 3/2. Deathrattle: Minions in the Tavern have +2 Attack this game.

Backstage Security

• Old: 4/4
• New: 4/5

Wrath Weaver

• Old: 1/4
• New: 1/3

Crafty Aranasi

• Old: 1/8
• New: 3/10

False Implicator

• Old: 1/2
• New: 1/1

Misfit Dragonling

• Old: 1/2
• New: 2/1

Blazing Skyfin

• Old: 1/3
• New: 2/4

Electric Synthesizer

• Old: [Tier 4] 4/3
• New: [Tier 3] 3/3

Draconic Deathscale

• Old: [Tier 4] 6/3
• New: [Tier 5] 8/3

Kalecgos, Arcane Aspect

• Old: 2/10
• New: 4/12

Molten Rock

• Old: 3/1
• New: 3/2

Party Elemental

• Old: 3/2
• New: 4/2

Crackling Cyclone

• Old: 3/1
• New: 4/1

Wildfire Elemental

• Old: [Tier 4] 8/4
• New: [Tier 3] 6/3

Recycling Wraith

• Old: [Tier 3] 4/2
• New: [Tier 4] 5/4

Land Lubber

• Old: 4/5
• New: 5/7

Zilliax (All Modules)

• Old: 4/3
• New: 3/4

Scrap Scraper

• Old: 6/5. Deathrattle: Get a random Magnetic Mech.
• New: 5/5. Battlecry and Deathrattle: Get a random Magnetic Mech.

Utility Drone

• Old: 3/4. At the end of your turn, give your minions +1/+1 for each Magnetization they have.
• New: 4/4. At the end of your turn, give your minions +2/+1 for each Magnetization they have.

Augmented Laborer

• Old: 1/6
• New: 3/8

Charging Czarina

• Old: 4/2. Divine Shield. Whenever you cast a Tavern spell, give your minions with Divine Shield +3 Attack.
• New: 5/3. Divine Shield. Whenever you cast a Tavern spell, give your minions with Divine Shield +2 Attack.

Very Hungry Winterfinner

• Old: Taunt. Whenever this takes damage, give a minion in your hand +1/+1.
• New: Taunt. Whenever this takes damage, give a minion in your hand +2/+1.

Murgl Mk II

• Old: 2/4. Avenge (3): Give minions in your hand and board +1/+1 permanently.
• New: 2/4. Avenge (4): Give minions in your hand and board +1/+1 permanently.

Bream Counter

• Old: 6/6. While this is in your hand, after you play a Murloc, gain +2/+2.
• New: 5/5. While this is in your hand, after you play a Murloc, gain +3/+2.

Magmaloc

• Old: [Tier 5]
• New: [Tier 4]

Primalfin Lookout

• Old: [Tier 4]
• New: [Tier 5]

The Glad-iator

• Old: 1/1
• New: 3/3

Deep Blue Crooner

• Old: [Tier 4] 2/2
• New: [Tier 3] 4/4

Zesty Shaker

• Old: [Tier 3] 3/4
• New: [Tier 4] 6/6

Defiant Shipwright

• Old: 2/4
• New: 2/5

Timecap’n Hooktail

• Old: 1/5. Whenever you cast a Tavern spell, give your other minions +1 Attack.
• New: 2/5. Whenever you cast a Tavern spell, give your minions +1 Attack.

Record Smuggler

• Old: 5/4. At the start of your turn, gain 1 Gold. Repeat for each other Pirate.
• New: 6/6. At the start of your turn, gain 2 Gold. If you control at least three Pirates, gain 2 more.

Gem Smuggler

• Old: [Tier 5] 4/3. Battlecry: Play 2 Blood Gems on all your other minions.
• New: [Tier 4] 3/4. Battlecry: Play a Blood Gem on all your other minions.

Harmless Bonehead

• Old: 0/2
• New: 1/1

Hateful Hag

• Old: 4/2
• New: 6/2

Hungering Abomination

• Old: 3/4
• New: 6/7

Moroes, Steward of Death

• Old: 5/2. Reborn. Deathrattle: Give your Undead +2/+5.
• New: 4/2 Reborn. Deathrattle: Give your Undead +2/+4.

Fire Dancer

• Old: 4/2
• New: 5/2

Winged Chimera

• Old: 3/6. Whenever this takes damage, give a friendly minion of each type +2/+1.
• New: 1/5. Whenever this takes damage, give a friendly minion of each type +1/+1 permanently. (3 times per combat.)

Ensorcelled Fungus

• Old: Has +1/+2 for each Tavern spell you’ve cast this game (wherever this is).
• New: Has +2/+2 for each Tavern spell you’ve cast this game (wherever this is).

Unforgiving Treant

• Old: 2/12. Taunt. Whenever this takes damage, give your minions +1 Attack permanently.
• New: 3/12. Taunt. Whenever this takes damage, give your minions +2 Attack permanently.

Nalaa the Redeemer

• Old: 5/7. Whenever you cast a Tavern spell, give a friendly minion of each type +2/+1.
• New: 5/6. Whenever you cast a Tavern spell, give a friendly minion of each type +2/+2.

Greymane’s Champion

• Old: 6/5. After you play an even-Tiered card, give your other even-Tier minions +2/+2.
• New: 6/6. After you play an even-Tiered card, give your even-Tier minions +1/+1.

Mooneater’s Champion

• Old: 7/8. After you play an odd-Tier card, give your other odd-Tier minions +1/+1.
• New: 5/5. After you play an odd-Tier card, give your odd-Tier minions +1/+1.

Corrupted Cupcakes

• Old: [3 Gold]
• New: [4 Gold]

Them Apples

• Old: Give minions in the Tavern +1/+3.
• New: Give minions in the Tavern +1/+2.

Boon of Beetles

• Old: [Tier 3] When you have space during combat, summon a 3/3 Beetle. (3 left!)
• New: [Tier 4] When you have space during combat, summon a 3/3 Beetle with Taunt. (4 left!)

Suspicious Stimulant

• Old: [Tier 3, 3 Gold]
• New: [Tier 4, 4 Gold]

Scavenge for Parts

• Old: [4 Gold]
• New: [2 Gold]

Cloning Conch

• Old: Get a copy of a non-Golden Murloc in your hand.
• New: Get a random Murloc and a copy of it.

Card Changes (Duos Only)

Passenger

• Old: 2/3. The first time your team Passes each turn, gain +2/+2.
• New: 2/2. The first time your team Passes each turn, gain +1/+2.

Generous Geomancer

• Old: 2/1
• New: 1/1

Orc-estra Conductor

• Old: 2/2. Battlecry: Give a minion +2/+2. Improve your team’s future Orc-estra Conductors.
• New: 4/2. Battlecry: Give a minion +2/+1. (Upgraded for each Orc-estra Conductor your team has played this game)

Magnanimoose

• No text change. Now only summons up to one copy of each of your teammate’s minions.

Puddle Prancer

• Old: 3/3. After this is Passed, gain +3/+3.
• New: 4/4. After this is Passed, gain +4/+4.

Man’ari Messenger

• Old: 7/4. Battlecry: Minions in your team’s Taverns have +2/+1 this game.
• New: 8/5. Battlecry: Minions in your team’s Taverns have +1/+1 this game.

Catch

• Old: Give your minions +3 Attack. (Upgrades by +3 Attack after this is Passed!)
• New: Give your minions +2 Attack. (Upgrades by +2 Attack after this is Passed!)

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Battlegrounds] Recruitment Program will now be unable to triple in your hand before the recruit is passed to your teammate.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where, if Millhouse Manastorm beat both your opponents, his Tavern Refresh cost of 2 Gold would also affect your teammate.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Plunder Pal didn’t grant your teammate Gold.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where using Suspicious Stimulant on a minion caused errors with Jandice Barov’s Hero Power.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Felboar would consume a minion in the Tavern before the Tavern Spell takes effect.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Magnetized enchantments on a Magnetic minion wouldn't carry over if the minion was tripled.
• [Battlegrounds] Sped up Mirror Monster’s visual effect.
• [Achievements] Fixed a bug where Top Teamwork progressed based on solo games as well.
• [Achievements] Fixed a bug where Floop de Loop progressed even when you weren’t the one playing with Floop.

Patch 29.2, launching on April 16, brings Battlegrounds Duos and Season 7, Once Upon a Tavern!

This story has lots of chapters, so you can use this Table of Contents to help you find what you need:

Patch 29.0.3, launching today, includes the following balance changes to Standard and Battlegrounds.

Hearthstone Updates

Dev Comment: We hope you’re enjoying Whizbang’s Workshop so far! We’ve seen you experimenting with lots of new cards and archetypes across most classes—and finding a few outliers. This patch is mostly to weaken those outliers and to offer a couple higher-confidence buffs based on early data.

The following cards have been adjusted to be weaker:

Tigress Plushy

• Old: [3 Mana]
• New: [4 Mana]

Deputization Aura

• Old: Your left-most minion has +3 Attack and Lifesteal. Lasts 3 turns.
• New: Your left-most minion has +1 Attack and Lifesteal. Lasts 3 turns.

Shroomscavate

• Old: [3 Mana] Give a minion Windfury and Divine Shield. Excavate a Treasure.
• New: [2 Mana] Give a minion Divine Shield. Excavate a Treasure.

Dev Comment: Paladin is the biggest power outlier since launch, with lots of damage from hand and healing. We like the overall play pattern of the deck, but we’re making these adjustments to tone down those two overperforming aspects of it.

Awakening Tremors

• Old: Get three 4/1 Worms. They cost (1).
• New: Get three 3/1 Worms. They cost (1).

Dev Comment: Hunter is another class that has overperformed in the early meta. Awakening Tremors is a card that has been played in almost all Hunter decks for some time now, and which can make for some really early snowballs. Shaving a little power from it should help keep other decks from falling too far behind as early as turns 1-2.

Thrall’s Gift

• Old: Discover a temporary Lightning Bolt, Hex, or Bloodlust.
• New: Discover a temporary Lightning Storm, Hex, or Bloodlust.

Dev Comment: Nature Shaman is primarily a sentiment outlier, with access to a lot of damage very early in the game. However, it’s also expected to get a better matchup spread after the other changes being made in this patch. This change removes some of that burst damage and redundancy in the deck. We think Lightning Storm is another good and flavorful option for Thrall’s Gift, weakening this specific deck, but offering options to other Shaman decks that weren’t there before.

Aftershocks

• Old: [4 Mana]
• New: [5 Mana]

Odyn, Prime Designate

• Old: [8 Mana]
• New: [9 Mana]

Dev Comment: Warrior is another class that is looking very strong in the early meta, and which is likely to get even stronger after the other changes in this patch. Aftershocks combined with Acolyte of Pain to let Warrior draw too quickly through its deck for its powerful late-game cards. We’re making these changes to make that endgame a little slower and less consistent.

Zilliax Deluxe 3000 (Ticking Module)

• Old: [4 Mana]
• New: [5 Mana]

Dev Comment: The reception to Zilliax Deluxe 3000 has been just about... perfection. We love all the different variations people are trying, but Ticking Module was proving to be a bit too efficient. We hope this change will bring this Zilliax more into line with overall power level and also encourage more continued Zilliax variety.

The above craftable cards will be eligible for a full dust refund for two weeks following Patch 29.0.3.

The following cards have been adjusted to be stronger:

Dev Comment: We don’t usually make buffs this early in a meta, but this time we were able to see a couple buff targets even in the very early data. We’ll keep an eye on these changes and look out for more opportunities in our next balance window, when we’ll have more data to inform these types of changes.

Sky Mother Aviana

• Old: [6 Mana]
• New: [5 Mana]

Frost Lich Cross-Stitch

• Old: [5 Mana] Deal 4 damage to a character. If it dies, summon a 3/6 Water Elemental that Freezes.
• New: [4 Mana] Deal 3 damage to a character. If it dies, summon a 3/6 Water Elemental that Freezes.

Battlegrounds Updates

Quest and Quest Reward Updates

The following Quests have been made easier to complete, but can no longer be paired with low-requirement Quest Rewards:

• Follow the Money
• Pressure the Authorities
• Dev Comment: These changes should reduce the frequency of Quest-Reward pairs that feel too easy or too difficult to complete.

The following Quests have been removed from the Quest Pool:

• Exhume the Bones
• Sort it All Out
• Dev Comment: These Quests had too many situations where they were either very difficult or trivially easy based on your early board, rather than the Reward they were paired with. Removing these two from the Quest Pool will make Quest-Reward pairings smoother and more consistent across games.

The following Quest Rewards have been made easier to earn:

• Splitting Scroll
• Gift of the Golden Kobold
• Temporal Tampering
• Anima Bribe
• Cooked Book
• Wondrous Wisdomball
• Boom Squad
• Bloodsoaked Tome

The following Quest Rewards have been made harder to earn:

• Sinfall Medallion
• Stable Amalgamation
• Tumbling Disaster
• Turbulent Tombs
• Gilnean War Horn

The following Quest Rewards have had their effects updated:

Sinfall Medallion

• Old: After you play a minion, give 2 other friendly minions of its Tier +2/+2.
• New: After you play a minion, give 2 other friendly minions of its Tier +4/+4.

Minion Updates

Moroes, Steward of Death

• Old: 5/1. Reborn. Deathrattle: Give your Undead +1/+5.
• New: 5/2. Reborn. Deathrattle: Give your Undead +2/+5.

Felboar

• Old: [Tier 6] 3/8
• New: [Tier 5] 2/6

Tichondrius

• Old: 4/4. After your hero takes damage, give your other Demons +1/+1.
• New: 3/3. After your hero takes damage, give your Demons +1/+1.

Living Azerite

• Old: [Tier 4] 4/4
• New: [Tier 3] 3/3

Wildfire Elemental

• Old: [Tier 3] 6/3
• New: [Tier 4] 8/4

Bream Counter

• Old: 5/5. While this is in your hand, after you play a Murloc, gain +3/+3.
• New: 6/6. While this is in your hand, after you play a Murloc, gain +2/+2.

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Shudderblock couldn’t deal damage to the enemy hero if played and then its effect was not consumed.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Warsong Wrangler could buff the King Krush hero skin. You can’t wrangle the King!
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where there were different versions of Air Elemental in Core and Journey to Un’Goro. Now, both versions will have 3 Attack.
• [Battlegrounds] Cloning Conch will remain removed from the Tavern Spell pool with this patch.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Turbulent Tombs, Gilnean War Horn, Secret Culprit, and Ghastly Mask had the wrong completion difficulty modifiers (sometimes making them too easy to complete, sometimes making them too hard to complete).
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Free-Flying Feathermane’s effect could trigger during the Recruit phase.
• [Progression] Fixed a bug where the “destroy Jepetto Joymancer” condition didn’t progress the Toymaker’s Trouble Event Quest.
• [General] Fixed various localization issues across languages.

Happy anniversary! Today, March 11, marks 10 years since the launch of Hearthstone. We’re celebrating with a Community Day and Patch 29.0, including the groundwork for Whizbang’s Workshop, the Core Set rotation, in-game rewards, and more!

Schedule and Quick Reference

There’s a lot happening with this patch, so we’ve organized it into a quick breakdown. You can click on the links to jump to that portion of the Patch Notes.

With the launch of Whizbang’s Workshop comes a new Rewards Track, filled with XP boosts, cards, Gold, and more. On top of that, Showdown in the Badlands Rewards Track achievements will continue granting XP even after the Rewards Track rolls over! Check out the Rewards Track Refresh blog for details.

Community Day Starts Today!

Celebrate 10 years of Hearthstone with 10 rewards in 24 hours! From March 11, 10:00 a.m. (PDT) to March 12, 10:00 a.m. (PDT) you can earn the following drops to enjoy across Hearthstone modes, just for watching any Hearthstone stream:

• 1st Drop: 1 Festival of Legends Card Pack and Crystal Justice Epic Battlegrounds Strike
• 2nd Drop: 1 TITANS Card Pack and 1 Showdown in the Badlands Card Pack
• 3rd Drop: 2 Tavern Tickets
• 4th Drop: 2 Whizbang’s Workshop Card Packs
• 5th Drop: 1 Golden Whizbang’s Workshop Card Pack and Harth Stonebrew Battlegrounds Bartender

Tune in to your favorite streamers and join them in this celebration of Hearthstone’s community! Make sure you link your Twitch and Battle.net accounts so that your viewing time counts towards the drops.

Whizbang Workshop Theorycrafting Streams

Join your favorite content creators as they step into Whizbang’s Workshop before its doors open to the public. Invited players will be streaming their participation on their own personal streams, so make sure that you’re following your favorite Hearthstone creators and tune in when they go live!

• NA/LATAM/EMEA players will play on March 13, 9:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. (PDT)
• APAC players will play on March 14, 2:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. (PDT)

All participants need to include at least 10 Whizbang’s Workshop cards in their decks (that can be 10 individual cards, 5 duplicates, or anything in between) or have Splendiferous Whizbang as their deck.

Your favorite casters will also be returning to call the shots with the official Theorycasting event, on the official Hearthstone Twitch channel. Join them as they jump between games of all participating players and provide their expert commentary.

• Sottle, Raven, Lorinda, and Edelweiss will be casting on March 13, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 pm. (PDT).

Twitch Drops will be enabled category-wide from March 13, 9:00 a.m. to March 14, 9:00 a.m. (PDT), so you can watch any Hearthstone stream you’d like and earn up to 2 Whizbang’s Workshop packs! In addition to category-wide Twitch Drops, all participating streamers will have Pre-Purchase Mega Bundle codes to give away to their respective audiences during the event!

Hearthstone Card Updates

New Cards

Warcraft Rumble can’t wait to join us for the birthday festivities! Four new Warcraft Rumble themed cards will be added directly into the free Core Set today, with Patch 29.0!

Card Adjustments

Several balance changes throughout the years were made because cards were too powerful for Standard, even if not necessarily too powerful in Wild. On March 11, with Patch 29.0, the following cards will be adjusted. Most of these changes are to cards currently in Standard, in anticipation of their rotation into Wild on March 19.

The following cards will be reverted to their original form:

• Blightfang
• Glacial Advance
• Construct Quarter
• Relic of Dimensions
• Felscale Evoker
• Wild Growth
• Miracle Growth
• Spirit Poacher
• Stag Charge
• Wild Spirits
• Ara’lon
• Hope of Quel’thalas
• Faithful Companions
• Arcane Wyrm
• Nightcloak Sanctum
• Spitelash Siren
• Feast and Famine
• The Purator
• Lightray
• Boon of the Ascended
• High Cultist Basaleph
• Scribbling Stenographer
• Vile Library
• From the Depths
• Thori'belore
• Nellie, the Great Thresher
• Pufferfist
• School Teacher
• Smothering Starfish
• Prince Renathal

The following cards will be updated or reverted as follows:

Death Blossom Whomper

• [5 Mana] 6/5.

Halduron Brightwing

• [3 Mana] 3/4. Battlecry: Give all Arcane spells in your hand and deck Spell Damage +1.

Switcheroo

• [5 Mana] Draw 2 minions. Swap their Health.
• No longer banned in Wild.

Tome Tampering

• [6 Mana]
• No longer banned in Wild.

Mechwarper (Mech)

• [4 Mana] 4/4. Your Mechs cost (1) less.
• No longer banned in Wild.

Balance changes to Core Set cards will also take place on March 11. See the Core Set blog for details.

The Year of the Pegasus Takes Off

When Whizbang’s Workshop goes live on March 19, so will the start of the next Hearthstone year: the Year of the Pegasus. At that time, cards from the Year of the Hydra (Voyage to the Sunken City, Murder at Castle Nathria, March of the Lich King, and Path of Arthas) rotate out of Standard. The Core Set rotation—cards leaving and entering Core—will also happen on March 19.

Battlegrounds Updates

• Greta Gold-Gun is returning to the minion pool.
• Stay tuned for news about our next major Battlegrounds update in the coming weeks... some might say it’s double the fun!

Arena Updates

On March 11, all ongoing Arena runs will end and a new Arena season will begin. Celebrate 10 years of Hearthstone with this special Arena Season that includes cards across all Hearthstone expansions! Instead of a group of sets that apply to all classes, each class has its own curated list of cards that can include cards from any expansion. The first pick of each Arena draft will be a Legendary card, which will be the only Legendary card offered in your draft. Duels Treasures have been removed from Arena drafts.

Signature Frame Update

We’ve made a new frame for Signature cards in Whizbang’s Workshop! The rarity gems on these Signature cards are also differently shaped for different rarities, making them more accessible and easier to read.

This new frame pulls from general Hearthstone aesthetics, but is flexible enough to work with a variety of Signature card themes. All current Signature cards will remain unchanged, but all future Signature cards will use this new frame. The art style within each frame will update to match the feel and themes of each expansion.

Whizbang’s Workshop Catch-Up Packs

Catch-Up Packs are back for Whizbang’s Workshop! Just like Showdown in the Badlands Catch-Up Packs, Whizbang’s Workshop Catch-Up Packs include 5-50 cards from previous Standard sets, depending on your collection completion levels for those sets. However, because of the Standard rotation, there are only three eligible sets for Whizbang’s Workshop Catch-Up Packs: Festival of Legends, TITANS, and Showdown in the Badlands. Since these packs pull from three sets instead of five, the details have shifted to meet the overall goal of still giving 5-50 total cards per pack. You can read all the specifics on the updated Disclosure Page.

This new breakdown only applies to 3-set Catch-Up Packs (currently only Whizbang’s Workshop). 5-set Catch-Up Packs (currently only Showdown in the Badlands) will still work as they did before. Each type of Catch-Up Pack is distinct and pulls from an established pool of cards, meaning that Badlands Catch-Up Packs are not updating to Whizbang’s Workshop Catch-Up Packs or changing in any way with rotation.

10-Year Anniversary Card Back

Celebrate 10 years in style! Log in today and complete a special Legendary Quest to earn the 10-Year Anniversary Card Back.

In-Game Event: Whizbang’s Workshop

Take a tour of Whizbang’s Workshop! From March 26 to April 16, complete Event Quests to earn Event XP on the special event rewards track. Complete the rewards track to earn 5 Standard Packs, 2 Whizbang’s Workshop Packs, and the Bobble Mal’Ganis Warlock Hero Skin.

New Legendary Hero Skin: Leeroy the Legend

Get the most legendary of Legendary Hero Skins: Leeroy the Legend! From pauldrons to poultry, this Paladin has it all. Available starting March 19.

WoW Joins the Celebration

World of Warcraft joins the Hearthstone celebration! Starting on March 11, at 10:00 a.m. (PDT), Warcraft players can login to Hearthstone to get a new Fiery Hearthsteed World of Warcraft mount for free!* Also, enjoy a week of special “Hearthstone” matches, Hearthstone-themed encounters, and Hearthstone-themed rewards!

* No additional purchase necessary for the Fiery Hearthsteed mount. Limited-time offer only available to those who login to Hearthstone between March 11 and May 14. Mount not available in World of Warcraft® Classic games.

Hearthstone: Music of the Tavern

Celebrate ten years with the sounds of the tavern. Hearthstone: Music from the Tavern (Anniversary Picks) features 31 of Hearthstone’s iconic in-game tracks, available now on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, YouTube, and Deezer!

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Hearthstone] Rules change! Temporary mana (such as from the Coin or Innervate) can now make you go above max mana. This applies to the base max mana of 10 and to any modified max mana, like if you’ve played Wildheart Guff or Audio Amplifier.
• [Hearthstone] Another rules change! You can now have multiple of the same Sigil, Objective, or Aura in play at the same time. Secrets, Quests, Questlines, Sidequests, and Battlegrounds effects that use the Secret Zone are still restricted to one instance in play at a time.
• [Hearthstone] Wrath of Air Totem is back, in place of Strength Totem, in the Shaman Hero Power pool.
• [Hearthstone] Paladin has expanded its recruiting efforts! Now, whenever you summon a Silver Hand Recruit, it will be one of 7 different art pieces (6 new recruits and the original).
• [Hearthstone] Like card backs and hero skins, you are now able to favorite more than one Coin. Decks can now use a random favorite Coin, a random owned Coin, or one specific Coin.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Harth Stonebrew’s Iconic Demon Hunter hand wasn’t iconic enough: the cards in that specific hand will now be their launch versions. We’ve also adjusted the hand order to make it flow better with Outcast effects.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug causing a disconnect when an effect summoned a Colossal minion into play when Reno, Lone Ranger’s standoff was in effect.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Velarok, the Deceiver didn’t count as a Dragon after transforming.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Frost Plague’s debuff would be re-applied if it applied to a minion that was then stolen.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Summoning Ward attempts to trigger even if your board is full.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Harvester of Envy wouldn’t steal an original card copied with Shattered Reflections.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Keywarden Ivory could only discover from Madness at the Darkmoon Faire and Scholomance Academy.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where players couldn’t scroll all the way to the bottom of Twist decks on mobile.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a visual bug where Frozen Signature cards lacked the Frozen U.I.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where “Come One, Come All” (Silas Darkmoon’s Hero Power) wouldn’t progress if the minion holding the Darkmoon Ticket was your last minion for a Golden minion.
• [Arena] Fixed a bug where Horn of the Ancients wouldn’t grant Colossal minions if it was generated when they weren’t in the card set pool.
• [Progression] Fixed a bug where the “It’s 12 O’Clock” Achievement wouldn’t progress.
• [Progression] Fixed a bug where the “All Werked Up” Achievement didn’t count minions destroyed in hand.
• [General] Improved tooltip effects, including fixing some bugs where certain tooltips were cut off.
• Misc. other bug fixes and game improvements.

Patch 28.6.2, launching today, includes the following changes to Standard and Battlegrounds.

Hearthstone Updates

Dev Comment: We have two goals this patch. First, we want to weaken some of the meta outliers. Second, we want to experiment with smaller buffs across several cards that are rotating out of Standard soon—especially in classes that are currently weaker—to see if we can give them one last hurrah. Our hope is that players will try out and enjoy some of these strategies during these last few weeks before they go. This is an experiment, so we’ll be tracking player sentiment and play data to see if this works out.

The following cards were adjusted to be less powerful:

Sludge on Wheels

• Old: 2/5
• New: 2/4

Waste Remover

• Old: 7/7
• New: 5/7

Chaos Creation

• Old: Deal 6 damage. Summon a random 6-Cost minion. Destroy the bottom 6 cards of your deck.
• New: Deal 5 damage. Summon a random 5-Cost minion. Destroy the bottom 5 cards of your deck.

Dev comment: When talking about our first goal, to curb power outliers, Warlock is the primary clear outlier across almost all ranks. The deck is strong at all phases of the game, so we’re toning down its mid-game and its late-game burst to bring it into line.

Shattered Reflections

• Old: Choose a minion. Add a copy of it to your deck and battlefield.
• New: Choose a non-Titan minion. Add a copy of it to your deck and battlefield.

Dev comment: Ramp-style Druid is not a power outlier at most levels of play, but it is becoming a prevalent power and sentiment outlier at high Legend ranks. Titans were designed to be unique, cards with powerful effects that you can activate maybe a few times per game, not 10 times. We still want the Titans to be those cool, stand-out powerful cards, so we’re removing them from the pool of cards Shattered Reflections can target.

Blindeye Sharpshooter

• Old: [3 Mana] 1/3
• New: [4 Mana] 3/3

Dev Comment: Demon Hunter has had its ups and downs. Now it’s in an interesting spot where it isn’t seeing much play or success at most levels of play, but is a consistent sentiment outlier for high-Legend players. Specifically, we’ve gotten a lot of feedback that players don’t like that this one card can generate that much damage, that early in the game. We’re slowing the card down by a turn to make that burst damage slower and clunkier, and buffing other Demon Hunter archetypes in this patch for fans of the class throughout the ladder.

The cards above will be eligible for full dust refunds for two weeks following Patch 28.6.2.

The following cards were adjusted to be more powerful:

Blightblood Berserker

• Old: [8 Mana]
• New: [7 Mana]

From De Other Side

• Old: [10 Mana]
• New: [9 Mana]

Harkener of Dread

• Old: Taunt. Deathrattle: Summon a 6/6 Undead with Taunt.
• New: Taunt, Reborn. Deathrattle: Summon a 4/4 Undead with Taunt.

Scourge Tamer

• Old: [2 Mana] 2/2
• New: [1 Mana] 1/2

Coilskar Commander

• Old: 2/6
• New: 3/7

Deal with a Devil

• Old: Summon two 3/3 Felfiends with Lifesteal. If your deck has no minions, summon another.
• New: Summon two 3/3 Felfiends with Lifesteal. If your deck has no minions, summon two more.

Topple the Idol

• Old: [5 Mana]
• New: [4 Mana]

Mark of Scorn

• Old: Draw a card. If it’s not a minion, deal 3 damage to the lowest Health enemy.
• New: Draw a card. If it’s not a minion, deal 4 damage to the lowest Health enemy.

Trench Surveyor

• Old: [2 Mana] 3/2
• New: [1 Mana] 2/1

Energy Shaper

• Old: Battlecry: Transform all spells in your hand into ones that cost (2) more. (They keep their original Cost.)
• New: Battlecry: Transform all spells in your hand into ones that cost (3) more. (They keep their original Cost.)

Sunken Sweeper (generated by Azsharan Sweeper)

• Old: Battlecry: Add 3 random Mechs to your hand.
• New: Battlecry: Add 3 random Mechs to your hand. They cost (1) less.

Mysterious Visitor

• Old: Reduce the Cost of cards copied from your opponent by (2).
• New: Reduce the Cost of cards copied from your opponent by (3).

Incriminating Psychic

• Old: Taunt. Deathrattle: Copy a random card from your opponent’s hand.
• New: Taunt. Deathrattle: Copy two random cards from your opponent’s hand.

Pirate Admiral Hooktusk

• Old: [8 Mana] 8/8. Battlecry: If you’ve summoned 8 other Pirates this game, plunder the enemy!
• New: [7 Mana] 7/7. Battlecry: If you’ve summoned 7 other Pirates this game, plunder the enemy!

Demolition Renovator

• Old: [4 Mana] 4/4
• New: [3 Mana] 3/3

Battlegrounds Updates

Quest Reward Pool Changes

• Sturdy Shard has been removed from the Quest Reward Pool.
• Double-Headed Reward has been banned from Jandice Barov.
• Stable Amalgamation has been made more difficult to complete in Beast games.
• Beyond the Mirage and Temporal Tampering have been made more difficult to complete in Elemental or Pirate games.

Quest Reward Changes

Divine Armor

• Old: At the end of your turn, give the left-most minion in your hand +6/+6 and Divine Shield.
• New: At the end of your turn, give the left-most minion in your hand +8/+8 and Divine Shield.

Ritual Dagger

• Old: After a friendly Deathrattle minion dies, give it +4/+4 permanently.
• New: After a friendly Deathrattle minion dies, give it +5/+5 permanently.

Mirror Shield

• Old: After each Refresh, give a minion in the Tavern +4/+4 and Divine Shield.
• New: After each Refresh, give a minion in the Tavern +6/+6 and Divine Shield.

Minion Pool Updates

• Heedless Hoarder and Worgen Vigilante have been removed from the Minion Pool.
• Felfin Navigator and Zapp Slywick have been returned to the Minion Pool.

Minion Updates

Land Lubber

• Old: [Tier 3]
• New: [Tier 4]

Moon-Bacon Jazzer

• Old: [Tier 2] 2/3
• New: [Tier 3] 2/5

Crackling Cyclone

• Old: [Tier 3] 4/1
• New: [Tier 2] 3/1

Wildfire Elemental

• Old: [Tier 4] 7/4
• New: [Tier 3] 6/3

Felboar

• Old: 1/4. After you cast 3 spells, consume a minion in the Tavern to gain its stats.
• New: 3/8. After you cast 2 spells, consume a minion in the Tavern to gain its stats.

Zapp Slywick

• Old: 8/16
• New: 11/22

Tavern Spell Updates

Suspicious Stimulant

• Old: [2 Gold] Freeze a minion in the Tavern. If it’s Frozen at the end of this turn, double its stats.
• New: [3 Gold] Choose a minion in the Tavern. Lock it in your hand for one turn and double its stats.

Fluidity

• Old: [Tier 3]
• New: [Tier 5]

Cloning Conch

• Old: [5 Gold] Get a copy of a Murloc in your hand.
• New: [4 Gold] Get a copy of a non-Golden Murloc in your hand.

Spitescale Special

• Old: [Tier 3]
• New: [Tier 4]
• Dev Comment: While moving a card up a Tavern Tier usually weakens it, in this case we see this change more as a buff. This is because Tier 4 Tavern Spells have more copies in the pool than other Tiers, and because the Spellcraft pool becomes a lot stronger at Tier 4 with the inclusion of Deep Blues.

Plunder Seeker

• Old: [6 Gold]
• New: [7 Gold]

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where the Malfurion the Pestilent in Harth’s Iconic Druid hand didn’t grant Armor when played.
• [Battlegrounds] Returned Queen Azshara, Infinite Toki, and Aranna Starseeker to the Hero Pool.
• [Battlegrounds] Removed Fungalmancer Flurgl’s Hero Power from Master Nguyen’s Hero Power Pool.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Sire Denathrius’s Hero Power version of Untamed Sorcery could cast Unmasked Identity.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Open Auditions didn’t work.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Malchezaar, Prince of Dance’s effect did not reset when using Fluidity or Swap, Lock, and Shop It.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where minions buffed by Suspicious Stimulant couldn’t be further buffed after playing.

Patch 28.6, launching today, introduces Hearthstone’s next expansion, Whizbang’s Workshop, brings Quests back to Battlegrounds, and kicks off 10-year anniversary celebrations throughout the Tavern!

Pre-Purchase Whizbang’s Workshop, Get Early Access Epics

Find your new favorite toy in Hearthstone’s next expansion, Whizbang’s Workshop, coming March 19! Whizbang is opening up the doors to his world-famous workshop—the place where all of Azeroth’s greatest toys are made. He’s got Wind-Up Toys, Miniatures, and nonstop nostalgia. Find a new favorite toy or build your own—you can make all your wishes come true in Whizbang’s Workship!

Whizbang’s Workshop has 145 all-new collectible cards. You can learn more about what’s in store in the Whizbang’s Workshop Announcement Blog. Two pre-purchase options are available now so you can be first in line once the expansion launches.

But wait, what’s that? Whizbang has a special surprise: each pre-purchase bundle comes with two copies of the Early Access Epic card, Corridor Sleeper.* You won’t want to sleep on this deal!

* 2 copies of Corridor Sleeper are included in each pre-purchase bundle and are playable immediately upon purchase. Early access period lasts from time of purchase until the launch of Whizbang’s Workshop on March 19. Once Whizbang’s Workshop launches, Corridor Sleeper can be disenchanted, crafted, and obtained through all other normal means.

Pre-purchase

Log in and Get Thirteen Cards for Free!

Log in to Hearthstone now to start the 10-year anniversary celebration with thirteen free cards! First, each of the 11 classes has brought a “Gift” card that lets you Discover an iconic spell from their class.

That’s not all! After 10 years of cheering you on, Harth himself is joining the fray! Play him and he replaces your hand with one of thirteen random 8-card iconic Hearthstone hands (one hand for each class, with the exception of Death Knight, which has one for each Rune).

And last, but not least, start your tour of Whizbang’s Workshop with the free Colifero the Artist Legendary minion! This talented artist paints over your whole board as copies of the minion he draws.

All 13 of these rewards are available upon login starting in Patch 28.6. After Patch 29.6, all the above login rewards will be granted upon opening your first Whizbang’s Workshop pack instead of upon logging in. Limit one copy of each login reward per account.

In-Game Event: 10 Year Anniversary

From February 27 to March 19, kick the party up a notch with an in-game event! Complete event quests to earn event XP and progress along a special event rewards track. Complete the Event Rewards Track to earn Golden versions of all the “Gift” cards, plus a special Birthday Coin.

Twist Seasonal Update: Fast Forward

This March, take a walk through Hearthstone history in Twist! On the first day of the season, only Legacy will be in the card pool. On the next day, Hearthstone’s first infusion of cards, Curse of Naxxramas, will be added to the card pool. The next day: Goblins vs Gnomes. Each day, the next infusion of cards will be added until we've fast forwarded through the entire history of Hearthstone (through Showdown in the Badlands)!

Demon Hunter and Death Knight will be unlocked in the Mode with the set that corresponds to their first appearance in Hearthstone. Starting in Patch 28.6, Whizbang the Wonderful will temporarily function in the same way he did at launch (decklists from The Boomsday Project). He’ll be reverted in a major patch after the Fast Forward Twist season ends. After the March season, the Twist Mode will be paused again for the April season.

Battlegrounds Updates

Quests are back in Battlegrounds again! From Patch 28.6 until the next Battlegrounds Season, Battlegrounds Quests will be in every game. As a reminder, Battlegrounds Quests are special tasks that guide your gameplay throughout your game. On turn 4, you’ll be offered a choice from three Quest-Reward pairs that will tell you what you need to do in order to progress your Quest and your Reward for completing it. How will Tavern Spells guide you on your Quest?

New and Returning Quests*

• Fill the Cauldron
  • Cast 9 spells.
• Unlikely Duo
  • Play 5 <minion type> or <minion type>.
• Invite the Guests
  • Buy 6 minions.
• Dust for Prints
  • Add 20 cards to your hand.
• Cry for Help
  • Play 4 Battlecry minions.
• Exhume the Bones
  • Trigger 7 friendly Deathrattles.
• Assemble a Lineup
  • Summon 17 minions.
• Find the Murder Weapon
  • Increase a friendly minion’s stats 14 times.
• Reenact the Murder
  • Have 19 friendly minions die.
• Sort it All Out
  • Order your minions from lowest to highest Attack for 4 combats.
• Follow the Money
  • Spend 33 Gold.
• Hire an Investigator
  • End your turn with unspent Gold 3 times.
• Crack the Case
  • Have friendly minions attack 12 times.
• Pressure the Authorities
  • Get your warband to 35 total Attack.
• Round Up the Suspects
  • Destroy 18 enemy minions.

* Fill the Cauldron is new, the rest are returning. Track the Footprints and Burn the Evidence have not been returned to the Quest pool from last time Quests were in the game. The requirements listed here are the Quest baseline values. Quest baseline requirements are modified by several factors (including, primarily, the Reward they are paired with), so actual Quest requirements vary from game to game.

New and Returning Rewards*

• Beyond the Mirage
  • Tavern spells cost (1) less.
• Temporal Tampering
  • Your Tavern spells cast twice.
• Splitting Scroll
  • ​Whenever you buy a Tavern spell that costs (3) or more, get an extra copy of it.
• Cycle of Energy
  • ​Avenge (4): Get a random Tavern spell.
• Tumbling Disaster
  • Whenever you summon a minion in combat, give it +1/+1. Avenge (4): Upgrade this permanently.
• Double-Headed Reward
  • The first time you buy a card each turn, get an extra copy of it.
• Gift of the Golden Kobold
  • After you Refresh 5 times, make the highest Tier minion in the Tavern Golden.
• Secret Culprit
  • Get <a particular Tier 7 minion>.
• Open Auditions
  • At the start of your turn, Discover a Buddy.
• Stash of the Scribe
  • At the start of each turn, get 3 random Tavern spells.
• Stable Amalgamation
  • Avenge (7): When you have space, summon a 50/50 Amalgam.
• Snicker Snacks
  • At the end of your turn, 2 friendly minions trigger their Battlecries.
• Stolen Gold
  • Start of Combat: Make your left and right-most minions Golden.
• Evil Twin
  • Start of Combat: Summon a copy of your highest-Health minion.
• Ritual Dagger
  • After a friendly Deathrattle minion dies, give it +4/+4 permanently.
• Anima Bribe
  • After you sell a minion, give its stats to a minion in the Tavern.
• Devils in the Details
  • At the end of your turn, your left and right-most minions consume a minion in the Tavern to gain its stats.
• The Smoking Gun
  • Your minions have +4 Attack.
• Cooked Book
  • After you buy a minion, give it +1/+1 and upgrade this.
• Mirror Shield
  • After each Refresh, give a minion in the Tavern +4/+4 and Divine Shield.
• Secret Sinstone
  • After you Discover a card, get an extra copy of it.
• Ghastly Mask
  • Add <a particular “end of turn” minion> to your hand. Your end of turn effects trigger an extra time.
• Theotar’s Parasol
  • At the end of your turn, give your right-most minion Stealth until next turn and +8 Health.
• Red Hand
  • At the start of your turn, give a minion in your hand +12/+12.
• Victim’s Specter
  • After each combat, get a copy of the last friendly minion that died.
• Another Hidden Body
  • Discover a minion of your Tier. (Can be earned endlessly!)
• Alter Ego
  • Even Tier minions in the Tavern have +7/+7. (Swaps to Odd next turn!)
• The Friends Along the Way
  • At the start of your turn, get two random <particular minion type>.
• Menagerie Mayhem
  • At the end of your turn, give your minions +1/+1 for each different friendly minion type.
• Pilfered Lamps
  • You only need 2 copies of a minion to make it Golden.
• Yogg-tastic Tasties
  • At the start of your turn, spin the Wheel of Yogg-Saron.
• Wondrous Wisdomball
  • Occasionally gives helpful Refreshes.
• Essence of Zerus
  • At the end of your turn, get a ‘Shifter Zerus’ which transforms into random minions.
• Hidden Treasure Vault
  • At the start of your turn, gain 1 Gold. (Upgrades each turn!)
• Ethereal Evidence
  • At the start of every turn, choose from 2 new Rewards.
• The Golden Hammer
  • Spellcraft: Make a friendly minion Golden until next turn.
• Sinfall Medallion
  • After you play a minion, give 2 other friendly minions of its Tier +2/+2.
• Kidnap Sack
  • Spellcraft: Choose a non-Golden card. Move it to your hand.
• Enhance-a-matic
  • At the start of your turn, get an Enhanced Part that gives +5/+5 and a random bonus. <Taunt, Windfury, Divine Shield, or Reborn>
• Partner in Crime
  • Get your Golden Buddy.
• Ice Sickle
  • Avenge (1): Give a minion in your hand +4 Attack.
• Soul Pact
  • After you play a minion, give other minions of the same type +1/+1.
• Sturdy Shard
  • At the end of your turn, give your minions without Taunt +1/+2 for each Taunt minion you control.
• Doppelganger’s Locket
  • After each combat, Discover a non-Golden minion from your last opponent’s warband. It keeps enchantments.
• Timeline Acceleration
  • At the start of your turn, get two Accelerators that transform a minion into one from a Tier higher.
• Invigorating Conch
  • When you buy a minion, give its stats to a random friendly minion.
• Boom Squad
  • Avenge (3): Deal 10 damage to the highest Health enemy minion.
• Divine Armor
  • At the end of your turn, give the left-most minion in your hand +6/+6 and Divine Shield.
• Map of the Unknown
  • After you play a minion of a type you don’t control, give a friendly minion of each type +2/+2.
• Bloodsoaked Tome
  • Minions in the Tavern cost 2 Gold.
• Scepter of Guidance
  • The Tavern always offers 2 <a particular minion type> when Refreshed.
• Endless Blood Moon
  • Your Blood Gems give an extra +1/+1. At the start of your turn, add two to your hand.
• Turbulent Tombs
  • Add <a particular Deathrattle minion> to your hand. Your Deathrattles trigger an extra time.
• Gilnean War Horn
  • Add <a particular Battlecry minion> to your hand. Your Battlecries trigger an extra time.

* Volatile Venom and Tiny Henchmen have not been returned to the Rewards pool. All new Rewards (those at the top of this list) will appear twice as frequently for a limited time after launch.

New Minions

Eagill [Tier 3, Murloc/Beast]

• 7/1. Battlecry: Give another random friendly minion and a minion in your hand +2/+3.

Vengeful Slitherer [Tier 3, Naga/Undead]

• 5/1. Spellcraft: Give your minions +1 Health until next turn. Any that die next combat gain it permanently!

Saloon Dancer [Tier 4]

• 4/5. Taunt. Whenever you cast a Tavern spell, give another friendly minion +3/+3.

Augmented Laborer [Tier 5, Mech/Demon]

• 1/6. Avenge (4): Get a random Mecha-Demon.

Felboar [Tier 6, Quilboar/Demon]

• 1/4. After you cast 3 spells, consume a minion in the Tavern to gain its stats.

Deadstomper [Tier 6, Undead/Beast]

• 2/6. After you summon a minion in combat, give your minions +3 Attack.
• Dev Comment: This is a minion-type update to Felstomper (and a corresponding art update, too).

Whirling Lass-o-Matic [Tier 6, Mech]

• 9/2. Divine Shield. Windfury. Whenever this attacks, get a random Tavern spell.

Minion Updates

Yrel [Tier 2]

• 1/4. After this attacks, give a friendly minion of each type +1/+2.

Rendle the Mistermind [Tier 4]

• 4/5. At the end of your turn, steal the highest Tier card from the Tavern.

Utility Drone [Tier 4, Mech]

• 3/4. At the end of your turn, give your minions +1/+1 for each Magnetization they have.

Scrap Scraper [Tier 5, Mech]

• 6/5. Deathrattle: Get a random Magnetic Mech.

Blazing Skyfin [Tier 2, Dragon/Murloc]

• 1/3. After you trigger a Battlecry, gain +1/+1.

Peckish Feldrake [Tier 4, Demon/Dragon]

• Regular: 0/1. Battlecry: Consume 3 minions in the Tavern to gain their stats.
• Golden: 0/2. Battlecry: Consume 3 minions in the Tavern to gain double their stats.
• Dev comment: This is just an update to the Golden version.

New Tavern Spells

Fluidity [Tier 3, 1 Gold]

• Swap a friendly non-Golden minion with a random one in the Tavern.

Toxic Tumbleweed [Tier 4, 2 Gold]

• Start of Combat: Summon a 1/1 Tumbling Assassin with Venomous. It attacks immediately.

Channel the Devourer [Tier 6, 4 Gold]

• Remove a minion. Give its stats to a random friendly minion.

Scavenge for Parts [Tier 4, 4 Gold]

• At the end of your turn, get a random Magnetic minion. Lasts 3 turns.
• Only offered in Mech games.

Cloning Conch [Tier 5, 5 Gold]

• Get a copy of a Murloc in your hand.
• Only offered in Murloc games.

Guzzle the Goop [Tier 4, 4 Gold]

• At the end of your turn, give your Dragons +4 Attack. Lasts 3 turns.
• Only offered in Dragon games.

Boon of Beetles [Tier 4, 2 Gold]

• Start of Combat: Give your minions “Deathrattle: Summon a 2/2 Beetle.”
• Only offered in Beast games.

Butchering [Tier 4, 2 Gold]

• Destroy a friendly Undead. Your Undead have extra Attack equal to its Tier this game.
• Only offered in Undead games.

Suspicious Stimulant [Tier 3, 2 Gold]

• Freeze a minion in the Tavern. If it’s Frozen at the end of this turn, double its stats.
• Only offered in Elemental games.

Spitescale Special [Tier 3, 2 Gold]

• Get 3 random Spellcraft spells.
• Only offered in Naga games.

Corrupted Cupcakes [Tier 5, 3 Gold]

• Choose a friendly Demon. It consumes all minions in the Tavern to gain their stats.
• Only offered in Demon games.

Plunder Seeker [Tier 4, 6 Gold]

• Steal a random card from the Tavern. Repeat for each friendly Pirate.
• Only offered in Pirate games.

Gem Confiscation [Tier 4, 1 Gold]

• Play 2 Blood Gems on a friendly minion. It steals all Blood Gems from its neighbors.
• Only offered in Quilboar games.

Card Pool Updates

14 minions have been removed from the minion pool:

• Fairy Tale Caroler
• Transmuted Bramblewitch
• Observer of Myths
• Scourfin
• Withered Spearhide
• Relentless Mur’ghoul
• Mecha-Jaraxxus
• Imposing Percussionist
• Octosari, Wrap God
• Niuzao
• Bejeweled Duelist
• Trembling Trolley
• Adaptable Barricade
• Necrolyte

6 minions have been returned to the minion pool:

• Thorncaller
• Crackling Cyclone
• Yrel
• Rendle the Mistermind
• Tortollan Blue Shell
• Mantid Queen

2 Tavern Spells have been removed from the spell pool:

• Jaws of Fate
• Buddy Up

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [General] We have now completed the final phase of our modular download project for mobile devices. Players will now be able to selectively download Battlegrounds or remove it from their device through the download manager.
• [Hearthstone] Updated Eroded Sediment’s textbox to indicate that it can Discover from any class.
• [Hearthstone] School Teacher has gotten its teaching credential and can now teach Nagalings how to play Heat Wave and Misfire.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where The Primus’s Runes of Frost Ability’s effect is still active if first the card it applied to is Countered.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where a stolen Mirage would continue to turn into minions from the original owner’s deck, instead of the new controller’s deck, until played.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Mirage wouldn’t return to your hand if the minion played from it was a Dormant minion.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Thirsty Drifter’s cost would go back up if a 1-cost minion was returned to hand.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Shadow of Demise didn’t activate Quickdraw effects.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Crabatoa’s buff wouldn’t apply to a Claw after the Claw had its stats set to a particular number.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where attacks by Ogre-Gang Outlaw that are redirected to the Hero wouldn’t trigger “when your hero is attacked” Secrets—that would be illegal.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Deputization Aura didn’t apply to minions that were dying (relevant for cards like Spurfang that have Deathrattles based on their Attack at death).
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Spurfang didn’t summon anything if its Attack was over 10.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Shadowtouched Kvaldir’s effect would apply to all end of turn healing effects on the turn played, instead of just the first one to trigger.
• [Hearthstone] Raid Boss Onyxia has finally accepted Starlight Whelp as a Whelp.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Mutanus, the Devourer’s stat buff wouldn’t account for the eaten minion’s stat adjustments while in hand.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Cenarion Hold’s effect could be used up by a Choose One Hero Power.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a visual bug where cards would lose their art under certain conditions, like when returned to hand.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where the Crafty Clash Legendary Strike could cause game freezes.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where using Chef’s Choice on an “All” minion could give a minion with no minion type.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where Mama Bear’s effect was triggered if a Beast was rolled from Infinite Toki’s Hero Power.
• [Modes] Fixed a bug where Gift of the Old Gods didn’t Corrupt certain specific Corrupt cards.
• [Achievements] Fixed a bug where the Consecutive Calamity Achievement didn’t count “All” type minions.
• [Shop] Fixed a bug where Battlegrounds Hero Powers weren’t showing in portrait purchase screens.
• [Cosmetics] Fixed various bugs with skins’ emote texts.
• [Progression] Various bug fixes and improvements within the New Player Progression.
• Misc. other bug fixes and game improvements.

Patch 28.4.1, launching today, brings bug fixes and balance changes to Hearthstone and Battlegrounds!

Hearthstone Updates

Dev Comment: This is our first balance patch after the launch of the Delve into Deepholm mini-set. The overall goal of the patch is to help the mini-set launch in two ways: 1) reducing the power and popularity of some of the dominant decks from before the mini-set that are continuing to see lots of play; and 2) toning down some mini-set cards that didn’t land how we wanted.

It’s too early in the new meta for buffs, but we’ll keep an eye out for those opportunities in our upcoming balance patches. Looking a little further ahead, some of the cards we’re adjusting are cards that will be rotating out of Standard with the next expansion—we'll take another look at them when the time comes to see if they should be reverted once they’re out of Standard.

Velarok the Deceiver (created by Velarok Windblade)

• Old: 3/6
• New: 3/3

Shattershambler

• Old: Battlecry: Your next Deathrattle minion costs (1) less, but immediately dies when played.
• New: Battlecry: The next Deathrattle minion you play immediately dies.

Dev Comment: Excavate Rogue is an example of a pre-mini-set deck that we wanted to tone down a little to make room for new strategies. We’re happy that our recent buff to Velarok has facilitated this deck that people clearly love playing, and we don't want to undo that, but it’s just a bit too powerful and popular. These changes to Velarok and Shattershambler reduce the early-game blowout potential of Excavate Rogue to keep what’s fun about playing the deck, but give opponents more of an opportunity to respond.

Cactus Construct

• Old: Discover a 2-Cost minion. Summon a 1/2 copy of it.
• New: Discover a 2-Cost minion. Summon a 1/1 copy of it.

Herald of Nature

• Old: Battlecry: If you’ve cast a Nature spell while holding this, give your other minions +1/+2.
• New: Battlecry: If you’ve cast a Nature spell while holding this, give your other minions +1/+1.

Pendant of Earth

• Old: Discover a minion from your deck. Gain Armor equal to its Cost.
• New: Discover a minion from your deck. Restore Health to your hero equal to its Cost.

Shattered Reflections

• Old: Choose a minion. Add a copy to your hand, deck, and battlefield.
• New: Choose a minion. Add a copy of it to your deck and battlefield.

Dew Process

• Old: [2 Mana]
• New: [4 Mana]

Dev Comment: There were a few powerful Druid archetypes that we wanted to address in this patch. Cactus Construct is a powerful card across Druid decks that had room to be a bit weaker. The Herald of Nature change makes early Treant Druid boards a little easier to react to. Pendant of Earth was adjusted so that it can still be a strong defensive tool later in the game, but isn’t as strong as an early, proactive stall tool. Shattered Reflections was causing too many reflections, leading to repetitive gameplay—so we took one reflection away. Finally, we weakened Dew Process because the game is less fun when decks like Mill Druid are extremely competitive and meta-warping—we still want cards like that to exist for players who like that type of gameplay, but we don't want them to be the prevailing ladder strategy.

Boogie Down

• Old: [3 Mana] Summon two 1-Cost minions from your deck. Finale: Give them Taunt.
• New: [4 Mana] Summon two 1-Cost minions from your deck. Finale: Summon another.

The Garden’s Grace

• Old: Give a minion +5/+5 and Divine Shield. Costs (1) less for each Mana you’ve spent on Holy spells this game.
• New: Give a minion +4/+4 and Divine Shield. Costs (1) less for each Mana you’ve spent on Holy spells this game.

Dev Comment: Paladin is looking strong after the mini-set. Boogie Down is a card that we’ve seen in almost all Paladins since it was released, so we’re making it a little bit slower and adjusting the Finale to partially compensate for the later play. We’re also hitting Garden’s Grace to reduce some of the deck’s from-hand burst potential. To that end, we’ve got our eye on cards like Shroomscavate, but we like that players are trying out the new cards, so we’re making just these changes for now and we’ll make further changes later if needed.

Thaddius, Monstrosity

• Old: Taunt. Your odd-Cost cards cost (4) less. (Swaps polarity each turn!)
• New: Taunt. Your odd-Cost cards cost (2) less. (Swaps polarity each turn!)

Dev Comment: We don’t think combo play patterns are inherently bad, and Thaddius isn’t a power outlier right now, but he has been in Standard for a long time and has facilitated several decks with early one-turn kills and low feelings of agency. We think it’s time to make another adjustment to Thaddius and see what Standard looks like when he’s significantly weaker. Now that we’ve been able to make this change to Thaddius, we're unbanning Pyrotechnician.

The craftable versions of the cards listed above will be eligible for full dust refunds for two weeks following Patch 28.4.1. Additionally, there was an error with the dust refund periods for patches 28.2.1 and 28.2.3, so the cards eligible for dust refunds in those patches will also be eligible for full dust refunds for two weeks following Patch 28.4.1. For clarity and simplicity, we’ll be returning to the consistent two-week full refund period from this patch going forward.

Pyrotechnician is no longer banned in Standard.

Battlegrounds Updates

Dev Comment: We’ve made changes to Land Lubber and some economy-related spells to address an unintended play pattern where players could stay on low Tiers and buy dozens of spells in a turn. We’ve also adjusted Hawkstrider Herald and removed Titus’ Tribute to lower the frequency and power spikes of late-game Beast strategies.

Card Changes

Archlich Kel’Thuzad

• Old: At the end of your turn, destroy the Undead to the left of this a resummon it.
• New: At the end of your turn, destroy the Undead to the left of this and resummon an exact copy.
• Dev Comment: This is a text-only change for clarity, not a functional change.

Moroes, Steward of Death

• Old: 6/1. Reborn. Deathrattle: Give your Undead +2/+6.
• New: 5/1. Reborn. Deathrattle: Give your Undead +1/+5.

Hawkstrider Herald

• Old: [Tier 5] 5/2
• New: [Tier 6] 6/2

Mystic Sporebat

• Old: 5/1
• New: 3/1

Land Lubber

• Old: [Tier 2] 3/4
• New: [Tier 3] 4/5
• Dev Comment: Land Lubber has been returned to the minion pool.

Moon Bacon Jazzer

• Old: 1/3
• New: 2/3

Geomagus Roogug

• Old: 3/6. Whenever a Blood Gem is played on this, play a Blood Gem on a different friendly minion.
• New: 4/6. Divine Shield. Whenever a Blood Gem is played on this, play a Blood Gem on a different friendly minion.

Prickly Piper

• Old: 3/1
• New: 5/1

Paint Smudger

• Old: 3/2
• New: 5/3

Fleeting Vigor

• Old: [Tier 4] Give a minion +6/+6 until next turn.
• New: [Tier 3] Give a minion +7/+7 until next turn.

Shiny Ring

• Old: [Tier 3]
• New: [Tier 2]

Staff of Enrichment

• Old: [3 Gold]
• New: [2 Gold]

Primal Staff

• Old: [Tier 4]
• New: [Tier 5]

Dreamer’s Embrace

• Old: [Tier 5]
• New: [Tier 4]

Planar Telescope

• Old: [Tier 4]
• New: [Tier 3]

Overconfidence

• Old: [Tier 2]
• New: [Tier 3]

Natural Blessing

• Old: Choose a minion. Give all minions that share a type with it +3/+2.
• New: Choose a minion. Give all minions that share a type with it +2/+2.

Spell Pool Changes

• Reckless Investment, Leaf Through the Pages, and Titus’ Tribute have been removed from the Spell Pool.

Arena Updates (New)

Arena offering rates have been adjusted.

• Forge of Wills and Transfer Student have been removed from the draft pool.
• Butch, Amalgamate, Mage Armor, and Crusty, the Crustacean have been removed from the treasure pool.
• The appearance rate of all Mini-Set cards has been increased.
• The appearance rate of Sludge on Wheels has been decreased.
• The appearance rate of Kobold Miner and Burrow Buster has been decreased in Rogue and Warlock.

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Shadestone Skulker could cause infinite loops. Now, when the weapon is “given back,” the Skulker will no longer have it—meaning it will only return a weapon the first time the deathrattle is activated on a particular Skulker.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Lightshow showed the wrong text and functioned incorrectly when cast from somewhere other than from hand (like through Void Scripture).
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where the enchantment banner for Golden Sprightly Scarab showed the wrong buff amount.

Patch 28.4, launching tomorrow, digs up the new Mini-Set, Delve into Deepholm, plus updates to Arena and Twist, and a new seasonal event!

Delve into Deepholm

The Bloodrock Mining Co. dug deeper and deeper until they found something amazing: a whole new world beneath the surface! Teeming with elemental energy, this new land brings dual-class cards, new Excavated Treasures, new singleton payoffs, and more!

The Delve into Deepholm Mini-Set has 38 all-new cards. Get them in Showdown in the Badlands packs or as a complete 72-card* Mini-Set. Get the normal version for $14.99 or 2000 Gold, or get the all-Golden version for $69.99 or 10,000 Gold. The all-Golden version comes with a bonus Diamond copy of the Deepminer Brann Legendary minion! You can see all the cards from the Delve into Deepholm Mini-Set in the official Card Library.

* 4 Legendary cards, 1 Epic card (x2), 17 Rare cards (x2), and 16 Common cards (x2).

New Excavate Treasures

Eureka! Three new neutral Excavate Treasures have been added to the general Excavate Treasure pool with Delve into Deepholm, one for each rarity:

Shaman and Paladin have also each gotten a new class-exclusive Excavate Legendary Treasure, as they’ve taken up the big dig:

New Legendary Hero Skin: Justice Jaina

Justice Jaina is here to keep the peace or blow you to pieces. Grab your firestick and don your white hat, it’s time to clean up the Badlands.

Arena Updates

The Delve into Deepholm has unearthed some treasures for Arena, too! On January 18, all current Arena runs will end and a new Arena season will begin. There is a new rule for this Arena Season: the last pick of each draft will be one of a curated pool of Duels Treasures!

Your first pick of each draft will still be a Legendary card and you will still not be offered any other Legendary cards throughout the draft, leading up to your Duels Treasure final pick. What kinds of synergies will you unearth with a Legendary card in one hand and a shiny new Treasure in the other?!

Additionally, the eligible sets will rotate so that the following sets will make up the Arena card pool this season:

• Showdown in the Badlands (including Delve into Deepholm)
• TITANS
• Caverns of Time
• Core
• Path of Arthas
• Scholomance Academy
• Fractured in Alterac Valley

Twist Seasonal Update

When Twist returns in February, it will kick off a new season with a new card pool and a new rules twist: Commons only. No legendaries? No problem! Your Collection won’t be a barrier as you build a deck using only Commons from all Hearthstone sets up until the introduction of Demon Hunter, plus Caverns of Time. The eligible sets for this season will be:

• Core (not Legacy)
• Curse of Naxxramas
• Goblins vs Gnomes
• Blackrock Mountain
• The Grand Tournament
• The League of Explorers
• Whispers of the Old Gods
• One Night in Karazhan
• Mean Streets of Gadgetzan
• Journey to Un’Goro
• Knights of the Frozen Throne
• Kobolds & Catacombs
• The Witchwood
• The Boomsday Project
• Rastakhan’s Rumble
• Rise of Shadows
• Saviors of Uldum
• Descent of Dragons
• Galakrond’s Awakening
• Caverns of Time

Demon Hunter and Death Knight are not in the eligible class pool for this season. Discover and random generation effects follow the same rules and card pool.

In-Game Event: Lunar New Year

Celebrate new year festivities in Battlegrounds and Traditional Hearthstone! From January 30 to February 13, complete event quests to earn event XP on the special event rewards track. Complete the rewards track to earn 6 Signature Cards (2x Kobold Miner, 2x Walking Mountain, and 2x Howdyfin), the Lantern Stringer Galewing Battlegrounds Hero Skin, and the Dragon Dance Celeste Hearthstone Hero Skin!

See the in-game shop for more new and returning Lunar New Year cosmetics throughout the season!

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [General] Continuing to build on our modular download feature, there is now a download manager interface that allows you to remove downloaded modules from your device. There is one more major step for this modular download feature, planned for the next major patch.
• [Hearthstone] Blizzard Bots have been removed from the Standard ranked ladder. They are now limited to Apprentice (and new/lower-ranked Battlegrounds games), where they will continue to serve their role in smoothing out matchmaking for newer players.
• [Hearthstone] Several cards that grant effects “when a minion dies” have been updated to grant the minion a Deathrattle with that effect. This update applies to: Volcanomancy, Kodo Mount, Ramming Mount, Noble Mount, Elekk Mount, Dreaded Mount, Spirit Mount, Camouflage Mount, and Spikeridge Steed. This rules change will not change the primary effects of these cards on their own, but will result in some updated interactions with other cards. Edit: this is a non-functional change.
• [Hearthstone] High Noon Duelist will no longer destroy any cards if both players DRAW cards of the same cost.
• [Hearthstone] Cactus Construct can now be played on a full board.
• [Hearthstone] Raid Boss Onyxia will now recognize Starlight Whelp as a Whelp.
• [Hearthstone] Related Cards in the Collection view has been updated to have a scroll bar, allowing for more connections.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Barrel of Sludge and Furnace Fuel didn’t activate off cards like The Jailer.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Velarok Windblade didn’t keep buffs from hand after transforming.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Trusty Companion would draw “All” type minions when played on a minion with no minion type.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where, if your minions were sent through time with Anachronos, and then you played Reno, Lone Ranger, your returning minions would be limited by the standoff just like your opponent’s.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where Reno, Lone Ranger discounted Lightray.
• [Hearthstone] Fixed a bug where certain Wild card with multiple versions could discover the other version of themselves.
• [Hearthstone] Misc. tooltip and keyword display improvements.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug with Paint Smudger and returned it to the minion pool.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug with Staff of Enrichment and returned it to the tavern spell pool.
• [Tavern Brawl] Fixed a bug where chalkboards would appear in English in some localizations.
• [Cosmetics] Fixed visual bugs with various hero skins’ hero power animations and emotes.
• [Cosmetics] Fixed a bug where players who have exactly two Battlegrounds Boards (the base one and one other) weren’t able to toggle a favorite.
• [Localization] Fixed various localization issues across languages.
• Misc. other bug fixes and game improvements.

As we think about the future of Hearthstone and where the team can best focus their efforts, we’ve made the difficult decision to discontinue support for the Duels Mode. We do not have plans for any further scheduled updates for Duels, and the Mode itself is scheduled to be removed from the Hearthstone client in April 2024.

This change will allow us to shift our resources to where we feel they will have the most impact, including Traditional Hearthstone, Battlegrounds, and more. To that end, Battlegrounds Duos is scheduled for an upcoming Battlegrounds patch, and we’re trying out some Duels Treasures in our next Arena season—more details soon.

We want to thank all our passionate Duels fans for every pile of loot, treasure, and hard-fought victory you’ve collected along the way. It’s been a heroic run, and we couldn’t have done it without you.