Hearthstone

The 21.4 patch, releasing tomorrow, launches Hearthstone’s newest game mode, Mercenaries! The patch also includes some bug fixes and preparations for future updates.

Quite the Roster

Mercenaries is launching with 51 playable Mercenaries! We’ve compiled a list of all Mercenaries who will be playable at launch, as well as all their Abilities and Equipment. The Card Library will hold all this information in a future update. On top of the stats shown here, every Mercenary gets an additional +1/+5 when you fully max them out at level 30, with max Abilities and Equipment.

Keep in mind, this is just a snapshot of all the Mercenaries as they will exist at the launch of Hearthstone Mercenaries. We plan to cover future updates in patch notes and other blog posts, and in the Card Library once it’s been updated.

A Village Comes to the Tavern

With the addition of Mercenaries comes a new way to interact with Hearthstone, in the Mercenaries Village. The Village is the jumping off point for all things Mercenaries, including managing your collection in the Tavern, setting off on Bounties, jumping into the Fighting Pit, and more! You can also upgrade the buildings in your Village as you play, to upgrade their functionality or make them more efficient. Some upgrades are free, unlocked through gameplay, while others cost Gold. At launch, it will cost 900 Gold to fully upgrade your Village: 100 to unlock the Fighting Pit, 200 to upgrade the Travel Point (which unlocks Heroic difficulty for Bounties), 200 to upgrade the Campfire (to add a slot to the Task Board), and another 400 to upgrade the Campfire a second time (to add another slot to the Task Board). You can learn more about navigating by checking out our Village/Collection blog.

Mercenaries Matchmaking and Rating System

The Mercenaries Fighting Pit will have its own, new matchmaking and rating system. This new system is the most complex matchmaking and rating system Hearthstone has ever seen, to account for all the variables in each Mercenaries matchup. And if the perfect match can’t be found, we’ll make one for you with new A.I. opponent technology! Look for an article highlighting and further explaining the new system, soon.

A Note on Quests and Other Known Issues

At launch, most Daily and Weekly Quests will not be compatible with Mercenaries. The only Quests that will be able to be completed in Mercenaries will be those that require you to win games in any mode, and those that require you to take a certain number of turns. In future patches, we will be fixing the Quests that are not working properly, as well as possibly making new Daily and Weekly Quests or adjusting the language of certain existing Quests to include Mercenaries.

Don’t worry, you will still be able to complete your Daily and Weekly Quests in the other modes. On top of that, the new Campfire Tasks in Mercenaries are separate from the Daily and Weekly Quest system, so you can still complete those for even more rewards. You can head to the forums for a list of known issues shipping with 21.4.

Spooky Season is Nearly Here

Preparations for Hallow’s End begin in patch 21.4, with festive box dressing and fun, costumed cosmetic options coming next week. The Fairy Tales Bundle includes fairy tales-themed hero skins for Rexxar, Jaina, Thrall, and Anduin. The Battlegrounds Bundle – Hallow’s End includes a Gala Medivh alternate Bartender and seven costumed hero skins. After you’ve gotten your costume picked out, the festivities will kick off in patch 21.6 (details coming closer to that patch).

Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

• Fixed a bug that sometimes caused the middle of the screen to become unclickable.
• Fixed a bug where Blood Knight would cause Highlord Fordragon to trigger for all minions, regardless of whether they had Divine Shield.
• Changed the name of the 3/3 token spawned by The Beast to Pip Quickwit.
• Fixed a bug where, when the Duels Treasure Meek Mastery was in play, and a minion affected by it was Silenced, the minion got healed 1 Health.
• Fixed a bug where minions buffed by the Duels Treasure Avenging Armaments retained their buffs if moved from the board into the hand or deck.
• Updated the wording and punctuation on several Duels cards and effects to be clearer and more consistent with established Hearthstone formatting.
• Fixed a bug that caused players to get stuck in the Boomsday Project and Dalaran Heist single-player content, and cause the game to crash.
• Fixed a bug that caused friends who are online, but not in the Hearthstone client, to appear able to be challenged to a Friendly Challenge.
• Fixed a bug that made you unable to re-challenge a friend after completing a match against them.
• Fixed a bug where having your friends list open while reconnecting to Battle.net would cause the friends list to sometimes not fully populate.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Options menu to be cut off while playing in Practice mode on mobile.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes caused pack types to switch places on the pack opening screen.
• Fixed a bug that incorrectly showed Achievements as completed after clicking through them.

The 21.3 patch, releasing tomorrow, includes several updates across Standard, Wild, Battlegrounds, Duels, and Arena.

Standard and Wild Updates

The following cards have been adjusted down in power level.

• Old: [Costs 7] → New: [Costs 8]

Dev Comment: Irebound Brute was playable a bit earlier than intended on average. Pushing it back a turn should soften extreme turns.

• Old: Battlecry: Swap hands and decks with your opponent until your next turn. → New: Battlecry: Replace your hand with a copy of your opponent’s until end of turn.

Dev Comment: With the refinement of Shadow Priest in recent weeks, Mindrender Illucia has been overperforming in the archetype, in an unintended way. Instead of being used as a late game disruption tool, Shadow Priests have been using Illucia as an early game play to essentially skip the opponent’s turn. This change is aimed at removing that problematic gameplay from Illucia, while still keeping her in a similar space with her effect.

• Old: [Costs 1] → New: [Costs 2]

Dev Comment: Perpetual Flame is a very efficient removal tool for Questline Shaman. Going up one mana here will give board-based decks a better shot against Shaman in the early- and mid-game.

• Tame the Flames (the third portion of the Questline)
  • Old: Play 2 cards with Overload. Reward: Stormcaller Bru’kan. → New: Play 3 cards with Overload. Reward: Stormcaller Bru’kan.

Dev Comment: Slowing down the speed at which Questline Shamans can get their final reward should open up more room for counterplay, particularly from slower strategies.

• The Demon Seed (part 1 of the Questline)
  • Old: Take 6 damage on your turns. Reward: Lifesteal. Deal 3 damage to the enemy hero. → New: Take 8 damage on your turns. Reward: Lifesteal. Deal 3 damage to the enemy hero.
• Establish the Link (part 2 of the Questline)
  • Old: Take 7 damage on your turns. Reward: Lifesteal. Deal 3 damage to the enemy hero. → New: Take 8 damage on your turns. Reward: Lifesteal. Deal 3 damage to the enemy hero.
• Additionally, The Demon Seed is now banned in Wild.

Dev Comment: After monitoring both Standard and Wild since the release of Stormwind, we’ve decided to both increase the damage required on the first two steps for Standard and ban the Questline in Wild. In Standard, we are slightly upping the amount of damage needed to complete the Questline to slow down the speed at which Tamsin locks up games. In Wild, where there are many more efficient self-damaging cards, The Demon Seed can be completed at an unintentionally fast rate. We are banning the card to protect the format from the problematic gameplay it created. When The Demon Seed rotates to Wild, we will unban it and reposition the card to be more appropriate for the format.

• Old: [Costs 3] → New: [Costs 4]

Dev Comment: Runed Mithril Rod is overperforming relative to mana-generation sources in other classes, mainly due to Warlock’s card draw potential. Going up one mana will bring Runed Mithril Rod’s power level more in line with what other classes have access to.

The cards listed above will be eligible for a full dust refund for 2 weeks after the 21.3 patch goes live.

The following cards have been adjusted up in power level.

Dev Comments: We’re looking at opening up a few more strategies for some of the less-diverse classes and underrepresented archetypes in the Standard metagame. These buffs are aimed at some of the weaker archetypes to make them more appealing options to play with. Some of these changes are on the lighter side, in anticipation of the mini-set coming in the next major patch after the patch launching Mercenaries.

• Old: [Costs 2] → New: [Costs 1]

• Old: 1 Attack, 1 Health → New: 1 Attack, 3 Health

• Old: [Costs 2] → New: [Costs 1]

• Old: [Costs 10] 10 Attack, 10 Health → New: [Costs 8] 8 Attack, 8 Health

• Old: 3 Attack, 3 Health → New: 3 Attack, 4 Health

• Old: 4 Attack, 5 Health → New: 4 Attack, 6 Health

• Old: 2 Attack, 1 Health → New: 2 Attack, 2 Health

Battlegrounds Updates

GENERAL UPDATE

• Turn lengths have been reverted to their pre-21.2 times (turns 3-9 have been reduced by 5 seconds after they were temporarily increased by 5 seconds in Patch 21.2).

HERO UPDATES

• Snicker-snack
  • Old: [Costs 0] → New: [Costs 2]

• Dungar’s Gryphon (Eastern Plaguelands Option)
  • Old: In 5 turns, upgrade your Tavern Tier. → New: In 5 turns, your next Tavern Tier upgrade costs (5) less.

• Power of the Storm [Passive]
  • Adjusted the odds of hero power offerings (no text changes).

MINION UPDATES

• Defiant Shipwright has been removed from the minion pool.
• Southsea Captain has been returned to the minion pool.

• Old: [Tavern Tier 3] Avenge (3): Add a random Demon to your hand. → New: [Tavern Tier 4] Avenge (4): Add a random Demon to your hand.

• Old: [Tavern Tier 4] 7 Attack, 5 Health. Your other Demons have +3 Attack. Your Hero is Immune. → New: [Tavern Tier 3] 5 Attack, 4 Health. Your other Demons have +2 Attack. Your Hero is Immune.

• Old: Deathrattle: Give a friendly Beast +2/+2 and this Deathrattle. → New: Give a friendly Beast +1/+1 and this Deathrattle.

• Old: After this attacks, trigger a random friendly minion’s Deathrattle. → New: After this attacks, trigger another friendly minion’s Deathrattle.

• Old: [Tavern Tier 4] 6 Attack, 2 Health. → New: [Tavern Tier 5] 7 Attack, 3 Health.

• Old: 2 Attack, 4 Health. After a friendly Dragon gains Attack, give it +2 Health. → New: 2 Attack, 5 Health. After a friendly Dragon gains Attack, give it +1 Health.

• Old: Deathrattle: Give this minion’s maximum Health to a friendly minion. → New: Deathrattle: Give this minion’s maximum Health to another friendly minion.

• Old: [Tavern Tier 6]. → New: [Tavern Tier 5].

• Old: 5 Attack, 3 Health. After a card is added to your hand, give another random Pirate +1/+1 → New: 6 Attack, 5 Health. After a card is added to your hand, give another friendly Pirate +1/+1.

Dev Comment: The text change portion of this change is just to clarify the card’s current, intended functionality. It does not represent any functional change.

• Old: 2 Attack, 2 Health. → New: 4 Attack, 4 Health.

• Old: 4 Attack, 4 Health. → New: 4 Attack, 5 Health.

• Old: 2 Attack, 3 Health. → New: 3 Attack, 3 Health.

• Old: 1 Attack, 4 Health. → New: 2 Attack, 4 Health.

• Old: 3 Attack, 3 Health. → New: 4 Attack, 4 Health.

• Old: 3 Attack, 4 Health. → New: 4 Attack, 5 Health.

• Old: At the end of your turn, play a Blood Gem on all other friendly minions. → New: At the end of your turn, play a Blood Gem on all friendly minions.

Duels Updates

• Party Replacements, Rally the Troops, and Oops, All Spells! have all been moved from Passive Treasure Pool 2 to Pool 2 Ultra Rare.
• All Together Now has been moved from Passive Treasure Pool 1 to Pool 2.
• Voidtouched Attendant is now banned from deck creation.

Arena Updates

Ramming Mount will no longer be draftable in Arena. Additionally, we discovered a bug with some card offering rates. We’ve addressed that bug and will be re-adjusting the offering rates to match the intended rates, which should help move all classes closer to the 50% class winrate.

(UPDATED) Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

• Fixed a bug causing crashes when the friends list was opened.
• Fixed a bug where friends could sometimes not be challenged.
• Fixed a bug where Maestra of the Masquerade would sometimes have you start the game as a Rogue (not her best disguise).
• Fixed a bug that prevented Grand Magus Antonidas from hitting Stealth targets and resulted in Antonidas potentially hitting the caster’s own face if the enemy hero was in Stealth.
• Fixed a bug where Tradeable cards would keep enchantments if shuffled into your deck by something other than Tradeable.
• Fixed bugs where cards like Razormane Battleguard would not properly reduce the cost of cards after Celestial Alignment was played.
• Fixed a bug where Barrens Scavenger’s cost could be reduced below 1 while you had 10 or fewer cards in your deck.
• Fixed a bug where Highlord Fordragon would trigger on minions that were not in play.
• Fixed bugs where cards like Master of Realities and Whelp Smuggler would have an incorrect number of triggers.
• Fixed a bug where swapping a Tavern Tier 6 minion (such as with Arcane Alteration, Malygos’s Hero Power) would sometimes cause it to disappear.
• Fixed a visual bug that caused enemy Tavern Tiers to show as reset to Tavern Tier 1.
• (NEW) Fixed a bug where chat settings were not being saved in the Hearthstone client.

Today's 21.2 patch brings pre-purchase for Mercenaries, the massive revamp for Battlegrounds, a new Book of Mercenaries featuring Tamsin, and more!

Mercenaries for Hire!

Hearthstone Mercenaries is the new game mode where you collect iconic Mercenaries, assembling Parties to take down procedurally generated Bounties. It is an entirely new way to play Hearthstone, combining RPG and roguelike elements with some of your favorite Hearthstone characters. Check out our Overview, Gameplay, and Village blogs before pre-purchasing—Mercenaries launches worldwide on October 12!

Pre-purchase

Standard Balance Updates

• Old: [Costs 4] 2 Attack, 6 Health → New: [Costs 6] 4 Attack, 6 Health

Dev Comment: While the winrate of decks including Stealer of Souls isn’t particularly high, the games where these decks win are often won in an extreme way. This change, like our philosophy in the first Stormwind balance patch, is aimed at slowing the down the speed of Stealer of Souls and softening those extremes. Note: Stealer of Souls will remain banned in Wild alongside this change.

• Old: [Costs 9] → New: [Costs 10]

Dev Comment: We’re moving Flesh Giant up another mana to further reduce the speed at which comes down in the average game. After monitoring the initial balance to change here, we believe it was a bit too soft and are adjusting Flesh Giant accordingly.

The cards listed above will be eligible for a full dust refund for 2 weeks after the 21.2 patch goes live.

Battlegrounds Revamp

Today we’re introducing an entirely new Battlegrounds specific keyword, Avenge, that does something after X friendly minions die. Then, we’re replacing 37 minions with new ones and adding two new Heroes! You can get an idea of how the Avenge keyword works by checking out those new minions below.

Before you do, we’ve made a few fundamental changes we want to make you aware of. We’ve added a damage cap of 15 damage until the first player dies, meaning that no player can take more than 15 damage from combat until the first player in a lobby dies or disconnects. We’ve also increased turn timers so that everyone has time to get familiar with the new content: the length of turns 3-9 have been increased by 5 seconds. Everyone will start fresh with this update as ratings will be reset with the 21.2 patch to make way for a new season.

General Updates

• Battlegrounds Specific Keyword added, Avenge: Does something after X friendly minions die.
• The length of turns 3-9 have been increased by 5 seconds. We may further adjust the length of turns sometime in the future.
• Darkmoon Prizes have been disabled.
• All players’ Battlegrounds ratings have been reset for a new season.
• Damage cap of 15 damage has been added until the first player dies. Please note that the damage cap does not check for player deaths until the start of each Recruit Phase, meaning if someone concedes, disconnects, or dies during the Recruit Phase (Is Wrath Weaver ever really on your team?), the damage cap will still be present for that combat.
• Players with Battlegrounds Perks are now more likely to be offered new Heroes during the two-week early access period that follows their initial announcement. In every lobby during the two-week early access period, the option to play with new Heroes will be distributed at random between players with Battlegrounds Perks. No player will be offered more than one new Hero.

New Heroes

• Power of the Storm [Passive]
  • At the start of every turn, choose from 2 new Hero Powers.

Cariel Roame

• Conviction (Rank 1)
  • Give a random friendly minion +1/+1. (Upgrades at Tavern Tier 3.)
• Conviction (Rank 2)
  • Give three random friendly minions +1/+1. (Upgrades at Tavern Tier 5.)
• Conviction (Rank 3)
  • Give five random friendly minions +1/+1.

Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to the Heroes above before they’re formally released on September 14.

New Minions

BEASTS

• [Tier 2, Beast] Deathrattle: Give a friendly Beast +2/+2 and this Deathrattle.

• [Tier 2, Beast] Deathrattle: Summon a 2/3 Turtle with Taunt.

• [Tier 3] Avenge (1): Give your Beasts +1/+1.

• [Tier 4, Beast] Battlecry: Give a friendly Beast Reborn.

• [Tier 5, Beast] Avenge (2) and Deathrattle: Give another friendly Beast +6/+6.

DEMONS

• [Tier 1, Demon] Deathrattle: Give this minion's maximum Health to a friendly minion.

• [Tier 1, Demon] Deathrattle: Summon two 1/1 Imps.

• [Tier 3] Avenge (3): Add a random Demon to your hand.

• [Tier 4, Demon] Your other Demons have +3 Attack. Your Hero is Immune.

• [Tier 5, Demon] Taunt. After you play a Demon, consume a minion in Bob's Tavern to gain its stats.

• [Tier 6, Demon] At the end of your turn, each friendly Demon consumes a minion in Bob's Tavern to gain its stats.

MECHS

• [Tier 1, Mech] Divine Shield

• [Tier 4, Mech] Avenge (2): Deal 6 damage to the highest Health enemy minion.

• [Tier 4, Mech] After a friendly minion loses Divine Shield, give it +2/+1 permanently.

• [Tier 5, Mech] After a friendly minion loses Divine Shield, gain Divine Shield.

• [Tier 6, Mech] Deathrattle: Summon six 1/1 Microbots. For each that doesn't fit, give your Mechs +1/+1.

MURLOCS

• [Tier 2, Murloc] After you play a Murloc, give two other friendly Murlocs +1 Health.

• [Tier 3, Murloc] Battlecry: Gain +2/+1 for each other friendly Murloc.

• [Tier 5, Murloc] Avenge (3): Give a friendly Murloc Poisonous permanently.

• [Tier 6] Battlecry: Make a Murloc Golden.

DRAGONS

• [Tier 1, Dragon] After you upgrade your Tavern Tier, double this minion's Attack.

• [Tier 2] After a friendly Dragon gains Attack, give it +2 Health.

• [Tier 3, Dragon] This permanently keeps enchantments from combat.

• [Tier 4, Dragon] Start of Combat: Give adjacent minions +1/+1 for each friendly Dragon.

• [Tier 4, Dragon] Whenever another friendly Dragon attacks, deal 3 damage to its target.

PIRATES

• [Tier 2] After you upgrade your Tavern Tier, add a random Pirate to Bob's Tavern.

• [Tier 3, Pirate] At the end of your turn, if you have another Pirate, add a Gold Coin to your hand.

• [Tier 4, Pirate] After a card is added to your hand, give another Pirate +1/+1.

• [Tier 5, Pirate] Avenge (5): Make another friendly Pirate Golden permanently.

• [Tier 6, Pirate] Every two turns, add a random Golden minion to your hand.

ELEMENTALS

• [Tier 3, Elemental] Battlecry: Give a friendly Elemental stats equal to your Tavern Tier.

• [Tier 4, Elemental] Avenge (2): Elementals in Bob's Tavern have +1/+1 for the rest of the game.

• [Tier 4, Elemental] After you play an Elemental, your next Refresh costs (0).

• [Tier 6] Taunt. After a friendly Elemental gains stats, gain +1/+1.

QUILBOAR

• [Tier 3, Quilboar] After a friendly minion loses Divine Shield, gain a Blood Gem.

NEUTRAL

• [Tier 3] Avenge (3): Give adjacent minions +2/+1 permanently.

• [Tier 4] Avenge (3): Add a random Battlecry minion to your hand.

Updated Minion

• Old: 5 Health → New: 4 Health

Removed Minions

• Fiendish Servant
• Vulgar Homunculus
• Micro Machine
• Murloc Tidecaller
• Dragonspawn Lieutenant

• Pack Leader
• Kindly Grandmother
• Steward of Time
• Waxrider Togwaggle
• Southsea Captain
• Tormented Ritualist

• Arcane Assistant
• Imp Gang Boss
• Infested Wolf
• Iron Sensei
• Hangry Dragon
• Bloodsail Cannoneer
• Warden of Old
• Crystalweaver
• Thorncaller

• Virmen Sensei
• Hexruin Maurader
• Junkbot
• Toxfin
• Herald of Flame
• Qiraji Harbinger
• Bolvar, Fireblood
• Security Rover

• Sneed's Old Shredder
• Nat Pagle, Extreme Angler
• Seabreaker Goliath
• Ironhide Direhorn
• Mythrax, the Unraveler
• Mal'Ganis
• Faceless Taverngoer

• The Tide Razor
• Lieutenant Garr

Duels Update

• Meek Mastery has been moved from Passive Treasures Pool 1 to Pool 2.

Dev Comment: In this patch, we are moving Meek Mastery to Passive Treasure Pool 2. We will continue to monitor Duels and make small adjustments as needed while we work on a much larger Duels update, planned for later in this expansion cycle.

Book of Mercenaries Tamsin – Coming September 7

After escaping a vengeful demon hunter in the Barrens, the warlock Tamsin Roame has vengeance on her mind as well. Her bloodthirsty mission will take her to the Alliance's seat of power, the city of Stormwind, Tamsin's home when she was mortal. There she will attempt to unleash the demon Anetheron upon the city. But when Tamsin comes face to face with her own father, will she or anyone in the city survive? Find out when Book of Mercenaries Tamsin launches September 7th. Defeating all 8 bosses in this linear adventure will reward 1 Warlock pack, containing only Warlock cards from Standard!

Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

• The main menu has been updated. A Mercenaries button has been added (locked until mode is live), Battlegrounds can now be accessed from the main menu, and Solo Adventures have been moved under Modes—where Arena and Duels can still be found.
• The first-time user experience has been updated and streamlined. New Players can now play Battlegrounds right away or the original Hearthstone tutorial.
• Fixed a bug where players were able to delete their first deck immediately after the tutorial and were unable to build a new deck because they had not yet unlocked any playable classes.
• Fixed a bug that caused the friends list to load slowly for players who had many friends online and made it difficult to challenge a friend from that list.
• Fixed a bug that caused Deathrattles to be tracked as triggered (by cards such as Counterfeit Blade) in situations where the Deathrattle condition was not met.
• Fixed a bug that allowed Wild Growth and Overgrowth to award Excess Mana if the mana cap was reached through temporary mana (such as Innervate or Lightning Bloom).
• Fixed a bug where the Fireballs cast by Grand Magus Antonidas were not affected by Spell Damage.
• Fixed a bug where if multiple versions of a card name exist in a player’s deck (such as one with a buff and one without) Southsea Scoundrel would count them as distinct for the first half of its battlecry, but not the second half. Now they will count as distinct for the entire Battlecry.
• Fixed a bug where Reckless Apprentice used up the mana cost reduction from Tour Guide.
• Fixed a bug where Transfer Student was not receiving the correct effect on the Madness at the Darkmoon Faire game board.
• Fixed a bug where Purified Shard (the Priest Questline final reward) was revealed to the opponent when drawn.
• Fixed a bug that allowed players to play a deck that included Stealer of Souls in Wild if the deck was a Standard-legal deck.
• Fixed a bug where Wild was not properly unlocking for some players who had met the unlock criteria.
• Fixed a bug that allowed a Battlegrounds player to face Kel’Thuzad if an even number of players remained in the lobby.
• Fixed various display errors in the Achievement Journal.
• Fixed a bug causing opponents’ names to appear smaller than intended on phones.
• Fixed a visual bug with Pandaren Importer’s Golden animation.
• Fixed a bug where the wrong art was displayed for Sphere of Sapience’s “A New Fate” option, Learn the Truth (the second phase of the Rogue Questline), and Repair Bot (summoned by Gelbin Mekkatorque).

The 21.0.3 patch, releasing tomorrow, includes changes to eight cards in Standard, updates to five Battlegrounds heroes, and several bug fixes.

Standard Updates

• Old: [Costs 2] → New: [Costs 3]

• Old: [Costs 4] 2 Attack, 6 Health → New: [Costs 6] 4 Attack, 8 Health

• Old: [Costs 2] 2 Attack, 3 Health → New: [Costs 3] 3 Attack, 4 Health

• Old: [Costs 5] → New: [Costs 6]

• Old: [Costs 2] 2 Attack, 3 Health → New: [Costs 3] 3 Attack, 4 Health

• Old: 4 Attack, 5 Health → New: 4 Attack, 4 Health

• Old: [Costs 1] → New: [Costs 2]

• Old: [Costs 8] → New: [Costs 9]

The cards listed above will be eligible for a full dust refund for 2 weeks after the 21.0.3 patch goes live.

Dev Comments: After two weeks of monitoring the rapidly evolving United in Stormwind launch metagame, we’re making a few balance changes to slow down the speed of the game by a turn or two. Overall, this translates to two things: limiting the efficiency at which combo decks can assemble the pieces they need to win, and reducing the burst damage that board-based decks have access to from hand. We hope that these changes will give a bit more room for slower strategies to find success in this meta, and we’ll continue to keep an eye on the live game to see if any further changes are needed.

Battlegrounds Updates

RETURNING HERO

• Old: Burbling [Costs 1] Your next Battlecry this turn triggers twice. → New: Snicker-snack [Costs 0] Add a 1/1 Shudderling to your hand that repeats all Battlecries you’ve played. (Twice per game).

HERO UPDATES

• Hat Trick
  • Old: [Passive] After you sell a minion, randomly give a minion in Bob’s Tavern +1/+1 twice. → New: [Passive] After you sell a minion, randomly give a minion in Bob’s Tavern +1/+1 three times.

• Gone Fishing
  • Old: [Passive] After you sell a Murloc, add a random Murloc to Bob’s Tavern. → New: [Passive] After you sell a minion, add a random Murloc to Bob’s Tavern.

• Imprison
  • Old: [Costs 1] Make a minion in Bob’s Tavern Dormant. After 3 turns, get it with +1/+1. → New: [Costs 1] Make a minion in Bob’s Tavern Dormant. After 3 turns, get it with +2/+2.

• Arcane Alteration
  • Old: [Costs 0] Replace a minion with a random one of the same Tavern Tier. → New: [Costs 0] Replace a minion with a random one of the same Tavern Tier. (Twice per turn).

Arena Balance Update

We’ve updated the appearance rate of cards to ensure class balance remains close to the ideal 50% win-rate. Specifically, the win-rate of Druid, Warrior, and Demon Hunter should now be decreased. The win-rate of Mage, Priest, Rogue, and Shaman should now be increased. The win-rate of the other classes should be roughly the same as before.

Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

• Updated the Stealer of Souls animation to now only trigger if the card ends up in your hand (it does not trigger for cards that are Cast When Drawn, such as Soul Shards). The animation will also no longer trigger if the drawn card already costs Health instead of Mana (such as when you have two Stealer of Souls in play).
• Fixed card text errors for Psyfiend and Florist (no functional change to either).
• Fixed a bug where Prismatic Jewel Kit would trigger when effects returned a Divine Shield minion to the owner’s hand or moved a Divine Shield minion from the owner’s hand to the owner’s deck.
• Fixed a bug where Seek Guidance (the Priest questline) would sometimes count the original Cost of cards, instead of the Cost actually paid for the card.
• Fixed a bug where the Initiate Set version of Eye Beam did not properly display card art in the Collection Manager.
• Fixed a bug where Reborn Rites, The Lich King’s Battlegrounds hero power, caused players to disconnect from the game server.
• Added interactions between Pave the Way (part of the Paladin Questline) and Duels-specific hero powers.
• Fixed various bugs in Book of Heroes Gul’dan and Book of Heroes Illidan.
• Fixed a bug where Duels achievements were not tracking properly.
• Fixed a bug where Witchwood collection achievements triggered even though the requirements were not yet met.
• (Updated) Fixed a bug where completing all Book of Heroes installments would not display the proper achievement or give the proper award. All players who have already completed all 10 Book of Heroes will automatically receive the proper award of a Golden Standard pack at a later date.

The 21.0 patch prepares the Tavern for United in Stormwind, launching August 3. It also brings a new Hero and cosmetics for Battlegrounds, a major update for Duels, an Arena rotation, and more.

You can check out all 135 new cards included in United in Stormwind on the card library here.

Battlegrounds Updates

NEW HERO

• Dungar’s Gryphon
  • Choose a flightpath. Complete it to get a bonus!

Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to Galewing before it's formally released on August 10.

Duels Updates

When the 21.0 patch goes live on July 27, all players’ Duels ratings will be reset and the pool of eligible cards you can use to build your 15-card start deck will be updated as follows:

• (NEW) United in Stormwind
• Wailing Caverns Mini-Set
• Forged in the Barrens
• The Darkmoon Races Mini-Set
• Madness at the Darkmoon Faire
• Scholomance Academy
• (NEW) Kobolds & Catacombs
• Journey to Un’Goro
• One Night in Kharazan
• Whispers of the Old Gods
• Curse of Naxxramas
• Legacy (Basic/Classic)
• Core

NEW PASSIVE TREASURES

• At the start of your turn, summon a 2/2 Adventurer with a random bonus effect.

• After you play a Legendary minion, reduce the cost of a random minion in your hand by (1).

• Your minions have +2/+2 but cost (2) more (up to 10).

• Your Neutral minions cost (1) less and have +1/+1.

• At the start of the game, equip a random Legendary weapon.

• After a friendly Deathrattle minion dies, destroy the minion with the lowest Health.

• At the start of the game, destroy all minions in your deck. Your spells cost (1) less and gain +2 Spell Damage.

BANNED CARDS & BUCKETS

The following cards have been banned from between-game card buckets and will not be Discoverable:

• Final Showdown
• Lost in the Park
• Defend the Dwarven District
• Sorcerer's Gambit
• Rise to the Occasion
• Seek Guidance
• Find the Imposter
• Command the Elements
• The Demon Seed
• Raid the Docks

Other Banned cards:

• Unstable Evolution is banned from card buckets but will still be Discoverable.
• Maestra of the Masquerade is banned from deckbuilding, card buckets, and will not be Discoverable.

Seven new designer card buckets have been added as well:

• Furious Fel (Demon Hunter)
• AHHHH RATS!!!! (Hunter)
• Fire!!! (Mage)
• SI:7 (Rogue)
• ARRRRRRG! (Warrior)
• Auction House (Neutral)
• Live to Win (Neutral)

Smart buckets have also been updated to include the two new card sets, and two previously missed card sets: Legacy (Classic/Basic) and Demon Hunter Initiate. Lastly, you’ll be able to find United in Stormwind cards in Duels card buckets after the patch goes live and before the expansion launches.

Arena Rotation

When United in Stormwind launches on August 3, the Arena will include cards from the following sets:

• United in Stormwind
• Forged in the Barrens
• Wailing Caverns Mini-Set
• Madness at the Darkmoon Faire
• Darkmoon Races Mini-Set
• The Witchwood
• Saviors of Uldum
• Rastakhan's Rumble
• Core

Book of Heroes Illidan – Coming August 10

After regaining his freedom, Illidan was eager to prove himself once and for all. But even as he journeyed far from his homeland and joined forces with new allies, the thirst for power never left him. It was only a matter of time before it interfered with his judgment, resulting in more dire consequences than ever before…Defeating all 8 bosses in this linear adventure will reward 1 Demon Hunter pack, containing only Demon Hunter cards from Standard.

United in Stormwind Rewards Track & Tavern Pass

When the Rewards Track refreshes when United in Stormwind launches, all players will automatically be granted any unclaimed rewards on both the free track and the Tavern Pass track (if purchased), and a completely new Rewards Track of unlockable loot will take its place.

The Forged in the Barrens Tavern Pass will expire with the launch of United in Stormwind and a new Tavern Pass will be made available for purchase—offering a host of brand-new cosmetic rewards and XP boosts.

Learn more about the United in Stormwind Rewards Track and Tavern Pass here.

As a reminder, Battlegrounds Perks are now available as a standalone purchase, separate from the Tavern Pass.

New Cosmetic Coins

Two new Cosmetic Coins are being added with United in Stormwind, the Stormwind coin and the Lordaeron coin. The Stormwind coin is obtainable by completing the first 90 levels of the Rewards Track with the Tavern Pass. The Lordaeron coin is obtainable by collecting 135 unique United in Stormwind cards.

Keep in mind that United in Stormwind will have a 35-card Mini-Set that will make it easier to reach both the 25 total United in Stormwind Legendary cards for the Archbishop Benedictus Diamond card reward and the 135 total United in Stormwind cards for the Lordaeron Cosmetic Coin. We’ll have more information to share about the United in Stormwind Mini-Set in the coming months.

Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

• Fixed a bug where Shenanigans would not transform Soul Fragments into Bananas.
• Fixed a bug where Wicked Stab could be upgraded by cards that temporarily increase mana.
• Fixed a bug where Shan’do Wildclaw would not lay flat on the board.
• Fixed a bug where Defender would not play its VO when summoned by Noble Sacrifice.
• Fixed a bug where golden Soul of the Forest would not summon golden Treants.
• Fixed a bug where golden Ancestral Spirit would not summon a golden minion.
• Fixed a bug where golden Grave Rune would not summon golden minions.
• Fixed a bug where golden Primal Talisman would not summon golden minions.
• Fixed a Battlegrounds bug where Y’shaarj’s Battlegrounds Hero Power would not take its newly summoned minion into account when deciding which warband attacked first.
• Fixed a Battlegrounds bug where Baron Rivendare was causing visual issues when in a warband with golden Kaboom Bot.
• Fixed a Battlegrounds bug where Galakrond’s Greed was missing a tooltip for Discover.
• Fixed a Battlegrounds bug where Come One, Come All! Was missing a tooltip for Discover.
• Fixed a Battlegrounds bug where Avatar of N’Zoth was missing a tooltip for Deathrattle.
• Fixed a Battlegrounds bug where Sprout It Out! Was missing a tooltip for Taunt.
• Fixed a Battlegrounds bug where Hero Powers for Aranna Starseeker, Infinite Toki, Millhouse Manastorm, Nozdormu, and Tess Greymane were missing a tooltip for Refresh.
• Fixed a Duels bug where Diamond cards would only be Diamond in appearance for the first game of a run.
• Fixed a Duels bug where Lone Champion and minions summoned by Gift of Luminance were not buffed by Hold the Line.
• Updated the description of the Roguish Maneuvers Hero Power in Duels to be more accurate.
• Fixed a bug with Book of Mercenaries Guff where A Party of Adventurers will cast Against All Odds, even if they have board control.
• Fixed a bug where one of Lady Katrana Prestor’s emotes was showing incorrect text.
• Searching “Refund” in the Collection will now populate with cards eligible for a dust refund.
• Pressing and holding on the Rewards Track page arrows will now flip through the pages quickly.
• Fixed a bug where if a player disconnected from a ranked match, they’d get a message stating they won their last ranked game upon relogging.

The 20.8.2 patch, releasing on July 15, includes changes for three cards in Standard and three bug fixes for Battlegrounds.

Standard Balance Updates

• Old: Give a minion +2/+3 and Lifesteal. → New: Give a minion +1/+2 and Lifesteal.

Dev Comment: We’re doing two Priest changes, targeting the burst healing available in the class and their generation capabilities. Let's start with Apotheosis—we are moving the buff down to +1/+2 to hit the card's general power and combo capabilities. While healing will always be a strength of Priest, we want to reduce the urgency felt when dealing with Priest's minions. Currently, it can feel like you must remove every Priest minion because of the threat Apotheosis poses. A slight reduction in the buff here should lessen that urgency and make the minions post-Apotheosis easier to deal with. The other side of this nerf is the Samuro + Apotheosis combo. The punishment for playing minions into this combo is too much at the moment, so while we'd like to keep some of that tension of resource commitment, we don't want the punishment to be a full heal for the opponent. The reduction in attack here helps get that combo into a healthier push/pull state.

• Old: [Costs 1] → New: [Costs 2]

Dev Comment: Renew is going to 2 mana. Heading into this patch, we wanted to knock some of Priest's generation potential as one of our main goals in Hearthstone is to have the cards you chose to include in your deck matter. We decided to change Renew specifically because we believe this change makes the largest impact towards curbing the chains of generation in Priest. At 2 mana, Renew has to be more thoughtful inclusion during deckbuilding, won't be generated by Wandmaker, and takes another mana reduction to get to 0. While Priest's identity looks different in future expansions, we wanted to take this opportunity to reign in their card generation and build a better match experience for both players.

• Old: [Costs 1] → New: [Costs 2]

Dev Comment: Gibberling is moving to 2 mana. Currently Gibberling is the cause of many "non-games", matches that are heavily lopsided in the early game and can have their outcome decided far too early. We want to lower the frequency of this occurrence and Gibberling at 2 mana should result in many more games where opponents can respond to an early board of this little menace.

The cards listed above will be eligible for a full dust refund for 2 weeks after the 20.8.2 patch goes live.

Game Improvements & Bug Fixes

• Updated the wording of Kurtrus Ashfallen’s fully upgraded Battlegrounds Hero Power to clarify its one-time completion (no functional change).
• Updated Archdruid Hamuul in Battlegrounds so that when your minion types are tied, he will not refresh Bob’s Tavern with minion types that are not in the pool.
• Adjusted Darkmoon Prizes to offer better Prizes for players on the bottom half of the leaderboard.

The 20.8 patch, releasing on July 1, brings pre-purchase for Hearthstone’s newest expansion, United in Stormwind! It also features major updates for Battlegrounds and Duels, and future fun in the form of the Fire Festival, Book of Mercenaries Kurtrus, and Book of Heroes Gul'dan!

Pre-Purchase United in Stormwind

United in Stormwind will launch worldwide on August 3 with 135 new collectible cards! You can find the full schedule for card reveals, and see which cards were announced today, by visiting the card library, here. Check back frequently—the list will be updated with new cards as they’re revealed!

The United in Stormwind Mega Bundle includes 80 United in Stormwind card packs, five Golden United in Stormwind card packs, two random United in Stormwind Golden Legendary cards, the Lady Katrana Prestor Mage Alternate Hero, the Lady Katrana Prestor card back, the Ve’nari Alternate Battlegrounds Bartender (Pre-Purchase),* and Battlegrounds Perks**!

The United in Stormwind Pre-Purchase Bundle includes 60 United in Stormwind packs, two random United in Stormwind Legendary cards, and the Lady Katrana Prestor card back!

Pre-purchase

*Bartender Ve’nari will also be available for pre-purchase before United in Stormwind goes live as a standalone item and can only be redeemed once per account. Bartender Ve’nari will be usable in-game, in the Battlegrounds game mode, no later than August 31, 2021.** Battlegrounds Perks are available upon purchase and expire at the end of the United in Stormwind expansion cycle.

Log in and Get Flightmaster Dungar for Free

Near or far, Flightmaster Dungar can take you wherever you need to go! Log into Hearthstone after the 20.8 patch goes live to receive the Flightmaster Dungar Neutral Legendary minion, for free, available to play immediately! Limited one per account.

Battlegrounds Updates

NEW HERO

• Final Showdown
  • [Passive] Buy 3 minions in 1 turn to give them +2/+2 and progress this.
• Gain Momentum
  • [Passive] Buy 4 minions in 1 turn to give your hand and board +2/+2 and progress this.
• Close the Portal
  • [Passive] Buy 5 minions in 1 turn to give ALL your minions this game +2/+2.

Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to Kurtrus before it's formally released on July 15.

NEW MINION

• [Tier 6] Battlecry: Refresh Bob's Tavern with your most common minion type.

RETURNING & REMOVED HEROES

• The Lich King has returned to the Battlegrounds Hero pool. There must always be a Lich King!
• Shudderwock has been temporarily removed from the Battlegrounds Hero pool.

• Galakrond’s Greed
  • Old: [Costs 0] Replace a minion in Bob's Tavern with a minion from a higher Tavern Tier. → New: [Costs 1] Choose a minion in Bob's Tavern. Discover a higher Tier minion to replace it.

• Smart Savings
  • Old: [Costs 1] Add a Gold Coin to your hand. → New: [Passive] After you sell a minion, get 1 extra Gold next turn. (Can exceed 10)

• Imprison
  • Old: Make a minion in Bob’s Tavern Dormant. After 2 turns, get it with +1 Attack. → New: Make a minion in Bob's Tavern Dormant. After 3 turns, get it with +1/+1.

UPDATED HEROES

• Sharpen Blades
  • Old: Give a minion +1/+1 for each minion you've bought this turn. → New: Give a minion +2/+1 for each minion you've bought this turn.

• Battle Brand
  • Old: [Costs 1] Refresh Bob’s Tavern with Battlecry minions. → New: [Passive] After you buy 5 Battlecry minions, add Brann Bronzebeard to your hand. (Once per game)

• Wingmen
  • Old: Start of Combat: Your left and right-most minions attack immediately. → New: Start of Combat: Your left and right-most minions gain +2 Attack and attack immediately.

• Stay Frosty
  • Old: [Passive] At the end of your turn, Frozen minions get +2/+1. → New: [Costs 0] Freeze a minion in Bob's Tavern. Frozen minions get +2/+1 every turn.

• Natural Balance
  • Old: Give a friendly minion of each Tavern Tier +2/+1. → New: Give a friendly minion of each Tavern Tier +1/+1.

• For the Horde!
  • Old: Give +1 Attack to the next minion you buy this turn (Upgrades each turn!) → New: Give +2 Attack to the next minion you buy this turn. (Upgrades each turn!)

• Avatar of N’Zoth
  • Old: Start the game with a 1/1 Fish that gains all your Deathrattles in combat. → New: Start the game with a 2/2 Fish that gains all your Deathrattles in combat.

• Menagerist
  • Old: Start the game with a 1/2 Amalgam with all minion types. → New: Start the game with a 2/2 Amalgam with all minion types.

• Bananarama
  • Big Banana rate increased to 50% (up from 33%).

MINION UPDATES

• Old: Divine Shield. Whenever you summon a Mech during combat, gain +1 Attack and Divine Shield. → New: Divine Shield. Whenever you summon a Mech during combat, gain +2 Attack and Divine Shield.

• Old: 8 Attack, 1 Health → New: 8 Attack, 8 Health

• Old: 1 Attack, 3 Health → New: 1 Attack, 4 Health

• Old: 4 Attack, 4 Health → New: 6 Attack, 6 Health

• Old: 2 Attack, 4 Health → New: 4 Attack, 6 Health

• Old: 3 Attack, 3 Health → New: 3 Attack, 4 Health

• Old: 4 Attack, 4 Health. Whenever you summon a Beast, give it +4/+4. → New: 5 Attack, 5 Health Whenever you summon a Beast, give it +5/+5.

• Old: 3 Attack, 3 Health → New: 3 Attack, 5 Health

• Old: 2 Attack, 3 Health → New: 2 Attack, 4 Health

DARKMOON PRIZES RETURN IN 25% OF GAMES

• Darkmoon Prizes are returning and will appear in one out of every four Battlegrounds matches! Games featuring Darkmoon Prizes happen at random and are not guaranteed to show up in every fourth match you play—it’s possible to have several games in a row with Darkmoon Prizes, or several games without. If you are in the bottom half of players (on the leaderboard), you are more likely to see better prizes.

DARKMOON PRIZES UPDATES

• Old: Give your minions +1/+1. → New: Give 3 random friendly minions +1/+1.

• Old: Give minions in Bob's Shop +1 Health for the rest of the game. → New: Give minions in Bob's Tavern +2 Health for the rest of the game.

• Old: For the rest of the game, reduce the cost of upgrading Bob's Tavern by (2) at the end of your turn. → New: For the rest of the game, reduce the cost of upgrading Bob's Tavern by (3) at the end of your turn.

• Moved to from Prize Turn 3 to Prize Turn 2.

Duels Updates

• Passive Treasures Cannabalism, Rally the Troops, Orb of Revelation, Band of Bees, and From the Swamp have been moved to Treasure Pool 2.

• Old: After a friendly Dragon dies, give your minions +1/+1. → New: After a friendly Dragon dies, give your minions +1/+2.

• Old: Your Taunt minions have +2 Attack during your opponent's turn. → New: Your Taunt minions have +3 Attack during your opponent's turn.

• Old: After you play a Holy spell, restore 1 Health to all friendly characters. → New: Whenever you play a Holy spell, give +1 Health to all friendly minions.

• Old: Whenever a friendly minion dies, give your minions +1 Attack. → New: Whenever a friendly minion dies, give adjacent minions +1 Attack.

• Old: After you play your first Battlecry card in a turn, draw a card. It costs (3) less. → New: After you play your first Battlecry card in a turn, draw a card. It costs (2) less.

• Old: Your Taunt minions cost (2) less, but not less than (1). → New: Your Taunt minions cost (3) less, but not less than (1).

• Old: After your first Discover in a turn, reduce the cost of spells in your hand by (2), but not less than (1). → New: After your first Discover in a turn, reduce the cost of spells in your hand by (1), but not less than (1).

• Old: After you play a Rush minion, summon a copy with 1 Health remaining. → New: After you play a Rush minion, summon a copy with 1 Health.

• Old: Whenever you cast a Fel spell, give a minion in your hand +2/+2. → New: Whenever you cast a Fel spell, give a minion in your hand +3/+2.

• Old: At the end of your turn, deal damage to all enemies for each Fire spell you've cast this turn. → New: At the end of your turn, deal 2 damage to all enemies for each Fire spell you've cast this turn.

• Old: Your minions that cost (2) or less have Poisonous. → New: Whenever you play a minion that cost (2) or less, give it Poisonous

• Old: Whenever an enemy dies, raise a 1/1 Bloated Zombie. → New: After the first enemy dies each turn, raise a 1/3 Bloated Zombie.

Fire Festival Returns July 6

The Fire Festival is back! This year, Ragnaros is throwing a house party in the Firelands. Everybody’s invited! Complete Legendary quests for up to 6 Year of the Phoenix packs and finish all 7 quests to earn the Druid of the Flame Malfurion Hero Skin! Ragnaros’ Fire Festival Tavern Brawl will return on July 7, and on July 14 a completely revamped Burndown Brawl will take its place.

Check out our Fire Festival overview blog for more details on the party, the new Eternal Flame bundle, and a sneak peek at exciting updates coming to Battlegrounds in the future!

New Cosmetic Coins Incoming

Stormwind is big on Trade, so you’ll need a lot of coins. Fortunately, we have two new Collectible Coins that will become available on August 3! Collect all 135 United in Stormwind cards to add the Lordaeron Coin to your Collection!

Stay tuned, we’ll reveal the second coin when we provide an update on what to expect from the Rewards Track for United in Stormwind in late July.

Book of Mercenaries Kurtrus – Coming July 13

Kurtrus Ashfallen had a vision. He saw a Warlock in the Barrens summoning the dreadlord Anetheron, an evil demon who took everything from Kurtrus during the Third War. Abandoning his fellow Demon Hunters, Kurtrus sets out to stop the Warlock. On the way, he joins forces with Cariel Roame, Paladin of the Silver Hand, who hopes to find her long-lost sister in the Barrens. What they find on Dreadmist Peak, heart of the demon-worshipping Cult of the Burning Blade, will be revealed in Book of Mercenaries Kurtrus, launching on July 13. Defeating all 8 bosses in this linear adventure will reward 1 Demon Hunter pack, containing only Demon Hunter cards from Standard!

Book of Heroes Gul’dan – Coming July 20

Gul'dan himself would admit that he is no hero, but his villainous exploits are equally legendary. Banished from his original clan, he made a pact with a demon to get his revenge, and later oversaw the creation of the Horde, the Dark Portal, and the first death knight. All the while, Gul'dan was eager to see how much power he could obtain before it caught up with him…Defeating all 8 bosses in this linear adventure will reward 1 Warlock pack, containing only Warlock cards from Standard!

Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

• A Daily Quest has been added for Nozdormu Day, which will appear on the 15th of every month if you have an available Daily Quest slot.
• Fixed a bug where Dark Inquisitor Xanesh was missing its keyword tooltip for Corrupted.
• Fixed a bug where the card generation animation would play twice if granted a ranked spell from Onyx Magescribe.
• Fixed a bug where High Abbess Alura would take no damage after casting Eye of C’thun with her Spellburst effect, despite VFX showing damage taken.
• Fixed a bug Southsea Scoundrel was not drawing a card for the opponent if the card was a ranked spell.
• Fixed a Battlegrounds bug where picking a non-Golden Tough Tusk with Mr. Bigglesworth’s Hero Power would give the minion permanent Divine Shield.
• Fixed a Battlegrounds bug where Tough Tusk would retain Divine Shield on defeated player’s boards.
• Fixed a Battlegrounds bug where Dynamic Duo would lose its stats after being tripled if Vol’jin’s Hero Power was used on it at any point.
• Fixed a Battlegrounds bug causing Reborn Rights (The Lich King’s Hero Power) to permanently give a minion Reborn under certain circumstances.
• Fixed a bug with Book of Mercenaries Guff where incorrect VO would play when target buffing friendly minions.
• Fixed a bug with Book of Mercenaries Guff where Lady Anacondra would sometimes cast Serpent’s Bite on an already Poisonous minion.
• Fixed a bug with Book of Mercenaries Guff where the AI would sometimes not attack with Deviate Nightmare if it was their only minion.
• Fixed a bug with Book of Mercenaries Xyrella where Garona’s Hero Power read “…Kingslayers” instead of “…Kingsbane”.
• Fixed a bug with Book of Heroes Anduin where Lightspawn could be discovered with a 3-mana cost.
• Fixed a bug where the last two class challenges for some Adventures were not accessible on mobile devices.
• Fixed a bug where Golden Core Set cards drafted in Arena would not be Golden once in a match.
• Fixed a bug where the XP earned indicator was not showing on the end of match screen.
• Fixed a bug where the XP earned indicator would not play the level up animation after leveling.
• Fixed a bug where some players would be queued for a Casual game when intending to queue for Ranked.
• Fixed a bug where ranked medals would persist on the friends list, even after a friend had logged off.
• Fixed a bug where a notification for the last Legendary a friend opened would be displayed after adding a new friend, regardless of how long ago the Legendary had been obtained.
• Fixed a bug in the profile page where the tooltip for Arena wins was incorrect.
• Fixed a bug where the Sir Annoy-O Hero Skin entrance animation was missing trumpets.

The 20.4.2 patch, which will release on June 16, includes one update for Wild and two balance changes for Battlegrounds.

Wild Update

• [[Stealer of Souls]] has been banned in Wild.

Dev Comment: We've decided to ban Stealer of Souls in Wild, where it caused many games to stray too far away from the type of gameplay we’re aiming for. After deliberating on the appropriate action, we’ve decided to ban the card in order to maintain its current, and healthier, function in standard—as well as eliminate the problems caused in Wild. We do not have plans to ban many cards in the future. Bans will be reserved for cards creating extreme gameplay issues where there is no great solution for all formats. Since this is the first decision of its kind in Hearthstone, we'd love to hear your feedback. We’ll continue to monitor the card in all Modes and formats to determine if further action is needed elsewhere. When Stealer of Souls rotates into Wild, we’ll reposition it for the Wild environment and remove the ban. If there are any balance changes to Stealer of Souls before then, we’ll re-evaluate the ban.

Stealer of Souls will be eligible for a full dust refund for 2 weeks after the 20.4.2 patch goes live.

Battlegrounds Updates

• Old: After you spend 3 Gold, gain a Blood Gem. → New: After you spend 4 Gold, gain a Blood Gem.

• Old: [Tavern Tier 6] 4 Attack, 8 Health → New: [Tavern Tier 5] 3 Attack, 6 Health

Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

• Fixed a bug that caused a copied Archdruid Naralex to give Dream cards to the wrong player.
• Fixed a bug where Lady Anacondra would not reduce the cost of Nature spells if she was already on the board when a Celestial Alignment was played.
• Fixed a bug with the reconnect feature on mobile.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Battlegrounds Rating to show as “0” when first opening the Player Profile.
• Fixed a bug that caused the Player Profile to show number of Battlegrounds first place finishes instead of Battlegrounds Top 4 finishes, as intended.

The 20.4 patch, which will release on June 3, includes the Wailing Caverns Mini-Set, updates across several modes, returning Card Backs and Hero Skins, and improvements throughout the game.

Wailing Caverns Mini-Set

The Wailing Caverns Mini-Set, launching worldwide on June 3, consists of 35 distinct cards—which can all be obtained from Forged in the Barrens card packs! The entire 66-card set (4 Legendary cards, 1 Epic card (x2), 14 Rare cards (x2), and 16 Common cards (x2)) is also available for purchase from the in-game or web shop, for either $14.99 or 2000 Gold!

Learn more about the Wailing Caverns Mini-Set here!

Standard Updates

• Old: Add 3 random 1-Cost minions to your hand. → New: Add 2 random 1-Cost minions to your hand.

• Old: Give a minion +2/+2. Draw a card. → New: Give a minion +2/+1. Draw a card.

The cards listed above will be eligible for a full dust refund for 2 weeks after the 20.4 patch goes live.

Dev Comment: As we move into the launch of the Wailing Caverns Mini-Set, we’re taking the opportunity to hit some of Paladin’s generic power. First Day of School and Hand of A’dal are strong performers played in all four main Paladin archetypes (Libram, Aggro, Secret, and Menagerie), and we are nerfing them in 20.4 to help other classes close the gap with Paladin. Another note on First Day of School: While the last balance change for this card only resulted in a mild change in power, we will still be attempting changes like it in the future. Our current balance philosophy is to move forward with light changes when we can, as we did when we first repositioned First Day of School, and we’ve seen great results over the past year with this approach. It’s important to us that players’ decks usually stay intact following balance changes, even if the power of the deck may shift down. This approach then leaves us open to make further adjustments later if we need to, like we have here.

• Old: Whenever you play a card with Overload, gain +1/+1. → New: After you play a card with Overload, gain +1/+1.

Battlegrounds Updates

NEW HEROES

• Devour [Costs 0]
  • Remove a friendly minion. Spit its stats onto another. Gain 1 Gold.

• Natural Balance [Costs 1]
  • Give a friendly minion of each Tavern Tier +2/+1.

Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to the new Heroes above before they are formally released on June 17.

HERO POOL UPDATE

• Maiev Shadowsong has been temporarily removed from the Battlegrounds Hero Pool.

NEW MINION

• [Tier 4, Demon] 3 Attack, 5 Health. At the end of your turn, if you have 6 or fewer minions, gain +3/+3.

MINION POOL UPDATES

• Quilboar are no longer guaranteed to be in every Battlegrounds match.
• Siegebreaker has been removed from Battlegrounds.
• Cap’n Hoggarr’s text has been reworded to say “whenever” instead of “after” (no functional change).

Duels Updates

When the 20.4 patch launches on June 3, the Wailing Caverns Mini-Set will be added to loot buckets and the pool of eligible cards you can use to build your 15-card starter deck. The patch also includes updates to the passive treasures system to make the system less deterministic.

Arena Rotation

When the 20.4 patch launches on June 3, the Arena will include cards from the following sets:

• Wailing Caverns Mini-Set
• Forged in the Barrens
• Darkmoon Races Mini-Set
• Madness at the Darkmoon Faire
• Scholomance Academy
• Ashes of Outland
• Kobolds & Catacombs
• Goblins vs. Gnomes
• Core

More Returning Card Backs & Hero Skins Than Ever Before!

We’re excited to share that many previously released Card Backs and Hero Skins will become available for purchase with Gold as of the 20.4 patch! With this patch, 94 Card Backs and 11 Hero Skins will be available! The following Hero Skins will be available at launch:

• Magni Bronzebeard*
• Alleria Windrunner*
• Medivh*
• Khadgar*
• Sylvanas Windrunner*
• Lei Shen/Thunder King*
• Dame Hazelbark*
• Maiev Shadowsong
• Morgl the Oracle
• Lunara
• Sir Annoy-O

* These Hero Skins also include their associated Card Back.

Card Backs will be available for either 500 or 600 Gold, while Hero Skins will be available for either 1200 or 1800 Gold. Simply navigate to the item you want within your Collection and click on it to purchase it with Gold. New Card Backs and Hero Skins will continue to appear in the shop when first introduced, but we will periodically update the Collection with more returning Card Backs and Hero Skins going forward.

Book of Mercenaries Xyrella – Live with 20.4 Patch

The Draenei called it The Night of Falling Stars, when shards of fractured Light rained across Azeroth. Guided by a mysterious voice, the priest Xyrella now searches the Barrens for the glowing shards which the voice promises can save her daughter's life. The priest's quest will be explored in Book of Mercenaries Xyrella, launching June 3rd. Defeating all 8 bosses in this linear adventure will reward 1 Priest pack, containing only Priest cards from Standard!

Book of Mercenaries Guff – Coming June 15

Guff Runetotem has always just wanted to help, but when "helping" means accidentally starting a treant rampage that nearly flattens Thunder Bluff, Guff vows to set things right. His quest for redemption leads him and his companions to the Wailing Caverns. What Guff finds inside will be revealed in Book of Mercenaries Guff, launching June 15th. Defeating all 8 bosses in this linear adventure will reward 1 Druid pack, containing only Druid cards from Standard!

Book of Heroes Malfurion – Coming June 22

As the first druid, Malfurion has solemnly defended the natural world from threats, including his own brother, for thousands of years. Despite his steadfast protection, the perils of Azeroth have only increased with time, and the enemies of the wilds grow in both strength and cruelty. Malfurion’s harrowing tale will be told in Book of Heroes Malfurion, launching June 22nd. Defeating all 8 bosses in this linear adventure will reward 1 Druid pack, containing only Druid cards from Standard!

Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

• Updated Friends List messaging to indicate whether friends in Play Mode are playing Ranked or Casual, and which format they are playing.
• Fixed a bug where copying Imprisoned Celestial with Mirror Entity resulted in the copied Imprisoned Celestial being unable to activate its Spellburst effect after awakening.
• (NEW) Fixed a bug that prevented the “Borrow Decks” feature from working.
• Fixed a bug where cost-reduction effects on Dormant minions would persist after the Dormant minion was played and awakened.
• Fixed a bug where effects that trigger after or whenever a spell is cast would not trigger if Oh My Yogg! converted the spell into a new spell with no valid targets.
• Fixed a bug that caused Sparkjoy Cheat to use both Scabbs Cutterbutter discounts if it put a Secret into play with its effect.
• Fixed a bug where Guidance’s Spirit Path option was not being counted as an Overload card when selected.
• Fixed a bug where Bogbeam and Ironbark’s cost reduction effects would not activate after casting Celestial Alignment and going back up to at least 7 Mana Crystals.
• Fixed a bug where Crabrider was not recognized as a Battlecry minion by cards like Field Contact.
• Updated the wording of Shield Slam so that it accurately represents the way that the card interacts with Spell Damage bonuses.
• Added language clarifying that both Classic and non-Classic versions of a card are removed from your collection when either version is disenchanted.
• Fixed a bug where Elite Tauren Chieftan would sometimes generate non-Classic versions of cards when played in Classic.
• “Quilboars” has been corrected to “Quilboar” as the proper plural form of Quilboar when displaying Battlegrounds minion types.
• Fixed a bug where Reckless Apprentice’s effect would cause some minion-only Hero Powers to hit the enemy hero.
• Fixed a bug that would result in duplicate treasures being offered in Duels.
• Prevented cards of the same name from different sets being offered in the same Arena run.
• Updated the Player Profile to display total wins for each game mode.
• Fixed a bug where progress related to progression tracks, such as the “Tavern Regular” achievement, would not properly update.
• Fixed a bug where reward pop-ups would sometimes not properly appear when the reward was earned.
• Fixed a bug that prevented players from switching accounts on iOS devices.
• Updated the New Player Experience to remove certain restrictions and to better indicate locked heroes, modes, and other features.
• Updated MMR calculation for returning players to better account for their time away from the game.
• Fixed a bug where effects that added copies of Diamond cards to a player’s hand or deck would add Golden versions instead of Diamond versions.
• Fixed a bug that would make some Diamond cards not appear in your collection if owned.
• Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause cards in hand to arbitrarily change positions.
• Fixed a bug where the wrong description would sometimes appear for items in the in-game shop.

The 20.2.2 patch, which will release later today, includes balance updates focusing on Standard and Battlegrounds, as well as several bug fixes.

Standard Balance Updates

• Old: [Costs 4] → New: [Costs 5]

Dev Comment: Spell Mage currently exhibits many explosive turns, with Refreshing Spring Water playing a significant role. By nerfing Refreshing Spring Water to 5 mana, we're aiming to lower the frequency of extreme turns where Refreshing Spring Water draws cards and gains you mana in the process. By lowering the frequency of those gameplay sequences, we believe the deck's range of possibilities will be more in line with other current options.

• Old: [Costs 0] Add 2 random 1-Cost minions to your hand → New: [Costs 1] Add 3 random 1-Cost minions to your hand.

Dev Comment: As we look at Paladin's continued strong performance across multiple archetypes, we're nerfing First Day of School in order to hit Paladin's early-game strength. By bumping up First Day of School's mana cost and the amount of 1-Cost minions generated, we are moving the card to fit a value role rather than its initial position as an efficient curve enabler.

• Old: [Costs 3] → New: [Costs 4]

Dev Comment: At 3 mana, Hysteria becomes an option before opponents really have the opportunity to consider how to best interact with it. Pushing Hysteria to 4 mana gives more space for those board-committal decisions to occur and also allows cheaper removal in Priest/Warlock to have a more distinct purpose.

• Old: Rush Windfury → New: Rush Battlecry: Gain Windfury this turn only.

Dev Comment: Crabrider is too efficient in some of our board-based decks, clearing minions and dishing out a lot of Windfury damage. By changing Crabrider's Windfury to only last until end of turn, we're pulling back on the lethality it poses if left alone for a few turns. We aim for Crabrider to still remain a solid option for decks looking to swing back the board, especially when combined with buffs.

• Old: Casts When Drawn Summon a 3/10 Mankrik, who immediately attacks the enemy hero. → New: Casts When Drawn Summon a 3/7 Mankrik, who immediately attacks the enemy hero.

Dev Comment: We are lowering the Health on Mankrik, Consumed by Hatred to soften the effect of an early Olgra draw. At 7 Health, the token will be more in reach of the mid-game removal that's available throughout turns 4-6.

Dev Comment: We're issuing a number of buffs in 20.2.2, mainly focused on bringing up struggling classes and archetypes. One of our goals for a meta is to provide deck diversity: not only different class options, but also attractive deck options that play markedly different from one another. These buffs follow that goal, as each one is targeted at helping out an underrepresented archetype or play pattern.

• Old: 2 Attack, 2 Health → New: 3 Attack, 2 Health

• Old: Reduce the Cost of all Corrupt cards in your hand and deck by (2). → New: Reduce the Cost of all Corrupt and Corrupted cards in your hand and deck by (2).

• Old: 2 Attack, 4 Health → New: 3 Attack, 4 Health

• Old: [Costs 4] → New: [Costs 3]

• Old: 4 Attack, 5 Health → New: 5 Attack, 6 Health

• Old: [Costs 4] → New: [Costs 3]

• Old: [Costs 6] → New: [Costs 5]

• Old: 2 Attack, 6 Health → New: 3 Attack, 6 Health

• Old: [Costs 6] → New: [Costs 5]

• Old: [Costs 10] → New: [Costs 9]

Battlegrounds Balance Updates

MINION UPDATES

• Barrens Blacksmith will be removed from the minion pool.

• Old: 2 Attack, 4 Health → New: 1 Attack, 4 Health

• Old: 3 Attack, 3 Health → New: 2 Attack, 3 Health

• Old: 2 Attack, 5 Health → New: 1 Attack, 4 Health

• Old: The first Blood Gem played on this each turn gives an extra +3/+3. → New: The first Blood Gem played on this each turn gives an extra +2/+2.

• Old: After a Blood Gem is played on this, give your minions +2 Attack for next combat only. → New: After a Blood Gem is played on this, give your other minions +2 Attack for next combat only.

• Old: 5 Attack, 6 Health → New: 3 Attack, 4 Health

• Old: 4 Attack, 7 Health → New: 3 Attack, 7 Health
• Old (Golden): Mega-Windfury. After this attacks, gain 2 Blood Gems. → New: Mega-Windfury. After this attacks, gain a Blood Gem.

• Old: 7 Attack, 7 Health. At the end of your turn, play a Blood Gem on all friendly minions. → New: 4 Attack, 4 Health. At the end of your turn, play a Blood Gem on all other friendly minions.

Duels Treasure Pool Updates

• Orb of Revelation has been moved from Passive Treasure Pool 2 to Passive Treasure Pool 2 Ultra Rare.
• Rally the Troops has been moved from Passive Treasure Pool 2 to Passive Treasure Pool 2 Ultra Rare.

Bug Fixes & Game Improvements

• Fixed a bug that removed Glaivebound Adept from the game. It will now be back in your collection, safe and where it belongs.
• Fixed a bug where Sparkjoy Cheat would draw a card whenever you had a Secret in your hand, even if the Secret was not castable (such as if the Secret was a duplicate of one already in play). Sparkjoy Cheat will now only draw a card if a Secret is cast from your hand.
• Fixed a bug where using Vol’jin’s Hero Power on Goldgrubber would sometimes result in Goldgrubber’s stats being reset each round.
• Updated language on certain Amalgam cards to properly include all Minion Types.
• Fixed a bug related to in-game notifications.
• Fixed a bug that prevented Battle-Ready Decks from being accessed if Dame Hazelbark was opened first.
• Fixed various bugs related to properly displaying pricing on items in the in-game shop.