Hearthstone is at it again with the latest expansion, Fractured in Alterac Valley which brings 135 new cards (including Legendary Heroes), a new gameplay mechanic with “Honorable Kill” keyword, and also Legendary Quests (8 Dec – 12 January).
It’s only been three months since we’ve got the United in Stormwind and if you are still busy trying to collect all the new cards and perfecting your deck, there is more surprise to come before the end of the year.
135 New Cards
There are definitely new cards that I’ve encountered and experienced myself which have impacted the meta and created wild gameplays. For example, just when we thought we’ve done meeting Priests with their annoying, never-ending Deathrattle cards, the latest expansion surely encourages them to revisit the decks.
Xyrella the Devout, the Priest’s new Legendary Hero card, will trigger the Deathrattle of every friendly minion that died in your game. Combined with new Deathrattle cards like Undying Disciple, Humongous Owl, & Shadowed Spirit, you can wipe the whole enemy board completely and possibly, the enemy hero. Then, you can either heal or armour yourself with Mo’arg Forgefiend & Lightshower Elemental, plus turn the tide of the game by resummoning powerful minions using Scrapyard Colossus & Plagued Protodrake.
The new expansion definitely encourages playing these deathrattle mechanics, thanks to these new cards: Amulet of Undying & Call of the Grave. It’s like having never-ending zombies come back to life which would certainly annoy your opponents to the max. These do take a long time to set up properly though so you may or may not survive before your evil schemes come to fruition.
But you don’t have to create an all new deck with the latest expansion if you don’t want to. For example, if you still want to play your Sorcerer’s Gambit Legendary Quest that you grab from the United in Stormwind expansion, you can. I personally still use it as my main deck to play Hearthstone and even with the new meta, it still is possible to win. Just beware of this new card – a cheap, yet annoying Irondeep Trogg! Speaking of which, this new minion can also be used to counter heavy-spell decks usually utilised by Mages and Rogues.
Check out all the new cards here, or if you want to see me unpacking 80 cards from the latest expansion:
New keyword: Honorable Kill
The new keyword gives you a bonus when you deal the exact damage to kill a character (usually a minion). It certainly gives your brain a bit of work with some calculations when you are dealing damages to your enemies. These new cards are usually damage dealing spell cards or minions that can deal a single or multi-target damage.
Legendary Quest – Battle of Alterac Event
The latest expansion also launches a special event which will reward you with golden rare and legendary cards. You have to pick a side (Horde or Alliance) where you will earn Honour points for that faction globally by playing games in Ranked, Arena, and Duels modes. The faction that acquire the most Honour by the end of the event will be declared victorious during the next mini-set, with every player receiving a Diamond version of the winning faction’s leader card.
Thankfully, you’ll get the same rewards no matter what faction you choose, except you’ll get them in different orders. For more details, make sure to check this wiki post.
Bringing back Hero cards is definitely one of the highlights here in my opinion. If you manage to unlock them, they definitely encourage you to build a certain, new deck with certain mechanics. Plus, with all these new cards and abilities, I’m seeing more deck varieties in the game which I really like. There are also lots of new cards to counter existing, annoying decks, so there is always something for everyone.
If you haven’t been playing Hearthstone for a while (perhaps you get sick of seeing Tickatus in almost every game against the Warlocks), this is definitely a good time to be back. There are many varieties of decks being used, and there are certainly lots of “What the” moments when facing opponents with new strategies that I haven’t encountered yet.
Disclosure: Hearthstone Fractured in Alterac Valley review code was supplied for reviewing
