A new set is about to come out in Hearthstone!
peep the current reddit spoiler here
Centered on the story of Arthas, it's called Knights of the Frozen Throne. It imagines a fanfic of Arthas's dramatic fall from grace as engulfing all nine other characters as well, and introduces a new type of card: Hero Cards. Each replaces your Hero with a new one, giving you a new Hero Power and some armor.
Two of the Death Knights have been revealed so far: The Hunter one and the Shaman one. The Hunter one costs 6, the Shaman one costs 5, and they both give you 5 armor. (I expect they all will except one or two. Maybe Warrior will have more and Priest will have less? We'll see.) The Hunter one deals 2 damage to all your opponent's minions when you play it, and makes your Hero Power very interesting. Basically, for 2 mana, you can Build-a-Beast. First, you discover a Beast. This determines the base stats and text of the guy you're making. Next, you discover a second beast, this one guaranteed to be vanilla or french vanilla. It then adds the cost, power, toughness, and ability (if it has one) to the first creature and puts it into your hand. So the awesome combo people are already theorycrafting is Vicious Fledgling into Stonetusk Boar for a 4/4/4 charge that's guaranteed to get at least one Adapt off. Pretty cool stuff! And you get to wipe the board! All for 6 mana.
The Shaman one just got revealed today, and it's a little less complicated. Again, it's 5 mana and gives you 5 armor, but this time its Battlecry effect is that it Evolves all your creatures +2. So all your dudes become random creatures that cost 2 more. Turn 10 Doppelgangster into this is 3 random 7-cost minions. Pretty crazy! And your Hero Power now Evolves target creature you control.
First thing I have to say about this set is that the art looks particularly stellar. Eternal Servitude is some of the best art I've ever seen in HS. Overall I think they nailed the vibe, and I think their change from alternating between large sets and Adventures to just doing hybrid sets each time is working out incredibly well.
I'm really excited to see Hearthstone take the game in a direction it's never been before. With the 1-2 punch of Quests in Ungoro and Death Knights in KFT, they're really demonstrating that they aren't afraid to expand beyond just minions and spells anymore and push the game to its limits. While Lord Jaraxxus and Majordomo Executus ensure that people aren't TOO overwhelmed by the complexity of the new Hero Cards, they still imbue the game with an exhilarating spice. And I think it's cool that they finally found a way to fit Death Knights into the game without breaking their version of the color wheel. Alas, just as Magic will never get its sixth color, Hearthstone will surely never get its tenth class. But it's cool that they found a way to work them in a different way in a way that still honors the feel of what Death Knights are all about.
With its focus on Hero Powers and return to Northrend, this is the first Hearthstone set that feels like a "sequel" to a previous one: The Grand Tournament. And I've got to say, I think they do the sequel thing way better than Magic does. Every time Magic does a sequel, the old one overshadows it almost necessarily. But this set feels fresh and exciting, while still paying homage to the old set in a way that keeps players who have been playing for a couple of years feel like they're a part of the continuity.
All-in-all, while I'm not as hyped as I was for Ungoro (which I really think was one of their best sets of all time—if I had to rank them besides Classic, I'd say League, GVG, Ungoro, Kharazam, TGT, Naxx, BRM, Whispers), I'm still really excited for the set. What do you guys think? Are you excited? Is there anything you're still hoping to see as the remaining spoilers trickle through? Let us know, and until then, may your town always have more beds open than Stratholme.
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