The next card expansion for Hearthstone will deal with the troubling subject of goblin on goblin violence. As predicted, the RNG-loving card game is heading to the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan. The big hook for this set is the creation of three crime families, the Grimy Goons, the Jade Lotus, and the Kabal. As I understand it, each family will be associated with three of the existing Hero classes. So for instance, the Kabal combines Mage, Priest and Warlock. In gameplay terms, this means the creation of ‘Tri-Class cards’, which will only be useable by those Heroes. It’s an interesting idea, which should add another welcome layer of complexity to deck-building.
On stage, executive producer Hamilton Chu, unveiled a handful of new cards. Piranha Launcher is a 5-Mana Hunter weapon with 2 attack and 4 durability. Each time it attacks it summons a 1/1 Piranha. The first Tri-Class card show was the Kabal Courier. It’s a 3 Mana 2/2 that lets you Discover a Mage, Priest or Warlock card. So, it’s versatile, but also pretty unreliable.
Most exciting was Kazakus, the Kabal legendary. He’s a 4-mana 3/3 whose text reads: “If your deck has no duplicates, create a custom spell.” When this Reno Jackson-style effect is active, the player chooses between creating a one mana, five mana, or ten mana spell. That selection then reveals three random effects appropriate to that cost. Once the card is complete, it is placed into your hand. There are supposedly 100 different combinations of spells you can make. Watch this video to see an example of how it works.
We’ll find out more about the set shortly, thanks to the ‘Hearthstone - What’s Next’ panel. The cards will also be playable on the BlizzCon show floor, so look forward to some hands-on impressions over the weekend.
