In possibly the biggest Hearthstone announcement in years, Blizzard revealed that the current Basic (143 cards) and Classic (240 cards) sets will be replaced by a new Core set (235 cards) that will be given to all players for free! The Core set will change every year at the annual Standard rotation, at which point players will receive the new Core set cards for the following year.
This is huge news in many ways: it has a major effect on the evergreen cards that currently form the backbone of many decks, it will make every Standard rotation even more impactful, and it will reduce the cost of Hearthstone and make it more attractive for new and free-to-play players. In this article, I will take a closer look at each of these three effects.
No More Evergreen Cards – Quo Vadis, Edwin?
Can you imagine a world without Shadowstep, Preparation, Wild Pyromancer, or Unleash the Hounds? The list goes on and on. Everything that we have considered to be the backbone of Hearthstone decks will change. Or rather, may change.
Here is what we know of the upcoming 2021 Core set so far:
- 88 cards returning from Classic (54 class cards, 34 neutral cards)
- 54 cards returning from Basic (41 class cards, 13 neutral cards)
- 55 cards returning from Wild (36 class cards, 19 neutral cards)
- 4 cards returning from Ashes of Outland (4 Demon Hunter Class cards)
- 4 cards returning from Demon Hunter Initiate
- 1 card returning from Hall of Fame (Shadowform)
- 29 new cards (20 Class cards, 9 Neutral cards)
- Edwin VanCleef is out
The cards returning from Classic and Basic could, in theory, include all of the most played cards from those sets, but we already know from previous developer posts that Edwin VanCleef will not be part of the Core set, so at least some powerful cards will be leaving.
While there are 240 cards in Classic and 143 cards in Basic, many of them see no play. Looking at statistics from Diamond to Legend ranks, 148 Classic cards and 93 Basic cards see at least some play, and only half of those see regular play. The number that sees regular play roughly corresponds with the number of Basic and Classic cards that will be part of the 2021 Core set!
The 2021 Core set will be revealed in full in around two weeks, so we will know exactly how it affects the current evergreen cards then. Of course, the 2022 Core set might change things around again, so even if Shadowstep survives this round, it might not be around in Standard format next year anymore.
Regardless of how much things will change this year, the move to Core sets is a huge deal because of the potential it has to change the meta every year. Blizzard has been careful with moving cards to Hall of Fame because of their evergreen promise for Classic and because it puts a whole lot of dust in the hands of the players. Now, Blizzard can act much more freely, as they will no longer hand out dust refunds, but will instead keep the current Core set in players’ hands for free.
Standard Rotations Are About to Get Spicy, and Change Is the New Normal
The annual Standard rotation is already the biggest upheaval for Hearthstone meta, and I would say the absolute best time to play Standard. With three expansions worth of cards leaving the format every spring, new strategies actually have room to evolve, and there is a lot of experimentation.
The upcoming Standard rotation will be the biggest one yet: not only are we getting a new expansion like every year, but the Core set will also change. It is like getting two expansions at the same time!
Combine this with the mini-sets that are coming for each expansion now, and we have five major meta shifts and one absolutely huge meta shift coming to the game every year. That’s a major change every two months! Add in balance patches, and we have some meaningful meta changes every single month on average!
Compare this to the three expansions and about one balance patch for each expansion that Hearthstone had two years ago, and you can see that the freshness of the game has improved by leaps and bounds.
Hearthstone Is Getting Cheaper! Welcome to the Game!
Card games are notoriously expensive, and Hearthstone has not been an exception. Furthermore, as recently as November, Blizzard attempted to significantly increase the cost of the game with their one-two punch of a low-ball rewards track that decreased the gold players could earn combined with new mini-sets that would be expensive to acquire.
Players were outraged and the Hearthstone Reddit was full of threads of people quitting the game.
Since then, Blizzard has made amends.
The rewards track was improved twice, and now it actually gives players more gold than they had before. The first mini-set arrived, and it came with a bundle offer to acquire all the cards in the set for a reasonable sum of gold or real money. Now, the Core set will be made free for all players.
Three months ago, I would have advised any new players to stay far away from Hearthstone. Now, even though the game is by no means cheap, it is more affordable than it has been at any point since the end of the original adventures and the addition of more expansions each year. It will still be difficult to build multiple meta decks as a completely free-to-play player, but simply buying the pre-order of new expansions starts to look like a viable way to fully enjoy the game, which means that the price of the game gets closer to that of a World of Warcraft subscription with the option to buy additional cosmetics on top – not unlike buying store mounts and pets in WoW.
After years of increasing the cost of the game, Blizzard is now on a three-decision streak to make the game better and more affordable.
Is This Enough to Make Standard More Popular?
If you watch Hearthstone on Twitch, you have probably noticed that there are lots of Battlegrounds streams around, and constructed streams are in the minority. For constructed, Standard is by far the most popular, whereas Wild, Arena, and Duels are much harder to find.
Blizzard’s recent changes offer Battlegrounds players a pathway to constructed. First, the rewards track started to put more gold in their pockets, as in-game currency earnings from Battlegrounds were increased significantly. Now, the Core set will give them more than two hundred cards to build their decks with.
It is hard to see how dedicated auto-battler players could be enticed to play constructed Hearthstone – Battlegrounds is effectively a game from a completely different genre built into the same client – but many Battlegrounds players are also former constructed players, and making constructed more accessible could lure some of them back, at least partially.
Is it too little? Is it too late? That’s hard to say, but with the new Core set, Blizzard is making a good decision that will make it easier for people to enjoy constructed Hearthstone again.
People still play hs in 2021..sweet.
The more changes to the meta the less I’m interested in standard. I like to build a deck over the course of the year. This year was pure paladin, last year I was playing mostly highlander hunter. Each expansion should add a few changes to that years themes IMO.
I play battlegrounds a ton but I always play standard too.
I second Holy – keep up the good work HSTD!
Forget about Edwin, I’m more concerned to losing Highlander deck next rotation.
I’m specializing in Mage Deck and craft every Mage card available, and so far, Highlander is the most promising deck against all odds.
And as for the ‘Hearthstone getting cheaper’ part, nonsense. Sorry, but 3 miniset each year already costing me another 6000 golds even if it’s cheaper and more rewarding like you said. I’ve had more refined calculation nearing the end of expansion, and turns out, I’m just gonna have 1500 more gold than I had before the new track.
And furthermore,the HoF removal add even less dust bonus from hoarding certain cards. I may sound greedy, but it’s the only way F2P player like me can craft some cards if packs doesn’t give me the card I want.
But thanks for a good read. Keep up the good work
If this doesn’t get people back to the game, I don’t know what will.