Big announcement for the new standard season: Year of the Mammoth! Along with the set rotation, six classic cards are moving to Wild and they are adding the Maiev Shadowsong Rogue skin.
- Six cards from the Classic set will be moved to Wild: Azure Drake, Sylvanas Windrunner, Ragnaros the Firelord, Power Overwhelming, Ice Lance, and Conceal.
- You will receive a full dust refund for these cards, but you also get to keep the cards!
- Daily login rewards will be available for a limited time— offering dust, gold, and expansion pack – At the start of the new rotation.
- Maiev Shadowsong Skin for Rogue will be unlocked by playing 10 games of Hearthstone in Standard Ranked or Casual mode after the next expansion launches.
- There will be no Adventure this year and instead we’ll get three expansions, with the second and third containing a playable story.
- Blizzard will be looking to hold Wild Tournaments in the future.
- Heroic Tavern Brawl will be returning and will involve the Wild format.
I’m seeing a lot of questions about Golden/non-Golden dust refunds. You receive dust up to the amount of how many of that card you can put in a deck. You get dust back for one Legendary, and two of any other rarity. So, if you have a Golden Ragnaros and a non-Golden Ragnaros you will receive 3,200 dust. If you have one Golden Conceal and one non-Golden Conceal you will receive dust for one Golden and one non-Golden version.
The question was asked about restoring Molten Giant to its previous version: “We’re considering it for the next rotation.” – Ben Brode. When he says “next rotation” he literally means in 2018, so don’t get too excited yet!
Cards added to the “Hall of Fame” will no longer appear in packs! [Source]
Here’s the full art for the Maiev Shadowsong Rogue Skin:
Check out the official blog post after the jump!
A Year of Mammoth Proportions!
We’ve got a lot of great things on the horizon for Hearthstone in 2017, including new content launches, innovative ways to get together and play with friends, improvements to keep Hearthstone fresh and exciting, and more! Read on to get the full scoop on what’s happening this year.
Year of the Mammoth Roadmap
2017 marks the end of the Year of the Kraken and the beginning of a new Hearthstone Year: The Year of the Mammoth. Each new Hearthstone Year brings a fresh start in the form of a new Standard format. Once the Year of the Mammoth officially begins with the first major expansion of 2017, Blackrock Mountain, The Grand Tournament, and League of Explorers cards will become exclusive to Wild.
Set Rotation Is Coming
Last year, we introduced a New Way to Play, which introduced the Standard and Wild game formats to Hearthstone.
In order to keep Hearthstone exciting and accessible as more cards are added, Standard allows players to use the most recently released cards, as well as a core of Basic and Classic cards. Our overall intention with Standard is to keep the game feeling fresh for all of our players, and to allow newer players to jump into Hearthstone quickly, without collecting lots of cards to build a competitive deck. Standard also gives our developers more freedom when designing new cards for the future.
However, over the course of the Year of the Kraken, certain cards in the Classic set have contradicted these goals. When cards show up too frequently in decks and are considered auto-includes, deck-building becomes more limited. Deck variety stagnates, potentially interesting build-around cards fall by the wayside, and the gameplay experience begins to feel less dynamic. Most cards should feel like situational additions to a deck, depending on the deck archetype the player is trying to build.
To help meet our goals, certain cards from the Classic set will become exclusive to the Wild format. These cards will be added to the new Hall of Fame set, which will also include cards that are currently in the Reward set.
Neutral Cards
Developer’s Note: The first three of the six Classic cards that will be added to the Hall of Fame set are powerful Neutral cards that show up in many decks and reduce the chance of new cards having an impact. This is truer for cards in the 5+ mana cost range because players tend to use fewer of these cards in a deck.
Azure Drake is a strong Neutral card that ended up being a bit too versatile, and thus became one of the most played cards in the game. There should be more five drop options for players, rather than considering Azure Drake an auto-include.
Similar to Azure Drake, it’s hard to see a card at the six mana cost out-value Sylvanas. In addition, Sylvanas has the most powerful Deathrattle effect in the game—as a comparison, the Priest card Mind Control costs 10 mana. We have exciting Deathrattle build-arounds coming soon, and in combination with Sylvanas, they would be too powerful for Standard.
Ragnaros is heavily played in both control and mid-range decks and even shows up as a finisher in certain types of aggro decks. His high immediate value and strength at the eight mana cost made the decision during deck-building, “Is this eight mana minion better than Ragnaros?” rather than, “Is this eight mana minion the best choice for my deck type?” Dozens of cards in the seven to nine mana range never saw play because Ragnaros was always the easy choice in that range, and some decks only want to run one high cost card.
Class Cards
Power Overwhelming allows for extremely mana-efficient minion trades or high spikes of damage for only one mana. Keeping this card exclusive to Wild will prevent some crazy combinations and spike damage. Warlock decks also tend to use lots of Classic cards, so the decks changes less when new expansions release. This change will help increase the variety of cards in Warlock decks over time.
Freeze Mage is a fun deck that has been around for over three years now, and we’d like to see more variety with Mage decks after each major release. This move allows Freeze Mage to continue existing in Wild, while creating more variety in Standard. Ice Lance also prevented us from making powerful Spell Damage cards and designs that allowed you to duplicate your cards. Ice Lance was also a very high burst damage card, sometimes being a key component of 30 damage combos.
Stealth is a very powerful mechanic, and can also be very frustrating to play against—more for some classes than others. Hearthstone should ultimately be a game of plays and counter plays, and Conceal makes it increasingly more difficult for other classes to interact with Rogue minions as time goes on. We considered promoting Gadgetzan Auctioneer to Wild instead, but in the end we decided to move Conceal because Auctioneer has proven to be one of the most skill testing cards in the game. We think the power level of Auctioneer decreases with this change, and games where Auctioneer is played will be a bit more interactive.
We wanted to allow players to disenchant Classic cards that are being added to the Hall of Fame set for full dust refunds, but then felt that incentivizing players to dust their cool Wild cards was counter to our goal of making Wild awesome.
So instead, we’re just going to give you the dust, and you can keep the cards!
Up to the maximum number of cards you could put in a deck, we will give you the full dust value of any cards you have that are being added to the Hall of Fame set. (Yes, that means if you have at least one Golden Ragnaros, you’ll get 3200 dust!) The dust will be automatically awarded upon log-in once the Year of the Mammoth begins.
Adventuring in Expansions
Looking back, we learned a lot in 2016 with the introduction of the Year of the Kraken. One of the things we’d like to put additional focus on for the Year of the Mammoth is having additional deck-building options and deck variety in Hearthstone. To help give players additional tools and options to accomplish this, we are changing up the way we handle our release cycle. Previously, a Hearthstone Year alternated between Expansions and Adventures.
For the Year of the Mammoth, our release cycle will include a ~130 card expansion at the start of the year, a ~130 card expansion in the middle of the year, and another ~130 card expansion at the end of the year.
Why the change of release cycle?
At their core, Adventures paint colorful and thematic stories about the Hearthstone universe. Imagine being able to learn about the history and lore behind each of our sets inside the game in a similar way! Defining who the Jade Lotus are through a series of battles between the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan families would have been a great way to supplement the overall Gadgetzan story arc. That concept is something we would like to do more of in future sets: Take the storytelling and cool missions of Adventures, and combine them with the card pools of expansions.
Cards will be acquired via packs like other expansions in the past; additionally, each release will include optional single-player missions that will help develop the expansions’ thematic narratives and offer fun challenges.
We’d like to continue being flexible and refine the way we roll out content so it’s more enjoyable for all of our players. The second expansion of 2017 will be our first step into this new design, and we plan on building on this concept over time. Additional details about our free single player content will come at a later time.
Where the Wild Cards Are
With the cards from Blackrock Mountain, The Grand Tournament, and League of Explorers becoming exclusive to Wild, the Wild format is going to be more exciting than ever before! For our players that enjoy playing in Wild, we’ll be supporting it in more ways in 2017.
Sometime after the release of our next expansion, we plan to run a Heroic Tavern Brawl utilizing the Wild format. With so many cards at your disposal, our most passionate and hardcore Hearthstone players and deck-builders will be put to the test.
We will also be collaborating with third-party tournament organizers to promote additional Hearthstone tournaments using the Wild format. Whether players are dueling in competitive Standard or Wild, we want our community to be excited about all of the various ways to play Hearthstone, and we hope additional official support for both formats will help to accomplish this.
We’re super excited about the ever-growing Wild ecosystem, and we’re looking for new and interesting ways to continue supporting it in the future.
Gather ‘Round for Fireside Gatherings
If you’re not familiar with Fireside Gatherings, they’re a great way to get out and meet people just as passionate about Hearthstone as you are! Fireside Gatherings mean a lot to us, and we’re planning on beefing up this program and adding additional in-client features to support Fireside Gatherings during the Year of the Mammoth. Keep an eye out for more information about Fireside Gatherings closer to the release of our first expansion this year—it’s never too late to become an Innkeeper!
Celebrate the Year of the Mammoth Together!
That’s not all for the Year of the Mammoth! Before the release of our next expansion, we’ve got a flurry of activity planned to support its launch: Daily login rewards will be available for a limited time— offering dust, gold, and expansion packs—as well as a few other surprises in the weeks before launch to blaze a trail for everything our next expansion has to offer.
Awardin’ a Warden
Login rewards aren’t the only things we’re offering to get players excited for the Year of the Mammoth: A new Hearthstone Hero approaches the Tavern!
The new Rogue Hero, Maiev Shadowsong, has emerged from the shadows, eager to become a part of your Hearthstone collection after 10,000 years of tolerating bad “You are not prepared” jokes from Illidan. Legion beware: Adding this vengeful Night Elf to your collection will be easier than teaching an old felhound new tricks. Just win 10 games of Hearthstone in Standard Ranked or Casual mode after the next expansion officially launches to acquire her.
Year of the Mammoth Wrap-up
There’s a lot on the horizon for Hearthstone in 2017; we hope you’ve enjoyed this look into the year ahead and we’ll see you at the Inn!
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so if i have 3 azure drakes (1 common, 2 golden), do i get dust for 2 goldens or 1 golden and 1 common of dust.
2 Goldens.
I have 3 azure drakes, 2 normal, 1 golden. Which ones will be refunded? 1 normal + 1 golden?
I also have the normal versions of syl and rag.
Should I craft all the golden ones? (not trying to maximizing the refunded dust, just to have the golden ones for free)
You will receive dust for 1 normal and 1 golden.
It’s only really worth crafting the golden cards if you don’t already have the normal cards. You would, however, gain a small amount of dust by crafting and dusting Golden Common cards apparently.
Here’s an explanation: https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/5uj8xt/maths_on_year_of_the_mammoth_dust_investments/
Be interesting to see what the “replacements” are that they release for Standard since, as it stands with BRM, LoE and TGT going into wild – plus these classic cards – this pretty much kills off, or at least hamstrings, so many current archetypes.
Dragon Decks lose Twilight Guardian, Blackwing Technician and Corruptor (worse for Dragon Priest as they lose Wyrmrest agent and Twilight Whelp).
Miracle Decks lose Azure Drake, Emperor Thaurissan and, in the case of Rogue, Conceal and Tomb Pillager – Raven Idol and Living Roots for Druid which also hamstrings Malygos Druid with Arcane Golems.
Highlander Decks lose Reno Jackson.
Aggressive Mage decks lose Flamewaker and Arcane Blast.
Control Warrior/Priest lose Justicar Trueheart.
And RIP Anyfin Pally, Everyfin Shaman, Resurrect Priest and Camel Hunter as all the key cards are going.
It looks like the archetypes that will be least affected will be:
Aggro Pirate Warrior
Aggro Pirate Rogue (though she’s losing Buccaneer)
Warlock Zoo (though losing PO)
Facehunter (I can see this making a comeback actually, though losing Quickshot is going to pretty much remove all card draw)
Buff Decks
… and the meta will move yet further in favour of aggro unless there are some really well thought out cards in the next expansions.
Buff Paladin, Buff Hunter and Buff Taunt Warrior may increase in strength relative to the new meta though as they’ll be almost unaffected – and it’s already been hinted at that there will be further cards to complement the mechanic.
Oh – I forgot – Shaman loses the Tunnel Trogg > Totem Golem combo so it’s not all bad 😛
Oh – and I’ve only just read the STB nerf, so that’s aggro Pirate decks nicely tamed.
Buff, Zoo and Facehunter it is then.
I have golden rag and sylvannas and also normal rag and sylvannas. So if I understand well I will get 6400 dusts for free AND then disenchant all those cards and have another 4000 so 10400 total just for rag and sylvannas? What the hell….
Well they want you to keep the cards, thats why you get free dust. Besides, even if you dont play wild, I’m pretty sure both rag and sylvanas come in handy in funky tavern brawls and possibly future adventures.
So if I craft out a Golden Rag, I’ll get 3200 dust back when it’s moved and then I can disenchant that card so I’ll get plus 1600 dust. Is that correct?
Yes that’s correct, but it only really works if you don’t have Ragnaros already. If you have a normal copy of Ragnaros you get 1,600 dust, so you wouldn’t have gained anything.
wild format, here i come
So can I craft all these cards going to wild and basically double my dust when new expansion comes? Sounds a good deal.
It wouldn’t be doubling your dust, you’d get the refund from what you crafted and then you could disenchant the cards at the normal dust rate.
So the “free dust” mechanic here is obvious to me. Does anyone know if after getting the free dust you are then able to disenchant extras for full value? So for example if I got a golden drake and 3 regular drakes. I get 900 “free dust” for one gold and one reg. And then I disenchant the two extras getting 200 more dust.
You can disenchant the cards, but you don’t get full value.
well there goes a great game lets all be snowflakes now and play aggro no more skill blizz bad move bro bad move
With Azure Drake now moving to wild and the loss of other serious dragons in standard, Dragons are now well and truly dead, unless the next set has some really good ones. Same goes for Highlander Decks.
with Kazakus in the last expansion it makes me believe that more Highlander cards are on the way to help fill in the void left by Reno.
I don’t believe Dragons will be down for long…
Reno isn’t the only card loss that impacts these decks. The loss of Brann Bronzebeard will reduce the Kazakus (and others of that type) abuse and hurt them.
I don’t have Rag.
Can I craft him now, and when the expansion will arrive I’ll get the dust back?
So basically I’ll just get him for free?
Yes.
thos that meant that i can enchant rag or sylvanas now then get theyre dust when mammoth year come,and have free sylvanas or rag?
Yes, if you don’t have the cards you can craft them and you will receive the full refund effectively giving you them for free.
So if I have normal Rag ( from a pack once) and now will craft a golden one – I will get only the 1600 dust for the normal version, not the 3200 from the golden one?
If you craft a Golden Ragnaros you will get 3,200 back.
First of all I want to say it is a couple of months that I play only Wild so I am not really aware of the situation of the Standard but I honestly think these are great news for Hearthstone. Azure Drake and Sylvanas were auto-included in almost every deck and Ragnaros was in every mid-range and control deck. I am not sure about the other three cards… I can understand Power Overwhelming (because is a very simple board control tool in every Warlock deck) and Conceal (because is way too broken with Questing Adventurer, Edwin VanCleef and Gadgetzan Auctioneer) but Ice Lance? How can I play a Freeze Mage without Ice Lance? Anyway, great news overall!!
Except one thing: why no adventures this year?
They must have felt like Adventures didn’t shake up the meta enough. One Night in Karazhan made very little impact on the meta, and I also wonder if Adventures are storage intensive which has been a problem for Mobile.
No ICC incoming.. FeelsBadMan
Well, it’s possible we get something Icecrown. If you look at the expansion graphic above the second expansion has kind of an icy runes thing going on. Either that or it’s Ulduar.
Of course they refused Adventures for players good, not to make us donate hard for Expansion packs. And of course heroic brawls would *suddenly* appear just few weeks before Expansions, so players are able to enjoy last days of meta in most competitive way(not to make them waste all gold)
What if I have a regular AND golden rag. Do I get dust for both and keep the cards.
You only get dust for the Golden Rag, and you get to keep both cards.
could someone plz confirm how much dust I get for having 1 normal rag and 1 golden rag. 3200 or 4800?
3,200 dust, you only get dust for the Golden Rag.
This is huge for Hearthstone.
3200 dust for having Sylvanas and Ragnaros alone. Login rewards before the expansion coming soon. 390 new cards coming out over the course of the next year. And we finally got an alternate hero for Rogue! I’m sad for Azure Drake, but this year is going to be crazy awesome!
Is there any clarification on how you get the dust if you have both a golden and non golden version of a card? For example, I have a golden rag and a non-golden rag. Will the golden version take precedence and therefore I get 3,200 dust? Will I get 4,400 dust (1,200 for regular rag, 3,200 for gold rag)? I know it mentioned I’ll get dust up to the value of a playset, but I don’t see clarification on if I have a playset in gold and a regular playset.
You only get dust for the Golden Rag if you have both. https://twitter.com/bdbrode/status/832304344892477441
Not sure I get it, so what is the Hall of Fame for? And does that mean you will no longer get those classics (Drake, Sylv, Rag) from classic packs?
I have 1 golden conceal and 1 golden Ice lance, does that mean i get the dust value of 2 of them (800 dust each) or just one (400 dust each)?
Hall of fame just seems like a way to label what they are doing with those particular classic cards. It just really means the cards are headed to Wild.
You would get 400 dust for each card up to however many you can put in a deck. So you can get 800 dust for two golden Conceals but only 3200 dust for a golden Legendary.
But since I only have 1 Golden conceal I only get 400 dust as far as golden conceal is concerned?
Yes.
I see, thank you for the clarification
Does this mean if I have a normal Rag and I wanted to make a golden Rag, would I get the golden Rag 3200 dust back AND the 1600 from normal Rag? Or would I just get a free Golden legendary?
You’d only get 3,200 dust back from the Golden Rag. So if you have one and you craft the Golden one, here’s how the match plays out = 3,200 Cost for Golden Rag – 3,200 Dust Back + disenchanting Golden Rag 1,600 = 1,600 Dust. If you already have a normal Ragnaros you are getting 1,600 dust back regardless so it doesn’t change anything.
RIP Ragnaros. In wild he’s simply outclassed by Dr. Boom.
So, if I craft 3 Golden Ragnaros now, I’ll get 10800 dust and get to disenchant them for normal cost (1600 each)?
You can’t craft more than 2 copies of any card (1 for Legendaries). If you have a playset of a card already, you cannot craft more than that.
He said, “up to the maximum number of cards you could put in a deck”, so I’m assuming you could craft a single golden Rag and a single golden Sylvanis to get max value, but only one of each.
With the retirement of several cards from the Classic set (drake, Rag, Sylvanis, etc.), will we be seeing them replaced with cards from sets that have moved to Wild?
I guess that we will probably see nerfed versions of those cards, they are removing them because they are “too good” so probably they would create something similar, more expensive and with some extra unneeded effect.
i think absolutely
I think this is a great question.