Digital card game Hearthstone to get massive update in near future

The ever-so-popular digital collectable card game based on the legendary World of Warcraft and published by Blizzard Entertainment, Hearthstone, will see receive a new update on February 15th. It brings a new mini-set, essentially a smaller set of new cards as opposed to the larger full expansion set releases, and updates to the Battlegrounds, Mercenaries, Duels, and Arena game types. The mini-set of cards itself, which are shown off in the trailer below, will be 35 cards large. The full list can be found on the developer announcement page for the upcoming patch.

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For the uninitiated, Battlegrounds is a game mode within Hearthstone that allows eight players to face off in 1v1 matches, with the goal being to be the last player standing. To begin a Battlegrounds match, you must choose a hero. With that in mind, three brand new heroes have been added into the mode; Varden Dawngrasp, Rokara, and Onyxia. These characters will be formally released on March 1st, however, if you have the Battlegrounds Perks, the $5-per-expansion pass, you will receive early access to them on the same day the patch releases. To flair up your Battlegrounds gameplay even further, a first of its kind Battlegrounds Finisher will be added to the real money shop. These are flashy new animations for any hero you pick to play within this mode that will play on a winning attack from your hero to the opponent. And to go even beyond that, two new boards will be added to the mode as well and will be available for purchase on February 22nd alongside the new Battlegrounds Finisher.

Mercenaries mode, the variant that mixes RPG elements with the traditional card game elements of Hearthstone's normal gameplay, also sees a brand new limited-time event that will take place from February 22nd to March 10th. During this event, 10 tasks will be handed out. If you manage to complete all of these given tasks, you will be given a variety of rewards, including an epic version of the Chi-Ji Mercenary card, a brand new portrait for your profile, and over 1000 total mercenary coins. There are also a fair few new mercenary cards, all of which can also be found in the full patch notes.

The only change to the Duels mode is a nerf to the Infinite Arcane card, seeing it rise from a 5 mana cost to a 7 mana cost. Arena, however, will see a new season begin when the new patch lands and will include cards from the following sets:

• Fractured in Alterac Valley
• Fractured in Alterac Valley Onyxia's Lair Mini-Set
• One Night in Karazhan
• Blackrock Mountain
• Journey to Un'goro
• Mean Streets of Gadgetzan
• Descent of Dragons
• Core

These are simply the highlights of this massive patch, and the full patch notes go further in-depth about the new cards and their stats alongside various bug fixes and general improvements to be implemented with this patch. Hearthstone is free-to-play on the App Store as well as Google Play.