The 20.0 patch for Hearthstone is due to arrive on March 25. It will be “a big one” as it comes with such a large patch number. The update nerfs Nitroboost and makes a few changes to Battlegrounds, and more importantly it sets the table for the upcoming launch of the Classic Format that will use all 240 of the game’s original cards, in their original 2014 incarnations.Unveiled in February, Classic Format is like World of Warcraft Classic for CCGs: It takes players back to the early days–specifically, the 1.0.0.5832 patch of June 2014–with all subsequent balance changes undone. Blizzard stated that the Classic format Warsong commander can give minions Charge, Holy Smite may go face, and Leeroy Jenkins would cost 4 mana. This is something I think makes sense to those who have played the game. Classic is the best place to recreate the classic Hearthstone experience. The patch will reflect your entire collection of Basic, Classic, or Hall of Fame cards. Once it is live, you can revert them to make them available for deck construction. Classic cards will be available in their own section in your Collection Manager. You can also expand your collection with Classic packs. This expansion will see the Core Set replace the Basic, Classic, and Standard sets. The Core Set cards will look slightly different from what was originally announced.
- 88 cards returned from Classic (54 cards for classes, 34 cards for neutral purposes).
- 52 cards returned from Basis (41 cards of class, 11 cards neutral).
- 55 cards returned from wild (36 cards for classes, 19 cards for neutral purposes).
- 4 cards returned from Ashes of Outland (Demon Hunter Class cards).
- 4 cards returned from Demon Hunter initiate.
- 1 card returned from Hall of Fame Shadowform
- 31 new cards (20 class cards, 11 neutral cards).
“After listening to the community, we have replaced the Core set versions Stonetusk Boar & Bluegill Warrior with two new minions–Emerald Skytalon & Redgill Razorjaw!” Blizzard said.
(Image credit: Blizzard)
Blizzard has also updated the Shaman Hero power in order to replace the Wrath of Air spell damage totem with Strength Totem. This totem gives you +1 Attack to any friendly minion at end of your turn.
(Image credit: Blizzard)
“The Great Unnerfing,” will see nerfs reversed to 36 cards rotating to wild. Between the rollout on March 25, and the set rotation of March 30, there will be five days. Blizzard stated that they expect the Standard meta to be “very interesting this weekend.” Here’s what’s changing:
Mage:
- Mana Wrym – Old: [Costs 2,] 1 Attack, 2 Health. – NEW: [Costs 2] 1 Attack, 2 H
- Wrym Weaver Old: [Costs 5,] 3 Attack, 6 health. Spellburt: Summon two 1/3 Mana Wryms. – New: [Costs 4] 3 Attack, 5 Health. Spellburst – Summon two 1/2 Mana Wryms
- Conjurer’s Calling: Old: [Costs 4″ – New: [Costs 3/]
- Dragoncaster – Old – [Costs 7] New : [Costs6]
Hunter:
- Flare – Old – [Costs 2] N ew [Costs1]
- Hunter’s Mark – Old: [Costs 2,] – Neu: [Costs 1,]
- Starving Buzzard – Old: [Costs 5,] 3 Attack and 2 Health – . New: [Costs 2,] 2 Attack and 1 Health.
- Dinotamer Brann Old: [Costs 8.] – .
Warrior:
- Charge – Old: [Costs 1, 1] Charge a friendly minion. It cannot attack heroes in this turn. – [Costs 3] Give an friendly minion +2 Attack, and Charge
- Bloodsworn Mercenary – Old: 2 Attack, 3 Health. – New: 3 Attack, 3 Health
- Scion of Ruin – Old: [Costs 4″ – New: [Costs 3/]
Shaman:
- Spirit Claws – Old: [Costs 2,] – New: [Costs 1,]
- Flametongue Totem Old: [Costs3] 0 Attack, 2 Health. – NEW: [Costs 3] 0 Attack, 3 Health
- Frost Invocation – Old: [Costs 2,] – New: [Costs 1,]
- Dragon’s Pack – Old: Summon two Spirit Wolves (2/3 each) with Taunt. You can invoke them twice. Give them +2/+2. – New: Summon 2/3 Spirit Wolves with Taunt. Give them +3/+3 if you have Invoked twice
- Corrupt Elementalist – Old: [Costs6] – – – [Costs5]
Druid:
- Keeper of The Grove – Old: 2 Attack and 2 Health – New: 2 Attack, 4 Health
- Ancient of Lore – Old: Choose One – Draw 2 cards; or Restore 5 health – New : Choose One – Draw two cards or restore 5 health
Priest:
- Power Word: Shield – Old: [Costs 0,] Give a minion +2 health. – New: [Costs 0] Give a minon +2 Health. Draw a card
Rogue:
- The Caverns Below Old: Quest: Five minions must have the same name. Crystal Core Reward (For the remainder of the game, your minions will be 4/4). – Quest: You can play four minions with the exact same name. Crystal Core Reward (For the rest, your minions will be 5/5)
- Edwin VanCleef: Old: [Costs 4″ – New: [Costs 3)
- Blade Flurry – Old: [Costs4] – Neu: [Costs2]
- Necrium Apothecary Old: [Costs 5,] – .
- Galakrond, The Nightmare (Applies for upgraded versions) – Old : Draw 1 card. It cost (1). – New: Draw 1 card. It costs (0)
Paladin:
- Call to Arms – Old: [Costs 5,] – Neu: [Costs 4,]
Warlock:
- Fiendish Rite – Old: [Costs 4″ – New: [Costs 3/]
Neutral:
- Undertaker – Old: When you summon a minion using Deathrattle to attack, you gain +1 Attack. – Neu: When you summon a minion using Deathrattle, you gain +1/+1
- Leper Gnome – Old: 1 Attack, 1 Health – New: 2 Attack, 1 Health
- Knife Juggler – Old: 2 Attack, 2 Health. – New: 3 Attack, 2 Health
- Frenzied Felwing – Old: 3 Attack, 2 Health. – New: 3 Attack, 3 Health
- Bad Luck Albatross – Old: [Costs4] – New: [Costs3]
- Saronite Chain Gang – Old: Battlecry : Summon another Saronite Chain Gang. – NEW: Battlecry: Summon another copy of this minion
- Arcane Golem – Old: 4 Attack, 4 Health. – New: 4 Attack, 2 Health. Charge
- Bonemare – Alt: [Costs 8.] – Neu: [Costs 7.]
- Archivist Elysiana Old: [Costs9] – New: [Costs8]
- Dragonqueen Alexstrasza Old: Battlecry – If you have no duplicates in your deck, add 2 random Dragons to it. They are (1). – NEW: Battlecry: If you have no duplicates in your deck, add 2 random Dragons to it. They are (0)
The patch will add magic spell schools to the previously released Spells, Standard and Wild. Blizzard stated that this “will increase synergies as well as a new layer in your collection.” This update will also change the Hearthstone Rewards Track in preparation for its first-ever refresh, which will see the number of core reward levels increase from 50 to 100 and half the amount of XP required for each level to be achieved. The patch will not grant Rewards Track XP to incomplete Madness at the Darkmoon Faire Games and Duels achievements. Instead, it will be available through new Forged In the Barrens Achievements. Blizzard will give away a Golden Classic Card Pack for everyone who logs into their account after the 20.0 update is live.
- Increased deck slot availability from 18 to 27
- The Deck Selection screen now has the Seasonal Ranked rewards chest. The March Seasonal Ranked Rewards will now give Forged In the Barrens and Madness at Darkmoon Faire packs.
- Each Achievement category has its own progress bar.
- Re-rollable the Weekly Quest Win 5 Games Ranked Play Mode
- Several loading tips have been updated to reflect the most recent changes.
- Updated Arena Rewards to include Forged in the Barrens Packs and not include Classic packs.
- Updated Tavern Brawls to reward a Year of the Phoenix instead of a Classic package
- Updated the Legendary quest lines for players so that many of them can be completed in Battlegrounds. They will also offer rewards packs from recent expansions, instead of Classic packs.
- Removing the returning player missions against Malfurion and Tyrande and updating the Legendary quest line to reward returning players with 15 cards packs from the most recent expansions.
- You can find the latest free decks here for returning and new players. *
- Updated Book of Heroes, so that you can unlock a class by completing all Book of Heroes missions.
- The Demon Hunter class has been updated so it can be unlocked in Play mode, or by beating the class using Practice mode. For players who have not completed the Demon Hunter prologue, unlocking the class will still unlock it. However, the Demon Hunter class pack will be rewarded with a 1 Demon Hunter class package.
- Fixed bug in which Wild cards wouldn’t appear in the Collection if Demon Hunter was not unlocked.
- Fixed a bug in which Zephrys The Great wouldn’t offer Shadowflame or Mass Dispel when your board was full.
- Fixed bug in which cards that target Deathrattle minions (such as Play Dead) would still work when Deathwarden was in play.
- Fixed an issue where minions that were buffed by Soul of the Murloc did not display a Deathrattle icon.
- Fixed a bug that prevented Khadgar from copying Vectus’ Deathrattle effects on Plagued Hatchling.
- Fixed a bug in which Sparkjoy Cheat casting secret from your hand could trigger an opponent’s Counterspell. The secret was still available to play. It will no longer trigger Counterspell.
- Fixed a bug that Shenanigans wouldn’t trigger if an opponent’s first card was a “Cast When Drawing” card.
- Fixed bug in which Shadow Clone could trigger even though there was a full board
- Fixed an issue where Crystal Core and Humble blessings were not able to grant persistent stat effects for either player.
- Fixed a Battlegrounds bug that minions that buff other minions wouldn’t visually update all minions that were spawned during combat.
- Fixed a Battlegrounds bug that caused the Prize Wall Hero Power to not display the correct number of turns for players other than Tickatus.
- Fixed a Battlegrounds bug in which secrets created from Prestidigitation had a Gold cost, despite not being cost-free to cast.
- Fixed a Duels bug that caused the win counter to show -1.
- Fixed a bug in Duels where duplicate card buckets could have appeared.
- Fixed a bug in Duels that prevented your deck from appearing on the end screen.
- Fixed an issue in Duels where Deathstrider Treasure could cause crashes if it was triggered by multiple Deathrattles.
- Fixed a bug in Duels where the Soulcial Studies Hero Power could still be seen as Coming Soon.
- Fixed a bug in Duels where Prince Malchezaar’s start-of-game effect wouldn’t activate if Prince Malchezaar had been drawn from Small Pouches.
- Fixed bug that prevented Solo Adventures’ victory banner from exiting the match by clicking it.
- Fixed a bug in Trial by Felfire that prevented the adventure from showing as complete despite having earned its completion Achievement.
- Fixed a bug in Trial by Felfire that could have caused the game to be locked if Gruul the Dragonkiller was defeated.
- Fixed an issue with Book of Heroes Valeera, where Varian Wrynn’s minions could not be placed on the board even though there was enough space.
- Fixed an issue with Book of Heroes Valeera, where the AI would play Sleep with the Fishes without any value.
- Fixed a visual bug in Book of Heroes Valeera, where minions playing at the start of a match would appear prepared to attack during the Mulligan.
- Fixed a visual bug in Book of Heroes Valeera that caused Rehgar Earthfury to appear incapable of attacking despite being able.
- A visual bug was fixed in V-O7TR-ON’s entry animation.
- Fixed a visual bug that Imprisoned Phoenix would temporarily appear while Dormant to give its Spell damage buff.
- Fixed a visual bug in which parts of the Zhuge Tiang Anduin Hero Skins and Diao Chan Valeera Hero Skins did not appear animated.
