A new expansion is coming out for the online Collectible Card Game (CCG) Hearthstone; and it’s called Murder at Castle Nathria. The expansion will feature two new mechanics and dozens of new cards.
Murder at Castle Nathria is the second expansion in “Year of the Hydra“, the latest season for Hearthstone. The game divides its seasons into years, after each year cards phase out of rotation for the “Standard” format and sometimes old cards are brought back as part of the base set.
You can find the announcement trailer for the Murder at Castle Nathria expansion here.
Two new mechanics will be added with the expansions release. The first will be “Location” cards. Locations take up a spot on the board as if they were a minion, but they’re similar to weapons in that they have a set durability.
Locations can be activated on a players turn (typically only once a turn) to perform their described effect at the cost of one durability. The latest patch notes say that some cards will interact specifically with Locations, but they’ve yet to be revealed.
The second, is a new keyword “Infuse”. The latest expansions have all played around with new keywords to spice up Hearthstone. The Infuse keyword means that minions and spells with the keyword will be powered up when the required amount of friendly minions die while the card is in hand.
For instance the revealed “Priest of the Deceased” card has “Infuse (3): Gain +2/+2” meaning the card will gain +2/+2 to its stats when the requirement is met.
The new set heavily draws from the latest World of Warcraft expansion Shadowlands.
The new set is expected to launch in August. Players will be able to purchase pre-order bundles before then which can include up to 80 card packs, an exclusive hero skin, and two random legendaries (among other things).