With a host of red-hot cards ready to hit the gameboards in less than a months time, we take a look at some of the highlights of the coming expansion.

Blizzard’s latest expansion to free-to-play hit Hearthstone hits the digital shelves in less than a months time (although as usual Blizzard are being tight-lipped regarding exactly when.) Blackrock Mountain seems very similar in style to last year’s Naxxramas expansion, with each expansion adding 30 and 31 cards to the game respectively, as opposed to Goblins vs. Gnomes 123 new cards. Blackrock Mountain is Hearthstone’s second PvE adventure, pitting players against a succession of 17 bosses spread over 5 wings, each wing related to an area, dungeon or raid from the Blackrock Mountain area in World of Warcraft.

Sporting two more bosses than July’s Naxxramas, Blackrock Mountain’s wings are rumoured to be named: Blackrock Depths, Molten Core, Blackrock Spire, Blackwing Lair and the Hidden Lab. If like me you’re still entranced by the Warcraft universe, but WoW itself has lost its lustre, perhaps a jaunt round some of your old haunts is what the doctor ordered? Hearthstone has always straddles the line between casual game and serious IP spin-off, with a reasonably robust pro-scene and a constantly evolving meta and satisfying touch-screen mechanics keeping the games engaging enough that you can play them on the toilet.

Each wing can be bought and unlocked as a pack for a little under £18, or individually with either real currency or in-game gold. From a design perspective, Blackrock Mountain seems to be very closely modeled on the Naxxramas expansion, with an almost identical price point, content structure and amount on offer. I’m not sure that’s entirely a bad thing, but it’s easier to see why another Goblins vs. Gnomes-style expansion would be preferable to some. With no initial cost, the Goblins vs. Gnomes business model was to introduce a lot of cards, and offer them only in a separate type of pack, encouraging a lot of extra pack sales and arena runs. Giving players 123 new cards, and not charging them upfront for the privilege is always going to be preferable (for many) to paying the best part of £20 to unlock 31 new cards.

Another returning mechanic from Naxxramas are the class challenges: Each class has a unique challenge tailored to it, which they must beat with a pre-selected deck, each class challenge unlocks a class card for that class. Each of the 9 classes gets 2 new cards in Blackrock Mountain, leaving 13 new neutral cards, of which apparently 5 will be legendary.

Speaking of cards, Blizzard have (at time of writing) revealed 14 of the 31 cards which will be available in Blackrock Mountain. Here’s my rundown on the top 3 cards in Blackrock Mountain (so far):

Top 3 Cards Announced So Far

Hungry Dragon – 5/6 for 4 mana

You can’t argue with the value of this card. Compare it to the Chillwind Yeti (a card which was considered fantastic for a very long time.) For the same mana, you get a Chillwind Yeti with +1/+1 and you give your enemy a 1-Cost minion. This card looks like it will sit really nicely in tempo and mid-range decks which have the board presence to neutralise the 1-Cost minion as soon as it spawns, as well as providing a relatively cheap dragon for the new Dragon-in-hand combos.

Dark Iron Skulker – 4/3 for 5 mana

At first glance, the stats on this minions seem a little underpowered, the same stats as a Piloted Shredder, but with no deathrattle, and for 1 more mana. However, this guy packs a Battlecry with a punch. Backstabs for everyone! There are some good and bad points on this card, but in general I think it’s probably good enough that it’ll see some play in constructed, especially if the aggressive meta continues into the release of Blackrock Mountain.

Lava Shock – Deal 2 damage. Unlock your Overloaded Mana Crystals. 2 mana

The shaman mechanic of Overload has always been one of my favourite mechanics in Hearthstone. The concept of very high value cards on the basis that you pay for them over two turns, and with this spell giving you the chance to unlock your overloaded mana crystals, in the right Shaman decks, it might end up being a free 2 damage more often than not. The perpetual problem in hearthstone though, is what to remove in order to fit this in your deck. Lacking the high damage of Lava Burst or Crackle, and the control of Frost Shock or Earth Shock, this card relies heavily on whatever is in the rest of your hand, because it frees up otherwise overloaded mana to be spent on it. To me, this card feels most at home on or around turn 5, as free unexpected removal the turn after overloading yourself.

See below for the Blackrock Mountain cinematic trailer:

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