New expansion, new mechanic! Corrupt is a new keyword arriving in Madness at the Darkmoon Faire!
What is Corrupt?
Corrupt cards upgrade with new effects while they are in your hand. The upgrade trigger happens after you play a card that costs more.
So far, we've seen only a few of the new Corrupted cards and we can already tell that the mechanic is going to be a high impact one, though it does come with a deck-building challenge. In order to get the additional effect, you need to play a higher cost card first while having the Corrupt card in hand. This can become troublesome, especially if the Corrupt card's cost is also high.
Being able to get the cards Corrupted might be even more difficult in Arena, for some of them anyway, since you usually don't draft very many high-cost cards. Good thing is that the cards seem playable on face value alone, so you can pick them and sometimes get the real value, but not be sad if you don't.
But Wait, There's More!
Liv Breeden, a Designer on the Hearthstone team, revealed in a recent interview, that there is going to be a 9-Cost Corrupt card with a crazy effect! I can't wait to see what it does!
With that in mind, there comes another twist - Y'Shaarj, the Defiler. Whatever that 9-Cost Corrupt card is going to be, you can get an extra copy, among other things, that will cost 0, from Y'Shaarj. This is getting even crazier :)
View our Corrupt Keyword Guide
You've got a taste for corruption and now you can learn more about the Corrupt effect in our in-depth Corrupt keyword guide.
What do you think about the new mechanic? Do you think it has potential? What characters would you like to see get corrupted? Tell us in the comments.
Learn more about Madness at the Darkmoon Faire
Head on over to our dedicated guide for Madness at the Darkmoon Faire to learn more about the new expansion and to see all the revealed cards!
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Comments
New Neutral Legendary incoming. Battlecry: corrupt all Corrupt cards in your hand and deck.
I like the concept. Because the keyword doesn't require you to play a card of higher cost and the Corrupt card in the same turn, it offers more deck building flexibility. It also lets Blizzard create Corrupt cards that cost more than 5 Mana; maybe that 9 Mana Corrupt card can be used as a reliable finisher in a slower deck, requiring you play a 10 Mana card first (unless its cost is reduced, of course). Although not all Corrupt cards will have a low to mid cost, I think the majority of them will (let's say, 2-6 Mana), which gives cards that may otherwise not be as useful in the late game a chance to be played. It also presents the skill check of, "Do I play this on curve for tempo or save it for value?"
I'm a bit worried about Y'Shaarj, but let's see all the Corrupt cards first.
I like the effect, it seems like it could open up some alternative playstyles.
But didnt they turn back on almost all their cards that generated 0 cost or reduced cost to 0, because they give crazy amount of value in one turn.
Well unlike Galakrond and Alex you have to pay for all these first. Comparing it to a game it's like buying the game and then playing it again later as opposed to just finding a copy of the game on the street for free. In one scenario you bought it already and just go back to use it and in another, you just get it absolutely free with no prior spending.
I must say I love how the art changes when they corrupt its extra work but it just look so good seeing the swap
I agree, tho for custom card designers out there, it will be a PITA to find appropriate art when making custom class for example :)
I like cards that have some impact earlier and if you wait them up they have a higher one, so I really like this keyword.
I'm really excited about this mechanic! The most flashy and expensive Spellburst effects we've gotten are Forest Warden Omu and Headmaster Kel'Thuzad, and tbh, no others were actually that exciting.
But Corrupt is different: the more expensive a Corrupted card is, the harder to activate the effect, so their power level scales exponentially! (Both with Mana cost and activation difficulty) All 3 that we've seen so far nearly double the effect. I can't wait how that 9 cost card will look! My guess is that it's going to be a new alternate win condition like Mecha'thun.
What I meant is that Corrupted Day at the Faire is a Stand Against Darkness, 5/3 times the original Mana (167%), Corrupted Dunk Tank is a nearly Shadow Bolt + nearly Consecration, so 7 mana, 7/4 times the original (175%), Fleethoof Pearltusk is a 4 Mana Rabid Worgen + Blessing of Kings, 8 Mana total, 8/5 times (160%), but it's Neutral, so it's understandably weaker.
My question about [Hearthstone Card (Y'Shaarj, The Defiler) Not Found] and whether its viable or not, is if the card returns the corrupted cards or their original versions. If original, I have a hard time feeling its swingy enough of a turn.
The text on Y'Shaarj says "Corrupted card" and when we look at all the corrupted cards they have the same bold Corrupted word written on it. So it must be the upgraded version.
There was video of it being played where it returned the cards as their corrupted versions
Thank you, I didn't watch the video it seems, appreciate the clarifications as this makes the card much better in my opinion.
I'm pretty sure they're corrupted. On the flip side, I doubt it would recognise any uncorrupted versions you play, so you are doubly incentivised to corrupt them if you want YShaarj to be useful.
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
My questions: Does it go off the original spell cost or current if it is reduced for Corrupt to trigger. Also if corrupted cards are drawn via a spell are those triggered upon pulling them from the deck or can only be triggered after being in hand first?
If you’re asking if a spell that draws a card can trigger Corrupt on the card it drew, I’d assume the answer is no, given that the card draw effect should come after playing the card, with corruption checks probably being directly in between them
I haven't played HS in a while, but IIRC "cost" always refers to the current mana cost of a card.
I don't understand your second question, but I'll just say a thing and hope it helps. A card will not become corrupted unless it is in your hand at the time you play a higher-cost card. (How it got to your hand should not matter, as long as it is in your hand before the other card is played.)