How did the Murder at Castle Nathria reveal season go? Did you see any cool cards? Now that we received the final dump, all the new cards are available for discussion and, most importantly, theorycrafting. With this being said, many Hearthstone developers found some time to answer the community's questions regarding how certain cards work, why they got designed that way and many other interesting insights.

In this article, we're going to go over the most meaningful contributions from Team 5, which you can see listed below. If you're interested in a particular paragraph, make sure to click on one of these titles, as you'll immediately jump to it without the need to endlessly scroll.

Moreover, if you're interested in this kind of content, you might want to check out these other articles we recently published:

Clarification on How Wild Spirits Interacts with Wildseed Beasts

Now that the reveal season is over, we finally know all the cards belonging to the Wildseed archetype. One of them, in particular, raised some question regarding how it works: we're talking about Wild Spirits.

Wild Spirits Card Image

See all Wildseed cards from the Castle Nathria expansion.

The interpretation problems come with the second half of the effect: does the 1 turn discount apply to all the Dormant Wildseed Beasts you'll summon from now on? Or does it apply to just the ones that are already on your side of the board?

While we were sure that the answer would've been the first one, Hearthstone Game Designer Leo Robles stated that no, we are wrong: Wild Spirits affects only the Wildseed Beasts currently on the board (including the ones summoned by Wild Spirits itself) - no Incanter's Flow-like effects this time.

Quote From Leo Robles

Not sure if I'm just thinking too much or what, but does Wild Spirits make future Wildseeds awaken 1 turn sooner, or just current Dormant Wildseeds?

It affects any currently on your board (including those just summoned from this). This doesn't affect future Wildseeds.

Why Orion, Mansion Manager is a Murder at Castle Nathria Card

This insights is strongly WoW's lore related. In case you didn't know, Orion, Mansion Manager is a Constellar, a mysterious race of humanoid-shaped constellations whose main job is to watch over Azeroth, looking for any signs of instability and, when necessary, intervene. Another Hearthstone example of Constellar is The Boomsday Project's (un)forgettable Harbinger Celestia.

Orion, Mansion Manager Card Image

Now, as you might have understood, Constellars have nothing to do with the Shadowlands and, in particular, with Sire Denathrius' castle. But why is Orion, Mansion Manager a card then? Hearthstone Game Designer Cora "Songbird" Georgiou stepped in and shared some wisdom with the community.

Long story short, Cora initially wanted to give the "Mansion Manager" role to another character, Blanchy (a Sinrunner, which is a type of black horse that can be found in Revendreth), but nobody else on Team 5 agree with her idea, so they ended up creating a Constellar "who is watching the Mansion through various portals."

Quote From Songbird

Back from my Hearthstone social media hiatus to ask: What the heck is a CONSTELLAR doing in Castle Nathria? @Celestalon? @Songbird_HS? ANYONE?

This was one of the rare occurrences where we have an effect/archetype and need a character to fit. I thought Blanchy would be funny, but nobody agreed with me. :( Ended up making this OC who is watching the Mansion through various portals.

Clarification on How Warrior's Riot! Works

Warrior's Castle Nathria set is based around the Enrage mechanic: if you or your units are not at full Health, you'll have access to particular benefits. Among all the cards, Riot! seems to be very good when it comes to getting rid of some opposing Taunts and hit your opponents in the face.

Riot! Card Image

No, Blizzard!

However, there's one thing about this card that is not very clear: does Riot! eat up the minion's attack like Soul Mirror used to do (meaning that, after you cast Riot!, your units cannot attack anymore in that turn) or can they still attack afterwards (like with Trueaim Crescent)? Hearthstone Designer Alex "Gonnzo" Smith replied stating that after Riot! your units will still be able to attack.

Quote From Gonnzo

Does Riot! eat a minion attack or no? Is it different to attack with my minions and play Riot! vs rioting and then attacking? I remember Soul Mirror ate attacks but Trueaim Crescent didn't.

Riot does not use up minion attacks.

Steamcleaner's Design

Yesterday's final reveal dump included the Steamcleaner unit: although we have already received tech cards that affect decks (think about Descent of Dragon's Wyrmrest Purifier), Steamcleaner is very original in the way it works.

Steamcleaner Card Image

While this unit is going to act as a hard counter to any form of Lady Prestor and Kazakusan builds, Songbird mentioned that Steamcleaner was initially meant to be an answer to Ignite Mage, even though that archetype isn't relevant anymore.

Quote From Songbird

Hearthstone Community: Lady Prestor and Kazakusan are too good!

Devs that made a card intended to counter Ignite even though Ignite isn't relevant now: Say no more!

Did you find any of these dev insights interesting? Are you excited for the new expansion? Let us know in the comments below!