Everybody's favorite theorycrafting streams return once more, ready to test how the Undead Scourge might fare against the Elves of Silvermoon. Numerous fortunate content creators get to play with new expansion cards (you can view all of them here) from the upcoming March of the Lich King set. Even if you are not interested in all of these revelations, it's still going to be worth it to log onto Twitch and let any Hearthstone stream run their course, for there are Hearthstone card pack Drops and bundle giveaways in store!
Unlike the previous Death Knight Showmatch, this time around we're going to see all of the classes on display. Every invited streamer gets to decide what they would like to play. And there are no unrevealed cards left to be spoiled ahead of time.
Important: Twitch Drops are already enabled! The campaign has begun 8 hours earlier than it was originally communicated by Blizzard, and it's apparently also going to finish 8 hours sooner than we were initially led to believe.
| West Coast PST (UTC-8) | East Coast EST (UTC-5) | Europe CET (UTC+1) | APAC KST (UTC+9) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 1 (Start) | 01:00 | 04:00 | 10:00 | 18:00 |
| December 2 (End) | 07:00 | 11:00 | 17:00 | 01:00 (Dec 3) |
Correct Info vs Incorrect Info
Unfortunately, it would seem that the official Blizzard blog post has been feeding us incorrect information for the entire week (you might recall the first time we mentioned this event was coming). That's also what has been reposted around the web by various publications and individuals, and in many instances probably won't get adjusted in time. Very disappointing. Instead of starting at the designated 9 AM Pacific (December 1) and running until 6 PM Pacific (December 2), the following is now true:
Quote From Alkali Confirmed :) Looks like we missed in in the blog but drops are live from 1am pst 12/1 to 7am pst 12/2. This is to cover our amazing Korean players who are doing their Theorycrafting from 1-7am pst (12/1) and ending w/ Japan doing their Theorycrafting from 1-7am pdt 12/2
If it doesn't sound entirely official, that's because it's only just been confirmed by Hearthstone Community Manager Alkali Layke, in a reply to ever watchful Ben Hearthstone.
How to Earn 2 Free March of the Lich King Packs
- Make sure your Twitch Account is connected to your Battle.net Account. It might require re-linking.
- Watch any eligible Hearthstone stream to earn your packs.
- Watch for 2 hours to get 1 March of the Lich King card pack. Then 2 more hours to obtain the 2nd pack.
- You will need to claim your first Twitch Drop reward BEFORE you can earn progress towards a second.
- You can view your current progress towards a pack (shown in %) at any time - Drops & Rewards via the Twitch User Interface.
- Refresh the stream window if you are not seeing any indication of progress towards the featured Twitch Drops.
- You will not receive the rewards automatically. They must first be claimed in the Drops Inventory menu on Twitch.
- After you’ve claimed your pack(s) on Twitch, make sure to enter the exact in-game server you’d like to receive the drop(s) on: the first region you log into will be where the pack(s) get delivered.
Quote From Blizzard […] watch a total of 2 hours of any Twitch steam across the Hearthstone category to earn 1 March of the Lich King card pack! Watch for another 2 hours and earn a second March of the Lich King card pack! Card packs will be locked until the expansion launches on December 6.
But that's not all! If you closely keep watching the streamers taking part in these theorycrafting events, you might be lucky enough to get your hands on a Pre-Purchase Mega Bundle code (usually requires typing a chosen keyword in the Twitch chat once a streamer announces it's go time). Of course that's akin to winning a small limited lottery; don't count on it happening most of the time.
Quote From Blizzard In addition to category-wide Twitch Drops, players participating in the theorycrafting event have been given Pre-Purchase Mega Bundle codes to give away to their respective audiences during the theorycrafting event. So, make sure that you tune in to your favorite streamer during the time period listed for their region!
Theorycrafting Streams & Participants
Both Standard and Wild content creators rise up to the occasion once again, being able to test a myriad of new cards and decks. Most of the Theorycrafting Streams won't last nearly as long as the Twitch Drops campaign, as there are narrow designated timeslots each region must respect:
Quote From Blizzard Join us starting on December 1 as your favorite content creators take the first steps into Hearthstone’s next expansion, March of the Lich King! In these theorycraft livestreams, Standard and Wild content creators will be coming together to give rise to what the new expansion has to offer.
Rules:
- Standard format: At least 10 or more March of the Lich King cards in each deck (this can be 10 unique cards, 5 duplicates, or anything in between).
- Wild format: At least 1 Legendary and at least 5 additional March of the Lich King cards in each deck (for a total of 6+ new cards in each deck).
How to Watch:
Invited players will be streaming their participation on their own personal streams, so make sure that you’re following your favorite Hearthstone content creators and tune in when they go live during the following time periods:
- Korea's Standard players: December 2, 1:00 a.m.-7:00 a.m. PST
- Europe and Americas Standard players: December 1, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. PST or 3:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. PST*
- Other APAC Standard players: December 2, 1:00 a.m.-7:00 a.m. PST
- Wild players (all regions): December 1, 3:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. PST
- Japan’s Standard players: December 2, 1:00 a.m.-7:00 a.m. PST
* Players in these categories will choose one of the two six-hour time slots.
We've corrected the quoted Blizzard post with the updated timeslots.
Unfortunately, we do not have any comprehensive list of all invited content creators - there are simply too many (apparently even for Blizzard to keep track of). It's probably safe to assume most of the Constructed streamers we are familiar with might get their chance here. Many of them have already announced their participation (or lack thereof) on their social media ahead of time. You pretty much can't miss them by opening the Hearthstone Twitch category and looking at the stream titles.
Plan to tune into various theorycrafting streams to see new card interactions, cheer on, and chill alongside your favorite content creators? If so, who do you recommend to follow?
Comments
Okay, so I watched the theorycraft stream, and here's my initial impressions;
Concoctions works differently than I thoughts. Turns out the the potions mixed together not on play but on receiving them, making them substantially better. If this works, then Potionmaster Putricide can turn out a lot of value. Meaning my initial review of this card is completely invalid. But as for whether the archetype will work? I think its best in jackpot rogue. Miracle really doesn't need it, at least in my view.
Paladin is good, aggro druid is shit, arcane mage may actually need to be nerfed its basically mozaki mage, shaman is shit, frost DK is completely and utterly broken, blood DK can and will destroy any aggro deck, warlock is janky.
But hunter. Turns out that the arcane build may not actually be shit. In fact, Shockspitter may actually need to be nerfed to 3 because it looks broken as hell. You can easily win by turn 6, and with brann there's really no upper limit as to how much damage this thing can do in a game. Conjured Arrow is one hell of a card.
DK is going to rule the roost week 1, I really hope team5 implements a way to tell the runes slotted because you'll never know what DK youre facing and they can be so polarizing in strat that a wrong mulligan can ruin you.
Nice insights! I'm not holding my breath for any DK Rune indication, handy as it might be. Arguably it's not so different from when you have the likes of Aggro/Ramp Druid/Rogue pretending to be Druid on ladder and where you'd go for vastly different mulligans if you could only know which is which.
Why are the CMs communicating so poorly? We get fed info wrong and, only then, hours to days later will we get correct info? Not trying to sound like complaining, but I never in all of my years of playing Blizz games seen it this bad. They might've in the past, but I probably didn't notice it.
Think it's also worth mentioning that some content creators are also doing giveaways on Youtube, like Zeddy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wV3VFiCeI4
Also, a little "hack" on those mega bundle giveaways 😉 watch a smaller content creator with less viewers for a higher chance of getting a mega bundle. You're also supporting the smaller HS content creators which is never a bad thing either.
Everyone is doing giveaways on their Twitter/YouTube/Twitch etc. pretty much every season now and sometimes in between, so that stopped being news per se (plus impossible to keep track of hundreds). Plus their timing varies greatly. And good point there!