Hearthstone's next expansion has just been announced and it's - GASP - Showdown in the Badlands. And it features a cowboy theme. Who could've seen this coming? The expansion also comes with two new keywords, a splitting of the classes into two groups, and the return of a fan favourite highlanding explorer (not him). Let's get into it!
Setting and Characters
The main story of the expansion focuses on The Bloodrock Mining Company and their leader, Sheriff Barrelbrim, who are mining the Badlands for riches. 5 classes are part of the company, focusing on the Excavate keyword: Death Knight, Mage, Rogue, Warlock, and Warrior. More about Excavate in the next section.
Opposing him is a band of outlaws led by a returning Elise Starseeker, who is in charge of the other 6 classes: Demon Hunter, Druid, Hunter, Paladin, Priest, and Shaman. The blog post mentions that the events of the expansion take place before those of League of Explorer, so none of the other members are present here.
Highlander cards make a return this expansion. Each of the classes under Elise will get a highlander card, with Priest getting Elise Herself.
New Mechanics and New Cards
As mentioned, there are two new keywords this expansion, and one of them is Excavate. When you play a card with Excavate, you get one of 5 Treasures of a certain rarity and add it to your hand. The next time you excavate, the rarity and cost both go up. Once you achieve maximum rarity, it starts over. The 5 Bloodrock classes will be able to Excavate up to Legendary, while everyone else will have to make do with Commons, Rares, and Epics.
All the non-Legendary treasures can be seen in the table below (Note: None of the treasures are collectible, the rarity gems just tell you how deep you Excavated):
Bonus! Legendary Treasure from the expansion trailer reveal!
The other keyword is Quickdraw. This one is pretty simple: Get a bonus effect if they're played the turn they enter your hand.
We also have a few cards that are not part of any of the above categories:
Lastly, there's is Thunderbringer, which is the free Legendary for the expansion and is available now.
What do you think of this expansion? Are you excited to get your boots dirty in the Outlands? Let us know in the comments below!
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