The Ashes of Outland patch ushers in a host of major updates and new features to kick off the Year of the Phoenix!

Card Packs Now Have Duplicate Protection Across All Rarities

Starting today, your card packs are going to be full of the good stuff—new cards! You’ll no longer receive more than two copies of any Common, Rare, or Epic card until you have owned two copies of all cards of that rarity in a set. Crafting a card counts towards acquiring it, and any cards you acquire and later disenchant (whether golden or non-golden) count as well. This means that if you get a card that you don’t want, you can disenchant it and you will not receive it again until you have all cards of that rarity from that set. This improvement even affects card packs you already own, but it won’t affect the overall distribution of rarities in card packs.

Free Deck for New and Returning Players

If you’re new to the game—or you’ve been away for a spell—we’d like to help you get right to playing and having fun. Starting today, players new to the game who graduate from the New Player ranks will get a free competitive deck from a class of their choice, built with cards from the Year of the Dragon! This also applies to players who haven't logged into the game in the past four months*.

*Free deck only available to players who have not logged into Hearthstone in the past 4 months beginning on March 17, 2020. Limit one per account.

Battlegrounds Updates

• If you currently have Battlegrounds bonus stats, choose from 3 Heroes, or visual emotes unlocked—you will get access to the equivalent new perks included with the Tavern Pass starting today, which you can learn about here. Battlegrounds Perks earned from collecting Descent of Dragons packs (including the new perks such as choosing from 4 heroes) will expire once Ashes of Outland is released.
• Cobalt Guardian has been removed from the Minion pool.

NEW HERO – Illidan Stormrage added to the pool.

• Wingmen [Passive] Start of Combat: Your left and right-most minions attack immediately.

NEW MINIONS –

Deflect-o-Bot [Mech, Tier 3] 3 Attack, 2 Health.

• Divine Shield Whenever you summon a Mech during combat, gain +1 Attack and Divine Shield.

Felfin Navigator [Murloc, Tier 3] 4 Attack, 4 Health.

• Battlecry: Give your other Murlocs +1/+1.

Card Changes

• Dr. Boom, Mad Genius
  
  • Old: Cost 9 mana → New: Cost 7 mana.
• Giggling Inventor
  
  • Old: Cost 7 mana → New: Cost 6 mana.
• Raiding Party
  
  • Old: Cost 4 mana → New: Cost 3 mana.
• Reckless Experimenter
  
  • Old: Deathrattle minions you play cost (3) less, but die at end of turn. (Cost can't be reduced below 1.) → New: Deathrattle minions you play cost (3) less, but die at end of turn.

Zephrys the Great—Now Greater Than Ever

• Zephrys the Great has been updated for the changes to the Basic/Classic sets in Year of the Phoenix:
  • Removal of the 5 Neutral and 6 Priest cards sent to the Hall of Fame.
  • Addition of Demon Hunter Basic cards (pending Ashes of Outland launch on April 7), and the 6 new Priest Basic/Classic cards.
• Improved ordering of simulated attacks to best make use of Rush minions to clear Taunts, in order to maximize potential face damage. This should solve many cases where Zephrys ‘missed lethal’ that involved trading a Rush minion into a Taunt before going face with other minions.
• Zephrys is now more likely to offer a Freeze card when the opponent has a full board, since it locks the opponent out of being able to play any minions.
• Fixed a bug where Freeze effects were sometimes offered against already-Frozen enemies.
• Fixed a bug where SI:7 Infiltrator was offered for next turn over Flare for this turn.
• Fixed several bugs involving the opponent’s weapon and/or Frozen state, for calculating whether healing should be offered.
• Fixed a bug where minions whose base cost was higher than 10 (such as Shirvallah, the Tiger) were evaluated as being extremely valuable.
• Fixed a bug where Windfury was not offered for use on a minion that has already attacked once this turn.
• Fixed a bug where Crazed Alchemist was offered to destroy your own Doomsayer.

Priest Cards Entering Hall of Fame

Players who own the Classic cards below will be granted the full Arcane Dust refund for each. Players who do not have access to the Wild format will have the two Basic cards removed from their Collection and will be granted a full dust refund for both.

• Classic – Auchenai Soulpriest
• Classic – Holy Fire
• Classic – Shadowform
• Classic – Prophet Velen
• Basic – Divine Spirit
• Basic – Northshire Cleric

Priest Balance Updates

• Power Word: Shield
  
  • Old: [Cost 1] Give a minion +2 Health. Draw a card.
  • New: [Cost 0] Give a minion +2 Health.
• Shadow Word: Death
  
  • Old: [Cost 3] Destroy a minion with 5 or more Attack.
  • New: [Cost 2] Destroy a minion with 5 or more Attack.
• Holy Smite
  
  • Old: [Cost 1] Deal 2 damage.
  • New: [Cost 1] Deal 3 damage to a minion.
• Holy Nova
  
  • Old: [Cost 5] Deal 2 damage to all enemies. Restore 2 Health to all friendly characters.
  • New: [Cost 4] Deal 2 damage to all enemy minions. Restore 2 Health to all friendly characters.
• Shadow Madness
  
  • Old: [Cost 4] Gain control of an enemy minion with 3 or less Attack until end of turn.
  • New: [Cost 3] Gain control of an enemy minion with 3 or less Attack until end of turn.
• Temple Enforcer
  
  • Old: [Cost 6] 6/6 - Give a friendly minion +3 Health.
  • New: [Cost 5] 5/6 Give a friendly minion +3 Health.
• Thoughtsteal
  
  • Old: [Cost 3] Copy 2 cards in your opponent's deck and add them to your hand.
  • New: [Cost 2] Copy 2 cards in your opponent's deck and add them to your hand.

New Priest Cards

Players will automatically be granted the two new Basic Priest cards, and the four new Classic Priest cards can be crafted or obtained from Classic card packs.

Basic - Psychic Conjurer

• [Cost 1] 1 Attack, 1 Health
• Battlecry: Copy a card in your opponent's deck and add it to your hand.

Basic - Power Infusion

• [Cost 4]
• Give a minion +2/+6.

Classic - Kul Tiran Chaplain

• [Cost 2] 2 Attack, 3 Health
• Battlecry: Give a friendly minion +2 Health.

Classic - Scarlet Subjugator

• [Cost 1] 2 Attack, 1 Health
• Battlecry: Give an enemy minion -2 Attack until your next turn.

Classic - Shadow Word: Ruin

• [Cost 4]
• Destroy all minions with 5 or more Attack.

Classic - Natalie Seline

• [Cost 8] 8 Attack, 1 Health
• Battlecry: Destroy a minion and gain its Health.

Neutral Cards Entering Hall of Fame

You will be able to keep your copies of these card once they move to the Hall of Fame, and you’ll also be granted the full Arcane Dust value for each card (up to the maximum number that can be used in a deck). The dust will be automatically awarded once you log-in after March 26.

• Acolyte of Pain
• Spellbreaker
• Mind Control Tech
• Mountain Giant
• Leeroy Jenkins

Ranked Overhaul - Coming April 1

Starting with the April 2020 Ranked Season, we're replacing the existing ladder in Ranked Mode with a new league system. The new system features five leagues to conquer—Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Diamond—each made up of 10 ranks. Players start each season at Bronze 10 and climb their way to Bronze 1 before graduating to the Silver league, and on through Gold, Platinum, and Diamond before hitting Legend. Each league will also have rank floors at rank 10 and rank 5, where you cannot go down in rank for losing a match. The New Player ranks will have their own league that runs from ranks 40–1. The Legend ranks will continue to work as they currently do.

Star Bonuses

To go from one rank to the next—say, Gold 10 to Gold 9—you will need to gain three Stars. You’ll gain one Star for each match you win and lose a Star for a lost match. At the start of each season, players will be awarded a Star Bonus based on their performance the previous season. This Star Bonus acts as a multiplier on the Stars you earn from each win.

For example, if you have a Star Bonus of 5x and you win a game, you’ll get five Stars instead of one. If your winning game is a part of a win streak, you’ll get double that: 10 Stars! Upon hitting each ranked floor in your climb, your Star Bonus will be reduced by one. When playing with a Star Bonus you’ll be matched by your matchmaking rating (MMR), meaning you’ll be matched even more precisely with players of your similar skill level when climbing!

New Ranked Rewards

We’ve reworked the rewards you earn at the end of each season of Ranked play. Your reward chest can now contain card packs from the latest expansion, Rare cards, and even an Epic card, based on the rank you achieve. Five wins at any rank will also award the seasonal card back immediately, instead of at the end of the season.

There are also brand-new first-time rewards. These one-time rewards of Classic card packs, Rare cards, and Epic cards will be granted immediately upon hitting a ranked floor for the first time on your account. Hitting Legend for the first time in the new ranked system will grant a random Classic Legendary card!

Ranking up To	End of Season Reward	First-time Rewards
Legend	1 Latest Expansion Pack	1 Random Classic Legendary Card
Diamond 5	1 Random Standard Epic Card	1 Classic Pack
Diamond 10	1 Latest Expansion Pack	1 Random Classic Epic Card
Platinum 5	2 Random Standard Rare Cards	1 Classic Pack
Platinum 10	1 Latest Expansion Pack	1 Random Classic Epic Card
Gold 5	2 Random Standard Rare Cards	1 Classic Pack
Gold 10	1 Latest Expansion Pack	4 Random Classic Rare Cards
Silver 5	2 Random Standard Rare Cards	1 Classic Pack
Silver 10	1 Latest Expansion Pack	4 Random Classic Rare Cards
Bronze 5	1 Standard Rare Card	1 Classic Pack

Demon Hunter Prologue – Coming April 2

The Year of the Phoenix introduces Hearthstone’s first new class since launch: the Demon Hunter!

Log in and complete the Demon Hunter prologue starting April 2 to receive all 10 Demon Hunter Basic cards, a 20-card Demon Hunter Initiate set (belonging to the Year of the Dragon for rotation purposes), and a pre-built Demon Hunter deck list—so long as you have an open deck slot. Starting with Ashes of Outland, 15 new Demon Hunter cards will be released with each future expansion in the Year of the Phoenix.

After the prologue has been completed, the Demon Hunter will officially unlock on April 7!

Set Rotation, Ashes of Outland, and Demon Hunter - Coming April 7

With the Year of the Dragon’s end at hand, the time has come for Rastakhan’s Rumble, The Boomsday Project, and The Witchwood to enter Wild and rotate out of Standard. The first new expansion of the Year of the Phoenix, Ashes of Outland, launches worldwide on April 7, bringing with it the Demon Hunter and the menacing Rusted Legion!

Launch Quest Chain

To celebrate the launch of the Demon Hunter we’ll be introducing a new quest chain on April 7, where you can earn free card packs from Year of the Dragon expansions and Ashes of Outland! The quests will be initially available on the following dates.

• April 7, 10:00 a.m. PT: Play 25 Cards in Play Mode to earn an Ashes of Outland and Descent of Dragons card pack.
• April 8, 10:00 a.m. PT: Play 3 Games in Play Mode as Demon Hunter to earn an Ashes of Outland and Saviors of Uldum card pack.
• April 9, 10:00 a.m. PT: Play 20 Spells in any mode to earn an Ashes of Outland and Rise of Shadows card pack.

Arena Rotation

Starting April 7, the Arena will include cards from the following sets:

• Basic
• Classic
• Rise of Shadows
• Saviors of Uldum
• Descent of Dragons
• Galakrond's Awakening
• Ashes of Outland
• Demon Hunter Initiate

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