Brace your wallets.
During Wednesday’s big Hearthstone Twitch event, Blizzard announced a new expansion for Hearthstone, titled The Grand Tournament. This is the second non-Adventure expansion for Hearthstone, following last year’s Goblins vs. Gnomes.
The Grand Tournament promises to bring 132 new cards to Hearthstone, including new spells, new weapons, and of course, exciting new “champions.” Strong, exotic minions seems to be the focus of this new expansion, with a special emphasis on a brand-new text ability. Written as “Inspire,” this new effect triggers whenever the players uses his or her hero ability.
The Grand Tournament takes place after the Argent Tournament from World of Warcraft lore. The mood of the former will be far lighter than that of the latter, in order to fit in with the themes of fun and craziness that Hearthstone is typically known for.
In total, there have been four expansions for Hearthstone: two adventures ones, and two boosters ones. The first adventure, Curse of Naxxramas, release in July of 2014. Goblins vs. Gnomes, the first expansion to release a separate booster pack to distribute the new cards, was released in December of 2014. More recently, Blackrock Mountain, the second Hearthstone adventure, released in April of 2015. Blizzard is targeting an August 2015 release for The Grand Tournament.
Blizzard’s announcement was accompanied by a hilarious new trailer, set in the world of Hearthstone, featuring a ragtag mixture of champions, and voiced by a powerful male opera singer. Check it out below:
Cards will be announced on a rolling basis, leading up to The Grand Tournament‘s August release. Enthusiastic Hearthstone players can vote on Blizzard’s website for the classes they’d like to see new cards from each week.
Arena players can also rejoice. Like Goblins vs. Gnomes, the cards from The Grand Tournament will be automatically introduced into arena play when the expansion is launched for constructed play. And unlike the release of Goblins vs. Gnomes, winning a game in arena after The Grand Tournament‘s release will grant players either a Classic, GvG, or TGT card pack (determined randomly).
