Hearthstone: The Grand Tournament Arrives

Since Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft’s release on March 11^th, 2014, Blizzard’s free-to-play online collectible card game has been a huge success. As of June 2015, Hearthstone’s player base is between 8 and 9 million spread across PC and mobile devices and generating about 20 million in revenue per month.

Hearthstone so far has received two adventures: Curse of Naxxramas and Black Rock Mountain; and two expansion packs: Goblins vs. Gnomes and The Grand Tournament which was released August 24^th. The Grand Tournament features 132 new cards and introduces two new mechanics to Hearthstone. First is Inspire. This is a mechanic that can be found on minion cards. Minions with inspire will have special abilities that are activated by Hero Powers like gaining Attack or Health when a Hero Power is used.

Inspire your minions!

The second mechanic is Joust! Joust is a mechanic put into play as a minion’s Battlecry, when a minion with this Battlecry come into play, a random minion card is drawn from each player’s deck, to in the joust your minion has to have a higher mana cost than your opponent’s. If the joust is won your minion receives the bonus specified on his card, such as: taunt, divine shield, or bonus attack or health.

Joust against your opponents for glory!

Among the 132 new cards, The Grand Tournament brings 49 Common, 36 Rare, 27 new Epic cards, and 20 new Legendary cards coming from all around Azeroth to prove their worth in the grand arena! If grand crusaders and orc pirates weren’t enough to sate your bloodlust, why not a walrus jousting from the back of a turtle? Or a gorilla clad in heavy armor and giant lance?

That turtle looks ready for war!

Be sure not to fall beneath the might of a mighty murloc knight or even a lowly squire! What happens in Hearthstone stays in Hearthstone, right?

Ben Sullivan

I have been a gamer my entire life and I am very excited to make my passion a career. I enjoy long walks at cons and candle lit tables full of character sheets and dice. I believe that The Fifth Element is the perfect movie. My true passion for gaming lies in anything Blizzard Entertainment. I am always open to discuss anything games, television, movies, and tech.