Halloween is coming to Hearthstone in a three-week Hallow's End event featuring unique Tavern Brawls, the return of 23 powerful cards from Wild to Standard, a Dual-Class Arena dress-up party, new Legendary quests, a couple of new card bundles to throw your money at, and special rewards just for showing up.
The big shakeup in this year's spooky season is Treasures From the Tomb, which will see 23 cards brought from Wild to Standard for the duration of the event. To save crafting costs, these cards will be given to all players to ensure that everyone can take part, which means they cannot be crafted or disenchanted, and as event cards they'll be taken out of your deck once the Halloween party is over.
Still, that's three weeks to get up to some trouble with them, and you'll get the copies even if you already own the cards. It's something Blizzard hasn't done before, so it should be a lot of fun.
Here's the list, which is packed with cards that have the potential to redefine the meta:
Druid:
- Astral Communion
- Kun the Forgotten King
Mage:
- Babbling Book
- Flamewaker
Paladin:
- Mysterious Challenger
- Avenge
Hunter:
- Lock and Load
- Call of the Wild
Shaman:
- Evolve
- Thing from Below
Rogue:
- Shaku, the Collector
- Swashburglar
Priest:
- Lightbomb
- Vol’jin
Warlock:
- Imp Gang Boss
- Renounce Darkness
Warrior:
- Varian Wrynn
- Bloodhoof Brave
Neutral:
- N'Zoth, the Corruptor
- Sylvanas Windrunner
- Ragnaros the Firelord
- The Curator
- Emperor Thaurissan
There will also be a trio of Tavern Brawls to wade into, one for each week of the event. The first week will feature Doom in the Tomb Part One, which will see members of the League of E.V.I.L. racing to set a record run through the Haunted Temple. Finishing a run in under an hour will net you a Rastakhan's Rumble card pack, and if you can do it in less than 40 minutes you'll also get a Golden Common Ancient Mysteries card.
Week two will bring about Doom in the Tomb Part Two (although I think they should have called it Part Deux), giving the League of Explorers their shot at setting the best time. Rewards this time around are a Golden Common Temple Berserker card for beating the one-hour mark, and a Golden Rare Generous Mummy for doing it in under 40 minutes. Somewhat odd that the big prize is one of the least playable cards ever printed, but it's on theme I guess!
Finally, in week three, it's time for The Haunted Carousel: "You’ll need to strategize around minions constantly rotating board positions, all while controlling the Horseman’s time-shifted Dreadsteeds!" Blizzard said. I'm not entirely clear on what that means, but if you can summon 100 Dreadsteeds during this Tavern Brawl you'll get a Rise of Shadows card pack for your trouble.
In the Dual Class Arena Hallow's End dress-up party, players will choose a Hero and a Hero Power, and cards will be offered from both of those classes, along with neutrals. Active Arena runs will be ended when the event goes live (players in the midst of them will receive an Arena Ticket to make up for it), and to ensure that everyone has a chance to try it out, Arena Tickets will be awarded at login during the first two weeks of the event.
Two new bundles will be available for purchase during the event, the Hex—20 Rise of Shadow card pack and a random Rise of Shadows Legendary card—and the Flex—20 Saviors of Uldum card packs and a random Saviors of Uldum Legendary card—for $20 each. A new Legendary Doom in the Tomb quest will be unlocked at the beginning of each week, offering rewards of card packs and gold, and logging in at any time during the event will net you five card packs: Two from Saviors of Uldum, two from Rise of Shadows, and one Rastakhan's Rumble.
The Hearthstone Hallow's End event begins on October 8 and runs until October 30.
