Hearthstone Rise of Shadows guide: theme, cards and new content in the latest expansion

The next Hearthstone expansion is called Rise of Shadows and is released today. Blimey!

As with every other April expansion, this one’s quite a big deal for Hearthstone. When the first card set of 2019 arrives, all three expansions from 2017 will vanish from the Standard format. That means every card from Journey to Un’Goro, Knights of the Frozen Throne and Kobolds & Catacombs will be confined to Wild, where anything goes.

As a result we’re expecting a pretty meaty shake-up for the Hearthstone meta, as old favourites fall by the wayside and the developers gain a fresh slate on which to redesign the shape of the game for the next 12 months to come.

Beyond the general jiggling of the meta though, what else should you expect from Rise of Shadows? In this guide we’ve gathered together all of the information that’s been confirmed so far, so that you can get up to speed .

Our colleagues at sister site Metabomb are busy producing theorycrafted guides for old and new archetypes. Use this if you’d like to get warmed up ahead of Rise of Shadows’ launch, and we’ll have plenty more updates for you in the coming days.

Druid

Meta

• 1. Heal Druid – Heal Druid deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 2. Token Druid – Token Druid deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 3. Malygos Druid – Malygos Druid deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)

Hunter

Meta

• 1. Spell Hunter – Spell Hunter deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 2. Mech Hunter – Mech Hunter deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 3. Beast Hunter – Beast Hunter deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 4. Midrange Hunter – Midrange Hunter deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)

Experimental

• 1. Malygos Hunter – Malygos Hunter deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)

Mage

Meta

• 1. Spell Damage Mage – Spell Damage Mage deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 2. Hand Mage – Hand Mage deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 3. Tempo Mage – Tempo Mage deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)

Experimental

• 1. Freeze Mage – Freeze Mage deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 2. Control Mage – Control Mage deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 3. Dragon Mage – Dragon Mage deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)

Paladin

Meta

• 1. Secret Paladin – Secret Paladin deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 2. Dragon Paladin – Dragon Paladin deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 3. Immortal Paladin – Immortal Paladin deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)

Experimental

• 1. Midrange Paladin – Midrange Paladin deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 2. Holy Wrath Paladin – Holy Wrath Paladin deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 3. Mech Paladin – Mech Paladin deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)

Priest

Meta

• 1. Deathrattle Priest – Deathrattle Priest deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 2. Resurrect Priest – Resurrect Priest deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 3. Silence Priest – Silence Priest deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)

Experimental

• 1. Dragon Priest – Dragon Priest deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 2. Control Priest – Control Priest deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)

Rogue

Meta

• 1. Thief Rogue – Thief Rogue deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 2. Tempo Rogue – Tempo Rogue deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 3. Pogo-Hopper Rogue – Pogo-Hopper Rogue deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)

Experimental

• 1. Togwaggle Rogue – Togwaggle Rogue deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 2. Pirate Rogue – Pirate Rogue deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 3. Miracle Rogue – Miracle Rogue deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)

Shaman

Meta

• 1. Murloc Shaman – Murloc Shaman deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 2. Control Shaman – Control Shaman deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 3. Big Shaman – Big Shaman deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)

Experimental

• 1. Shudderwock Shaman – Shudderwock Shaman deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 2. Overload Shaman – Overload Shaman deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)

Warlock

Meta

• 1. Plot Twist Warlock – Plot Twist Warlock deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 2. Zoo Warlock – Zoo Warlock deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 3. Handlock – Handlock deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)

Experimental

• 1. Control Warlock – Control Warlock deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 2. Mecha’thun Warlock – Mecha’thun Warlock deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 3. Demon Warlock – Demon Warlock deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)

Warrior

Meta

• 1. Bomb Warrior – Bomb Warrior deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 2. Dragon Warrior – Dragon Warrior deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 3. Big Warrior – Big Warrior deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)
• 4. Control Warrior – Control Warrior deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)

Experimental

• 1. Rush Warrior – Rush Warrior deck list guide (Rise of Shadows)

Theme

The theme for Rise of Shadows is a pretty clear-cut good versus evil affair, and sees the League of EVIL planning dastardly doings against the city of Dalaran, many of the details of which have yet to be revealed by Blizzard.

Five of Hearthstone’s heroes are being assigned to the League of EVIL, while the remaining four will join the good guys over on the Defenders of Dalaran.

Here’s who’s joining which team, and which significant Warcraft character will be representing each hero:

League of EVIL

• Priest – Madame Lazul
• Rogue – Togwaggle
• Shaman – Hagatha
• Warlock – Rafaam
• Warrior – Dr. Boom

Defenders of Dalaran

• Druid – TBC
• Hunter – TBC
• Mage – Kalecgos
• Paladin – TBC

Cards

As you’d expect by now, around 135 cards will be added to Hearthstone with the launch of Rise of Shadows.

They’re separated into the usual recipe of neutral and class-specific cards, spread out among the established range of card rarirites.

There are a few interesting new mechanics coming to the game though, with each side of the story getting their own tools of the trade.

League of Evil

Heroes belonging to the League of EVIL will have exclusive access to these new card types:

• Callback Cards – Each hero in the League will have access to something known as a Callback Card. These reference the expansion each character first appeared in and so, for example, Madame Lazul gains access to the Forbidden flavour of things from Whispers of the Old Gods.

• Schemes – Each League hero will also have access to a Scheme card. These start off weak, but gain extra strength for each turn you leave them sitting in your hand.

• Lackeys – These are token creatures that are create by other cards in the League arsenal. They only have very minor 1 / 1 stats, but they come with a big battlecry effect to compensate for their weak attack and health values.

Defenders of Dalaran

For the Defenders, we’ve only seen one new mechanic so far, and it goes by the name of Twinspell.

Twinspell Cards – Cast one of these spells and you’ll receive a bonus copy of it in your hand, for use either now – if you have the mana to spare – or on a later turn. The Druid gets The Forest’s Aid, which costs eight mana and summons five 2 / 2 minions. If they die, no problem! You can cast it again on the next turn and maintain your threat on the board.

Single Player Content

Blizzard’s stayed pretty tight-lipped about what to expect from the single player experience, although we do know that it will be released some time after the launch of the core card set.

We’ve also learned that the size of the team responsible for this content has been doubled in recent months, and that the story – designed to be told across all three of 2019’s expansions – will be the biggest adventure in Hearthstone’s history.

You should also expect the kind of roguelike adventures that were featured in The Witchwood and Rastakhan’s Rumble expansions from 2018.

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