It's Leap Day! Every four years, we save up enough spare hours for an extra day in February, because time is an illusion and the calendar is ridiculous. While the concept itself is ridiculous, it does give us a chance to look back on what's happened previously - what was Hearthstone like four years ago? How has the game changed since then?

Step in to your time machine of choice and I'll guide us through some of the differences between the game now and the game on February 29th, 2016.

A Wild Time

One of the most significant differences is one that we take for granted now - Standard didn't exist yet!

It was announced at the start of February 2016 that Standard would be coming with the first expansion of the year, which wouldn't reach us until late April. As such, it was a time of chaos - those unused to the concept of formats from other games (including myself, at the time) mourned the 'loss' of powerful cards like Loatheb, Sludge Belcher, Antique Healbot and Mad Scientist.

Loatheb Card Image Sludge Belcher Card Image Antique Healbot Card Image Mad Scientist Card Image

My anti-aggro tools... my Rogue and Warlock healing...

These powerful cards would rotate with the rest of the Curse of Naxxramas and Goblins vs Gnomes sets. This left a bad taste in some people's mouths - they pointed to the notoriously weak Grand Tournament expansion as the 'reason' for the change, a sort of way of forcing people into playing with those cards. Simultaneously, they celebrated a potential end to the reign of Secret Paladin with Mysterious Challenger, which would lose staples like Shielded Minibot, Avenge and Dr. Boom.

Mysterious Challenger Card Image Shielded Minibot Card Image Avenge Card Image Dr. Boom Card Image 

Who am I?

Veterans of games like MtG were often split on the issue - there were those who welcomed the change as a necessary one, correctly pointing out that Wild would still be around for those who want the full experience of their expansive collections; others stated an unwillingness to keep up with Standard, where they'd be 'forced' to spend money in order to keep up.

We've had a long time now to adjust to Wild and Standard as separate formats, and personally I changed my mind and view it as one of the most important changes made to the game. At the time I was worried that aggro decks would sweep over the game after losing so many important tools, but in hindsight I can see how cards like Sludge Belcher or Antique Healbot were in many ways overtuned for a healthy Standard environment, at least as Neutral cards.

Decked Out

Four years ago managing your decks was even more of a juggling act than it can be now - the current roster of 18 deck slots wasn't yet available, as it was added in preparation for Wild and Standard.

Players had to struggle with only 9 deck slots to their name for another two weeks, before the mid-March Old Gods preparation patch graced us with double the decks. Since then, we've neither gained nor lost any - perhaps it's time we went to 27?

Brawl Together Now

It may be a surprise to many, but we'd actually had Tavern Brawls for around 8 months by February 2016. That's right, before Battlegrounds was introduced last year Standard was actually the most recent mode added to the game.

You could enjoy a lovely brawl called Clash of the Minions this week four years ago, where any minions you played would gain Charge and Taunt. Summoned minions like Nerubians or Boom Bots wouldn't gain the effect.

Is this more or less like MtG?

Nerf This!

Nerfs came at a much slower cadence than they do now, and when a card was nerfed it was usually nuked. The most recent card change was to Warsong Commander all the way in October 2015, when she infamously died a horrible death and was relegated to occasionally getting picked in Arena if you were really desperate (and if she was even available).

Charge backward!

The next nerfs the game would see were sweeping and brutal changes to a slew of Basic and Classic cards with the arrival of Standard in April, almost two months away. Six months total between changes.

Ancient of Lore, Force of Nature, Keeper of the Grove, Ironbeak Owl, Big Game Hunter, Hunter's Mark, Blade Flurry, Knife Juggler, Leper Gnome, Arcane Golem, Molten Giant and Master of Disguise would all see themselves taken down a peg.

Several of them have continued to dip in and out of viability, but only one of them - Molten Giant - has ever been reverted, and it only saw this as it moved to the Hall of Fame. Hunter's Mark even received a further nerf eventually - this first one took it from 0 mana to 1 mana, and it now sits at 2 mana.

Looking Forward

This is a mere glimpse at what once was, but it still shows that despite everything, Hearthstone has had a fair amount of changes in its time.

What will we see as the next big thing? Another new card type, like the Hero Cards that we didn't see until mid-2017? A change to the economy, like the 'No Duplicate Legendaries' rule which was also added mid-2017? A new gamemode seems unlikely with how recently we saw Battlegrounds, but perhaps a new way to play instead of Standard and Wild is on the horizon. We've been teased that something big is coming soon, and it's anyone's guess as to what that could mean.

A change to the economy, a new mode, new card types... Hearthstone 2? Whatever it may be, I'm excited to see where we'll be in another four years.