Today's patch isn't quite the expansion launch but it sure does contain a lot of exciting stuff as well. Let's go through the major things that have changed with this patch.

Mobile Note - Your update is delayed (as usual) so expect these changes later today after your app store of choice gets the update.


Hall of Fame Rotation

In contrast of previous years, the Hall of Fame rotation happened prior to the expansion launch itself. The following loved and hated cards have now been moved to Wild:

Acolyte of Pain Card Image Spellbreaker Card Image Mind Control Tech Card Image Mountain Giant Card Image Leeroy Jenkins Card Image

You can read our thoughts about these cards in this article.


Priest Basic & Classic Rework

Connected to the Hall of Fame rotation, the Priest class has now completed its rework. A total of six Priest cards have rotated to Hall of Fame, with some iconic cards like Northshire Cleric included, and been replaced with six brand new cards. In addition to that, seven other cards have seen some changes but will remain in Standard.

Prophet Velen Card Image Natalie Seline Card Image

Goodbye Velen, welcome Natalie!

Read the details and see all the cards involved in this article.


Duplicate Protection

Definitely one of the most exciting changes with the patch was extending the duplicate protection from Legendaries only to all other rarities as well. With this change you should, for example, be able to get all Commons of the set in about 30 packs, and buying that 80 pack preorder should get you all the Rares.

You can read more about the change in this article.


Card Unnerfs Part II

We already saw some Wild-only cards (and Sludge Slurper) being unnerfed with the previous patch, and today these four cards are reclaiming their lost honor:

Which unnerf are you most excited about?


Illidan Arrives to Battlegrounds

He's had a long trip from Outland to the Tavern, so before getting into the frenzy of Constructed play Illidan has decided to stop for some Battlegrounds games. That Hero Power should give you a nice advantage if you play your cards well. Are you prepared?


New & Returning Player Decks

Now that our good friend Whizbang the Wonderful is rotating, Blizzard has decided that new and returning players can now select a free competitive deck from nine alternatives to be added to their collection. These decks are made with cards from Year of the Dragon sets, so they will all be Standard viable when the new expansion hits and rotation happens on April 7th. And no, the fact that you didn't play last week doesn't count; the returning player limit is four months with no Hearthstone.

As a completely unbiased Mage-fanatic, I give you this deck as an example what you could choose to get:

You can read more about this change and see all the decklists in this guide.


That's a lot of changes but there might be more! Stay tuned for more news and potential datamined information about the patch!