Since its release in far 2014, Hearthstone has always been famous for its in-game jokes and secret interactions. Throughout the years, we've received many references to pop culture phenomenons as well as special lines between characters somehow bonded in World of Warcraft lore.

They are quite a lot, but we'll try to showcase the ones we think are the best.

The whole staff wishes you a happy Easter!


ALL TABLES FULL!

Cobalt Guardian, mostly known for its Battleground fortunes, has been around way before Hearthstone's latest game mode came out. In particular, his death's line is "Error 37", a clear reference to another Blizzard's title, Diablo III.

After its release on 15 May 2012, most players faced an error message when trying to login to the game, caused by the overload of the battle.net login servers. The error message reads "The Servers are Busy at this time. Please try again later. (Error 37)" and such login failure prevented the game from being played at all by the millions of users who bought it.


NEVER BRING YOUR PET AT WORK

In The Curse of Naxxramas adventure, the battle against Kel'Thuzad, the flying necropolis' lord, is one of the most flavorful we've received so far. For example, KT's entry line changes based on which class you decide to use, and some of his answers are quite hilarious!
There's also one particular game interaction: if you play as a Hunter and you cast Animal Companion, you'll always summon Mr. Bigglesworth, Kel'Thuzad's pet. If you manage to do so, KT will simply ignore it as the battle goes on, even if you give it taunt (Kayn Sunfury is that you?).

P.S.: if you cast Call of the Wild instead, you'll get both Leokk, Misha and Huffer and Mr. Bigglesworth (proof).


BOARD INTERACTIONS - A SERIES

Every Hearthstone expansion brings out a brand new clickable board. Some interactions are quite easy to discover, others are... worth the effort at least. This is the case of Journey to Un'Goro, Rastakhan's Rumble and Saviors of Uldum's boards: if you manage to click certain objects in a specific order, you'll get quite an enjoyable reward. Here are some examples.

Are you into board interactions? We've got you covered! Demonxz95 rounded them all up in a single article: enjoy!


MILLHOUSE FOR THE WIN

Let's just say that Millhouse Manastorm and Millificent Manastorm's marriage isn't the greatest ever. This is what happens when you manage to play 5 copies of Millhouse against his wife in The Dalaran Heist adventure.


WITH MY LAST BREATH, I CURSE ZOIDBERG!

Professor Putricide's entry line "Good news everyone! I perfected the plague" is a clear reference to another equally good professor: Futurama's character Hubert Farnsworth!


ONLY IF YOU ASK IT KINDLY

Yes, Shieldbearer is a minion. Yes, it is in Standard (it's always been). No, it's not good. But at least its entry line is "You shall not pass!", which is a clear reference to... do we really have to explain it?


ELEVATOR'S NOT WORTHY

Mjolnir, Thor's hammer from the Marvel comic and film franchises, is referenced in Charged Hammer's art and, especially flavor text.


YOU'RE A WORLD CHAMPION AFTER ALL...

It is tradition that those who become Hearthstone World Champions will also receive a themed card in a future expansion.
Want some examples?
2014 World Champion Firebat got Fiery Bat, 2015 WC Ostkaka got Priest of the Feast (apparently "ostkaka" means "cheesecake" in Swedish), 2017 WC Tom60229 got Phantom Militia (pretty slight reference compared to the others, here if you'd like to know more), 2018 WC Hunterace hasn't received a tribute card yet (or maybe we just missed it) and 2019 WC VKLiooon just got Mok'Nathal Lion.

But what about 2016 WC Pavel? Official statements say that his tribute card is Chittering Tunneler (see flavor text), but we all know, from the bottom of our hearts, that his card is Paveling Book.


TIS BUT A SCRATCH

The Black Knight's name, entry line and attack cry and The Skeleton Knight's flavor text (Apparently it really was just a flesh wound.) are references to the British comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). Here's a clip that pretty much sums up all these connections: are you able to find them all?


I AM YOUR MOTHER WAS A MURLOC!

Okay, this one has layers. Elite Tauren Chieftain can generate I Am Murloc, a spell whose art contains both King Bagurgle and Dancin' Deryl (orange arrow), respectively Battlegrounds minion and hero. But it's not all: this art is also a JoJo Spongebob reference! Spongebob Squarepants, Patrick Star and Mr. Krabs are all recalled by little details that may or may not go unnoticed.


“SNAKES. WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE SNAKES?”

Harrison Jones' flavor is clearly inspired by the movies of one of the most famous archaeologists ever (not as much as Rafaam, though...). The minion's name is in fact a combination of the actor's name, Harrison Ford, and his character's name, Indiana Jones. Even his entry line (That belongs in a museum!) is not random.

While we're at it, the sentence I put at the beginning of this Easter Egg is a famous quote from Indiana Jones movies. While I was writing the article, I noticed that Druid of the Fang entry line (Snakes, it has to be snakesss.) is a proper answer. Synergy!


TIME'S UP, LET'S DO THIS

Last but certainly not least, Leeroy Jenkins is entirely based on a meme that happened back in the day in a WoW raid.

*writer's thoughts whisper softly through the keyboard: "I miss you my sweet prince..."*


BONUS - THE WITCHWOOD'S CAULDRON

Unfortunately there's not Easter egg here, but people from all over the world have spent a remarkable amount of time trying to find out if there was something more about the cauldron in the bottom left corner of The Witchwood's board. No results until now, and 2 years have passed since the expansion's launch. Such a missed opportunity...


HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Here are few other flavor texts that carry some references to other franchises: can you recognize them all?

  • Evolving Spores - The most powerful mushrooms are commonly found in boxes marked with “?”'
  • Illuminator - "LUMOS!" is not what they yell. What do you think this is, Hogwarts?
  • Quick Shot - Han shot first.
  • Shadow Word: Death - If you miss, it leaves a lightning-bolt-shaped scar on your target.
  • Aluneth - PHENOMENAL ARCANE POWER…itty bitty living space.
  • Malchezaar's Imp - Malchezaar used to have an imp named Dobby working for him, but there was a tragic accident.
  • Thunder Lizard - What? THUNDER LIZARD is adapting!