Easter Eggs Abound! Gaming References Hidden in Hearthstone

All across Hearthstone, from gameboards to flavor text, sharp-eyed players will notice a plethora of pop culture references. Hidden among the cards, you can find nods to Star Wars, Spongebob, Harry Potter, and more. For us gamers, the ones that stand out the most are, of course, gaming references. Read on to see which hidden gaming treasures we found, and be sure to let us know what your favorite easter eggs are in the comments below!  

#1: Mirror Entity

This card references the Portal series in a few ways. Of course there are the signature orange and blue portals, but if you look closely you can see a symbol on his sleeve that looks an awful lot like the Aperature Science logo. While you’re at it, check out his companion cube necklace. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I was promised some cake. 

#2: Cobalt Guardian

When the Cobalt Guardian meets its demise it can be heard saying “Error 37” which is a reference to Diablo III’s infamous error which plagued users at its launch. The error message itself told players the "servers are busy at this time" and became the go-to response on forums when players encountered a problem with the game.

#3: Orsis Guard

While this isn’t actually a playable card (it’s a boss minion from The League of Explorers), you may have heard this card say “Someday, I’d love to be in Heroes of the Storm” when it was attacking you during your adventures.  

#4: Gadgetzan Game Board

When the expansion Means Streets of Gadgetzan dropped it came with a game board loaded with references to none other than Blizzard’s own Overwatch. In the lower right corner of the board, the building for the Jade Lotus has a few references to the Shimada brothers, Genji and Hanzo. If you click on the katana stuck in the side of the building you’ll see it surrounded by the green dragon that signifies Genji’s ultimate ability, Dragonblade. On the other side of the building, you’ll find the projectile of choice for each brother: an arrow (for Hanzo) and a Shuriken (for Genji). Across in the other corner, if you’re lucky you might even fish up a Pachimari .Maybe the decorator for this board went shopping in Hanamura?

#5: Argent Horserider

Back to back references to Overwatch! Tracer fans will instantly recognize this card’s voice line when he’s summoned, “Don’t worry loves, the cavalry’s here!”

#6. Rattling Rascal

Referencing a very different kind of game, the flavor text on this card is a nod to the Dark Souls franchise. It reads: Don’t give up, skeleton! and refers to the messages players would leave for each other in Dark Souls.  

#7. Infested Tauren

You know what we haven’t seen so far? A Starcraft reference! Let’s fix that with this card, which is a reference to the Infested Terran unit from that series. 

#8. Evolving Spores

You wouldn’t know it just by looking at it, but this card actually references the Super Mario Bros. series. It’s flavor text reads: The most powerful mushrooms are commonly found in boxes marked with “?”

#9. On the Hunt

Some players might not be old enough to get the reference with this card, but us NES kids know that the flavor text, The mastiff giggles if you don’t hit any ducks, is a reference to the beloved classic Duck Hunt. Seriously though, that dog was rude.

#10. Blizzard

As a nod to itself,  Blizzard wrote this for the flavor text for this card: This spell can be very Entertaining.

Bonus Section! 

These cards feature pop culture references to famous franchises in their flavor text or voice lines:

• Harry Potter 
• Illuminator
• Shadow Word: Death
• Jurassic Park
• The Last Kaleidosaur
• Mounted Raptor
• Game of Thrones
• The Skeleton Knight

And these are just a few! There are a ton more out there, can you find them? Show us what you’ve got in the comments below.