All The Witchwood Expansion and Card Clarifications You May Have Missed
Yesterday was a busy and exciting day, so much so that our friendly neighbourhood Blizzard cast were out and about talking about the new expansion. Here's everything you may have missed that you absolutely need to know.
If you want to see the announcement, check out this post. We've also got our Witchwood guide up and if you want to see yesterday's patch, we've got a post on that too.
Important Details
- The expansion releases mid-April.
- The pre-order comes with 70 packs instead of the usual 50. You can pre-order here or in-game.
- Shaman is the only class getting a new playable hero card.
- Each class once again will be seeing two Legendary cards. (Source)
- There will be a stream to kickoff the card reveal season. (Source)
Baku, Genn, and Zero
- 0 is an even number. That's how it will work with Genn Greymane and Baku the Mooneater.
- Baku the Mooneater only upgrades basic Hero Powers - the exact same powers Justicar Trueheart does. (Source 1 | Source 2)
- New filters are going to be added that filter your collection to odd or even cost cards when you add Baku or Genn to a deck. (Source)
- Baku will still trigger if Prince Malchezaar adds even cost cards to your deck. (Source)
- Shifting Scroll counts as a 0-cost card. (Source)
Monster Hunt / PvE
- Dungeon Run will still be available for play. (Source)
- The four new heroes in the Monster Hunt mode have unique hero powers and even some special cards. (Source)
- They're not sure on what the plan is for Dungeon Run after Kobolds rotates out of Standard. (Source)
Game Mechanics
- Cards with the same effect as Echo which are already in the game will not be updated with the new keyword. (Source)
- Deathstalker Rexxar will be updated to work with both Kobolds and Witchwood Beasts when the set launches. (Source)
- If a Rush minion is played onto the board through a summon effect, the mechanic still works the same. (Source)
Why Greymane and Baku?
Quote from Mike DonaisThe two seem a bit like the opposites in terms of design. What made you pair the Worgen king with a "made up" lore monster? Is there any neat little lore about Baku that you guys came up with, which is why he seems to be paired with Genn?
Hagatha, the witch of the Witchwood awakened the trees and beasts of the woods making them stronger and angrier. Baku the Mooneater is the great worm that is basically her General.
Unrelated to WoW, Baku can also be found in Earth mythology too sometimes called Bakunawa.
Where is Witchwood?
Quote from Mike DonaisBefore Hagatha the Witch moved in it was called Blackwald and it is the forest outside Gilneas.
Correct - these woods are actually named "The Blackwald", but since Hagatha took up residence and twisted the woods around Gilneas, the Gilneans have started referring to it as "The Witchwood". It has become very dangerous.... (Source)
Will Each Class Get a New Hero?
Quote from Mike DonaisJust Shaman. Hagatha is the most impotant character in the set from a story standpoint. She brought The Witchwood to life and made it all dark and spooky. We wanted to signify that by making her a hero card.
Quests
Quote from Mike DonaisHow do quests work with the only even cost dude? Do you get the effect because the quest is guaranteed in your starting hand prior the check proir and you dont get it?
Quests are odd cost. You need all 30 even cost cards to run a Genn Greymane deck.
Hypehype
So is charged devilsaur gonna get rush now?
RIP that quest cube devilsaur deck?
Since Charged Devilsaur has a Battlecry that makes it unable to go face instantly, I don't think it'll change, since that's different from what Rush is, because the Battlecry is neglected when the card is summoned and not played.
I know that, but charged devilsaur's text is the same as rush when you DO play it fron your hand though... Charge but can only attack minions.
Why are they so reluctant to update old card text with new keywords? The cleanliness and consistency that adds more than outweighs any momentary confusion returning players may have (especially since the game is so good with tooltips). At this point Team 5 is just being stubborn.
Pretty much.
"Ooh, I dunno if people will be able to understand that we changed the text on a couple of cards."
Becasue Charge+Battlecry is not the same as Rush. Summoned Charge+Battlecry can go face, while summoned Rush - can't. If you change Charged Devilsaur to rush - it's an obvious nerf, so the card should be disenchatable for full price. Blizzard wants to avoid this, so Devilsaur will not get Rush.
I'm not saying use keywords to change function. I'm saying use the keywords to cleanly represent functions. Obviously Charged Devilsaur wouldn't need edits, but the fact that it wouldn't doesn't mean no cards should receive appropriate edits. This should all go without saying for anyone that's played Magic for ages, but I guess I have to be more explicit here.
How is zero an even number this is a travesty to anyone who maths
Wait, the art of the card Spreading Madness isn't part of the scenario of the Witchwood? Maybe there already are easter eggs somewhere?
will the 70 packs 20 extras per order expire end of the month ?????
>.>
Justicar Hero Powers again? ruined hype since the starting. /clap
So they don't need to balance old cards if they implement something like "if you play X echo cards, do this"
The technology isn't there yet.
Blizzard once again appealing to lowest common denominator.