Hearthpwn

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 Donais

The 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 Donais

Before Hagatha the Witch moved in it was called Blackwald and it is the forest outside Gilneas.

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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 Donais

Just 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 Donais

How 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.