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.
It should be "Charge. Battlecry: Gains Rush for one turn".
There only being 1 hero card brings me hope that some classes will get another legendary weapon or another quest :))))
Lol, be prepared to be disappointed now.
Or maybe... A legendary spell? The theme could go perfectly (It is a shame we loose the oportunity to see worgen versions of them but maybe some day...)
I wonder if cards like Charged Devilsaur and Charge will change to Rush.
That would change the functionality of Charged Devilsaur significantly, so I don't think so. It would no longer be able to attack face when summoned from Free From Amber or a Carnivorous Cube.
It still makes me sad that we need to clarify that 0 is an even number.
Honestly, while I understand the frustration of 0 needing to be clarified, the 0 cost being able to potentially flex into each side (evens and odds) because of it having no cost is what calls for clarification. For someone out there, they could add those 0 cost minions/cards to their odd deck and it would be interesting to see the sort of interactions/ideas in deck building someone could bring to the table.
It's not as obvious as you think, just go to a roulette table.
From the looks of things, we could be getting new Quest cards this expansion if only Shaman is getting a Hero card.
they said shaman is getting the hero ait is the most important card to the set... none of this implies new quests. i think there is almost no chance
Just Shaman is getting a Playable hero? Now that is interesting. Looks like we may get new Quests after all if they're still doing the two class legendaries.
Are we going to see some more stuff until stream?
Why no change to existing Echo cards like Unstable Evolution? Sounds lazy..
Unstable Evolution is the only existing card that has Echo. Seems like more of a stylistic choice or something
You really think there is a stylistic choice? They are lazy, nothing else.
Why should they change something that is already clear? I think it's an interesting artifact indicating that this is the prototype that was released before the keyword existed.