Zerg Rush! Blizzard drops first cards from its StarCraft x Hearthstone crossover mini-set

Hearthstone Heroes of StarCraft zerg art — (Image credit: Blizzard)

Hearthstone's "biggest mini-set ever" is set to launch next week, bringing Blizzard's legendary RTS StarCraft to the game with 49 new cards—four Legendary, one Epic, 20 Rare, and 24 Common—split across the three factions you know and love: Zerg, Protoss, and Terran.

Each faction has five cards that can be played across all the classes of that faction, along with three class-specific cards per class, and of course one Legendary Hero card to serve as leader. The Zerg, led by Sarah Kerrigan, have the Death Knight, Demon Hunter, Hunter, and Warlock classes, and excel at generating minions to overwhelm enemies.

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Hearthstone Heroes of StarCraft card — (Image credit: Blizzard)

Artanis leads the Protoss, who claim the Druid, Mage, Priest, and Rogue classes, and specialize in powerful, high-cost cards.

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Jim Raynor heads up the Terran forces, made up of Paladin, Shaman, and Warrior classes, with special "Starship synergies" that enable them to launch multiple Starships each game.

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Blizzard actually revealed that this crossover was incoming back in November 2024, but now we've got a first look at the cards. As expected, the Zerg look to be a brutally efficient board swarm archetype. The Zergling minion will also benefit hard from hand buffing effects. Meanwhile, Protoss is the Mana cheat—no surprise it contains the Druid and Rogue classes—with an emphasis on playing expensive minions that pack a big punch. Finally, Terrans are the all-rounders, with a Mech theme for flavour and new Starship cards to play with.

Blizzard also announced a release date and pricing: Heroes of StarCraft will launch on January 21, and will be available for $20 or 2,500 gold—or if you're the mood to drop some big bucks, you can snag an All-Golden version of the Mini-Set for $80 or 12,000 gold. Full details are up at hearthstone.blizzard.com.

And here's a closer look at that zerg card art from up above. Quite the looker, eh?

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Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.