Blizzard has pulled the curtain back on the cards that will be included in Hearthstone's revamped Core set, which is due to launch when the Year of the Gryphon begins. Somewhat weirdly we still don't have the exact date for that, but it'll coincide with the release of the Forged in the Barrens expansion and the set rotation of the Standard format. You can see a gallery of all the Core cards on Blizzard's site.
The Core set replaces the Classic and Basic sets as the bedrock of any Hearthstone player's collection. As such, you'll be able to earn all 235 cards for free, simply by playing the game and levelling up each class. That also means that many players will already have the cards unlocked once the Year of the Gryphon comes into effect.
The intention on Blizzard's part regarding the Core set is twofold:To make it easier for new and returning players to get into the game by providing them with tools that aren't hopelessly underpowered, as much of the Classic and Basic cards had become, and to create a set that can be changed each year to provide a better foundation for the next cycle of expansions. A free set of cards enables the dev team to make changes, including adding and subtracting cards, without upsetting players who've spent resources on crafting them.
The cards in the Core set comprise a mix of unchanged stalwarts from Classic and Basic, other vanilla cards which have been rebalanced to make them more relevant, some brand new cards, and returnees from old expansions that are currently only playable in the Wild mode.
- Warsong Commander is being buffed to give subsequently played minions Rush.
- Stonetusk Boar now has Rush instead of Charge but has been given 2 attack to compensate.
- Cairne and Baine Bloodhoof are a little more threatening too: they now have 5 attack.
- The Dragon aspects Onyxia, Malygos, Deathwing, Ysera and Alexstraza have all had their effects reworked substantially
- Much to the delight of players who struggled to understand its value, Tracking is now used to Discover a card but will no longer discard the ones you don't pick.
I feel like the dummies have won a bit with that last one, but whatever. It's well worth spending some time perusing the gallery as the impact this is going to have on the forthcoming meta is likely to be substantial. You can also pour one out for the old cards which didn't make the cut and will now be sent to live out their days unloved in Wild. Ancient Watcher, we barely knew (or played) thee!
Below I've posted the new cards in a little gallery of our own, as they're probably the most interesting, handily ordered from lowest to highest Mana (meaning the big scaly bois are at the end).
