You can watch a new Hearthstone card back get created from scratch next week

No Hearthstone card collection is complete without an enormous collection of swanky card backs, those snazzy special designs that Blizzard occasionally hands out for completing specific tasks, or just showing up and playing five games each month. There are an awful lot of them out there (143, at last count), and while they all share the same basic design characteristics—a bordered rectangular field with the Hearthstone symbol in the center—there's real variety to the mix: This one has rainbows and clouds, for instance, while this one is feathered, and this one is a pizza. (One was even infectious.)

If you've ever been curious about what goes into the making of those card backs, next week is your chance to find out. Blizzard will be holding a series of "card back creation livestreams" on Twitch, beginning on May 18, in which senior concept artist Luke Mancini will run through the entire process of creating the monthly card back for September.

The first part, beginning at 1 pm PT/4 pm ET, will focus on the concept stage—"the ideation and rough sketch bit"—which will lead into the final design option for the new card back. Part two, running from 1-4 pm PT/4-7 pm ET, will start to pull it all together "with color and hard lines," and then on May 21, "We’ll dot our i’s and cross our t’s and walk through the rest of the finishing touches." When the third stream is done, the final (or near-final) version of the card will be complete.

Unlike the all-day, all-tedious livestream of BossLogic drawing the Assassin's Creed Valhalla key art, the Hearthstone card back streams will be interactive: Mancini and lead FX artist Hadidjah Chamberlin will answer questions and discuss the work during the sessions, which should make for a more engaging and entertaining experience. Details are up at playhearthstone.com.

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.