Hearthstone: Murder at Castle Nathria brings back mechanics from 2016

Blizzard has given us our first look at the new Hearthstone expansion mysteriously named Murder at Castle Nathria. I was already allowed to play with the new cards on a test server and felt transported back to 2016 in some places.

New set, new luck

I can’t make any deck recommendations just yet, which will probably take more than a few hours of testing, but I don’t want to withhold from you the basic mechanics that are new or, for my delight, being dug up again.

On August 2nd, the new set comes into play with 135 new cards. The new “Flood Through” keyword improves a map after a set number of friendly minions have died on the field. The new map type “Locations” is placed like a minion, but cannot be attacked. The armor icon shows how many times you can use the location. On your turn, you can use the special effect of the card and then have to wait for the cooldown of one round.

Murder at Castle Nathria focuses more on minions than powerful spells. Sure, there are a few of those too, but where there’s a new flood effect, a lot of minions have to die – and hey, it’s called “murder” at Castle Nathria after all. Flood, Deathrattle, Evolution, and decks that aim to shoot a named minion out of your deck like a gunslinger shoots bullets in a western. The pitches were rarely empty.

My personal heart of cards is back

What Hearthstone is also bringing back in its new expansion is my beloved random factor. There is more than just a handful of cards that put you in front of the wheel of fortune. Starting with the Shaman’s evolution cards, which turn your minions into random, higher-cost minions. Whisper of the Old Gods introduced this mechanic in Kahr 2016, and I loved playing that deck back then. Even if you lose, it’s fun to see what your board turns into. Another deck, with increasingly powerful Fleeting Ghost minions, reminded me of the Jade mechanic from the Gadgetzan expansion from the same year.

We are allowed to rediscover spells, secrets and minions, effects that allow us to play random legendary minions for 0 mana and cards with which we can steal random opponent’s cards or even swap them with one of our own. Yes, Anduin is out for identity theft again. The funny Murlock Holmes even goes with you on a search for clues to copy your opponent’s cards. Even though it’s not that easy to use tactically and luck sometimes wins over the skill, I missed cards like this because these crazy mechanics are what makes Hearthstone so special to me.

Deck building with the legendary Prince Renathal could be very interesting. This sets the deck size and initial life to 40. Congratulations Warlock, your era seems to have come – again. Ten extra lives are extremely valuable, with the extra cards it could be more difficult. After all, you still want to have a secure and consistent deck where every single card makes sense and contributes to a greater whole. For decks that are designed to draw a lot of cards, this matters a little less.

So many questions. How much longer are the matches with a prince in the deck? Does the effect look stronger on paper than it actually is? Or will every other player throw a Renathal in their deck until it’s later nerfed? After all, he is accessible to all classes. If the benefits are really that strong, at least every player can benefit from them. I’m definitely extremely excited to see how this card will impact the meta.