Hearthstone Dev Tracker

If you’re a fan of the Warcraft universe, you’re likely a fan of artist Alex Horley—whether you know it or not! Alex is responsible for some the most iconic visuals to come out of Blizzard in the past 15 years. From his spectacular key art for Warlords of Draenor

to his countless contributions for Hearthstone, it’s likely you’re already familiar with his body of work.

The Person

Alex, born Alessandro Orlandelli, hails from the small town of Opera outside of Milan, Italy, where he taught himself the English language by reading comic books. “I've been drawing for as long as I can remember,” Alex said. “I...

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Preparing for the next year of competitive Hearthstone, we’ve listened to player feedback from all levels of competitive Hearthstone and are thrilled to announce improvements to Hearthstone Masters as well as details for the first Masters Tour of 2021!

Masters Qualifiers

As the primary entry point into the Masters program for most of our players, we have been looking at ways to not only expand the Qualifiers system but to better reward high-level consistency.

While assessing how to best improve the Qualifiers, one piece of community feedback has consistently stood out: expanding opportunities to earn invites to each Masters Tour. We are addressing this in three ways for Hearthstone Esports in 2021.

• First, we are returning to 120 individual Qualifier events each season.
• Second, we are lowering the number of Top-8 finishes required to earn an invite—from five down to four. In revi...

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Below are the Arena leaderboards for November 1, 2020 - January 1, 2021. Arena rankings reflect players’ best 30 consecutive runs throughout a season. The players featured below have exhibited top-notch deckbuilding skills, in-the-moment decision making, and unyielding dedication to achieve a most noteworthy feat!

For an Arena run to be included in this season, its end time must have been between November 1, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. and January 1, 2021 at 9:59:59 a.m.

Dynamic ladder rankings are now also available for the Standard and Wild ladders.

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The 19.4 patch, releasing on January 21, includes the new Darkmoon Races Mini-Set, new Heroes and Minions for Battlegrounds, a Mid-Season Update for Duels, an Arena rotation, bug fixes, and more!

Battlegrounds Updates

NEW BATTLEGROUNDS HEROES

Tickatus

• Prize Wall [Passive]
  • Every 4 turns, Discover a Darkmoon Prize.

Greybough

• Sprout It Out! [Passive]
  • Give +1/+2 and Taunt to minions you summon during combat.

Players with Battlegrounds Perks will have early access to these new Heroes before they’re formally released on February 4.

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The 19.4 patch, launching on January 21, brings the first-ever Mid-Season Update for Duels! All players’ Duels ratings will be reset for Casual and Heroic, the Darkmoon Races Mini-Set will be added to the pool of eligible cards you can use to build your 15-card starter deck, and each class will gain access to one new Hero Power and three...

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Strap yourself in and mount up at the starting line for the most perilous and high-octane competition in all of Azeroth: The Darkmoon Races! Doesn’t matter if it rockets, rides, gallops, or glides—it’s all fair game at the Faire once the starting wand is waved. The only rule is getting to the finish line in one piece!

The Darkmoon Races Mini-Set, launching worldwide on January 21, consists of 4 Legendary cards, 1 Epic card (x2), 14 Rare cards (x2), and 16 Common cards (x2)—which can all be obtained from Madness at the Darkmoon Faire card packs! And, for the first time ever, the entire 66 card set is available for purchase from the in-game or web shop for $14.99 or 2000 Gold!

Buy Now!

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We’ve got a small balance patch with a few big changes planned for release this Friday, January 8!

Standard Balance Updates

Edwin VanCleef

• Old: [Costs 3] → New: [Costs 4]
  • Dev Comment (Updated): The last few weeks have been the best Edwin has ever performed as an individual card (the highest win rate card in multiple Rogue archetypes). Alongside cards like Foxy Fraud and Shadowstep, the frequency of early 8/8 or 10/10 Edwin VanCleefs reached a point we are no longer comfortable with. Edwin's mana cost is increasing by 1 to weaken some of the powerful openings at Rogue's disposal. We were planning on rotating Edwin out of Standard in a few months (still are, more info on that soon!), but want to evaluate how the rest of Rogue's kit performs without this very powerful iteration of Edwin. Cards like Foxy Fraud, Swindle, and Prize Plunderer are important pieces for future expansions and card interaction...

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Happy Feast of Winter Veil! The 19.2 patch, releasing on December 15, welcomes the Old Gods to Battlegrounds as new Heroes along with 10 new minions and the addition of a limited-time Darkmoon Prizes system! The patch also features balance updates for Standard and Duels, a new Book of Heroes for both Garrosh and Uther, game improvements, and more!

As a thank you for being part of our community, we’re also rewarding all players with 5 Madness at the Darkmoon Faire card packs and 500 gold just for logging in after the 19.2 patch has been released!*

*All rewards will only be granted once per account. Must log in before January 18, 2021. ...

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Though many attempt to safeguard their sanity within Battlegrounds, nowhere is free from the corruption of the Old Gods! N’Zoth, C’Thun, and Y’Shaarj are headed to the Battlegrounds as playable Heroes alongside 10 new minions! Read the 19.2 patch notes to learn more.

Darkmoon Prizes

We’re introducing a new limited-time mechanic—Darkmoon Prizes! Every four turns you’ll Discover a Darkmoon Prize and add it to your hand. As the game progresses, you’ll be offered increasingly power...

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Kenta “glory” Sato defeated Jaromír "Jarla" Vyskočil to win the Hearthstone 2020 World Championship! Despite a close final match, the Asia-Pacific Grandmaster from Japan ultimately triumphed 3-1 to secure his spot in the Hall of Champions, the World Championship trophy, and $200,000 (USD) in prizing.

Glory and Jarla faced off in the opening match of the World Championship, with Jarla sweeping glory 3-0. The final match started off with Jarla taking the first round, as his Libram Paladin bested glory’s Control Warrior. Round ...

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The Hearthstone 2020 World Championship is here! Beginning this Saturday, December 12, the top eight players in the world face-off to determine who will join the Hall of Champions and walk away with $200,000 (USD). Before the competition starts, be sure to vote on who you believe will be Champion and earn free Madness at the Darkmoon Faire packs, through ...

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Since the launch of the new progression system, we’ve been listening to player feedback and carefully reviewing gameplay data from the first few weeks while designing a variety of updates to meaningfully address the elements that feel too slow, not rewarding, or too difficult to complete. We’re committed to getting this right. Our intent has been, and continues to be, to provide more rewards and a better progression experience than the previous system, and we’re sorry that our initial implementation missed that mark in a few important areas.

We’re ready to detail a series of changes that we will begin releasing later this month, and we will continue working to make the system even better over time. In this update, we will be adjusting or removing quests that players have let us know are too difficult to complete, reducing the amount of XP required to complete the 50-level rewards track by nearly 20%, adding two gold rewards on the track, and redesigning the bonus levels af...

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The Hearthstone 2020 World Championship kicks off on December 12. Eight of the best Hearthstone players in the world are representing the Americas, Asia-Pacific, China, and Europe. Qualified players will co...

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Following two Grandmasters seasons and six Masters Tours, we are gearing up to conclude the year with the Hearthstone 2020 World Championship! With $500,000 (USD) on the line, the top eight players in the world are set to meet on December 12-13 to see who will join the Hall of Champions and finish off 2020 as the next Hearthstone World Champion.

We recently asked each of the competitors a series of quick-fire questions to learn more about them ahead of the 2020 World Championship. Let’s get to know Wu “XiaoT” Jiwei.

The Trailblazer

With a natural gift for card games, XiaoT quickly took to Hearthstone following a friend’s recommendation in 2014. He made a lasting mark on the competitive Hearthstone scene in 2018 with a top e...

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Following two Grandmasters seasons and six Masters Tours, we are gearing up to conclude the year with the Hearthstone 2020 World Championship! With $500,000 (USD) on the line, the top eight players in the world are set to meet on December 12-13 to see who will join the Hall of Champions and finish off 2020 as the next Hearthstone World Champion.

We recently asked each of the competitors a series of quick-fire questions to learn more about them ahead of the 2020 World Championship. Let’s get to know Fan “Syf” Yilun.

The Lion’s Pride

While most viewer’s outside of China may primarily know Syf as 2019 World Champion, Xiaomeng “...

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Following two Grandmasters seasons and six Masters Tours, we are gearing up to conclude the year with the Hearthstone 2020 World Championship! With $500,000 (USD) on the line, the top eight players in the world are set to meet on December 12-13 to see who will join the Hall of Champions and finish off 2020 as the next Hearthstone World Champion.

We recently asked each of the competitors a series of quick-fire questions to learn more about them ahead of the 2020 World Championship. Let’s get to know Vladislav “SilverName” Sinotov.

The Headliner

SilverName has been a staple of the competitive Hearthstone scene since he earned second place at the ESL Hearthstone Legendary Series – Katowice in 2016. Wearing his heart on his sleeve,...

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Following two Grandmasters seasons and six Masters Tours, we are gearing up to conclude the year with the Hearthstone 2020 World Championship! With $500,000 (USD) on the line, the top eight players in the world are set to meet on December 12-13 to see who will join the Hall of Champions and finish off 2020 as the next Hearthstone World Champion.

We recently asked each of the competitors a series of quick-fire questions to learn more about them ahead of the 2020 World Championship. Let’s get to know Jaromír "Jarla" Vyskočil.

The Inevitable

A veteran of competitive Hearthstone, Jarla made an early name for himself as part of the 2017 Hearthstone Global Games winning Czech Republic team. Jarla has been the most consistent, top perfor...

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Following two Grandmasters seasons and six Masters Tours, we are gearing up to conclude the year with the Hearthstone 2020 World Championship! With $500,000 (USD) on the line, the top eight players in the world are set to meet on December 12-13 to see who will join the Hall of Champions and finish off 2020 as the next Hearthstone World Champion.

We recently asked each of the competitors a series of quick-fire questions to learn more about them ahead of the 2020 World Championship. Let’s get to know Poramet “Bankyugi” Putchakan.

The Rising Thai

The relative newcomer to competitive Hearthstone, Bankyugi spent 2019 playing in Qualifiers with the hope of competing in the Masters Tour system.  Despite a relatively lackluster showing a...

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Following two Grandmasters seasons and six Masters Tours, we are gearing up to conclude the year with the Hearthstone 2020 World Championship! With $500,000 (USD) on the line, the top eight players in the world are set to meet on December 12-13 to see who will join the Hall of Champions and finish off 2020 as the next Hearthstone World Champion.

We recently asked each of the competitors a series of quick-fire questions to learn more about them ahead of the 2020 World Championship. Let’s get to know Kenta “glory” Sato.

The Noble

A veteran of the Japanese competitive scene, glory quickly made his mark on professional Hearthstone with a top showing in the 2018 HCT Asia-Pacific Season 1. His consistent results, calm demeanor during stressful ...

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Following two Grandmasters seasons and six Masters Tours, we are gearing up to conclude the year with the Hearthstone 2020 World Championship! With $500,000 (USD) on the line, the top eight players in the world are set to meet on December 12-13 to see who will join the Hall of Champions and finish off 2020 as the next Hearthstone World Champion.

We recently asked each of the competitors a series of quick-fire questions to learn more about them ahead of the 2020 World Championship. Let’s get to know Jerome “Monsanto” Faucher.

The Comedian

With a quick wit and dry sense of humor, Monsanto quickly endeared himself to the Hearthstone Esports team when he first landed on the scene in 2016. His good-natured spirit and lightheartedne...

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