Hearthstone Dev Tracker

Grandmasters 2020 Season 2 has concluded, and three more players have secured their spot in the Hearthstone 2020 World Championship! Congratulations to Pramet “Bankyugi” Putchakan, Jaromir “Jarla” Vyskočil, and Jerome “Monsanto” Faucher on your Season 2 victories.

In Americas, Jerome “...

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Hearthstone Grandmasters Season 2 reaches its epic conclusion this weekend! Following seven incredible weeks, including the rise and fall of Turtle Mage, the top eight players from each region are set to compete to see who will secure the final three Grandmasters spots for the 2020 Hearthstone World Championship.

The final matches to determine regional champions is not all that is on the line this weekend. Following the conclusion of last weekend’s regular season, the bottom two players from Division B were automatically relegated but this weekend will see the last relegation spot filled for...

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The 18.4 patch marks the beginning of the Masquerade Ball limited-time event and includes a major Battlegrounds update that welcomes Elementals as a new minion type! Beyond that, we’ve got a new Hearthstone Book of Heroes featuring Rexxar, the return of Dual-Class Arena, Legendary Quests and rewards, new Tavern Brawls, and more!

Please note that mobile players may need to log-in again after updating to 18.4.

New Battlegrounds Heroes

Ragnaros the Firelord

• DIE, INSECTS! [Passive]
  • After you kill 20 enemy minions, get Sulfuras.
  ...

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Greetings! I’m Tian, a Lead Data Scientist on the Hearthstone team. In 18.4, we are updating our Battlegrounds rating system and I’m here to talk about some science behind it!

Before I get into it, check out our previous blog on Battlegrounds rating if you’re interested in understanding the basics about personal rating and what it represents, how it’s updated after each game, and how variance works.

Now, let’s go to the main topic—the new rating system!

What are the motivations behind updating the rating system?

We want our rating system to b...

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The administration of Scholomance Academy cordially invites you to a reception for the ages. We’re throwing a Masquerade Ball, right here on campus! What better way to celebrate a frightful holiday than embracing the supernatural spirit with a definitely-not-haunted costume ball?

The Tavern will undergo a makeover for the Masquerade Ball limited-time event and will feature brand new content unlocking weekly including Tavern Brawls, the return of Dual-Class Arena, a new Hearthstone Book of Heroes solo experience, and more!

September 29 - Exercise the Elements in Battlegrounds

On September 29, you’ll be able to recruit and wield the awesome power of Elementals in Battlegrounds! The addition of this new minion type comes in the form of 16 n...

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As we near the end of Hearthstone Grandmasters 2020 Season 2, it’s time to look toward this year’s World Championship! Beginning at 8 a.m. PDT on December 12-13, the top eight players from around the w...

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Below are the Arena leaderboards for July 1, 2020 – August 31, 2020. 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 July 1 at 10:00 a.m. and August 31 at 9:59:59 a.m.

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

• ...

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Closing out the fifth Masters Tour of 2020, David “Frenetic” Quiñones of Spain is the latest to earn the title of Masters Tour champion! Frenetic defeated Edoarado “cagnetta99” Cutajar in the finals 3-0. With his victory, Frenetic finishes the weekend...

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With more than 300 players, Masters Tour events are full of new competitors to follow. For every returning player at each event there is someone new hoping to make a name for themself, and everyone is playing for their shot at joining Hearthstone Grandmasters. There are also players who qualify for their one shot at making a name for themselves. It is this mix of players that makes the Masters Tour so exciting to watch.

Although Grandmasters also participate in the Masters Tour, I’m going to introduce you to regular players who have incredible stories you may not be familiar with, all of which you should keep an eye on. This is the last of four Tales from the Tavern explorations for Masters Tour Online: Montreal, live beginning this Friday only on ...

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With more than 300 players, Masters Tour events are full of new competitors to follow. For every returning player at each event there is someone new hoping to make a name for themself, and everyone is playing for their shot at joining Hearthstone Grandmasters. There are also players who qualify for their one shot at making a name for themselves. It is this mix of players that makes the Masters Tour so exciting to watch.

Although Grandmasters also participate in the Masters Tour, I’m going to introduce you to regular players who have incredible stories you may not be familiar with, all of which you should keep an eye on. This is the third of four Tales from the Tavern explorations for Masters Tour Online: Montreal, live beginning this Friday only on ...

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With more than 300 players, Masters Tour events are full of new competitors to follow. For every returning player at each event there is someone new hoping to make a name for themself, and everyone is playing for their shot at joining Hearthstone Grandmasters. There are also players who qualify for their one shot at making a name for themselves. It is this mix of players that makes the Masters Tour so exciting to watch.

Although Grandmasters also participate in the Masters Tour, I’m going to introduce you to regular players who have incredible stories you may not be familiar with, all of which you should keep an eye on. This is the second of four Tales from the Tavern explorations for Masters Tour Online: Montreal, live beginning this Friday only on ...

Read more

LoWith more than 300 players to keep an eye on, Masters Tour events are full of new competitors to follow. For every returning player at each event there is someone new hoping to make a name for themself, and everyone is playing for their shot at joining Hearthstone Grandmasters. There are also players who qualify for their one shot at making a name for themselves. It is this mix of players that makes the Masters Tour so exciting to watch.

Although Grandmasters also participate in the Masters Tour, I’m going to introduce you to lesser known players who have incredible stories you may not be familiar with, all of which you should follow along with. This is the first of four Tales from the Tavern explorations for Masters Tour Online: Montreal, live beginning this Friday only on ...

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The Hearthstone Masters Tour Online: Montreal is hitting your screens this weekend! With over 300 invited players from more than 40 countries, the field is wide open for whoever has mastered the lessons of Scholomance Academy. The champion will take home their share of the $3,000,000 (USD) total prize pool for Hearthstone Masters Tour 2020, the Masters Tour trophy, and will be one step closer to earning an invite to Grandmasters. Join us this weekend for all of the competitive action only on YouTube Gaming!

Details

• Venue: Online - ...

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Deep beneath the campus grounds lies the cobweb-ridden inner sanctum of Scholomance Academy, where Headmaster Kel’Thuzad has sealed away many a leather-bound chronicle and magical “experiment” gone awry. With powerful forces of dark magic in proximity, only brave (foolish?) souls dare meddle in the midst of this Forbidden Library!

The Forbidden Library is a limited-time event with new content unlocking weekly!

September 8 – Battlegrounds Parties, New Heroes, and More!

We’re excited to announce that starting Septembe...

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The 18.2 patch kicks off the Forbidden Library limited-time event on September 8 and includes a new Battlegrounds feature and update! On September 15, the all-new Hearthstone Book of Heroes solo experience will unlock, and on September 23 players can duke it out for big rewards in the Heroic Brawliseum!

Battlegrounds Updates

NEW FEATURE – BATTLEGROUNDS PARTIES

With the introduction of Battlegrounds Parties on September 8, players will be able to queue up for Battlegrounds matches with more than one other player! Battlegrounds Parties will allow groups of players to queue Battlegrounds together, and it supports a full lobby for private games! Here’s how it works:

• Up to 4 players will be able to qu...

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Since Blizzard began working from home full-time in March, the Hearthstone team hasn’t missed a beat, delivering regular content and updates to our players, and launching two full expansions, including the recently-released Scholomance Academy.

Undertaking a project as complex and involved as a Hearthstone expansion while working remotely requires adapting to uncertainty on the fly, and often wholly reinventing familiar processes. We spoke with a few members of the team to get insights on how they made it work, and asked them to share some advice on wrangling big projects while working from home. Of course, we couldn’t miss the opportunity to also ask them about their personal favorite Scholomance Academy cards. Check out their responses below.

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What were the biggest challenges you encountered while launching an expansion while working remotely? What advice would you give to someone in a similar situation?...

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Ready your wands, the Scholomance Inn-vitational is upon us! Taking place on August 25, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. PT, the Scholomance Inn-vitational will split 20 Hearthstone personalities into 10 teams of 2 players, each representing a Dual-Class pairing! $100,000 in prizing is on the line, along with the bragging rights that come with being the Scholomance Inn-vitational champions!

How it works:

• Each team will prepare four decks using cards from their Dual-Class pairing and at least 10 Scholomance Academy cards overall.
• Each player will independently play through 4 rounds of best-of-three matches, with each game victory awarding their team 1 point.
• If both players on a team win their match with a 2-0 game score, that team will earn an additional 2 points.
• The final team placements and respective prizing will be determined by the total team point score after all 4 rounds have been complete...

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On August 18, we’ll be releasing a balance patch that includes a slew of Battlegrounds updates, adjustments for two minions in Standard, and handful of bug fixes.

Standard Balance Updates

Kael’thas Sunstrider

• Old: Every third spell you cast each turn costs (0). → New: Every third spell you cast each turn costs (1).

Mindrender Illucia

• Old: [Cost 2] → New: [Cost 3]

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Hearthstone Grandmasters returns for Season 2 beginning August 14! Season 2 will run every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through September 6, with a break for ...

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On behalf of Headmaster Kel’Thuzad and the rest of our faculty, we’re thrilled to welcome you to Scholomance Academy, the fabled college of magic where knowledge is power, students are brimming with magical potential, and rumors abound of vile things lurking beneath the school grounds…

Take your seats, class is officially in session.

What’s Included: Dual-Class Cards

Dual-Class cards embody a cross-pollination of learnings by mashing up unique mechanics inspired by both classes’ strengths, unlocking a whole new spectrum of gameplay possibilities​. These Dual-Class cards make up 40 of the 135 cards releasing with Scholomance Academy. Each Dual-Class combination also i...

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