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| 0s | [sinister orchestral music] |
|---|---|
| 4s | Hi, everyone. |
| 5s | I'm Alkali, Community Manager at Hearthstone, |
| 8s | with another edition of Hearthside Chat. |
| 10s | Today we're going to introduce our newest expansion, |
| 13s | Murder at Castle Nathria. |
| 15s | -[thunder crashes] -And what's a great murder mystery |
| 17s | without suspects, locations, alibis and clues? |
| 22s | We're going to solve the mystery at Castle Nathria |
| 25s | by introducing a new keyword, Infuse, |
| 28s | and a brand-new card type called Locations, |
| 32s | and unlock the mysterious Covenant spells. |
| 36s | I'm here with some members of our Design Team. |
| 38s | Hi, everybody. My name's Cora Georgiou. |
| 40s | I was the Initial Design Set Lead |
| 42s | for Murder at Castle Nathria. |
| 43s | Hey, everyone. I'm Edward Goodwin. |
| 45s | I was one of the Final Designers for this expansion. |
| 48s | Hi there. I'm Valerie Chu. |
| 49s | I am Lead Narrative Designer. |
| 51s | We're delighted to have you here today. |
| 53s | [thunder crashes] |
| 54s | [Alkali] In our newest expansion, |
| 56s | Hearthstone journeys to the Shadowlands |
| 58s | as we encounter the murder of Sire Denathrius at Castle Nathria. |
| 64s | It is a murder most foul. |
| 66s | And, Valerie, tell me, how could this happen? |
| 69s | Ah, well, Sire Denathrius has ruled the realm of Revendreth with an iron fist |
| 74s | since the very beginning, |
| 76s | so he's made quite a few enemies. |
| 79s | These suspects come from all over the Shadowlands, |
| 82s | which have been afflicted by some terrible circumstances lately. |
| 86s | The main source of energy for the Shadowlands is called anima. |
| 90s | It's like this life essence, and it's in very short supply. |
| 93s | They called it an anima drought. |
| 95s | So there are many, many different motives for all of these different suspects. |
| 99s | But, luckily, we have the inimitable Murloc Holmes on the case |
| 104s | to use his cunning wit and powers of deduction |
| 108s | to figure out what has truly occurred. |
| 110s | Murder at Castle Nathria introduces a brand-new keyword called Infuse. |
| 114s | And I've heard that there are a lot more Imps in this expansion, |
| 118s | so tell me why this new keyword is so imp-portant, Cora. |
| 122s | [Imp] Here we go! |
| 123s | Well, you heard correct. |
| 125s | There are certainly going to be some Imps in this set, |
| 127s | and Mischievous Imp is just the first one. |
| 130s | Warlock is no stranger to playing with Imps, |
| 132s | but usually it's just because Imps are Demons, |
| 135s | and Warlocks synergize with Demon minions. |
| 137s | But in this set, we are specifically calling out Imps, |
| 140s | so be on the lookout for some more cards that do that in the text box. |
| 144s | But Mischievous Imp is just the first example |
| 146s | of our Infuse keyword that we're showing off today. |
| 149s | And Infuse is really wonderful for two reasons - |
| 151s | first being it tells a story. |
| 153s | So, these cards will upgrade in your hand |
| 155s | after a certain number of friendly minions die on your board, |
| 158s | and that's because they're soaking up the anima of their fallen brethren, |
| 162s | and it's empowering them in hand. |
| 164s | So they're going to power up, |
| 166s | they're going to transform into upgraded versions of themselves, |
| 169s | and they're also going to get a new art piece, |
| 171s | which is going to show how the anima is affecting these cards in your hand, |
| 175s | which is really cool because it lets us tell a story. |
| 178s | The second reason why Infuse is a great keyword for this set |
| 180s | is because it incentivizes the gameplay that we want to see. |
| 184s | We've been talking across this whole year so far |
| 186s | about how we want to bring Hearthstone sort of back to its core gameplay |
| 189s | of board-based combat and minion-centric combat, |
| 194s | and Infuse incentivizes you to go wide on board, play lots of minions, |
| 198s | and then your future turns are going to be so much more powerful |
| 200s | because you're going to have all of these Infused cards in your hand. |
| 203s | So, anima was a big win for us |
| 205s | because we felt it ticked both of those boxes. |
| 207s | [Sire Denathrius] To all who sought to kill me... |
| 210s | you've failed. |
| 213s | So, team, I think we're really starting to see how this mystery is going to unfold, |
| 217s | because we just had a henchman with Mischievous Imp, |
| 219s | and all we really need, of course, is an adorable sidekick, |
| 223s | and we've got that with Stonebound Gargon. |
| 226s | It's a Beast with Rush, |
| 228s | but when it's fully Infused it will damage adjacent minions, |
| 231s | which is super cool. |
| 233s | [Stonebound Gargon snarls] |
| 238s | -[peasant] Job's done! -[wail] |
| 241s | Every great murder mystery has a ton of different elements to it, |
| 244s | one of which is a Convincing Disguise for one of our suspects. |
| 247s | Convincing Disguise will transform one of your friendly minions |
| 251s | into a minion that costs 2 more, but when it's fully Infused |
| 254s | it will transform your entire board into minions that cost 2 more. |
| 256s | It plays really well with some of the Evolve cards |
| 259s | that we announced in our announce video. |
| 261s | But, while we're here, there's more to talk about with Convincing Disguise. |
| 264s | You might notice that it features Bru'kan, |
| 267s | one of our Mercenaries from last year, |
| 269s | who sacrificed himself to save his fellow Mercenaries |
| 272s | in the raid on Onyxia's Lair. |
| 274s | I wouldn't be surprised |
| 275s | to see a lot of well-known characters from Hearthstone's past |
| 278s | show up in the afterlife in the Shadowlands. |
| 281s | So, so far we've seen a henchman, a disguise, |
| 284s | and, of course, our adorable sidekick, |
| 286s | but what we don't have yet is our Location. |
| 289s | And Castle Nathria is such a great setting |
| 292s | because there are so many places to, well, commit a crime. |
| 296s | We could go to the Sanguine Depths, |
| 299s | the Muck Pools, |
| 300s | or, I think, the Vile Library's pretty great. |
| 302s | What do you think, Cora? |
| 304s | I think it's pretty impressive. |
| 305s | And we've certainly got a lot of Imps |
| 307s | that are being very mischievous in the Vile Library. |
| 310s | The Vile Library is the Warlock-class Location, |
| 312s | and if you have a lot of Imps on your board, |
| 315s | you're going to be able to buff one of those Imps |
| 317s | with the use of the Vile Library's activatable ability. |
| 321s | And it's important for me to call out here that Locations are a brand-new card type. |
| 325s | Locations are not minions, but you do play them into the battlefield. |
| 329s | They do not have attack or health values. |
| 331s | Instead, they have durability and activatable effects. |
| 335s | And the durability is how many times you can use a Location's effect |
| 338s | before it will disappear off of your board. |
| 340s | So, you can use this activatable effect for free. |
| 343s | It doesn't cost any mana. |
| 344s | You can use it as soon as you play the Location. |
| 347s | But after you use the effect of a Location, |
| 350s | it will be on cooldown for one turn, |
| 352s | so we really want players to plan out their turns |
| 355s | and plan when they're going to get the most use |
| 357s | out of these Locations' activatable abilities. |
| 360s | And Locations, you're absolutely correct, |
| 363s | are a wonderful way for us to show off settings in Hearthstone, |
| 366s | which is a really important part of our expansions. |
| 368s | So, team, I think it's important |
| 370s | that we take this back to the scene of the crime at Castle Nathria, |
| 373s | head back to the Vile Library and see what's lurking in the shadows. |
| 377s | And I suspect that there might even be a Shadow spell. |
| 382s | I don't know, Cora. It's pretty dark in there. |
| 384s | I think you are on the right track. |
| 387s | And I'll expand on it a little bit, |
| 389s | because when we were first ideating this set, |
| 391s | it was really important to us that we had three things, |
| 394s | one of them being Locations, the second being suspects, of course, |
| 398s | and the third being murder weapons, |
| 400s | or means of committing a crime. |
| 402s | It can be difficult at times for us to do weapons across all ten classes, |
| 407s | because we have spellcaster classes like Warlock and Mage and Priest |
| 410s | that don't attack with weapons, really. |
| 413s | And we just did weapons that didn't have attack |
| 416s | with the Profession Tools in United in Stormwind, |
| 418s | so we felt like it was a little bit too soon |
| 420s | to do those types of weapons again. |
| 422s | So what we came up with instead |
| 424s | are a cycle of ten spells called Covenant spells. |
| 427s | This is perfect for the Shadowlands because every class gets a Covenant spell |
| 431s | aligned with the Covenant that they choose to be a part of |
| 435s | when they're going through the Shadowlands campaign. |
| 437s | So, in this case, we have the Warlock-class Covenant spell |
| 441s | that is aligned with the Venthyr Covenant in Revendreth, |
| 445s | and this is Imp-ending Catastrophe. |
| 448s | And, yes, that is the actual name of the Warlock Covenant spell |
| 452s | for the Venthyr Covenant. |
| 453s | So, it just felt too perfect. We had to go with it. |
| 457s | And then, of course, with our Imp theme throughout the entire class, |
| 460s | it just felt very fitting. |
| 462s | And now, a victim. |
| 463s | Bear witness to this poor Flustered Librarian |
| 467s | as she tries to contain the chaos within her beloved library. |
| 471s | Oh, it really looks bad. |
| 472s | Those Imps, the more of them that come, |
| 474s | the more attack she gains |
| 476s | as she tries to deal with how upsetting this situation is. |
| 480s | There's something about that Imp, too. |
| 483s | Cora, would you say it's a bit familiar? |
| 485s | I would say that, Valerie, yeah. |
| 487s | In fact, we actually created Mischievous Imp |
| 490s | and Flustered Librarian in tandem, |
| 492s | so we intentionally made their art pieces to really play off of each other. |
| 496s | So, in the Mischievous Imp art piece, you see it setting fire to a robe, |
| 500s | and the robe is intended to be the Flustered Librarian's. |
| 503s | Now you see all of these Mischievous Imps running amok in the Vile Library |
| 506s | as she's trying to contain them, |
| 509s | but they are just too mischievous to contain. |
| 512s | This is a murder mystery. |
| 514s | We know where they done it, how they done it, |
| 516s | but we still don't know whodunnit, |
| 518s | and I really think that you guys should come up with a Solid Alibi here. |
| 524s | I mean, this investigation is imp-portant. |
| 527s | I mean, we can't sk-imp on the details. |
| 531s | All right, so, I don't need an alibi because I just found this amazing clue. |
| 535s | Hey, take a look at this Red Herring. |
| 537s | -This has got to be it, right, Edward? -[Edward] You're so right, Val. |
| 541s | This is the missing piece to the whole puzzle of this murder mystery. |
| 545s | [Alkali] I don't know, you guys. This still sounds fishy. |
| 547s | I think everybody's getting caught in the weeds here. |
| 550s | The suspect who's commanding this big group of Imps |
| 553s | needs to have some experience with leadership. |
| 557s | You know, maybe they have, like, led a group before. |
| 561s | And this is a pretty big group of Imps. |
| 563s | It's like a... like a party of Imps. |
| 565s | It's... |
| 567s | It's kind of a league of Imps. |
| 570s | It's got to be Rafaam! |
| 571s | [sinister orchestral music] |
| 575s | [Valerie] Oh, Rafaam is here in Revendreth. |
| 577s | We haven't seen him for quite a while. |
| 580s | I guess that whole business with Galakrond didn't work out too great, did it? |
| 585s | Um... We'd probably better not ask him for details, though. |
| 588s | It's, uh, probably a pretty sore subject. |
| 590s | Cora, do you know anything else about what kinds of dark and dastardly deeds |
| 595s | Rafaam is getting up to here in Castle Nathria? |
| 597s | Well, I know he is nothing without a group of followers. |
| 601s | So, Rafaam has come to Castle Nathria. |
| 604s | He's got a new title. |
| 605s | Before, he was the Supreme Archaeologist. |
| 608s | Now he is the Imp King. |
| 610s | And he has recruited a group of Imps |
| 612s | to strike mischief up in the Vile Library |
| 615s | while he maybe digs around for some information |
| 618s | that Sire Denathrius is keeping hidden. |
| 620s | Whatever his intentions are, they can't be good. |
| 623s | And after a certain number of friendly minions die |
| 626s | while he's in your hand, |
| 628s | he will resummon those Imps and he will give them a buff. |
| 631s | So he's going to keep that army coming, and they're just gonna keep causing havoc. |
| 635s | Great discovery, Cora. |
| 637s | I think we really have a lead here with Rafaam. |
| 639s | But let's not forget that there's nine other suspects out there, |
| 643s | and we really need to take the time to investigate them all. |
| 646s | And for you at home, |
| 647s | if you want to join us on the investigation, |
| 649s | make sure to follow us on all of our socials |
| 651s | and check out PlayHearthstone.com. |
| 654s | Thank you for watching, and we'll see you next time. |
| 656s | [mysterious orchestral music] |