Hearthstone fans who were waiting for more content after the Knights of the Frozen Throne expansion may not need to wait that much longer as Blizzard just announced Hearthstone's upcoming expansion, Kobolds & Catacombs, at Blizzcon 2017. The 135 card expansion will also include a new keyword effect, Recruit, which will allow you to automatically summon a minion from your deck. One such upcoming card that has this effect is the Guild Recruiter, which is a five mana 2/4 minion that puts another four mana or less minion onto the field, essentially giving you a random minion and an extremely understated minion for the price of one.
Some of the cards also have an upgrade mechanic whereby if you meet the condition on a card in your hand, it will get progressively more powerful until you play it. For example, the Jasper Spellstone card for Druids starts off as a one mana spell that lets you do two damage to a minion, if you gain three armor while it is in your hand the Spellstone will turn into a one mana, four damage to minion card. Gain another three armor and the Spellstone evolves into a one mana, six damage to minion spell. Alternatively, some cards are Unidentified Elixirs, which have a different effect every time you draw it, sometimes giving your minion a Divine Shield, other times giving it Lifesteal, and so on and so forth.
In addition, Kobolds & Catacombs will introduce a new solo game mode, Dungeon Run, which is essentially like the regular Hearthstone Arena mode but your opponents are eight different bosses (taken from a pool of almost 50 bosses) rather than other players. The twist here is that after every win, you get to choose one of three cards to add to your deck. You may also encounter treasures in your Dungeon Run attempt, which are powerful cards designed to help you beat some of the bosses. One such treasure is Captured Flag, which is a passive card that gives all of your minions +1/+1.
Interestingly enough, it also appears as though every Hearthstone class will gain access to a new Legendary weapon card. While not every new weapon card has been revealed, the Mage and Priest weapons have been shown off. For Mages, Aluneth is a six mana 0/3 weapon that lets you draw three cards at the end of your turn, while Priests have access to Dragon Soul, a three mana 0/3 that gives you the opportunity to summon a 5/5 Dragon every time you play three spells in a single turn. For all intents and purposes, these new weapons are more like passive abilities, as the durability of these weapons presumably only exist so that minions that have weapon related abilities can trigger their effects.
Hearthstone fans who can't wait to get their hands on Kobolds & Catacombs can get a glimpse of some of the new cards here. Fortunately, when the expansion releases, you will also get a random Legendary weapon for free, so if you're lucky, you may get one for a class that you love instantly, without having to buy hundreds and hundreds of packs in the hopes of getting one that you'll actually use.
