Chromie’s noticed some disturbances in the timeline. She’s come from our last set of the year to warn us that we’re in the wrong Hearthstone year! That’s right, the Year of the Raptor has evolved into: the Year of the Chicken!

Thanks to the success of the Heroes of StarCraft Mini-Set, we’re excited to announce the Year of the Chicken will bring a cross-over with another storied Blizzard franchise—Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft! This new collection will include iconic characters from Warcraft lore, like Thrall and Jenna Proudmore. And, to celebrate the Year of the Chicken, Leeroy Jenkins will be returned to the Core Set after all.

Graphic of all the cards entering and leaving Core.

New Mythic Skins: Leeroy Jenkinses

We’ll also be introducing a new Mythic Leeroy Jenkins Hero Skin for each class! We’re excited for this opportunity to really explore the depth of this iconic character.

They will be available in the Shop individually or in a bundle of all 11 Skins, plus 2 class packs from each class.

Hearthstone Balance Updates

• Shudderblock can now deal damage to your opponent if you ask nicely enough.
• As a safety precaution, Sylvanas, the Accused and Shaladrassil can no longer be in the same deck.
• Unfortunately, Workhorse’s petition to be allowed in the office has been denied, so we have renamed it “Horse” and returned it to the stables.
• Agamaggan, Aessinna, Ursol, Omen, Ohn’ahra, Tortolla, Forest Lord Cenarius, Ashamane, Goldrinn, Ursoc, and Aviana, Elune’s Chosen have been rotated early into Wild.
• Zilliax Deluxe 3000 has been renamed Zilliax D-UST 1600, and will now just always be eligible for a full dust refund, so we don’t have to keep mentioning it every balance patch.
  
• Artanis now costs 5 Mana.
  • Dev Comment: It’s my birthday soon and I’ve always been a big Protoss fan.
    
• Sleep Paralysis has been reworked:
  
• Abduction Ray has also been reworked:
  

Battlegrounds Updates

• We’re instituting a maximum Battlegrounds Rating of 12,000. Anything beyond that is, frankly, excessive.
• You and a friend can now play splitscreen in Battlegrounds Duos. No peeking!
• Deathly Striker has signed a lucrative contract with a professional soccer club and, therefore, is removed from the minion pool until the off-season.
• The Road Less Traveled will now automatically choose the less frequently selected option.
• ‘Loc Prince has gained extra stats during Localization.

Feature Updates

• You can now claim “take backsies” to undo a move if the results weren’t what you wanted and your finger hasn’t been taken off your device.
• You can now sync Hearthstone to your calendar and enable it to automatically open when a work meeting begins.
• You can now use the in-game reporting feature to report players for playing Priest.
• The Concede button is now limited to once per game.
• Client crashes now automatically open a Reddit interface, for immediate posting.
• Following the popularity of the Pre-Release Tavern Brawl, we’ve decided to support a Post-Release Brawl, pictured below:
  

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• [Hearthstone] Monstrous Mosquito now also has the Leech effect.
• [Hearthstone] Increased Resplendent Dreamweaver’s Resplendence by 50%.
• [Battlegrounds] Fixed a bug where animations would occasionally accelerate in the middle of combat.
• [Battlegrounds] Removed a bunch of bugs (all the Beetles).
• [Battlegrounds Duos] Fixed a bug where your Duos partner wouldn’t pass you that one card you wanted even though it’s right there and I emoted on it, just pass me the Brann, Jeff, I have a pair! Please!