Gaming News Hearthstone March of the Lich King: Death Knight class, new maps… Our take on the expansion
March of the Lich King concludes this Hydra year with a bang: a new class joins Hearthstone in the death knight, while the traditional card add-on has also joined the party. What brings refreshment after a mini-set that is too subtle? Here is our answer.
summary
- Manad thirst, reincarnation… Light novelty
- Death Knight: a new class that refreshes the game
- The meta throne is still vacant
thing promised thing due. As usual, Blizzard has completed the third phase of its timetable (found below) with a major update rolling out to Hearthstone this week. Indeed the extension March of the Lich King is available since December 6th. Enough to bring new keywords, a new class to play and a landscape of ranked games with different decks. We take stock and tell you our opinion.
Manad thirst, reincarnation… Light novelty
L’extension March of the Lich King 145 new cards are coming: ten more than the previous expansions. New cards, all printed in conjunction with the World of Warcraft expansion Wrath of the Lich King and Arthas’ journey as the new Lich King. It is therefore normal to find the themes of ghouls, reincarnation and blood knights. Something that we find right in the tribes, since it is that of the living dead that has arrived. Some old cards have therefore joined the new breed, but it’s mostly the new cards that go with it.
Logically, it is also the keyword reincarnation what reappears. First published with adventure Savior of Uldum (2019) it returns as the definitive mechanic for Hearthstone, and goes well with corpses, necromancy, and so on: when a minion with the keyword reincarnation dies, it comes back to life with 1 hit point. Besides, it’s the keyword Mana Thirst which appears as a new keyword that grants bonus effects to cards when played later in the game. For example the map manabolt costs 1 crystal and deals 2 damage to the desired target. If the player has 8 mana crystals (empty or full, doesn’t matter), the lightning bolt deals 3 damage.
A mechanic that allows you to add a light layer of reflection during players’ turns, especially early in the game. Should I play it now to impose my rhythm on the opponent or wait until I get the full value of my card? Enough to ask the right questions in matches and improve your knowledge of the game.
At the time of observation, players can consider that these are minor additions compared to previous expansions: if there are indeed new specific synergies for each class (arcane spells in mage and hunter, decoctions in thief or even armor with druid), we can Regret the absence of a new type of cards, as might be the case with the company premises from Murder at Castle Nathria or even the colossal from Travel to the heart of the sunken city.
Death Knight: a new class that refreshes the game
An absence that does not weigh heavily, in addition to the great novelty of this expansion: the class death knight (or death knight in English), inevitable when delving into the subject of the Lich King. An eleventh way to play, arriving after April 2020’s Demon Hunter. The DK therefore arrives with its own mechanics: that of corpses, which goes very well with the theme of the expansion. Allied minions that die are recycled as a resource corpses. A resource that can be used to increase the power of certain cards, as shown below:
This is also a new feature that comes with the death knight: runes. When creating a DK deck, players must choose from three rune types (Blood, Unholy, Frost). Some DK cards require certain runes to be included in the deck: for example, the card punch in the heart asks the player to have a minimum a blood rune. A new class that refreshes the game and can serve as a starting point for class vitalization as explained in the article below.
Definition of the word meta
Before we enlighten readers on the best decks currently available, it’s good to remember the definition of the word meta. It is an English acronym meaning Most Efficient Technique Available. Therefore, in the context of Hearthstone, these are the most effective decks: Gold, considered effective are those that have a win/loss ratio greater than or equal to 50%. The meta is therefore a set of these decks.
Who says 145 new cards inevitably says new lists to play with. As with previous expansions, it’s nice to see multiple decks playable. Enough to take the time to test out the new maps and complete the new achievements that Blizzard has concocted for this new expansion, without being too scared of meeting THE king of the meta. Our only regret, despite the majority of playable classes, is the lack of effective warrior decks. We can always hope for changes, especially since the developers were very accommodating by proposing a customization of two maps just three days after the expansion’s release:
Once again, Blizzard is delivering on its implied promise. With the March of the Lich KingThe studio offers fans of the card game new reasons to play with even more content than before. The Death Knight class brings with it interesting mechanics, both in terms of play and deck building. The folklore of the undead and society is sufficiently emphasized: it manages to replace the effective lists before the release of the 145 cards without immediately giving a king of the meta. Enough to easily await the release of the next content in the next Hearthston year, perhaps inspired by the good points of this expansion.
