The final card reveals forHearthstone’slatest expansion,Murder at Castle Nathria, are almost finished, and the set’s launch is right around the corner. The second expansion of the Year of the Hydra is set in the Shadowlands–the afterlife ofWorld of Warcraftand setting of the last expansion. With the backdrop of a murder mystery set in Revendreth, the gothic purgatory-esque realm of the vampiric Venthyr, this upcomingHearthstoneset is positively dripping with flavor.
Game Rant participated in a group interview withHearthstonelead designer Liv Breeden and game designer Cora Georgiou about the upcoming set. Infuse and Locations–the newMurder at Castle Nathriakeyword and card type respectively–are exciting new additions to the game, but their history is more complex than it would seem at first glance. Breeden and Georgiou pull back the curtain on how these and other mechanics came to be inHearthstone, and the mechanics that inspired them.
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Infuse and Board-Based Hearthstone Gameplay
Infuse is a new keyword coming toHearthstoneinMurder at Castle Nathria. Infuse cards gain additional effects when played after a certain number of friendly minions die with the card in hand. The exact number of creatures and effects vary from card to card, and some cards, like Sire Denathrius, can become Infused more than once. Like theCorrupt cards fromMadness at the DarkmoonFaire, these cards have unique artwork once they become Infused.
Cards fromHearthstone’spast operate with similar mechanics to Infuse, but the new keyword itself breathes ironic life into this deathly mechanic. Anima was a major plot device, resource, andcurrency inShadowlands, and the mechanics it uses inMurder at Castle Nathriareflect it. “It was pretty cool we had a keyword and a driving theme of Anima and Infusion that all of our characters could relate to, even though we were grounded in Revendreth,” Georgiou said.
However, according to Georgiou, Infuse almost looked very different. “There were a couple different iterations we went through. Could Anima be a different kind of resource? Could it be this really flashy thing involving mana crystals?”Hearthstonehung on to the idea of Infuse transforming Mana Crystals into red Animacrystals for some time, but found the mechanics to be underwhelming outside the visuals.
“The gameplay just wasn’t supporting what we wanted–the minion-centric combat… A little later on in the process, when we went back to the drawing table and brainstormed, ‘What gameplay really supports the theme of Infuse and Anima, but also minions?’ That’s how the current mechanic was born.”
Though this iteration would have been interesting, the mechanicsHearthstonesettled on for Infuse are for the best.Hearthstonehas sought to encourage board-based gameplay, rather than combo decks, for some time. “It is a really great opportunity to be able to come back to the fundamentals," Georgiou said, “We are a card game that thrives on minion-based combat, and we want to incentivize that.” By rewarding players for their own minions dying, Infuse presents a way to do that while still allowing players to plan ahead for their perfect combo.
Setting the Scene for a Murder at Castle Nathria
No murder mystery can be complete without a good setting, andHearthstonebrings the setting onto the board. Locations are anewHearthstonecard typeplayed on the board like a minion. Immediately or on subsequent turns, Locations can be activated to use a special power a number of times before it is destroyed. After being used, Location powers become unavailable for a turn before they can be activated again.
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Hearthstonedoes not add new card types to the game lightly. “This is a once in a four or five year thing,” Breeden said. “We wanted to capture the idea of a setting; we can do people pretty well, we can do characters, we can do spells or silly things happening, but settings and locations have been difficult for us to make gameplay around.” Unlike the set-specific Infuse, Locations will be apermanent addition toHearthstonefrom now on.
“We’ve been chasing [Locations] for a long time, so this is something we want to keep doing going forward. It’s not something we want to do all the time–we aren’t going to have 10 locations in Standard at any point, because filling up your board with them isn’t very fun. But if you have one or two in rotation per class, that’s pretty reasonable.”
However,Hearthstoneplayed around with a lot of different ideas before landing on Locations as they are now. According to Breeden, one of the other candidates for the new card type was Champions. Champions would have had their own health pool and a Hero Power, and could be attacked instead of the player, similar toPlaneswalkers inMagic: The Gathering. However,Hearthstonecouldn’t find a good balance for their cost and health to keep them worthwhile investments and targets. This led them to Locations, which share similarities toMTG’sLand cards.
Unlike minions, Locations cannot be attacked or damaged by opponents outside specific cards that target Locations, like Demolition Renovator. Despite this, Breeden is confident Locations will support the board-based gameplayHearthstonewants to encourage whilereinforcing the setting ofMurder at Castle Nathria–especially since most of the Location cards are Rare, meaning players will be able to collect them easily.
Hearthstone Keeps it Classy in Murder at Castle Nathria
EveryHearthstoneexpansion focuses on one or two class archetypes for each of the 10 playable deck classes. These choices sculpt both the meta ofHearthstoneand the flavor of the individual set. Though it takes many cards to offer true support for aHearthstonearchetype, Legendary cards are the most exciting part of the deck. “There are so many cool characters in the Shadowlands!” Georgiou said. The Legendaries fromMurder at Castle Nathriaconsist mainly of the murder suspects–memorableHearthstoneandWorld of Warcraftcharacters from across the Shadowlands–as well as characters from Revendreth, the Castle Nathria raid, and a fewHearthstoneoriginals. These cards define the different archetypes of each class.
“It was really important for us to have diversity from all across the covenants, races, and genders, but with some familiar faces in there as well. A couple in there were pretty obvious–as soon as I learned Olgra was in Maldraxxus, and she’s this badass Decimator Warrior character, I was like ‘Okay, yeah, we are doing Olgra, no complaints from anybody!’ But there were a couple who were more difficult to pick.”
Some classicHearthstonearchetypes are receiving support inMurder at Castle Nathria. EvolveShaman is getting support inHearthstonevia Baroness Vashjj, Stewart the Steward is a great card for Silver Hand Recruit Paladin decks, and the Harvester of Envy adds a powerful staple for the Thief Priest archetype. “I like building archetypes off the remnants of cards that didn’t make it,” Breeden said, referring to the latter. “Finally, we get enough support [for Thief Priest] because I built it up over the course of four expansions of cut cards.”
Murder at Castle Nathriaalso gives players the opportunity to explore newHearthstoneclass archetypes. One such archetype is the Relic Demon Hunter–one of the most difficult archetypesHearthstonedesigned in the set. Relics are a new type of Demon Hunter spell that grants a relatively weak ability, but improves future Relic spells–an effect inspired by theJade Golems from theMean Streets of Gadgetzan.
Murder at Castle Nathriais promising aHearthstoneexpansion cycle full of mystery, creativity, and flavor. As Georgiou said, “The only thing that can make a murder mystery dinner party better is a gothic setting and vampire characters. It really was the perfect marriage of these wonderful tropes.” With how differentMurder at Castle Nathriais toVoyage to the Sunken City, players can only imagine whatHearthstonewill have in store for its final set for the Year of the Hydralater in 2022.
Hearthstoneis available now for mobile and PC.Murder at Castle Nathrialaunches August 2nd.
