Hearthstone: Journey to Un’Goro launches next week

Journey to Un’Goro, the fifth full-size expansion for Hearthstone, was announced just over a month ago. In a stream today, Blizzard has revealed most of the set’s 135 new cards as well as its launch date: Thursday, April 6.

In addition to a ton of fresh cards, Journey to Un’Goro is bringing a few new mechanics to Hearthstone. Most notably, the expansion will feature a new type of legendary card known as a “quest card.” When put into play, these cards will task players with hitting certain challenging goals — for example, the priest quest Awaken the Makers asks you to summon seven Deathrattle minions over the course of a game.

Should you pull off one of these quests, you’re rewarded with an extremely powerful minion. That priest quest awards Amara, Warden of Hope, a five-mana minion with eight health and eight attack who sets the player’s health to 40 upon being played. Each of the game’s nine classes has a unique quest and reward, which can provide major swings in a game’s tempo if pulled off correctly.

The expansion also features a new keyword: adapt. When a minion adapts — whether through a spell, a battlecry or something else — players are given a choice of three possible upgrades for that minion. These can include buffs to attack and health, a divine shield, giving the minion taunt or more.

In addition to Journey to Un’Goro going live, April 6 will mark the beginning of what Blizzard calls the “Year of the Mammoth” in Hearthstone. Cards from the Blackrock Mountain, The Grand Tournament and League of Explorers sets will rotate out of Standard mode, meaning they will only be playable in the Wild format. Blizzard is also removing a few of the most popular classic cards — such as Azure Drake and Sylvanas Windrunner — from Standard format.

Polygon will be covering the launch of Journey to Un’Goro live next week, including a massive pack-opening celebration. Stay tuned for that video and more.