Blizzard introduces pre-built Hearthstone decks, angry boars

Hearthstone’s next patch, 20.2, has a couple of big improvements. The most notable one, especially for players who have been left behind on farming dust and building decks, is Battle-Ready Decks. These are meant for new, returning, or lost players who want to jump into the fray with a certain class, but don’t have the dust or the know-how to build a properly competitive deck.

Each deck is built out of meta-appropriate cards from the Year of the Phoenix, including combinations from expansions like Forged in the Barrens and Madness at the Darkmoon Faire. A full list of these decks and their particulars can be found on Blizzard’s official site.

Battle-Ready Decks are an experimental feature. Players can’t purchase them when an expansion starts, because Blizzard wants to “preserve the exploration phase of each expansion when everyone is trying out new and interesting things.” Once the meta settles, and the clearest powerhouses emerge, a Battle-Ready Deck will become available. They are a limited-time purchase for $19.99, with only one deck per account. Future updates may change the way Battle-Ready Decks work, or make them more readily available, depending on fan feedback.

In addition, the Quilboars are coming to Battlegrounds, Blizzard’s take on the auto-chess genre. Quilboar are a new minion type with a new mechanic: Blood Gems, which give friendly minions a +1/+1 buff. Quilboar can both generate Blood Gems and have special interactions with Blood Gems, making them an interesting type of minion to prioritize. Quilboar will show up in every Battlegrounds match until the next major content patch to ensure everyone has a chance to try them out. The mode is also getting three new heroes for players to pick from, each with their own unique power.