It is now just over three months since the Ashes of Hearthstone Outland expansion was launched. An extremely important update since it brought with it a tenth class, the Demon Hunter. Offering many high winrate decks, the latter has turned the gameplay and balance of the Blizzard card game upside down. One thing is certain, the Year of the Phoenix has started off on a high note.
After Les Cendres de l’Outreterre, it is now time for the Californian firm to move on to the second phase of its annual plan. As promised, a new extension will renew the experience a little with new mechanics. Her name : the Scholomance Academy. Fans of World of Warcraft should already have some images in mind, we will return to class at the Scholomance School of Necromancy.
Directed by the powerful Kel’thuzad, this establishment was the subject of a dungeon in WoW, but will be treated here with more lightness. Indeed, developers want to return to a more carefree atmosphere after the serious and serious aspect of the extension published in April. As usual, the team has gone to great lengths to create links between gameplay and lore. This therefore gives us a principle of double specialization allowing to link classes.
The first great novelty of the Scholomance Academy is the introduction of 40 double-class cards. As their name suggests, these are cards usable by two different classes. Blizzard hopes to allow the creation of original decks mixing mechanics and offering new synergies. We see for example here “Lightning flowering” which allows to gain two mana crystals for this turn in exchange for an overload of 2. A thumbnail usable by both Druids and Shamans, as indicated by the blue outline and brown.
Another addition to this extension, the keyword Salve. The principle is simple: the minions and weapons concerned automatically trigger a single-use effect when you use a spell. For example, when it is on the board, the “Note taker applied” allows you to recover your spell after use. For its part, “Golden Shields” will gain a Divine Shield thanks to this effect. Next comes a new family of spells, the Studies. In addition to allowing you to Discover cards, they will offer you something to reduce their mana cost. Just below this paragraph, we see “Natural Studies” which belongs to this category.
Of course, a host of other cards will be added to this collection. They generally take up the universe and the lexical field of the school, like the “First year overworked”, a 1/4 costing only 1 mana and reserved for the Priest. Among the curiosities, the servant “Exchange student” will benefit from different effects depending on the board on which it is played. Placed on the board of the extension The Adventurers of Uldum, this one will gain for example the keyword Reincarnation. Finally, the legendary Cliquettripes, a 9/9 costing 9 mana, will return in a -1 / -1 form with its Death Rail.
A total of 135 new cards will be added to Hearthstone and as usual, the most invested can pay € 79.99 to buy a megapack comprising 80 packs of Scholomance Academy cards, 5 packs of golden Scholomance Academy cards, a legendary random golden card from the Scholomance Academy, the hero mage Kel’Thuzad, the Kel’Thuzad card back and the tavern ticket, which includes 4 arena entrances. A pre-purchase offer of € 49.99 will also make it possible to obtain 55 packages, a legendary random golden card and the Kel’Thuzad card back. Even though Blizzard hasn’t yet released a date for this expansion, expect an exit in the coming weeks.
The new tray, card back and package design.
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By daFrans, Journalist jeuxvideo.com
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