The Shadowlands might just be one of the best regions for a possible Warcraft expansion. This is where Sylvanas Windrunner had opened the gates between the living and the dead and reignited the Horde against the Alliance. Supposedly the place for living souls to rest after they have passed away, a big question still remains – what happens if someone dies in the Shadowlands itself? That’s exactly the theme of the expansion – called “Murder at Castle Nathria”.
Sire Denathrius, the all-powerful maker of the realm of Revendreth and the creator of the Venthyr, had invited ten of the most powerful beings in Azeroth for a party. It so happened that even the Supreme Dread Lord himself is not immune to something as basic as death itself – forcing Detective Murloc Holmes to come to his aid! There are ten suspects, each with their own alibi. You’ll need to team up with Murloc and find out who the killer is – who is responsible for the Murder at Castle Nathria.
The expansion introduces two new card mechanics. A new type of minion keyword comes with the set, called “Infuse”. When minions with the “Infuse” keyword see a certain number of friendly creatures die, they transform into a stronger version of themselves. The keyword works in a similar way to the “Corrupt” keyword that we had seen earlier, just with different triggering conditions. “Infuse” doesn’t trigger if you play the minion before the ability is triggered. One card revealed during the Reveal trailer was Priest of the Deceased, which got more stats if “Infuse” was triggered.
Secondly. a new type of special card is going to be released in this expansion called “Locations”. These are the locations where the ten suspects were present at the time of the murder (according to their alibi, anyways). Location cards can be played for an initial cost, and they can be used a certain number of times based on the “Armor” value of the card. Once the “armor” hits zero, the location dissipates from the field. One card revealed during the stream was Muck Pools, a location that allowed you to “evolve” your minions into minions costing one more.
Preorders for both the Mega Bundle and the Bundle are up on the Battle.net store right now. If you’re a bit too excited for the imminent slower meta, you can login to Hearthstone and get Prince Renathal right away! He increases your deck size and health pool to 40, giving you more staying power against your opponent.
The new expansion launches worldwide on August 2. For now, one can either toy with Prince Renathal in Standard or Wild, or check out the card reveal schedule and all revealed cards in the official card library.