An Introduction to Blizzard’s Hearthstone
“Deceptively simple. Insanely fun” – that’s how Blizzard describes its new game. Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is a collectible card game with settings and characters based on the ever-popular World of Warcraft game. While the game was released in March 2014, the extended beta testing period ensured that the game was highly anticipated by Blizzard fans around the world. Today, the game is free to download and play on Battle.Net and is available for PC, Mac, and iPad. I personally found the game challenging and mentally stimulating as it forces me to think ahead and anticipate the opponent’s move. You’ll understand what I mean when you start playing the game and consider its objective, hero classes, playing cards, and gameplay.
Objective of the game
Unlike WoW, where you can play with multiple players at once, Hearthstone is a head-to-head turn-based strategy game. Each player starts with 30 health and a deck of 30 cards. The objective of the game is simple: drain the opponent’s health to zero before the opponent drains yours. To do this, you’ll need to choose your hero class, and with each class comes a unique hero power, minions, and spells. For me, the interactions of these three factors make the game very interesting.
heroes and classes
Malfurion Stormrage (Druid): Malfurion’s specialty comes from spells that enchant and improve minions’ attack and health. The druid’s power is Shapeshift, giving Malfurion +1 attack and +1 armor until end of turn.
Rexxar (Hunter): Rexxar uses beasts as his primary form of damage while using traps and secrets to counter enemy minions. His Steady Shot deals two damage to the enemy hero.
Jaina Proudmoore (Mage) – I like Jaina for her variety of spells that can be used to damage the enemy hero or remove enemy minions. She uses Fireblast to deal damage to a chosen minion or the enemy hero.
Uther the Lightbringer (Paladin): Uther has a lot of strong minions and uses spells to limit the opponent’s minion on the board. Because of his hero power, Uther can summon a 1/1 Silver Hand Recruit each turn.
Aduin Wrynn (Priest): I don’t like to play against Anduin because of his healing and direct damage spells. Never think the game is over with Anduin because he can always use his minor healing power to restore two health to a minion or himself.
Valeera Sanguinar (Rogue) – I found rogues to be hard to deal with early game due to cheap minions and mana spells. The combination of the two of hers along with her Dagger Mastery equipping a 1/2 weapon of hers makes her a formidable foe.
Thrall (Shaman): Thrall uses totems as his hero power; these totems can have a certain ability or can affect minions in play. Beware of Thrall’s access to Overload cards, as it allows him to cast powerful spells at a lower cost at the expense of reducing the mana available next turn.
Gu’ldan (Warlock) – I always have my guard up when fighting Gu’ldan due to cheap minions with the Battlecry ability and powerful direct damage spells. His hero power, Life Tap, is unique, allowing him to draw a card and take two damage.
Garrosh Hellscream (Warrior): Garrosh is my favorite because I’m never out of the game with his Armor Up! hero power. This ability gives Garrosh two pieces of armor each turn that can be stacked indefinitely. With his armor in place of him, Garrosh uses weapons and quickly attacks minions to directly damage the hero or enemy minions.
game cards
Minions: Minions are the creatures in the game that can be summoned on the board. At the top left of the card is the minion’s casting cost. You can find the minion’s attack in the lower left corner of the card, while its health in the lower right corner. A minion’s attack is the damage dealt, while his health indicates the damage he can take. For example, I’ve chosen to use a 2/2 raid leader to attack a 1/2 Goldshire lackey. In this skirmish, Goldshire’s lackey is buried while my raid leader lives to see another turn.
There are minions that have certain abilities that can affect the dynamics of the game. Abilities like Battlecry, Charge, Taunt, Summon, etc. Make the game challenging and interesting at the same time.
Spells: Spell cards are powerful, game-changing cards that can only be used once. Spells differ for each class; each spell can cause unique effects, deal direct damage, or both.
how to play
At the beginning of the game, the computer randomly chooses who goes first. Whoever goes first starts with three cards. The other player receives the Coin that grants one free mana for one turn along with four other cards. Each player starts with a mana crystal, and all initial cards drawn can be replaced.
At the start of a new turn, the mana crystals recharge and increase by one. Once a player fills the bar with ten mana crystals, no more mana crystals can be added. Simultaneously with the mana crystal recharge, a player draws a card from the deck. After this phase, the player is free to cast spells, summon minions, and attack the opponent until end of turn. This process is repeated until a hero loses all health or decides to give up. Although I have never experienced it, there is a possibility that a game ends in a tie.
conclusion
From the looks of it, the game is deceptively simple, but until you’ve actually played and learned the game, you’ll never know how insanely fun it can be. I have my own share of nights spent playing Hearthstone, and I don’t think I’ll be stopping anytime soon. The goal of the game, the hero classes, the playing cards, and the gameplay all contribute to making the game challenging and mentally stimulating.
