Introduction to Blizzard Hearthstone

“Deceptively simple. Incredibly fun”: this is how Blizzard describes their 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 on PC, Mac, and iPad. Personally, I found the game challenging and mentally stimulating as it requires me to think ahead and anticipate the opponent’s move. You will understand what I mean when you start playing and consider its objective, hero classes, playing cards, and gameplay.

Objective of the game

Unlike WoW, where you can play multiple players at once, Hearthstone is a head-to-head turn-based strategy game. Each player starts with 30 health and a deck consisting of 30 cards. The object of the game is simple: drain the opponent’s health to zero before the opponent depletes yours. To do this, you’ll need to choose your hero class, and with each class comes 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 enhance 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 eliminate enemy minions. She uses Fireblast to deal damage to a chosen minion or enemy hero.

Uther the Lightbringer (Paladin): Uther has a large number 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 playing Anduin due to his healing and direct damage spells. Never think that the game is over with Anduin because he can always use his minor healing power to restore two health points to a minion or himself.

Valeera Sanguinar (Rogue) – I found Rogues difficult to deal with early in the game due to cheap mana spells and minions. The combination of the two along with her Dagger Mastery that equips a 1/2 weapon makes her a formidable foe.

Thrall (Shaman): Thrall uses totems as his hero power; These totems can have a certain ability or affect minions in play. Be careful about Thrall’s access to Overloaded cards, as it allows him to cast powerful spells at a lower cost at the expense of reducing the mana available the next turn.

Gu’ldan (Warlock): I’m always on my guard 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 never leave the game with his Armor Up! hero power. This ability gives Garrosh two armor per turn that can be stacked indefinitely. With his armor in place, Garrosh uses weapons and quickly attacks minions to directly damage enemy heroes or 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 and its health in the lower right corner. A minion’s attack is the damage dealt, while its health indicates the damage it can take. For example, I have chosen to use a 2/2 Raid Leader to attack a 1/2 Goldvillage lackey. In this skirmish, Goldville’s lackey is buried while my raid leader lives to see another turn.

There are minions that possess certain abilities that can affect the dynamics of the game. Skills 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. The spells differ for each class; Each spell can produce 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 a free mana for one turn along with four other cards. Each player starts with a mana crystal and all starting cards drawn can be replaced.

At the start of a new turn, the mana crystals refill and increase by one. Once a player fills the bar with ten mana crystals, no more mana crystals can be added. Simultaneously with the recharge of mana crystals, 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 the end of the turn. This process repeats until a hero loses all of his health or decides to give in. Although I have never experienced it, there is a possibility that a game will end in a draw.

Conclution

From the looks of it, the game is deceptively simple, but until you’ve played and learned the game, you’ll never know how insanely fun it can be. I have my share of nights playing Hearthstone, and I don’t think I’ll be stopping anytime soon. The purpose of the game, the hero classes, the playing cards, and the game contribute to making the game challenging and mentally stimulating.

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