We were already supposed to know what the next Hearthstone expansion is on Tuesday, but the whole announcement got postponed until Thursday. However, Blizzard has just dropped a teaser and it looks really interesting.
In a short teaser, it looks like we’re inside a submarine and something evil is lurking in the depths. When it comes to underwater themes in Warcraft, the first thing that comes to mind are Nagas. Nagas were originally Highborne night elves, which got “cursed” by N’Zoth himself and turned into underwater beings we know them as today. Their capital, Nazjatar, ruled by Queen Azshara, was explored in WoW’s Battle for Azeroth expansion a few years ago. Alternatively, we might go even further back to Vashj’ir, once home to powerful Naga Lady Vashj.
We already have some Naga minions in Hearthstone (such as Naga Sea Witch or Naga Corsair), but they were honestly quite rare so far. An underwater expansion, even if not directly related to Nagas, will surely be a great way to add more of them (as well as other kinds of interesting underwater monsters and Murlocs). Maybe we’ll even get a completely new minion type, this time for Standard (because the last one we got – Quilboars – were mostly for the sake of Battlegrounds synergies and only an afterthought in Constructed).
Check out the whole teaser below. Can’t wait for the official reveal tomorrow! If you can’t watch it live, don’t worry, we’ll cover all of it here on Hearthstone Top Decks.
It’s almost time to set sail, adventurers! ???? pic.twitter.com/4CZKM1WRGD
— Hearthstone (@PlayHearthstone) March 16, 2022
Interestingly enough, Nazjatar was already sort of teased by Iksar in one of his Q&As a few months ago. We covered it here.
Interesting… very interesting.
— August Dean Ayala ???? (@IksarHS) January 11, 2022
It’s absolutely Nazjatar and in case there was any doubt, the preorder bundle was leaked and the hero skin was in fact Azshara for Mage. She was in her Night Elf form however, not in her Naga form.
Yeah the theme was already pretty obvious from the teaser. If we’re going underwater it really has to be Nagas and Nazjatar is the most prominent Naga location.
But what’s most important are cards! I wonder what the new mechanic will be.
It’s today!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hype is real. 😀
Expansion called “Voyage to the Sunken City”. Credit to Zeddy on twitter, saw a mega bundle posts in Hearthstone store.
Additionally, it might involved adding another tribes, and since we’re getting the vibes of the Old Gods, might see the return of 4 Old Gods cards to the Core Set.
Initially, reddit saw some thread about Pandaria. Probably gonna see it at the end of the year.
I called this year, Year of Serpent. Wanna bet on it? It’s already so matching, water type serpent, cloud serpent, etc.
Yeah, I’ve seen that, but just like always I’m gonna wait until the official announcement tomorrow 🙂 But to be honest, it was already pretty clear what the theme is from this teaser.
Not sure about all 4 Old Gods, but it would make sense for N’Zoth to be there in some way… After all, Nagas were created by N’Zoth.
Year of the Serpent is a good guess, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was it.
“Time to set sail adventurers!” I’m not looking forward to another year of pirate support.
I don’t think it will be Pirates, at least not many of them. The theme looks to be more underwater, so nagas, murlocs, underwater monsters etc.
And this year’s expansions won’t be related to each other thematically, so it’s just this one, 2nd and 3rd can look completely different.
Water elementals, Gnomes in old fashioned diving gear. Ships or submarines as cards might also be interesting, using dormant as a thematic mechanic for subs. Giant clam taunt or battlecry eat a minion.
Sharks with frenzy and sea giants back again?