Hearthstone Forged In The Barrens Expansion, Year Of The Gryphon Launching March 30

Blizzard has announced that Hearthstone's next expansion, Forged in the Barrens, will launch on March 30. The company will be revealing new cards over the next week, culminating in the final reveal stream to take place on March 22 at 10 AM PT. It will be hosted by streamer RegisKillbin, community manager Chris Sierra, and game designer Liv Breeden.

Forged in the Barrens brings 135 new cards to Hearthstone, and introduces the ten mercenary characters who players will follow through the entire year. Part of that will be the new Mercenaries game mode, a rogue-like RPG coming in a future expansion.

Following the final card reveal, streamers will be showing off "Theorycrafting" streams starting March 23. These will allow high-profile Hearthstone players to experiment with cards ahead of the expansion, using decks with at least 10 Barrens cards in each deck.

You can also register for a Fireside Gathering to open your card packs starting on March 26. The new set won't be playable in Standard until the launch date, but a pair of special Barrens Fireside Brawls will let you tinker with the new cards within that special mode, during your Fireside event.

As the first expansion of the year, Forged in the Barrens will also mark the start of the new Year of the Gryphon. That means a new set of cards cycling out of Standard, but Blizzard is doing things differently this time. Rather than simply rotate some cards out, it's introducing an entirely new "Core set" of cards in place of the Basic and Classic sets. The Core set will be free for all players, and unlocked by reaching progression goals with each character. If you've already met the unlock requirements, you'll simply have the full set when you login for the new season of content.

Year of the Gryphon is also launching with a new Classic mode, which will let you play all of the original Hearthstone cards in their original 2014 state. For more details, check out everything we know about Hearthstone's 2021 plans.