Hearthstone Update Expands Deck Slots, Adds New Hero

Ahead of Hearthstone's next expansion, Whispers of the Old Gods, developer Blizzard has deployed a major update that carries numerous changes and additional content.

Patch 4.2.0.12051 doubles each player's maximum deck slots from nine to 18; a long-requested feature which has only grown in demand as Hearthstone has been expended over the years with new cards and viable strategies.

Also available is a new hero; a Paladin skin known as Liadrin. It appears this character skin can only be unlocked by reaching level 20 in World of Warcraft. A short trailer introducing the hero can be found above.

Elsewhere in the update is a new feature called Deck Recipes. After selecting a hero when building a new deck, Hearthstone now showcases a range of possible thirty-card decks that have proven potential. Numerous well-known netdecks, from Dragon Priest to Handlock, are suggested in this feature. Should a player not have all the cards in any recipe, Blizzard will recommend alternate cards.

Meanwhile, the Whispers of the Old Gods expansion is now available to pre-purchase. The new DLC release date is set for some time between April and May, but those who pre-purchase can use the expansion's associated card back immediately. You can take a look at this card back below:

Two other Card backs have also emerged. The first is the Hogger, which is unlocked by hitting above rank 20 in March.

The second is Overwatch, which is unlocked by purchasing Overwatch: Origins Edition.

Hearthstone's newest patch also comes with numerous tweaks, including "improved" card suggestions.

Patch Notes, as written by Blizzard, can be found below.

General

Pre-purchase Whispers of the Old Gods

Pre-purchase a “Whispers of the Old Gods” 50 card pack bundle from the in-game shop and unlock a special card back. Whispers of the Old Gods packs cannot be opened until the expansion launches, which will be before May 31, 2016, however, the card back is available immediately!

Unlock up to 18 deck slots!

Gain access to 9 additional deck slots by unlocking all nine Hearthstone Heroes, bringing your total number of deck slots to 18.

If you’ve already unlocked all nine Heroes, your new deck slots are waiting for you in the Collection Manager: just delete or edit the Basic decks you’ll find in your deck list.

• Many improvements have been made to the Collection Manager.
• Deck Recipes are now available in the Collection Manager. Use Deck Recipes to quickly experiment with some new deck ideas.
• Right-clicking on card backs in the Collection Manager reveals an improved display. So fancy!
• When building decks, the “Suggest a Card” feature is now smarter about its recommendations.
• It is now possible to search for cards with new search terms, including Attack, Health, Cost, Golden, etc.
• A more complete listing of all the new functions will be revealed in an upcoming blog.
• We have begun preparing for the arrival of Standard and Wild formats with new UI elements.
• The following Hero portrait has been added:
• Liadrin – The new Paladin hero is obtained through an upcoming World of Warcraft promotion.
• Hearthstone has been localized into Thai. Players around the globe can now enjoy Hearthstone in 14 different Languages!
• The following card backs have been added:
• Hogger – Acquired at the end of the month by reaching Rank 20 or higher in Ranked Play mode during the month of March 2016.
• Eyes of C’Thun – Acquired by pre-purchasing Whispers of the Old Gods.
• Overwatch – Acquired by purchasing the Overwatch: Origins Edition.
• Bonuses provided by Enrage effects now work correctly after a minion’s Attack and Health values have been swapped.
• [iPads with iOS 9.0.2+] Resolved an issue that could cause Hearthstone to crash when launched with the device held in certain orientations.
• [Android] Resolved visual issues that could occur with the League of Explorer’s card back and after League of Explorer matches on Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge+ devices.
• Resolved various issues with AI behavior and gameplay.
• Fixed various audio, graphical, and UI issues.