The Witchwood


 * "This poor town has seen its share of trials. Now we face a new force, sinuous and vile.
 * Is something wicked twisting trees and turning them to ill? Some diabolic expertise strives to break our will.
 * Do my eyes play tricks on me, will monsters seal our doom? What were those things? What did I see hiding in this gloom?
 * We're turned around and taunted, but moonlight is our friend.
 * ''The way ahead is haunted, our hackles stand on end!
 * We'll make our stand right here, our choice is crystal clear! We are the beasts the monsters fear!"

The Witchwood is Hearthstone ' s eighth expansion. Featuring 135 new collectible cards, and the new Druid alternate hero Lunara, the expansion released on April 12, 2018.

The expansion introduced three new keywords: Start of Game, Echo, which allows a card to be played multiple times on the same turn, and Rush, which acts like Charge but doesn't allow the minion to attack the enemy hero the turn it is played. It also added a new game mode called Monster Hunt, a single-player mode akin to Dungeon Run with four exclusive playable classes.

As the first expansion of 2018, the release of The Witchwood ended the previous Standard year, the Year of the Mammoth, and started the new one, Year of the Raven.

How to get
The Witchwood cards are available through the following options:


 * The Witchwood card packs can be purchased through the Shop, with the usual prices and purchasing options.
 * The Witchwood cards can be crafted for the usual amounts of Arcane Dust.


 * Pre-order
 * Prior to the expansion's release, players are able to pre-order a bundle of 70 The Witchwood packs for $49.99 USD/€49,99 EUR/£44.99 GBP/$64.99 AUD or equivalent.
 * The pre-order bundle comes with a unique card back (see below) and 20 additional The Witchwood packs.

Cards
The set contains 135 collectible cards in total. Each class receives two Legendary minion cards, with the exception of shaman which receives one Legendary minion card and one hero card.

Originally, Genn Greymane, Baku the Mooneater, Black Cat, Murkspark Eel, Gloom Stag, and Glitter Moth were moved to the Hall of Fame on April 9, 2019. However, they returned back to The Witchwood set on March 30, 2021.

Witchwood cards can be recognized with a special watermark (a decaying log) behind the card text, not found on other cards.

Neutral

 * Common (22 cards)


 * Rare (9 cards)


 * Epic (9 cards)


 * Legendary (5 cards)


 * Uncollectible

Druid

 * Uncollectible


 * Choice cards

Hunter

 * Uncollectible

Priest

 * Uncollectible

Shaman

 * Uncollectible

Warlock

 * Uncollectible

Monster Hunt
Monster Hunt is a single-player game mode in which the player battles sequentially more difficult bosses to win and complete a run, similar to the game mode of Dungeon Runs featured in Kobolds & Catacombs. Monster Hunt released on April 26, 2018.

Four special heroes are featured, each having access to a special hero power: Clearing Monster Hunt with all four classes makes them all join forces against Hagatha the Witch. Completing this Final Challenge earns the player the "Monster Hunt" card back.

Echo

 * ''Shifting shapes and ephemeral phantasms manifest out of the fog—the curse on the Witchwood has unsettling effects on both material beings and spells alike. Some will Echo, reproducing themselves.
 * The wily can channel this spectral side effect to their advantage: cards with Echo can be played again and again on the same turn—as long as you have the mana to pay the price.

Cards with Echo can be played multiple times on the same turn.


 * Cheap Shot
 * Face Collector
 * Glinda Crowskin
 * Hunting Mastiff
 * Mistwraith
 * Phantom Militia
 * Pick Pocket
 * Sound the Bells!
 * Warpath
 * SN1P-SN4P
 * Transfer Student

Rush

 * ''The power emanating from the Witchwood imbues feral vigor into those who are in tune with their predatory instincts, urging them to unnatural aggression and startling speed.
 * Minions with the new Rush keyword can attack opposing minions—but not Heroes—on the same turn they are played. Rush offers the immediate gratification of Charge without its game-ending potential, so you’ll encounter more minions that hit the ground running with this new keyword.

Minions with Rush can attack the same turn they are played, but are not allowed to attack heroes. While not as strong as Charge, they make up for it in other areas; mainly stats.


 * Countess Ashmore
 * Cursed Castaway
 * Darius Crowley
 * Druid of the Scythe
 * Gilnean Royal Guard
 * Houndmaster Shaw
 * Hunting Mastiff
 * Militia Commander
 * Muck Hunter
 * Redband Wasp
 * Scaleworm
 * Swift Messenger
 * Town Crier
 * Woodcutter's Axe
 * Transfer Student

Odd and even

 * ''The Witchwood’s growing influence drives even the redoubtable citizens of Gilneas to fearful flights of fancy. Uneasy townsfolk share bizarre stories of black cats with knowing eyes, and giant moths that peer into windows during the dead of night. Stranger still, they all seem to share the same horrid dream, night after night: a feeling of unspeakable dread as they watch huge, spectral fangs devour the moon.
 * Striking back against the fear that grips the city requires iron discipline and sacrifice. Superstition must be cast aside in favor of strict order. Those with the will to banish this evil must find it in them to do what must be done—even when close to the limits of their strength.

Some cards activate a powerful effect as long as your deck contains only odd- or even-cost cards.


 * Odd
 * Baku the Mooneater
 * Black Cat
 * Glitter Moth
 * Gloom Stag


 * Even
 * Genn Greymane
 * Murkspark Eel

Worgen

 * ''The cursed denizens of the Witchwood will not find the people of Gilneas to be easy prey. Even the city’s humblest citizen hides a beastly secret: they are Worgen, capable of assuming the form of a hulking, ferocious wolf-beast when threatened.
 * Each turn they are in your hand, these cards swap their attack and health. Spring them on an opponent when their form best matches your desired function.

When was hit with the curse of the worgen, many of the kingdom's human inhabitants were transformed into monstrous beasts, but have since then gained the ability to switch between the two forms.


 * Arcane Keysmith
 * Bellringer Sentry
 * Darius Crowley
 * Genn Greymane
 * Muck Hunter
 * Rabid Worgen
 * Town Crier
 * Toxmonger
 * Worgen Abomination

Some cards alternate between forms each turn while in your hand and change their stats to represent this ability.


 * Duskhaven Hunter
 * Gilnean Royal Guard
 * Pumpkin Peasant
 * Spellshifter
 * Swift Messenger

Battlefield
The expansion came with a new battlefield. A partial shot of the new board is shown below.



Card backs
A special card back was available as part of the expansion's pre-order bundle. The card back for Ranked play Season 48 is related, due to the end of the Year of the Mammoth that was on the same day of the expansion's release, while Season 49's card back is related to the expansion's theme. There is also the card back for completing the Monster Hunt.

Gilneas

 * ''The kingdom of (or the Gilnean kingdom), pronounced Gil-NEIGH-uhs,[gɪlˈniːəs] is one of the seven human kingdoms located in the peninsula of  and situated south-west of  on the continent of . It is ruled by Genn Greymane of the . With the events of the, Gilneas has rejoined the.


 * ''Gilneas is a large peninsula that juts into the sea south of western Lordaeron. Silverpine Forest lies to the north-east and awaits across the sea to the south. The kingdom was founded following the splitting of  and besides the peninsula, the kingdom also included the island of, and formerly held lands in southern Silverpine Forest including  and . The southwestern reaches of  in the area around  were also part of Gilneas.


 * ''Its king Genn Greymane never ardently supported the in the . Thus, after the war, he constructed the : a massive barrier spanning the entire northern border. The enormous wall barricaded Gilneas from the rest of Lordaeron for around two decades.


 * It was later discovered that the 'worgen ' has swept mercilessly across the nation, eventually turning nearly all of its inhabitants into savage beasts. Escalating tensions among the survivors escalated into that all but wrecked the nation. Following the Cataclysm and an invasion by the, some of these Gilnean worgen have regained their free will. After Gilneas fell to enemy hands, Gilneas rejoined the Alliance.

Worgen

 * '' [ˈwɔɹgɛn] are large, lupine humanoids reminiscent of werewolves that walk upright, but lope on all fours to run. They primarily inhabit forests and are skilled hunters. Being bitten by or drinking the blood of worgen causes humans and night elves to be transformed into one. After the transformation, worgen are overcome by rage and guilt, gradually losing all vestiges of their former lives and turning feral. By controlling their emotions, worgen may resist being overcome by their feral instincts.


 * ''Originally inadvertently created as a result of night elf druids assuming a that embraced the fury of the wolf   during the, they were sealed within the  after it was discovered they were spreading their beastly form through what would become known as the worgen curse. Centuries later, they were unleashed once more by the human Archmage  to fight the undead . Eventually the curse found its way to Gilneas, where many of its inhabitants were transformed into worgen, including King Genn Greymane. After being taught how to control their inner beast by the night elves, many worgen are now members of the Alliance.

In Hearthstone

 * ''The city of Gilneas once lived in uneasy peace with the sprawling, ancient forest that looms beyond its walls. Though the wilderness was grim and forbidding, the citizens of Gilneas—being no ordinary folks—roved and hunted there without fear.


 * ''That was before a darkness began to fester in the heart of the forest. . . . Before the wicked witch Hagatha cast a dire curse!


 * ''A sunless gloom now cloaks winding trails, and gnarled branches claw hungrily at passersby. Terrified travelers speak of misshapen shadows flickering in an unearthly mist. In the witching hours, eerie figures have even been seen to stalk the narrow alleys and foggy, cobble-stoned streets of the city itself.


 * Foolhardy travelers who dare venture beyond the city walls after nightfall disappear into the wilderness, never to return. The Witchwood is safe for none to tread!

The Witchwood
The titular Witchwood featured in the expansion was once called the.


 * The Blackwald is a forest in southern Gilneas, located south of and north of the village of . The Blackwald was the home of the, who eventually became the first worgen.  - a tree identical to  - is in the forest's center. The Blackwald is full of , Sylvanas' scouts looking for Tal'doren.

However, since the witch Hagatha took up residence in the forest, she has used her magic to twist the forest, awakening and empowering the trees and beasts of the woods. The Blackwald has now become very dangerous, and the Gilneans have taken to calling it "The Witchwood".


 * Official site
 * ''Hush, brave heroes, and take heed; you tread on dangerous ground. See how the light dims all around, and moving shadows creep? The Witchwood calls, but I implore: do not its treasures seek! Stay where it’s safe, pull up a chair, let’s play another round! I see, your minds are quite made up; please hear me importune: Keep your decks close, and your wits sharp…


 * lest the Witchwood be your doom!

Development
Team 5 has wanted to do a -themed expansion for years and knew that they specifically wanted to explore the transformation from human to worgen. The expansion that later became The Witchwood was originally known as Murder on the Gilnean Express and was primarily based in and themed around Gilneans and murder mysteries.

During this early stage development, the Hearthstone team experimented with various new mechanics and keywords, such as "Investigate", which would allow the player to create a "murderer" minion through several Discovers to determine their stats and abilities. Another mechanic was "Mysteries"; this allowed the player to Discover a card, after which the same Discover options were presented to the opposing player. If the opponent correctly guessed which card the first player had picked, they would also receive a copy of it. Finally, to capture the "spooky vibe" of the fateful train ride, Blizzard experimented with "Ghostly", a keyword that would cause a card to discard itself from the player's hand at the end of the turn if not played. As Blizzard iterated on Ghostly, they found that the most fun version of the ability was the cards that added Ghostly duplicates of themselves to the player's hand.

To get a feel for Gilneas, the Hearthstone team replayed the in World of Warcraft and found that they really liked the "creepy, Gothic" feel of the area. They specifically focused on the Gilnean forest known as the and asked themselves what would happen if the forest began to grow and become twisted, and this was the direction the team ultimately went with for the Gilneas-themed expansion. Over the following months, the setting of the expansion was moved outside of Gilneas City to the forest around the capital and the expansion's main theme evolved from a murder investigation on a train ride to a haunted forest, causing Murder on the Gilnean Express to become The Witchwood. The keyword Ghostly became more and more the perfect fit for the flavor of the set and eventually became Echo, one of the two new keywords introduced in the final version of the expansion.

Teasers and announcement
The Witchwood was first teased on February 27th, 2018, when Blizzard announced the changes and new content planned for the Year of the Raven, the third year of standard format. The announcement blog post and accompanying video included a teaser image for the planned three expansions of the year.

Similar to Journey to Un'Goro, the official announcement of the expansion was preceded by several teasers posted on Twitter. On March 3rd, the official Latin American Hearthstone Twitter account posted an image featuring characters from the card sets released during the Year of the Mammoth as well as earlier expansions, apparently searching for clues about the upcoming expansion in a foreboding forest.

On March 6th, Lead Mission Designer Dave Kosak tweeted that he was "goin' camping" to look for the next Hearthstone expansion, noting that "Nothing gets the @playhearthstone creative juices flowing like some time outdoors." Kosak did not return for several days thereafter, and after some back-and-forth between various Hearthstone developers on Twitter and Reddit, Game Director Ben Brode and Lead Artist Ben Thompson headed out to look for him, asking the playerbase to get in touch with Yong Woo if they weren't back by Sunday night.

On March 12th, The Witchwood was officially announced in a special reveal video featuring Brode and Thompson reuniting with Kosak and discovering the details of the expansion in the dark woods outside Blizzard's headquarters in Irvine, California. The video is presented in the style of "" horror films such as .

Card reveals
Card reveals for The Witchwood began with a special card reveal livestream featuring Game Designer Peter Whalen and Dan "Frodan" Chou on March 26. The day following the livestream, other cards from the expansion began being revealed one at a time through selected websites and streamers. The final card reveal livestream featuring Game Director Ben Brode and Sean "Day [9] " Plott took place on April 9, after which all of the remaining cards from the expansion were revealed via Hearthstone's official Facebook account.

Trivia

 * The Witchwood is the first, and so far only expansion to have cards moved into the Hall of Fame.
 * "The " is also the name of a harpy-infested forest in in , but this Witchwood does not appear to have any connection to Hearthstone ' s The Witchwood.
 * The lyrics of the song featured in the expansion's trailer were co-written by and.

Gallery

 * Key art