April Fools

"April fools day terrifies me" - Ben Brode

April Fools are a traditional part of April Fool's Day, taking place on April 1st each year. This page lists April Fools related to Hearthstone.

2023

26.0 Patch Notes.v3.final.final2.PR_edit.FINAL

General Updates

• Nemsy Necrofizzle is now the default Warlock hero.
• The March of the Lich King expansion name has been updated to April of the Lich King.
• We have an exciting new game mode coming to replace Wild! Introducing Hearthstone Mild! Only cards from The Grand Tournament and Rastakhan's Rumble are legal.
• The “Make Bad Cards” button has been deprecated. Only good cards will be made from now on.
• We will be conducting an audit of Hearthstone accounts for mana cheating. Any unpaid mana is owed back by the end of the Hearthstone Year.
• Nemsy is now the default Shaman hero.

New Feature—Streamer Integration

Now everyone can be part of the streaming action! When you get paired up against a streamer, a link will appear next to their Battletag. Click on it to go directly to their stream, have a barrel of fun alongside them, and see what chat thinks of your plays!

Card Updates

Quartermaster

• Old: Battlecry: Give your Silver Hand Recruits +2/+2. Voiceline: "To arms, men!"
• New: Battlecry: Give your Silver Hand Recruits +3/+3. Voiceline:"Three arms, men!"

Hemet Nesingwary

Dev Comment: Hemet Nesingwary's effect is a bit too gruesome for Hearthstone, so we're updating it to be more appropriate for all ages.

• Old: Battlecry: Destroy a Beast.
• New: Battlecry: Send a Beast to a farm upstate.

Worgen Greaser

Dev Comment: EXCITING NEWS! No changes planned to Worgen Greaser this year.

• Old: 6 Attack, 4 Health
• New: 6 Attack, 4 Health

Pizza Stone (card back)

Dev Comment: Due to overwhelmingly popular demand, pineapple has been put on the Pizza Stone card back.

• Old: Pizza
• New: Pineapple pizza

Corrupting a card will now corrupt its art assets too.

Keyword Update

This patch, we're removing some keywords from Hearthstone. Keywords in Hearthstone are those bolded words in card text that signify the cards have a special meaning. Keywords can help make learning cards easier, add flavor, condense card text, and give the design team mechanical “hooks” to use for referencing groups of cards.

While there are clear benefits, having too many keywords can muddy the game and sometimes detract from the play experience. We saw this before with the “Enrage” keyword. To make our cards look more uniform and easier to understand, we've again made the decision to cut some keywords. Here are some examples to show you what this change will look like in the client:

Minion Updates

Titus Rivendare

• Text box has been updated to better represent its in-game effect.
• Dev Comment: Design views this as a text change only, not a functional change.

Tarecgosa

• Now also permanently keeps enchantments from the shop phase.

Picky Eater

• No longer eats Beasts, Dragons, Demons, Elementals, Mechs, Naga, Pirates, Quilboar, or Undead. It's now on a Murloc-only diet.

General Updates

• Bob will now jeer and boo at you when you're in last place instead of offering hollow words of encouragement.
• Minions in Battlegrounds now have Rune requirements while playing as The Lich King.
• Selling your Buddy now permanently ends your friendship.
• Nemsy is now the default Battlegrounds Bartender.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

2022

Patch 22.6.1.1.1.1

This update, going live alongside the launch of Voyage to the Sunken City, includes numerous balance and system changes across Standard, Wild, Battlegrounds, and more!

General Updates

• The Priest class has been removed.
• The following cards have been banned from ALL formats: Forbidden Ancient, Forbidden Flame, Forbidden Healing, Forbidden Shaping, Forbidden Words, Forbidden Ritual.
• If you manage to have in hand the Skull of Gul'dan, two Hands of Gul'dan, and two of the rarely seen Legs of Gul'dan, the enemy hero will now be immediately destroyed.
• All players have been granted one (1) gold.
• The main Collectible Card Sets (3 per year) are being discontinued.
  • Dev Comment: Alongside this new expansion cadence, we'll be introducing "Mega-Sets"! These card sets are comprised of 135 cards that will be released in-between Mini-Sets.
• New Keyword: Taunt Taunt
  • Dev Comment: Minions with Taunt Taunt protect Taunt minions. You must destroy all Taunt Taunt minions before you can attack Taunt minions.
• The number of deck slots has been reduced to 9
  • Dev Comment: We've found that players have been too confused by the deck slots increase.

Balance Updates

Animal Companion

• Old: Summon an Animal Companion → New: Summon Leokk.
  • Dev Comment: Rexxar has finally decided on his new favorite pet, so we're updating Animal Companion to reflect that.

Core Rager

• Old: 4 Attack, 4 Health → New: 5 Attack, 1 Health.

Toxic Reinforcements

• Old: Sidequest: Use your Hero Power three times. → New: Sidequest: Use the "Oops" emote three turns in a row.

Blightborn Tamsin

• Old: Battlecry: For the rest of the game, damage you take on your turn damages your opponent instead. → New: Your Charge minions have +1 Attack.

Tickatus

• Old: Battlecry: Remove the top 5 cards from your deck. Corrupt: Your opponent's deck instead. → New: Battlecry: Remove the top 10 cards from your deck. Corrupt: Your opponent's deck instead.
  • Dev Comment: We've seen a lot of complaints about Tickatus, and we agree. A 6 mana 8/8 is way too overpowered, so we are increasing the drawback to compensate.

Kayn Sunfury

• Old: Charge. All friendly attacks ignore Taunt. → New: Charge. Your opponent has Tauntn't.

Shudderwock

• Shudderwock will now update its text dynamically in-game based on which Battlecries you've played this game.

Boulderfist Ogre

• Old: [Cost 6] 6 Attack, 7 Health. → New: [Cost 4] 7 Attack, 7 Health, renamed to Flamewreathed Faceless, reads “Ogreload: (2)”
  • Dev Comment: Boulderfist Ogre has been a key player in several decks for its entire existence in Hearthstone. We didn't want to remove the card completely, so we felt a redesign was necessary. Moving the card to Shaman limits which classes have access to it, but it was still too powerful, so we gave it the downside of "Ogreload: (2)" to add more decision making when including it in a deck. Adjusting its stats and cost helped push it into a more balanced space, but the name no longer made sense, leading to the new name you see now.

The Juggernaut

• Old: Start of Your Turn: Summon a Pirate, equip a Warrior weapon, and fire two cannons that deal 2 damage! → New: Start of Your Turn: Summon Mr. Smite, equip Gorehowl, and deal 4 damage to the enemy hero!

Dinosize

• Old: Set a minion's Attack and Health to 10. → New: Set a minion’s stats to 7/14.

BEEEES!!!

• Old: Choose a minion. Summon four 1/1 Bees that attack it. → New: CHOOSE A MINION!!! SUMMON FOUR 1/1 BEEEES THAT ATTACK IT!!!

Shimmering Courser

• Old: 3 Attack, 3 Health → New: 2 Attack, 2 Health.
  • Dev Comment: Unicorn Priest has been much stronger than anticipated. While this change seems to be out of the blue since no one has found the deck yet, we feel it's better to make this change sooner rather than later.

Genn Greymane, Baku the Mooneater

• Old: [Cost 9], [Cost 6] → New: [Cost 8], [Cost 5]
  • Dev Comment: Baku and Genn should always be a mainstay of competitive Wild, but we've recently seen them fall off in favor of stronger strategies. Buffing both of them should bring these strategies back to relevance and really open up the format.

Worgen Greaser

• Old: 6 Attack, 3 Health → New: 6 Attack, 4 Health.

Echoing Ooze

• Renamed to Repeatable This Turn-ing Ooze.

Battleground Battlemaster

• Old: [Cost 6] Adjacent minions have Windfury. → New: [Cost 5] Battlecry: Enemy spells cost (5) more next turn.

The Darkness

• Old: 20 Attack, 20 Health → New: 20 Attack, 22 Health.
  • Dev Comment: The Darkness has fallen behind other strategies in the current year of Hearthstone, and we feel that it's only fair to keep it up to date.

All affected cards above will be valid for a Special Dust Refund rate of 0%.

Battlegrounds Updates

• Explosive Trap has been added to The Great Akazamzarak's Secret Pool.
• Fixed a bug in Battlegrounds where Jandice Barov was sometimes offered in lobbies without tokens.
• Fixed a bug in Battlegrounds where Pyramad was sometimes offered.
• During her first 2 turns, A. F. Kay can no longer Freeze, emote, send messages to friends, change settings, concede, or quit.
• Diablo has returned to the Battlegrounds Hero Pool.
  • Dev Comment: Diablo returns as permanent addition to Battlegrounds! He was a bit overtuned last time, so we're toning him down a bit in the special combat. (600 Health, down from 666)
• All Murlocs now have Charge.
  • Dev Comment: People have been asking why Old Murk-Eye has charge, so we're updating all other Murlocs for consistency.

Bug Fixes and Game Improvements

• Fixed a bug where casting Windchill on a Chillwind Yeti would crash the game.
• Fixed a bug where Tyrantus couldn't be targeted by spells or Hero Powers.
• Fixed a bug where certain accounts would always queue into unfavorable matchups.
• Fixed a bug where Luna's Pocket Galaxy could also put lint and loose change into your deck.
• Fixed a bug where Golden cards didn't have +1 Attack.
• Fixed a bug by restoring a damaged Venomous Scorpid to full health.
• Fixed a bug where Crackle would deal less than lethal damage.
• Fixed a bug where Priests would sometimes not generate multiple copies of Soul Mirror. They will now always generate at least 1 extra copy.
• The Priest class has been re-added.

2018

MRLGRL! It’s Time to Welcome Nerglish Players to the Inn!

The Tavern is buzzing with excitement as it prepares to open its newest location in the swamp! Murloc players will soon be able to enjoy Hearthstone in their native tongue—Nerglish!

Millions of Murlocs have been sneaking into Taverns since Hearthstone launched, playing Common-language versions of the game, but soon they will have access to a fully localized Nerglish-language version! “Mrrlrglrl grlrlsmmrl mfgrm Hearthstone #1 Frmgrlrrml!”, exclaimed Morgl the Oracle when he heard the news.

Harth Stonebrew, the Tavern’s renowned Innkeeper, has long advocated for a fully-localized Nerglish version of Hearthstone. “Murlocs have been staunch supporters of Hearthstone since it launched, and they’re a constant presence at Fireside Gatherings in their areas,” said Harth. “I, for one, am looking forward to the day we hear ‘Legendary!’ spoken in Nerglish.”

The fully-localized Nerglish version of Hearthstone will be available for all gnomish and goblin mobile devices. Further details about regarding our launch plans will be announced mgrlrmgl.

Players in the Mrlgrl region rmlg glmrlmflm can rlmkglf rlmg rlmglmfrlmkfml, rlmmflrs glm glmrlmfmrkl glmrlmflrm gmlrml grlrmmlfg rlkmgg rlmgmlfg glmgmrmmfrmglglgr mrllmkrmg srmgllr grlrmr llmrmkgmrg frlllrg lkrgr grrmg mllmmrll mrlrmrllgr llmr. Frmrglrl Srglrmrlgrl mrllgrl glrmfmlr rmrlsrlmglrklgmlgl. Frlrmlgrl glmrlmf rlmrflrgl. Mrrlmglrlgrlgl glrmrlglr. Frlmgmf grlmfm glrmrlmf Gmgmrlfmlm rmfmlg lmglmr kgmmlfmr glmrfk flurg glr flrrgmmrkrrrl.

Grmlfm fmkrlm rlmflfmgrlmsk gmrm fgrmlgmfl!

Mflkmgr rlmfmlg rlmg mrgkfrml lrmlmg, lmrklm gmrlr fmlrmg mglrm flmgkmrl rlmflg!

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Fansites

Hearthpwn

• Derpwing Returns, Again!
  • After a lengthy vacation, Derpwing returns from his relaxation and slumber to his rightful place.
• Hearthstone Patch 40118 - Hall of Fame, Tournaments, Card Changes, Brawl

Twitter - ahirunHS

• One of the card reveals for Witchwood came from Ahirun, who was supposed to reveal Cathedral Gargoyle. Instead, we got a very interesting copy of the card a minute before the real one went live. Playing with fire there!

Reddit

• The Hearthstone subreddit changed their theme once again, this time though to look like a retirement home's message board. Plenty of forwards, bingo nights, and a serious amount of spam were some of the highlights. HOW LONG CAN THIS GO ON?

2017

Nadia, Mankrik's Wife

Hello children! Another Doyle Discovery! The Professor has datamined a new card that was missed from yesterday's reveal!

Fansites

Hearthpwn

• Derpwing Returns!
  • Our lord and savior Derpwing has returned from his vacation and is back in his rightful place.
• Top 10 Hearthstone Cards Based on Real, Famous Celebrities

Reddit

• The Hearthstone subreddit changed their theme just like last year except instead of Yu-Gi-Oh, we're playing Piratestone!

2016

Hearthstone: The MMO Unveiled!

We’re pleased to unveil the next epic game from Blizzard Entertainment—Hearthstone: The MMO!

World of Warcraft - Legion Alpha - Patch Note Preview

• The /laugh voiceover audio for all races has been replaced with a recording of Ben Brode. Including the Gnome Female. Especially the Gnome Female.
• To celebrate the launch of the exciting new Hearthstone MMO, we’ve added several brand-new characters and locations to World of Warcraft based on Hearthstone, such as:

• Sylvanas Windrunner, leader of the Forsaken
• Anduin Wrynn, prince of Stormwind
• Blackrock Mountain, home of Nefarian and the Black Dragonflight

• We’ve also incorporated many of your favorite Hearthstone spells, such as Fireball, Shield Slam, Eviscerate, Swipe, and Shadow Word: Pain.

Fansites

Card art for the upcoming "uncorrupted" Deathwing

Hearthpwn

• Hearthstone Patch 40116 - Card Balance, New Art, Deck Slots Removed

General

• The Hearthstone beta is now officially over and all accounts desiring to continue playing must pay a monthly subscription fee of $14.99.
• The matchmaking experience has been improved greatly. Attempting to enter ranked mode with a Secret Paladin deck immediately places the player at Legend rank.
• All packs have been removed from the Store.

• Developer Note: We've listened to complaints about some packs being removed from the store, and have removed all packs from the store in order to maintain a fair environment.

• The Great Card Art Swap

Card art for 43 different cards was swapped out in the database. All the art can be found below with all artists credited beneath their card. Can you figure out all the art changes?

Hearthstone Wiki

Inspired by Hearthpwn's efforts, a special site-wide notice was added announcing: "With the arrival of Patch 40116, numerous cards have had their art updated to more fully fit the original vision for the card. We are currently in the process of uploading the new art to the wiki, which should take around a day to complete. We would like to apologise in advance for any disruption this may cause, and assure readers that normal service will resume shortly."

Actually the card's original artwork

"Updated" artwork for most of the featured cards was added, along with a return of the original card art for Acidic Swamp Ooze.

reddit

• Yu-Gi-Oh remake

The Hearthstone subreddit was given an overhaul for the day, with excited duelists, trap cards, Exodia, and Kuriboh. The archived link above preserves the renovations.

• /r/CustomHearthstone's exclusive Whispers of the Old God Card Reveal! Praise the Old Gods!

Drowning or becoming snake people. Those were the choices Lady Vashj and her people was given as they slowly sunk to the bottom of the sea. As it turns out, going from "Chief among Queen Azshara's handmaidens" to "Serpentine Naga" is a good thing if you are evil (gaining 6 arms and snake hair is also a bonus). Well, that's what you get when the Old Gods corrupt your race. But Lady Vashj doesn't mind, beauty comes from the inside after all, and now she joins up with Illidan to show everyone how dark the sea can really be.

Wowhead

• Build 21416: Pepe Artifact Calculator, Garrison Bonfire Bonanza, Darkmoon Updates, Overwatch Event

We've previously noted the similarities between the Darkmoon Faire and Old Gods. Each time we see the Whispers of the Old Gods logo with the blinking eyeballs, it makes us think of the Darkmoon Faire sign.

Our suspicions were correct; tragedy strikes the Darkmoon Faire sign, which breaks and no longer can blink. The quest [It's a Sign] humorously implies that the Old Gods are sponsoring the Darkmoon Faire.

2015

April 1st 2015 saw an official Hearthstone Fools in the form of patch notes for Patch 4.0.1.2015, and a multi-game Blizzard featuring several games including Hearthstone.

Hearthstone Patch Notes - 4.0.1.2015

The Classic Card Back: "Remastered"

• The following card back has been added:
  • Classic Card Back: Remastered—We’ve re-visited the Classic Hearthstone card back and have given it a painstaking HD update. Acquire the new card back by reaching Rank 20 during the Ranked Play season.
• We’ve implemented a new card type, Ninjas, which ALWAYS beat Pirate cards!
• We’ve added a new feature called Harrison Jones’ Museum! Accessing it will allow you to gaze proudly upon all the weapons you’ve put in the museum, where they belong.
• Mistress of Pain has turned over a new leaf and is now called Mistress of Uncomfortableness.
• Crush has been renamed to Big Gross Demon Foot.
• Card packs can now be opened by blowing gently on the screen.
• Alexstrasza will no longer say anything upon being played because she’s tired of being misunderstood.
• Cogmaster no longer spits, because let’s be honest, that’s pretty gross.
• Leeroy Jenkins will now whisper his name upon being played in accordance with mandatory workplace etiquette classes.
• Sludge Belcher has taken some antacids and now feels great!
• Upon playing Unleash the Hounds, players will be taken to a menu that allows them to choose the exact breed of their hounds—with over 100 options!
• Snowchugger is now an 8/8 because it’s too cute and people are not taking it seriously enough.
• After many bouts with brain freeze, Snowchugger now eats snow at a more reasonable rate.
• Annoy-o-Tron now says “GOODBYE, GOODBYE, GOODBYE” upon being slain.
• Sorcerer's Apprentice has graduated to Sorcerer’s Adept. All those long hours hitting the books finally paid off!
• A Lost Tallstrider has been found. If it’s yours, please visit lost and found to claim it.
• Recycle now provides the Responsible Citizen buff to Malfurion when cast.
• After sensitivity training, Ancient of Lore, Ancient of War, and Ancient Mage will now be known as Senior Citizen of Lore, Senior Citizen of War, and Harold respectively.
• Savage Roar now also turns off squelch and removes the cooldown on emotes.
• Naturalize now causes Zombie Chow and Poison Seeds to be all-natural, vegan, and gluten free.
• Hunter's Mark has been renamed Hunter’s George.
• Mark of the Wild has been renamed George of the Wild.
• Mark of Nature has been renamed George of Nature.
  • We like George more than Mark. Mark still owes us $20.
• The spell Blizzard now causes enemy minions to attack Soon™.
• A new Hearthstone mini-series was in the works titled “Portrait: The Last Spellbender,” but everything changed when the Fireball attacked.
• To make things more convenient, Tirion Fordring will now silence himself when summoned.
• Circle of Healing has been renamed Oval of Healing upon discovery that Hearthstone boards are not circular.
• Fixed a bug with Thoughtsteal where playing it would sometimes fail to steal your opponent’s best cards.
• Two new Shaman spell cards have been added—Snap and Pop.
• Armorsmith has finally finished that chest plate she’s been working on this whole time. Whew!
• Pirates will now always beat the new Ninja sub-type, because Pirates are obviously better.
• Leper Gnome now feels better, and will be known simply as Gnome. He would however still like to receive big hugs, please.
• Several cards have completed their anger management training, have been renamed accordingly:
  • Grumbling Worgen
  • Magma Kvetcher
  • Disgruntled Chicken
  • Mildly Annoyed Scientist
  • Somewhat Perturbed Bomber
  • Slightly More Perturbed Bomber
• Azure Drake has been renamed Blue Drake because no one says “Azure” correctly.
• Blade Flurry has been renamed Blade Furry, and now equips the Rogue with a 1/5 Kitten.
• We’ve fixed a bug with Animal Companion that sometimes caused the spell to not summon Huffer.
• Snake Trap has been renamed Pug Trap and now summons 3 very excited 1/1 Pugs that wheeze very loudly.
• Playing Feign Death after playing Unleash the Hounds will now result in good dogs. Yes they are! They are such good dogs.
• Call Pet card text now reads, “Hello, this is dog.”
• Fixed an error where Skill Command was incorrectly named Kill Command. The Hunter spell will now correctly do damage based on the caster’s skill at Hearthstone.
• Anima Golem is now correctly named Animal Golem, and has been changed to a Hunter card with the following text:
  • Deathrattle: Summon a 1/1 kitten for each enemy minion. It was made of KITTENS! How could you?
• After reading so much community feedback about Wisp value, the cost of Wisps has been raised to 2 mana.

Sound off with Confidence: Introducing B’Motes

"Not everyone is a social butterfly."

Navigating the social pitfalls of online gaming can be a challenge. How do you voice your opinion without stepping on your opponent’s toes, or keep up with witty emote exchanges if you’re trying to concentrate on your minion count? If these are the kind of things that keep you awake at night, we have the solution. Today, we are proud to present you with a new way to enhance your Blizzard gaming experience: B’Motes!

With a staggering variety of brand-new emotes and expressions as well as an Automated Chat Optimization Overlay (AChOO*), you can finally sound just as epic as the heroes you play. To get the full run-down of how B’Motes will take your social online experience to the next level, visit the official B’Motes page now!

Fansites

Hearthpwn.com

• Curse Voice - Now Integrated with Hearthstone

If you don't want to pay to communicate with your opponents with B'Motes, and want the ability to say whatever you want, Curse Voice has you covered!

2014

On April 1st 2014, Hearthstone witnessed its first April Fool's Day. This year did not see any substantial Hearthstone Fools from Blizzard, but did see some offerings from fansites.

Official

World of Warcraft official site

• Hearthstone was briefly mentioned in the Warlords of Draenor - 6.0 Patch Note Preview
• "To prevent confusion over whether you’re playing a card game or returning to town, the Hearthstone will now be called a Homerock."

Fansites

HearthPwn.com

• Win the Campfire

In addition to all the rewards that Blizzard is giving out to players, we've decided we'd also like to get in on the action. For today only, if you play one match of Hearthstone, and show us a screenshot of you rofl-stomping your opponent in the comments of this post, we will give you the best that downloadable content has to offer; a Golden Basic Campfire! Act now, it's a very limited time offer! ^{Limit one Golden Basic Campfire per awesome person per promotion. Giveaway is not valid to those who have an active Hearthstone account.}

The first ever Ben Brode day

reddit

• Ben Brode day

Senior game designer Ben Brode was featured in reddit.com's /hearthstone channel's "Ben Brode day" celebrations. All poster icons were replaced with a picture of Ben Brode, while the up and down-vote icons were replaced with alternately inverted images of his head. In the top-left corner of the screen a small figure boasting an oversized copy of the same image of Ben Brode's head greeted readers with the salutation "Brodies!" when moused over. Top comment apparently belonged to none other than Brode himself, posting shortly after midnight with the simple message "WHAT IS HAPPENING".