Hearthstone's newest expansion is live. Escape from Violet Hold adds 135 new collectible cards with a jailbreak theme, built around a daring breakout from Azeroth's maximum security prison led by Vanessa VanCleef and a crew of infamous inmates called Rulebreakers.
New Mechanics Across the Board
Each class gets its own Legendary Rulebreaker minion, and every one of them is designed to defy a core mechanic of Hearthstone. The idea is that these are characters who don't play by the rules, and the card designs reflect that by breaking something fundamental about how the game normally works.
The Prepare keyword is the expansion's main new mechanic. To use it, players drag a Prepare card from their hand into their deck while spending all remaining mana. The card gets discounted by that amount plus one, then sits in the deck ready to be played on a later turn at a drastically reduced cost. It is a setup mechanic that rewards planning several turns ahead and creates the kind of surprise tempo swing that can flip a match.
Disguised Minions introduce something entirely new to Hearthstone: the ability to play a minion onto your opponent's board. You can keep a Disguised minion on your own side and use its effect yourself, or send it to your opponent's side where it applies an effect that works against their game plan. The flexible deployment adds a layer of decision-making around which mode serves each situation better.
Bribes round out the new additions. Playing a Bribe card gives you a powerful effect, but your opponent receives something in return. It is a built-in risk-reward calculation, and the interesting design question is when the value you gain is worth the resource you hand to the other player.
Live Now
All 135 cards and the full patch 36.0 content are available now. The Hearthstone Tavern Pass for the expansion adds packs, XP boosts, cosmetics and more for players who want to accelerate their collection. Full patch notes and the rewards breakdown are both on the Hearthstone website.
If you haven't logged in yet, the new mechanics are immediately playable, and the Prepare interactions in particular are worth experimenting with to see how far ahead they let you plan.
