I’ve been avoiding Hearthstone recently, which you might have noticed. The Witchwood burned me hard and I really wasn’t planning on talking about the next upcoming expansion, The Boomsday. But then magic happened.
The magic is named Whizbang the Wonderful. Whizbang is a card in Boomsday and Whizbang is fantastic. Whizbang is love, Whizbang is life. And by extension Hearthstone is love, Hearthstone is life.
When you put Whizbang into your deck, your deck disappears. All of it. Including Whizbang, because he’s just that magical. Your hero also disappears, dethroned by our new lord and master—Whizbang. Then Whizbang will create a deck for you, randomly picked from 18 possible deck recipes concocted by Blizzard, every time you cue in for a match.
Your opponent won’t know what to play around. YOU won’t know what to play around! Only Whizbang will know. Because Whizbang is a genius.
The fantastic part of this card is that it’s an amazing way of letting players test and have fun with the new cards, without committing to them. Finally Blizzard is letting you not spend money sight-unseen, before you figure out what you like. I cannot overstate how wonderful it is. It is, mayhaps, as wonderful as Whizbang himself.
Now, sure, I would appreciate it slightly more if Blizzard just allowed people to try out their deck recipes without having to craft a card for it or gave this card to players for free. But you gotta admit, this is probably the most clever way of going about the issue of new player barrier-entry you’ve ever seen.
It pains me that Brode can’t be here to witness this moment, because I’m pretty sure he designed the magnificent bastard, as Blizzard plans several Hearthstone expansions in advance. But do not worry Ben, you will live with us through this amazing final gift. See you all in August.
<whispers softly> Whiiiiiiiizbang…