History VideoGame / HearthstoneHeroesOfWarcraft

** Warlock has a couple of cards with a chance of disruption. '''Gnomeferatu''' destroys the top card of the opponent's deck, and '''Demonic Project''' transforms a random minion in each player's hands into a random demon. The most successful stories involve these cards destroying or transforming the opponent's win condition before they can even play it, causing them to concede almost immediately.
** '''Mindbreaker Illucia''' is a Priest legendary that swaps your hand and deck with the opponent's for a turn. Should the opponent's hand be holding a combo piece or two, there's nothing stopping you from wasting it...

* AwesomeButImpractical: This is the main point of the legendary cards, boasting unique abilities, flashy effects, and act as methods of ending the game. Most legendaries, however, are very specific in their use, have drawbacks, or those flashy effects make them cost more than their non-legendary counterparts; as a result, [[SturgeonsLaw the majority of Legendaries are often less competitively viable than the 400 dust you get from disenchanting them, but the few that are viable generally become keystone cards]]. Their power also tends to mark them as prime targets of hard removal spells such as Polymorph and Hex or silencing effects.

** High-damage cards are vulnerable to single-target elimination spells, including Shadow Word: Death for Priests (5 attack and above), Assassinate for Rogues (any attack level), [[BalefulPolymorph Polymorph]] for Mages (turn any minion into a 1/1 Sheep), and Big Game Hunter as a neutral minion with its Battlecry (Destroy an enemy minion with 7 or more attack).

* BalefulPolymorph:
** Mages can use [[ShapedLikeItself Polymorph]] to turn minions into a 1/1 Sheep and Shamans can use Hex to turn a minion into a 0/1 Toad that has Taunt. In ''The Grand Tournament'', Mages also got Polymorph: Boar; while it can be used to neutralize minions the old-fashioned way, it's also usable as a buff [[CursedWithAwesome since the boar is a 4/2 with Charge]].
** The Shaman's Devolve transforms all enemy minions into ones that cost 1 mana less than the originals, usually meaning that the opponent ends up with something weaker than what they started with. Of course, the wide range of minion stats available means that results can vary; woe betide the player that transforms their opponent's inoffensive 3/3 Antique Healbot into a 4-mana 7/7.

** Patchwerk, one of the Naxxramas bosses, doesn't have any cards. That said, it can easily take you out in six turns because of its sheer power: a weapon that never runs out of charges (its deathrattle returns it to the boss's hand) and a hero power that destroys any minion.

* EverythingIsBetterWithDinosaurs: main theme for the Journey to Un'goro expansion.

* [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking]]: A common trope in the flavor texts.

* HurricaneOfPuns: The entire ''Maw and Disorder'' miniset is just an excuse to cram as many courtroom puns into a card set as they possibly could. That's not hyberbole either -- the dev team admitted that they started with the puns first and designed cards around them for the set. ''Dew'' Process, Habeas ''Corpses'', Perjury turns itself into a Secret from another class, ''Class''-Action Lawyer has an effect if you have no neutral cards, Tight-Lipped Witness stops Secrets from being revealed, Order in the Court orders your deck from highest to lowest cost; it just goes on.

** The Maw and Disorder mini-set combines [[{{Hell}} The Maw]] in ''World of Warcraft'' with ''Series/LawAndOrder''.

* PunnyName: Some cards, such as Dark Wispers (Druid card, summon five Wisps or give a minion +5/+5 and taunt) and Arfus (legendary minion that is an undead dog). The description of the former [[LamePunReaction assures us that the person who named the card was promptly fired.]] Then we got Wispering Woods, whose description states that [[BrickJoke they didn't actually fire the person who named Dark Wispers]].

* CluckingFunny: The Angry Chicken, especially if it manages to become Enraged.

** Demons: Elitist, Brute, and Ranger. Demons are great at building huge beatsticks like Wrath Weaver, Soul Devourer, Annihilan Battlemaster, and Bigfernal and crushing the enemy with brute force, and while they have a few token generators, they are meant to be RedShirts to power up their other win conditions. Their weakness is their lack of keywords like Divine Shield, making them vulnerable to Divine Shield and Poisonous minions which can undermine their raw power. On the other side, Soul Juggler builds utilize Demon token summoning minions to constantly ping the opponent's board. They have plenty amount of Taunt minions to help redirect attacks towards them to ensure maximum Soul Juggler value.

* '''Murder at Castle Nathria, Summer 2022''': The twenty-first card expansion, with 135 cards. A formal dinner party at Castle Nathria has suddenly turned grim as its host, Sire Denathrius, has been found murdered! The attendees call upon the legendary Murloc Holmes to figure out which of the guests was the killer. This set introduced a new card type -- Locations, which are played on the battlefield like minions but cannot be attacked or take damage. Their activated effects can be used once per turn and costs 1 Durability each use, and the location is destroyed once it's out of durability. It also added a new keyword, Infuse, which causes the minion to become Infused after {X} friendly minions died while it was in your hand, gaining a bonus effect.

'''Emperor Thaurissan:''' ''[[ShoutOut BY THE POWER OF RAGNAROS,]] [[HeManandtheMastersoftheUniverse I HAVE THE POWER!]]''\\

* '''Fractured in Alterac Valley, December 2021''': The nineteenth card expansion, with 135 cards. The Alliance and Horde mercenaries have finally come to a head, fighting for their faction for dominance over Alterac Valley. This set reintroduced Hero cards, representing the max-level mercs with game-warping abilities. It also featured a new keyword, Honorable Kill, which grants a bonus effect if the card dealt exactly enough damage to kill a target. It also added a series of "location" spells that have an immediate effect and continue to give benefits for two more turns.

* '''Murder at Castle Nathria, Summer 2022''': The twenty-first card expansion, with 135 cards. A formal dinner party at Castle Nathria has suddenly turned grim as its host, Sire Denathrius, has been found murdered! The attendees call upon the legendary Murloc Holmes to figure out which of the guests was the killer. This set introduced a new card type -- Locations, which are played on the battlefield like minions but cannot be attacked or take damage. Their activeted effects can be used once per turn and costs 1 Durability each use, and the location is destroyed once it's out of durability. It also added a new keyword, Infuse, which causes the minion to become Infused after {X} friendly minions died while it was in your hand, gaining a bonus effect.

** Nagas: Elitist, Technical, and Gimmick. Nagas have an exclusive keyword called Spellcraft, which adds a spell that gives a temporary buff each turn. Spellcraft spells are more incentivized to use on Naga minions, as many of them also have synergy effects related to Spellcraft, some of which that only target other Nagas. Spellcraft spells provide a big advantage in the early game, giving Naga comps high tempo, and can work well with other tribes, but they need to get those key Spellcraft minions fast to ensure they can win later.

** Demons: Elitist, Brute, and Ranger. Demons are great at building huge beatsticks like Floating Watcher, Annihilan Battlemaster, Wrath Weaver, and Bigfernal and crushing the enemy with brute force, and while they have a few token generators, they are meant to be RedShirts to power up their other win conditions. Their weakness is their lack of keywords like Divine Shield, making them vulnerable to Divine Shield and Poisonous minions which can undermine their raw power. On the other side, Soul Juggler builds utilize Demon token summoning minions to constantly ping the opponent's board. They have plenty amount of Taunt minions to help redirect attacks towards them to ensure maximum Soul Juggler value.
** Beasts: Spammer, Brute, and Specialist. Beasts are heavily focused on token-spamming Deathrattles like Rat Pack, combined with mid-combat buffs like Pack Leader and Mama Bear to turn what would otherwise be CannonFodder into legitimate threats. They also have Goldrinn for a powerful buffing Deathrattle, combined with Monstrous Macaw to activate it multiple times. However, their lack of access to keywords means they can't trade as effectively in the late-game and are heavily dependent on key minions staying alive.
** Mechs: Balanced, Turtle, and Generalist. Mechs have a little bit of everything: Tavern-phase buffs, snowballing minions, and token generation, but aren't the best at any of those. Their main advantage is their staying power due to their wide array of Divine Shield and Deathrattle minions, letting them stall out the enemy while spitting out disposable tokens to empower Junkbot and give Deflect-o-Bot more Divine Shields, thus allowing these minions to trade very favorably. Their downsides are a lack of immediate power and relatively low health; sniping their key minions will put Mechs at a severe disadvantage in combat, and heavily-buffed armies can out-grind them with sheer stats.

** Pirates: Balanced, Ranger, and Economist. Early game, Pirates lean towards Spammer and rely on fodder and attack buffs to clean up the board, but late game they can have some huge scaling beatsticks, although they lack the staying power of Murlocs or Dragons. Pirates heavily capitalize on effects that activate on attack and Overkill effects, which makes them reliant on striking as early as possible. They also have minions that directly aid gold economy and effects that activate from buying minions.
** Elementals: Elitist, Brute, and Gimmick. Many Elemental synergy cards rely on playing an Elemental to buff minions, and have ways to help find Elementals or generate them. Their lineup consists of a mixture of [[StoneWall Stone Walls]] and [[GlassCannon Glass Cannons]] and are able to scale stats from beginning to end. Their main weakness is the lack of access to stronger keywords and are reliant on rolling Elementals at a regular pace.

** '''Darkmoon Races, January 2021''': The first ever mini-set[[note]]Galakrond's Awakening can be considered a mini-set, but still had adventure pricing and isn't included in Descent of Dragons card packs[[/note]], with 35 new cards. Taking place on the blazing trails of the Darkmoon raceway, as competitors from Outland, Scholomance, and Darkmoon all gather for an epic day of racing. This set brings back mechanics from the previous year, combining keywords in new and interesting ways.

** '''Wailing Caverns, June 2021''': The second mini-set, with 35 new cards. This set follows Rokara and her band of mercenaries as they venture into the Wailing Caverns. This is no ordinary adventure however, as the nightmares of Archdruid Naralex have twisted nature itself throughout the caves. This set featured Dungeoneers, minions that draw a spell and gain an effect if that spell was from a specific school, and Adventurers, eight 2/2 tokens with different bonus effects.

** '''The Deadmines, November 2021''': The third mini-set with 35 new cards. Finishing their Stormwind adventures, the mercenaries have tracked down more Naaru shards that have ended up in the hands of the Defias Brotherhood. This set had a Pirate theme and features a series of [[PirateParrot parrots]], minions that repeat something that happened on a previous turn. Additionally, it introduced new Tradeable cards which also have a secondary benefit upon being traded.

* '''Voyage to the Sunken City, April 2022''': The twentieth card expansion, with 135 cards. The wealthy nighbourne investor Ambassador Faelin has paid a team of explorers to discover the ancient city of Zin-Azshari, which has sunken under the ocean. It's not smooth sailing however, as the city is guarded by vile naga and monstrous sea creatures. This set added a new minion tribe, Naga, which gain bonus effects if you did something while the Naga was in your hand. It also added two new keywords: Dredge, which looks at three cards at the bottom of your deck and lets you put one on top; and Colossal, which causes the minion to take up {X} extra board spaces, with the body parts having their own effects.
** '''Throne of the Tides, June 2022''': The fifth mini-set, with 35 new cards. The ocean depths around Zin-Azshari aren't just host to naga and sea monsters- it also acts as the battleground for a war between the naga-controlled patriarch of the krakens, Ozumat, and the Elemental Lord of water, Neptulon, who fight for control of the seas.

Despite its youth, ''Hearthstone'' is among the likes of ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' and ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' as one of the most played card games in the world, and rakes in the cash like there's no tomorrow with an estimated ''20 million dollars'' in revenue generated per month. It's also one of the most popular games to livestream on {{Website/Twitch}}, generally being among the top three most viewed games at any given time, beating out even its own [[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft main series]] in viewership, and is one of the leading games in the eSports scene. Impressive, for what was once such a small project.

!!2022 (Year Name Currently Unknown)

** At the end of Bru'kan's Book of Mercenaries chapter, [[spoiler:he pulls off a MutualDestruction to defeat Tamsion Roame once and for all so the other mercs can follow Onyxia to her lair.]]

** ''Dunemaul Shaman'' is a 5/4 minion for 4 mana plus Overload and Clumsy[[note]]has a 50% chance of picking his attack targets randomly instead of attacking what you tell him to[[/note]]. Discounting the Overload and Clumsy aspects, he's reasonably tough and strong for his cost, but most dangerously, also comes with ''Windfury''. You do ''not'' want to let him wail on your face, as he can wipe off 33% of your health every turn.

** ''Augmented Porcupine'''s Deathrattle deals 1 damage to a random enemy equal to its attack. Buff them, field multiple copies of them (or minions who copied their Deathrattle), use Deathrattle activators, [[https://youtu.be/1R1bOnAkhKk?t=638 aaaand...]][[note]]Note that 'brrrr' can be seen as the sound a [[GatlingGood gatling gun]] makes[/note]

* NiceKitty: ''[[https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Cornered_Sentry Cornered Sentry]]'' summons 3 1/1 raptors for the enemy when played. Her summoning quote?
-->'''Cornered Sentry:''' ''Nice little raptors...''[[note]]''Run for it!''[[/note]]

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: '''[[Creator/HarrisonFord Harrison]]''' '''[[Franchise/IndianaJones Jones]]''', a fedora-wearing explorer wielding a whip and goes "That belongs in a museum!" when he nabs the enemy's weapon. [[SarcasmMode We can't imagine who he might be a reference to]].
** Similarly, Reno Jackson looks an awful lot like Creator/TomSelleck, who auditioned for the role of Franchise/IndianaJones and would later play a spoof of the character on ''Series/MagnumPI''.

* PowerUpMount: There's a few spells that are this in flavour, which work by buffing a minion by +X/+Y and giving them an effect, as well as a Deathrattle to summon an X/Y minion with said effect. For example, the paladin spell Spikeridge Steed gives a minion +2/+6, Taunt, and summons a 2/6 Stegodon when it dies. ''United in Stormwind'' added a whole cycle of spells like thia.