Hearthstone recently rolled out Murder at Castle Nathria, the second card set for the Year of the Hydra expansion cycle. However, one Hearthstone fan claims he knows what the next expansion will be–and that it will include the Death Knight as a new hero type.
Windows Central editor Jez Corden was the claimant behind these particular leaks. A well-known and credible source of leaks in the past, Corden made the claim on his personal Twitter.
Corden claimed Hearthstone would be adding the Death Knight as a brand-new hero that cards could be built around, with Arthas as the default hero skin character it would use. He also said the Reborn keyword, which first appeared in Saviors of Uldum, will be making a return as an evergreen keyword, and that Undead would become a new creature type. His claims seem to center around another Scourge-themed set, which hasn’t been done since Knights of the Frozen Throne.
There is some evidence to support Corden’s claim. Early in the release of Murder at Castle Nathria, players discovered an unused Location card template with Death Knight colors. What’s more, Hearthstone modes design lead Matt London previously tweeted a hint pertaining to the unannounced third card expansion, which could be referencing a quote from Lor’themar about Arthas returning to Silvermoon.
Adding Death Knight to Hearthstone would be a huge deal. Only once in Hearthstone’s long history has it added a new class to the game with the Demon Hunter. The Death Knight could be a fantastic opportunity to shake up the game in a truly unique way–and considering the card expansion is likely to release this winter, it would coincide with Wrath of the Lich King Classic. The addition of the Death Knight class could also potentially herald the eventual transition of the Monk or Evoker World of Warcraft classes into Hearthstone heroes in the future.
However, there are plenty of players who are reticent about the inclusion of a new hero in Hearthstone. Every new class is another set of deck archetypes to be balanced, which means future sets will need to support them. The Demon Hunter’s rocky addition to the game caused no small amount of turmoil, though that has mostly calmed over the last three years since its inclusion. Though Hearthstone actively avoided adding the Death Knight as a full class in the Knights of the Frozen Throne expansion, players will have to wait and see if it figures out a way to do so after all these years.
Hearthstone is available now for mobile and PC.