Hearthstone kicks off the Year of the Wolf with Essential Set updates in April

Blizzard announced that Hearthstone welcomes the Year of the Wolf alongside the release of Festival of Legends, the first expansion of 2023. This year, there will be updates to the Essential Set in April, saying goodbye to Forged in the Barrens, Together in Stormwind and Split in Alterac Valley, which will rotate out of Standard rotation.

After the rotation, Standard will include Journey to the Sunken City, Assassination at Castle Nathria, Rise of the Lich King, and Festival of Legends expansions, as well as the updated Core Set.

More details below, via Blizzard. Additional information can be found at blog from Hearthstone.

KEYWORD UPDATE: CHANGEABLE

– Introduced with the Together in Stormwind set, Tradable will become a perennial keyword.
– Since Tradable only exists in Stormwind Together and Divided in Alterac Valley, we’ve added a few more Tradables from those expansions to Essential.
– More Tradable cards will be added in the Year of the Wolf and beyond.

RETURN KEYWORD: MAGNETIC

– Magnetic is a keyword that appears on some Project Boomsday Mechs.
– Mechs with Magnetic can be played normally OR to the left of another Mech to fuse with it, granting its stats, effects, and buffs to the Mech on the board.
– Magnetic is a temporary addition to Essential and there is no guarantee these cards will stay in Essential after this update.

PRIEST RECEIVES A NEW KEYWORD: EXCESSIVE HEALING!

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– The core concept of the Priest class is healing, which might not seem as powerful as other classes like damage and Armor.
– The new keyword, Over Healing, was created to make healing more flexible and rewarding.
– Cards with Excessive Healing have an effect that triggers if they are healed beyond their maximum health.
– Over Healing is a new perennial class mechanic, just like Combo for the Rogue.