Hearthstone goes back to its roots with Classic mode, and looks to the future with Forged in the Barrens

Announced today at BlizzConline

Fresh off of several expansions (as is the custom forHearthstone), Blizzard is ditching the Year of the Phoenix rotation and heading into the Year of the Griffin.

Ysera the Dreamer, Malygos the Spellweaver, and Deathwing the Destroyer are in, as is previously announced “Classic mode,” where you can play the game likeHearthstoneoriginally was. Also, the Year of the Griffin is kicking off with the “Forged in the Barrens” expansion, and a 30 Years of Blizzard card back.

Hearthstone Mercenariesis the big new announcement, which is “strategic RPG gameplay” where you “build teams,” of heroes like Ragnaros andSylvanas.The standard format is getting its shakeup still with the already-announced, but new 235-card core set, so there’s going to be alotof changes coming to the game. Amazingly, the new core set is free: which, forHearthstone, is not something you hear often!