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Reign of the Black Empire: four Old Gods and Assemble

Hearthstone’s new expansion adds 135 cards and brings back the Old Gods, each a legendary with four abilities of its own. How C’Thun, Yogg-Saron, N’Zoth and Y’Shaarj work, what Assemble does, and the launch events.

C'Thun, Eye of the EmpireOld GodNeutral · 10 mana · Reign of the Black EmpireMastermind Yogg-SaronOld GodNeutral · 9 mana · Reign of the Black EmpireN'Zoth, Dream's EndOld GodNeutral · 15 mana · Reign of the Black EmpireY'Shaarj, Titan BaneOld GodNeutral · 10 mana · Reign of the Black Empire

Hearthstone's new expansion, Reign of the Black Empire, went live on October 20. Blizzard revealed it at BlizzCon on September 12. It adds 135 collectible cards, 27 of them legendary, and brings back the Old Gods as a new kind of card. This guide covers what's in the set and how its two big ideas work.

Old Gods: four abilities, two a turn

The headline keyword is Old God. Each Old God is a neutral legendary with four abilities of its own:

  • Instead of attacking, an Old God uses two of its abilities each turn.
  • It can attack only once all four are used.
  • One per deck: a deck can hold only one Old God.
  • No random copies: Old Gods can't be generated, discovered or transformed into at random.

There are four.

C'Thun, Eye of the Empire (10 mana, 12/12)

If you've triggered all four C'Thun abilities this game, its abilities are tripled.

  • Wrath of C'Thun: deal 7 damage randomly split among enemies.
  • Glare of C'Thun: Lifesteal. Deal 5 damage to an enemy minion.
  • Domain of C'Thun: give two other random friendly minions +2/+3.
  • Servants of C'Thun: summon two 2/3 Fanatics with Taunt.

Mastermind Yogg-Saron (9 mana, 7/5)

Battlecry: end your turn, and Yogg-Saron takes an extra turn for you, once per game.

  • Brain of Yogg-Saron: your next spell this turn casts twice.
  • Madness of Yogg-Saron: deal 10 damage.
  • Ascent of Yogg-Saron: transform the spells in your hand into ones that cost (3) more, but they keep their original cost.
  • Domain of Yogg-Saron: draw 5 spells.

N'Zoth, Dream's End (15 mana, 5/7)

Costs (1) less for each Deathrattle minion you've summoned this game.

  • Call of N'Zoth: Discover a Deathrattle minion that costs (5) or more.
  • Mastery of N'Zoth: trigger another friendly minion's Deathrattle twice.
  • Army of N'Zoth: resurrect 4 different Deathrattle minions.
  • Domain of N'Zoth: give another friendly minion "Deathrattle: Deal 2 damage to all enemy minions."

Y'Shaarj, Titan Bane (10 mana, 10/10)

Battlecry: if you've spent 30 mana on minions this game, gain Immune for a turn.

  • Gaze of Y'Shaarj: force all enemy minions to attack it.
  • Spawn of Y'Shaarj: summon a random minion that costs (8) or more, and get a copy of it.
  • Might of Y'Shaarj: gain the stats of adjacent minions.
  • Domain of Y'Shaarj: your next card costs (5) less.

Assemble

Assemble builds a minion as it comes into your hand. When an Assemble card is added to your hand, part of its text is replaced with text you choose from a set list of other minions, so the same card can play differently from game to game. Thirteen cards in the set have it.

The launch events

  • The Journey campaign started on October 14 in the Hearthstone Journal. Its first chapter, "Path to Ny'alotha", has seven parts, with new story and quests unlocking weekly.
  • A launch event set in Ny'alotha, the Black Empire's capital, runs from October 21 to November 11. Its quests reward items including the Ritual N'Zoth Warlock hero skin.

One day later: four bans

A day after launch, Blizzard temporarily banned Bat Mask, Divergence and Reach Equilibrium in Standard, and Reincarnate in Wild. The bans post covers what happened and why, and Early decks, and what the bans took shows which decks lost what.

Every card in the set is in the card library.

Sources

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