Hearthstone rocks out with next expansion Festival of Legends

The next Hearthstone expansion combines the card game with the fervor and festivity of a rock concert. Blizzard announced Festival of Legends on Tuesday, along with a trailer that showed off a little bit of the expansion’s theme and flavor. In the lore of Hearthstone, the Festival of Legends is a massive music festival set in the Thousand Needles. Not only will the 145 cards in the expansion be made up of musicians and performers, but also everyone else you might find at such a celebration like songwriters or roadies.

Festival of Legends introduces a new keyword: Finale. If the player depletes their remaining mana with a Finale card, there will be an added bonus that ensures their turn ends with some kind of tasty bonus.

Each class will get three unique cards: a legendary musician, a legendary song, and their instrument of choice as a weapon. While Paladins favor disco, the Warrior is represented by a rock star. The Warlock musician prefers classic, and in a surprise twist, the Shaman class gets to dabble in jazz.

Festival of Legends has a new minion type: soloists. These minions are at their best when they’re alone on the field, so players should drop them when there are no other creatures on their side of the board. New harmonic spells also offer a strategic choice; they swing between a Harmonic or Dissonant mode each round. As an example, would you rather give +4 attack to two random minions, or hang on a turn and give +2 attack to four random minions? There’s no universally right answer; it depends on the specific game.

Metal concerts have technically been canon in World of Warcraft for quite some time now. Elite Tauren Chieftain, also known as ETC, is a metal band helmed by Blizzard employees who periodically show up in game to rock out for fans. ETC even earned a spot on the Heroes of the Storm roster, with an ability kit full of shredding and thrashing. With Festival of Legends, we’re seeing every Warcraft faction join in on the fun, from undead bassists to demonic opera singers.

The expansion has a couple of evergreen changes for Hearthstone as well — one is a new Priest-specific keyword called Overheal, and the other is a new format for signature cards that is much more aesthetically pleasing. Festival of Legends arrives in April; Blizzard did not specify an exact date.