Hearthstone's latest expansion, Madness at the Darkmoon Faire, is set to drop next month and alongside a set of new cards it will also see the return of the Old Gods and a brand new game mode called Duels. Which blends Arena-style tournament play with single-player Dungeon Run-style treasure and progression.



Ahead of the expansion's big reveal overnight, and skinny on the new game mode, we had the chance to sit down with Blizzard to talk about closing out the Year of the Phoenix in style.

Hearthstone is on the cusp of closing out a stellar year, from the arrival of a new playable class in the form of the Demon Hunter earlier this year to the more recent jaunt through scholastic studies within the Warcraft universe as seen in Scholomance Academy. With the third and final expansion set for the Year of the Phoenix out soon, Madness at the Darkmoon Faire, it will arrive alongside a brand-new PvP mode called Duels which blends traditional competitive Hearthstone with the sort of single-player Dungeon Runs players have been enjoying for years.

Plus, there’s the long-awaited and impressive revamp to the progression system.

“We tend to be a little more adventurous with the last set of the year,” Chadd Nervig, Senior Game Designer tells me. “Because the sets are going to last a total of 16 months instead of 24 [before rotating out]. Okay, so maybe that’s not a huge margin but we tend to be a little bolder and do things that have a stronger effect on the game.”

In terms of bigger and bolder, no doubt a brand new game mode is exactly that. But Madness at Darkmoon Faire also sees the return of the Old Gods - C'thun, N'Zoth, Yogg-Saron, and Y'Shaarj. And before your brain implodes trying to wrap your head around those names, Blizzard jokingly adds that only around 30% of the team can pronounce them without blurting out a confusing mess of mouth-sounds.

Powerful entities and Legendary Cards, the Old Gods are also the source of the corruption found at Hearthstone’s version of Darkmoon Faire - alongside carnival games like Guess the Weight and Dunk Tank. Being Hearthstone those carnival activities are physically represented in the new expansion via quintessential Hearthstone cards and mechanics. The new Corrupt keyword, also has thematic ties to the tentacled beings of mysterious origin.

Our Full Hearthstone Interview