New Hearthstone Mode Making Big Change to the Way the Game is Played

Highlights

In Hearthstone’s Twist mode, players choose from 19 Heroes with unique Hero Powers and passive abilities.
Decks in Whizbang’s Heroes are preconstructed and themed around specific Heroes, each with special traits.
Players unlock Hero decks by owning the matching Legendary cards, with weekly balance updates planned.

In Hearthstone’s new Twist game mode, players choose between one of 19 different Heroes, rather than the traditional classes. Each Hero has a powerful Hero Power, passive ability, and pre-made deck that does not all rely on the typical class structure of Hearthstone.

Twist is a constructed game mode Hearthstone introduced last year that periodically introduces changes and restrictions to the way decks must be built and played. Past Twists have included a no-neutrals ruleset, a common-only one, and a special Hearthstone anniversary mode where a new set was added to the available card pool in chronological order of release every day of the month.

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Now, Hearthstone is introducing its wildest Twist yet starting June 1. In Whizbang’s Heroes, rather than building a deck using special restrictions, fans choose from one of 19 preconstructed decks. Every deck is themed around a different Hero, each of which has a unique Hero Power, a powerful passive ability, and a variable amount of Health and card count. Hearthstone shared a helpful PDF that contains the specifics of each deck, as well as the special traits each hero has.

Hearthstone Twist Heroes, Hero Powers, and Passives

Hero	Passive	Hero Power	Health	Cards
Al’Akir the Windlord	Elemental Evocation – After you play a Legendary Elemental, call upon the power of an element.	OBEY MY COMMAND! – [1 Mana] Give a minion Divine Shield and Taunt.	35	35
Arch-Villain Rafaam	BEHOLD! My Stuff! – Your Legendary cards cost (1) less	I Think I Will Take It! – [1 Mana] Discover a spell from your opponent’s class that costs (3) or less.	35	35
Arfus	Dig Up – Excavate after you play a specific Rune card, then change to another Rune. Legendary treasures are random.	Give a Dog a Bone – [1 Mana] Spend up to 3 Corpses. For each, reduce the cost of a card in your hand by (1).	35	35
Brann Bronzebeard	Brann’s Saddle – After you play a Battlecry minion, transform it into a random Beast of the same cost.	Crack the Whip – [1 Mana] Your next Battlecry triggers twice.	35	45
C’Thun	I am Inevitable! – C’Thun starts in your hand. After two friendly minions die, give your C’Thun +1/+1.	C’THUN! C’THUUUN! – [1 Mana] Discover a follower of C’Thun.	35	30
Dr. Boom	Boom Barrage – After a friendly Mech dies, shuffle a Bomb into your opponent’s deck.	Boomspiration – [2 Mana] Summon a 1/1 Boom Bot. WARNING: Bots may explode.	45	40
Forest Warden Omu	Rapid Growth – After you summon a Treant, Adapt it randomly.	Call to the Grove – [1 Mana] Get a 2/2 Treant.	35	30
Guff Runetotem	Might of the Fang – After your Hero gains Attack, they also gain that much Armor.	Feral Frenzy – [1 Mana] +1 Attack this turn. Usable twice a turn.	35	40
Illidan Stormrage	Fel Inside – After a friendly character Attacks, reduce the Cost of a Fel spell in your hand by (1).	Demon Spite – [1 Mana] +1 Attack and Lifesteal this turn.	40	40
Kael’thas Sunstrider	Fel Fueled – Cards that didn’t start in your deck cost (1) less.	Unstable Magic – [Passive] At the start of your turn, get a playable spell. Discard it at end of turn.	35	45
King Krush	King’s Decree – After you cast a spell, reduce the Cost of a Beast in your hand by the spell’s Cost.	Apex Predator – [6 Mana] +8 Attack this turn.	35	35
Leeroy Jenkins	Let’s Do This! – Both players’ cards cost (1) less.	Reckless Reinforcements – [0 Mana] The next minion you play this turn costs Health instead of Mana.	40	35
Nozdormu	It’s About Time – Start with an extra Mana Crystal. You only have 30 seconds to take your turn.	Dragonflight – [2 Mana] Draw a Dragon. It costs (1) less.	35	45
N’Zoth the Corruptor	Dark Machinations – After you play a Deathrattle minion, trigger its Deathrattle.	Rise Again! – [2 Mana] Summon a 1/1 copy of the last Deathrattle minion you played.	35	35
Paches the Pirate	Locked and Loaded – After you summon a Pirate, it deals 1 damage to a random enemy.	I’m in Charrrge! – [3 Mana] Draw a Pirate. Cost reduces by (1) after you play a Pirate.	35	35
Sir Finley Mrrgglton	Scales of Justice – Your Murlocs have Rush.	Float Up! – [1 Mana] Draw a Murloc.	40	35
The Lich King	Cadaver Collector – After you spend a Corpse, summon a Risen Skeleton with stats equal to the Corpses spent.	Relentless Ghoul – [2 Mana] Summon a 1/1 Zombie with Reborn and Charge. It dies at end of turn.	35	40
Xyrella	Purify the Shard – Your max health is 60. Reach it to win the game. Damaging the enemy hero heals your hero.	Spark of Light – [1 Mana] Restore 2 Health. Manathirst (8): Restore 4 Health instead.	30	35
Zul’jin	Warriors of Amani – After you play a Secret, summon a 2/2 Berserker.	Ensnare – [2 Mana] Discover a Secret. It costs (1) less.	35	40

To unlock these Hero decks, players must own the matching Legendary card in their collections. Illidan Stormrage, Al’Akir the Windlord, Arch-Villain Rafaam, and Leeroy Jenkins are attached to cards that are part of Hearthstone’s Year of the Pegasus Core set, so all fans will have access to those decks. Kael’thas Sunstrider and C’Thun were both free login rewards in the past, and can now be obtained by buying an Ashes of Outland and Whispers of the Old Gods pack respectively. Players can unlock the other decks by crafting the corresponding Legendary cards, which can be easily done from the Twist Hero selection screen.

The Whizbang’s Heroes Twist will be available for the entirety of the June season of Hearthstone, with weekly balance updates planned to address any inequities between the pre-built decks. The mode will return again in July, adding nine more heroes to the roster for a total of 28 to choose from. After that, provided the Twist is popular, Hearthstone might eventually bring it back in the future – possibly with other iconic heroes, such as those from Hearthstone‘s discontinued Duels mode.

Hearthstone also announced its plans for the Twist mode throughout the rest of 2024 in the same announcement. Twist will go dark in August, and will return with its Wonders and Caverns of Time set for one month each somewhere between September and December. For the rest of Hearthstone‘s 10th anniversary year, however, Twist will be unavailable to play. Fans can expect other new Twist formats to come back in 2025.