- Rafaam: So you're probably wondering why I gathered you here. Let me take a moment and break it down. We've been given black eyes by the good guys. But that's about to change! Those meddlesome mortals who've mucked up our missions, will finally feel some of our pain! You see, I have a devious plan that requires a demonstrative fist. And each of you will have your dreams come true as a fiendish finger of this!
- Dr. Boom: What?
- Rafaam: All right. Let me try this again. Alone all our dreams went...
- Dr. Boom: Uh, ka-kaboom?
- Rafaam: Yes! But united we'll take all...
- King Toggwaggle: ... all their candles?
- Rafaam: No! Think bigger!
- Madame Lazul: I'm seeing what you want to do.
- Rafaam: Let me hear it!
- Hagatha: We'll come together so we can dismantle!
- Rafaam: Now here's the plot to capture your greed and intrigue. We'll take Dalaran for all that it's got...
- All: As we form an evil league!
Rise of Shadows is Hearthstone's eleventh expansion, featuring 135 new collectible cards and the alternate priest hero 
Madame Lazul. The expansion was released on April 9, 2019.[1] Like the previous expansions, this one also includes an expansive single-player content called The Dalaran Heist, playing as one of the League of E.V.I.L.'s henchmen on their mission to take over the city of Dalaran across five chapters. This game mode is purchased for Gold or money.
The expansion introduced one new keyword: Twinspell, which creates a copy of a card to the player's hand. Also a new kind of minion, Lackey, is introduced; powerful 1/1 minions with Battlecry that are generated by other cards.
As the first expansion of 2019, the release of this expansion ended the previous Standard year, the Year of the Raven, and started the new one, Year of the Dragon.
How to get
Rise of Shadows cards will be available through the following options:
- Rise of Shadows card packs are purchasable through the Shop, with the usual prices and purchasing options.
- Rise of Shadows cards are craftable for the usual amounts of Arcane Dust.
- For as long as Rise of Shadows is the latest expansion, the guaranteed card pack from each Arena run is from the expansion. Once the next expansion comes out, second card packs will have a chance to be Rise of Shadows packs.
- The Highest Rank Bonus chest has a chance to award golden Rise of Shadows cards.
- Pre-order
- Prior to the expansion's release, players were able to purchase one or both of the following bundles:[1]
- Rise of Shadows Standard Bundle costs $49.99 USD; it came with 50 Rise of Shadows card packs, a random Legendary card from the Rise of Shadows, and the unique Jewel of Lazul card back.
- Rise of Shadows Mega Bundle costs $79.99 USD; it came with 80 Rise of Shadows card packs, a random Golden Legendary card from the Rise of Shadows, the unique Jewel of Lazul card back, and the alternate priest hero
Madame Lazul.
Cards
This expansion features 136 collectible cards. Rise of Shadows cards can be recognized with a special watermark (the League of E.V.I.L. logo) behind the card text, not found on other cards.
Neutral
- Common (22 cards)
- Rare (10 cards)
- Epic (8 cards)
- Legendary (6 cards)
- Uncollectible
- Lackey minions
Class cards
The expansion features 90 collectible class cards in total. Each class receives 3 commons, 3 rares, 2 epics and 2 legendaries.
Druid
- Uncollectible
- Choice cards
Hunter
- Uncollectible
Mage
- Uncollectible
Paladin
- Uncollectable
Priest
Rogue
- Uncollectible
Shaman
- Uncollectible
Warlock
- Uncollectible
Warrior
Themes
League of E.V.I.L.
The League of E.V.I.L.
The League of E.V.I.L. unites villains from previous single-adventures, in a coalition that has cooked a devious scheme to take Dalaran.[2]
Schemes
- Scheme cards grow stronger the longer they remain in your hand. It’s the three P’s of villainy: planning, patience, and pterror![2]
After each turn, these cards effect will become more powerful.
Callbacks
- Each member of the League of E.V.I.L. brings their own unique twist calling back to the expansions which first introduced these characters.[2]
- Arch-Villain Rafaam (Golden Monkey)[3]
- Blastmaster Boom (Dr. Boom)
- Forbidden Words (The Forbidden)
- Heistbaron Togwaggle (Marin the Fox)
- Omega Devastator (Omega)
- Unidentified Contract (Unidentified items)
- Witch's Brew (Echo)
- Zayle, Shadow Cloak (Whizbang the Wonderful)
Twinspell
- Spells so nice, you cast them twice! When you cast a twinspell, a copy of that spell is added to your hand (without the twinspell keyword).[2]
- Blessing of the Ancients
- Conjurer's Calling
- Desperate Measures
- Lightforged Blessing
- Rapid Fire
- Ray of Frost
- The Forest's Aid
- Unleash the Beast
Lackeys
- What is a villain without an army of disposable henchcreatures? As a promising villain in training you will have access to lackeys, 1/1 minions with devious battlecries.[2]
Lackeys are 1-mana, 1/1 minions with powerful battlecries. All lackeys are uncollectible, generated by other cards like EVIL Miscreant. More lackeys will be introduced through the Year of the Dragon.
Cards that generate Lackeys or have synergies with them:
- EVIL Cable Rat
- EVIL Conscripter
- EVIL Miscreant
- Sludge Slurper
- EVIL Genius
- Improve Morale
- Heistbaron Togwaggle
Lackeys themselves:
Spell Damage
With deeply magical city of Dalaran being the center of the expansion, some cards either have Spell Damage themselves, or give the player a bonus effect if the Spell Damage bonus is active.
The Dalaran Heist
- Main article: The Dalaran Heist
Coming Soon.
As a low-ranking member of the newly-formed League of E.V.I.L., impress your new bosses by helping them subdue the magical, treasure-filled city of Dalaran!
Year of the Dragon announcement
A sneak peek at the content released during the Year of the Dragon.
On February 28th, 2019, Blizzard announced the changes and new content planned for the Year of the Dragon, the fourth year of standard format. The announcement blog post and accompanying video included a teaser image for the planned three expansions of the year, with the first expansion being denoted with a purple object surrounded by purple runes.[4]
Beginning on March 5th, 2019, Blizzard released a series of teaser videos for the 11th expansion.
- The first video, The Fortune Teller, depicts a female troll (later revealed to be Madame Lazul, previously seen in the Whispers of the Old Gods trailer) scrying with five cards. The first card, a crystal ball, represents her; she explains that she is joining a team, "the masters of plotting and scheming", and "the others", represented by the other cards, "will come by and by". She reveals the second card, which depicts a scale, crown, treasure, and candle.
- In the second video, The King, Lazul reveals that the second teammate is King Togwaggle, and turns over a third card, depicting a totem with a skull.
- In the third video, The Witch, Lazul explains that the third team member is Hagatha the Witch, and reveals a fourth card, which she says represents the last teammate, "a fella who makes things go 'boom'!"
- In the fourth video, The Scientist, she reveals that the last teammate is Dr. Boom. The fifth card, it turns out, represents the ethereal who called the team together; as we learn in the cinematic trailer, this is Arch-Thief Rafaam.
Card reveals
Following the initial expansion announcement, small amounts of cards from the set began being revealed through official Blizzard blog posts. Card reveals kicked off in earnest on March 25 in a card reveal livestream [5]
Card reveal schedule for March 21-27.
Card reveal schedule for March 27-29.
Card reveal schedule for March 29-30.
Card reveal schedule for March 31-April 1.
Card reveal schedule for April 2.
Trivia
- The idea of an expansion featuring past villains coming together has been in the works since Team 5 pitched the One Night in Karazhan adventure, over 3 years prior to the release of Rise of Shadows.[6]
- Unlike previous expansions, Rise of Shadows does not feature a hero card. According to Peter Whalen, this is because—with the hero cards from Knights of the Frozen Throne rotating to Wild—it felt like a good time to take a break and only have the three hero cards from the Year of the Raven in Standard. Furthermore, the team wanted the set to revolve around the League of E.V.I.L. as a whole and for each member to shine in their own space, rather than have one member "steal the show" by being a hero card.[7][8]
- Team 5 deliberately chose not to specify where Dalaran is located during the events of Rise of Shadows.[9] Consequently, the expansion features cards that reference both the Wrath of the Lich King version of the city (when it was located above Northrend) and the Legion version (when it was located above the Broken Isles).
- Many of the set's druid cards take inspiration from Crystalsong Forest, the Northrend zone that Dalaran hovers over in Wrath of the Lich King.[9] Since the only druid-related character in WoW's Dalaran is Applebough, a treant who serves as a fruit vendor, the team had to get creative when deciding how druids would help the city. They eventually decided that since Crystalsong is a beautiful and unique blend of nature and magic, druids would pull from there to aid Dalaran.[10]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Blizzard Entertainment (2019-03-14). Join us for the Rise of Shadows!. Retrieved on 2019-03-14.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Rise of Shadows - Hearthstone. Retrieved on 2019-03-14.
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/b2rr8k/_/eiutvmo/?context=1%C2%A0
- ↑ Blizzard Entertainment (2019-02-28). Light It Up in the Year of the Dragon. Retrieved on 2019-02-28.
- ↑ Rise of Shadows. Retrieved on 2019-03-20.
- ↑ Peter Whalen on Twitter. (2019-03-14).
- ↑ Peter Whalen on Twitter. (2019-03-14).
- ↑ Peter Whalen on Twitter. (2019-03-14).
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Dave Kosak on Twitter. (2019-03-18).
- ↑ Steven Asarch (2019-04-01). ‘Hearthstone’ Rise of Shadows Card Reveal: Lucentbark Makes Restoration Druid Work (EXCLUSIVE). Newsweek. Retrieved on 2019-04-01.
