Hearthstone's Next Expansion and New Class Officially Revealed at BlizzCon

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Hearthstone's Next Expansion and New Class Officially Revealed at BlizzCon

Polygon RSS Feed✍ Tomas Franzese📅 September 12, 2026⏱ 2 min read(about 5 hours ago)

Overview & Key Takeaways

Hearthstone players can look forward to the Reign of the Black Empire expansion and a new Monk class soon, according to BlizzCon 2026.

During the opening ceremony for BlizzCon 2026, Blizzard Entertainment detailed what’s next for its long-lasting collectible card game Hearthstone. Its next expansion, Reign of the Black Empire, will put a greater emphasis on narrative than ever before. Then, in 2027, a brand-new class is coming to the game.

What to expect from Reign of the Black Empire

Reign of the Black Empire’s narrative is set tens of thousands of years in the past, and is themed around a time when Warcraft’s Old Gods were at the height of their power. While lore in CCGs isn’t for everyone, this new expansion is overhauling the Journal. It will become the home of Hearthstone’s narrative vignettes and some upcoming limited-time events, like a 2v2 mode.

For those who care more about the gameplay side of things, there will, of course, be new cards and a new keyword to look forward to. A new Aberrations minion type is being added, with Blizzard teasing that every Aberrations that dies will potentially awaken the gods.

Meanwhile, the new keyword is called “Assemble” and will let players merge the text of two minions to create a new text box for their card.

As you’d expect from that description, Assemble should open up some pretty wild deck-building and combo opportunities that simply weren’t possible before in Hearthstone. I may reinstall the game to check out this new keyword when Reign of the Black Empire launches on October 20.

As mentioned, Blizzard is also giving Hearthstone players something to look forward to in 2027. Next March, Hearthstone will get its first new card class in several years. It’s World of Warcraft’s Monk class, and I can’t wait to see how Hearthstone reinterprets it. Hopefully, Evoker can come to Hearthstone at some point in the future, although Blizzard shared no plans for that.

Hearthstone remains free-to-play on Android, iOS, and Windows PC.

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Everything Announced At The BlizzCon 2026 Opening Ceremony

!Game Informer News(https://gameinformer.com/sites/default/files/styles/bodydefault/public/2026/09/12/1da8a100/WOWforeverrpeack.jpg.webp) BlizzCon 2026 kicks off today, and its Opening Ceremony contain tons of news about the company's catalog of games. Whether massively multiplayer, single-player, in cards or through an open world, this was a surprisingly announcement-filled Opening Ceremony. Here's everything Blizzard announced at BlizzCon 2026. Heroes of the Storm Adds Xal'atath Though Blizzard slowed development on its crossover MOBA Heroes of the Storm a while back(https://gameinformer.com/2018/12/13/blizzard-pumps-the-brakes-on-heroes-of-the-storm), Heroes of the Storm returned today with a new update. Xal'atath, the big baddie from World of Warcraft, is taking to the field on September 28. And Blizzard teases that more could be on the way, too. Maybe Heroes of the Storm isn't on the back-burner any longer? Netflix x Diablo Emphasizing that the company is Blizzard Entertainment, an animated Diablo series was confirmed to be in development with Netflix. No details were given beyond that, but there was a tease for other properties being an option for adaptations as well. A StarCraft open-world shooter aims for 2030 The universe of StarCraft is back, this time through an open-world shooter currently dubbed StarCraft. Led by former Far Cry lead Dan Hay, the open-world shooter got a cinematic trailer showing off the vibe, which was fittingly grim. Currently, the team is targeting a 2030 launch, which feels just a bit far off, to say the least. But hey, it's nice to see StarCraft back. Overwatch Adds Doctrine To The Roster A new hero is joining the roster of Overwatch: the stylish and vampiric Doctrine. This Support arrives for a limited Hero Trial from September 12 through 14, before his official unlock in Season 5. Diablo IV Comes To Switch 2 As part of the new season of Diablo IV, dubbed the Age of Hatred, numerous announcements were made for the dungeon-crawling and looting RPG. A new season is on the way, and with it, a Switch 2 version, out on September 15. (Reports have emerged(https://bsky.app/profile/wario64.bsky.social/post/3mvdooryy2c2x) of physical copies already showing up in stores today.) Diablo V Is On The Way Diablo V has been officially revealed for spring 2029. Diablo has taken Sanctuary, and there are no towns or safe havens left, which the Diablo team says will change how you approach the game. More will be discussed at a specific Diablo V panel, but it looks like the dungeon crawl will continue unabated. Hearthstone Gets A New Expansion, And New Class Blizzard's Warcraft card game is getting a new expansion called Reign Of The Black Empire, themed around the old gods of Warcraft's universe. A new mechanic will let you piece together keywords onto a single card, mixing and matching card text to make devastating new effects. Battlegrounds will get Aberrations as well, adding some old god flavor to the auto-battler, and more lore is being dumped into the card game through the Journal. Some more experimental updates are on the way as well, including a new Tavern Brawl that allows for 2v2 Hearthstone. On top of that, Hearthstone is getting its first new class in quite some time: the Monk. Coming March 2027, the Pandaren Monk should bring some interesting new flavor to the current lineup of classes. World of Warcraft Teases Both Midnight Eclipse And The Last Titan The Worldsoul saga continues apace, as Xal'atath's schemes appear to be coming to fruition. In a new cinematic, Xal'atath gains access to the Worldsoul, which seems like a pretty bad thing for anyone living on the world. Midnight Eclipse, the next update for World of Warcraft, will presumably task players with trying to put a stop to all this. When it comes to the next expansion, The Last Titan, Blizzard plans to bring a big chapter to close while also laying the groundwork for the road ahead. We did get a brief cinematic teaser, showing very, very large beings walking through the frozen wastes. The Last Titan is aiming for 2027. Warcraft III: Reforged Gets A New Campaign Today It's been how many years since we last got a new Warcraft III campaign? The Reforged edition of Warcraft III adds Forsaken Kingdom today, a new campaign set around the fall of Lordaeron, alongside a number of quality-of-life improvements. This includes some graphical upgrades and engine stuff, too. As a Warcraft III fan, this was pretty exciting for me. And even better, it's out today! World of Warcraft Forever Arrives In November Closing out the show, World of Warcraft's Holly Longdale stepped out to announce World of Warcraft Forever, a new re-envisioning of the classic MMORPG. You'll get to explore new zones like Mount Hyjal and the Riverglades, as well as expanded original zones. New raids, dungeons, reputations, skills and talents await in a new journey to 60. Fresh combinations of races and classes will be available too, as well as a new race: the Skyborne. This massive update is set to arrive on November 4, with Beta opening on September 17. That's all for BlizzCon 2026, a surprisingly large one. There's new content out today, in the near future, and in the far-off future too.

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