Hearthstone revisits Warcraft’s best baddy and adds a new hero class

The story of Arthas Menethil and his journey to become the dreaded Lich King has been told again and again in the Warcraft mythos, but the next Hearthstone expansion takes things even further. March of the Lich King is an upcoming expansion that includes 145 brand new cards, a new minion type, a new keyword, and a new class — the Death Knight. It will launch on Dec. 6.

March of the Lich King’s story centers around the Blood Elves — who were decimated by the Scourge during Arthas’ rise — fighting back against the Scourge. There’s even a neutral Legendary spell, the Sunwell, to help fight off the undead advance. A new keyword, Manathirst, is also going to appear on some cards. Manathirst cards have additional powers that activate when players have enough mana crystals banked without consuming the mana, which can make Blood Elf decks particularly potent with careful planning.

Fighting back the undead armies and new class won’t be easy for our elves; Death Knights have an all-new Rune system to empower their decks with Blood, Frost, and Unholy abilities. Death Knights also synergize with new undead minions, which include both a host of new creatures as well as tons of old minions from past expansions. The Reborn mechanic, originally introduced in the 2019 expansion Saviors of Uldum, is now evergreen and will show up in March of the Lich King.

Hearthstone’s first new class was the Demon Hunter in 2020’s Ashes of Outland expansion. Much like the Demon Hunter, players will be able to unlock the Death Knight and a starting deck by playing through a short campaign. To set the mood, on Nov. 1 Blizzard will also make cards from the Knights of the Frozen Throne expansion temporarily free to all players and add them back to the Standard rotation.