Hearthstone Hall of Fame ends Odd-Even decks one year early

Hearthstone's Year of the Raven is coming to a close. The annual Standard rotation is set to arrive with the next expansion, which is still shrouded in mystery. But on Thursday, Blizzard revealed what the next Standard year will entail. The next Standard year is the Year of the Dragon. This announcement includes the big reveal of the 2019 Hall of Fame class of cards that will rotate into Wild forever. But in a big change from years past, this year's class also includes cards from the current Standard set.

The first thing to note is that despite being in Standard for only one year, Baku the Mooneater and Genn Greymane are going to the Hall of Fame and hitting Wild a full year early. That means the Odd and Even deck-building mechanic that first debuted in last year's Witchwood expansion is leaving Standard for good. All cards associated with Odd and Even decks, including Black Cat, Gloom Stag, Glitter Moth, and Murkspark Eel, are also rotating out to Wild. Because of their place in the Standard, Blizzard is promising a full dust refund for all of these cards, should players decide to dump them.

As for the Classic cards making their way to Wild, there are three of those this year and they're fairly big ones. They are:

Doomguard: The Warlock's trustiest Demon is going away for good, despite the Discard drawback fitting in so well with its class identity. Blizzard is teasing that future cards may fill the void being left by Doomguard.
Naturalize: One of the Druid's most reliable removal spells is off to Wild. Blizzard is citing the Druid's class identity largely revolving around ramping up and getting big bodies on the board and notes that single-target removal cards like Naturalize don't quite fit in with that idea.
Divine Favor: With Paladins able to play most of their hand and replenish it in an instant, Blizzard has recognized that the time has come to address Divine Favor. One of the Paladin's most powerful tools is now going away, which will leave the class to utilize other card draw tools.

The Year of the Dragon will also see the full Year of the Mammoth set rotate out into Wild, so make peace with Journey to Un'Goro, Knights of the Frozen Throne, and Kobolds & Catacombs now, because they will soon be gone from Standard.

While Blizzard isn't ready to reveal the next Hearthstone expansion just yet, the publisher is vowing to dive farther into the Hearthstone Solo Adventure experience. The next big PvE content is set to drop in May, just weeks after the next expansion. In addition to a more robust single-player experience, Hearthstone players can also expect replayable content and a slew of rewards. Beyond boss battles, players will also find new features, like non-combat "Friendly Encounters" where they can bolster their decks, and returning features like Heroic Mode difficulty. The rewards for this single-player content includes three card packs for the unrevealed expansion for each wing completed, with a new card back and a Golden Classic Card Pack being rewarded once all five wings are completed.

Because of the amount of content and reward potential on the table, the next Solo Adventure will go back to the old pricing model first used by Hearthstone's first PvE campaigns. The first chapter will be free, while the full experience will be available for $19.99 or 700 in-game Gold for each of the four subsequent chapters. May's PvE content will be the beginning of what's set to be a year-long storyline that will unfold throughout the Year of the Dragon. More information about the upcoming year in Solo Adventures is coming soon.

The Year of the Dragon will also usher in some major quality of life updates. A refined Smart Deck Builder will allow new and returning players to craft smart decks based around cards they want to play with. Simply insert anywhere from 1 to 29 cards into the builder and the game will automatically complete the deck with the best tools to complement those cards. As for those veterans with a glut of card backs, the Year of the Dragon will also introduce a new rotating card back feature that will automatically choose a random card back to show off in any given game.

Arena players certainly won't be forgotten by the Year of the Dragon. In fact, they're being specifically addressed in ways they may not be expecting. First off, Golden Hero progress will now count Arena wins, so getting to that 500-win goal just became a little easier. But that's not the biggest change.

Arena formats will now change completely going forward. Rather than focus purely on the Standard meta, Arena formats are going to rotate every two months. What this means is that Arena will focus on Basic and Classic sets, but will also include cards from a pre-selected batch of three or four expansions from both Standard and Wild. These expansion sets will rotate out every two months, ensuring six different Arena experiences over a calendar year.

This is just the beginning of the march towards the Year of the Dragon. All of it is set to begin with the arrival of the next Hearthstone expansion. Of course, nobody knows what that expansion is at the moment. Look for more information on what's next for Hearthstone in the near future.