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Hearthstone 21.2 update introduces Battlegrounds revamp

Hearthstone Battlegrounds will change in some big ways following Tuesday's update.

Ozzie Mejia

August 30, 2021 11:10 AM

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It isn't entirely accurate to say that Hearthstone Battlegrounds has been stuck in a rut, but the opening is always there to shake things up in a big way. Blizzard's Team 5 is taking that opening and giving the Battlegrounds mode its biggest update since its inception. Rather than introduce a few minions, Hearthstone's 21.2 update will add dozens of minions to Battlegrounds, along with a pair of new heroes and a new keyword.

Before going any further, we would like to acknowledge the continuing situation at Activision Blizzard. This is where we would also like to note that it has been a full month since the company's employees have issued their demands to executive leadership, which have yet to be acknowledged.

As a show of respect to the employees, we would like to take a moment to post a reminder of their demands, originally issued during their walkout. Furthermore, we would like to encourage our readers to donate to the following charities: Black Girls CODE, FUTURES, Girls Who Code, RAINN, Women in Animation, and Women in Games International.

The #ActiBlizzWalkout organizers are encouraging people to signal boost the hashtag as a sign of solidarity while using a 💙 emoji. They also support donations to the following charities:

@BlackGirlsCode
@WithoutViolence
@GirlsWhoCode
@RAINN
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Tuesday's Battlegrounds update won't just add new minions, it will outright replace dozens of existing ones. It's going to feel different in many ways and to try and hit every minion that's coming in and out in a single news post would be madness. So stay tuned to Shacknews later today when we go through the full list.

In the meantime, let's discuss the new keyword. Avenge will trigger an action after a certain amount of friendly minions die. For example, the big Bird Buddy minion will give friendly Beasts +2/+2 if one friendly minion dies, while the Palescale Crocolisk will give a friendly Beast +6/+6 after two minions die. Obviously, if the Avenge minions die themselves before the keyword's conditions are met, the effect will not trigger.

Let's also dive into Battlegrounds' two newest heroes: Master Nguyen and Cariel Roame. Master Nguyen's Hero Power is the passive Power of the Storm, which allows him to select from two random Hero Powers at the start of every turn. Cariel Roame will operate similarly to her Standard counterpart and cast Conviction, giving a friendly minion +1/+1 up to Tavern Tier 2, giving three friendly minions that same buff at Tavern Tiers 3 and 4, and giving five friendly minions that buff at Tavern Tiers 5 and 6.

The Hearthstone Battlegrounds revamp was first teased all the way back when the United in Stormwind expansion was first revealed. The update will drop on the same day as Team 5's deep dive into another Hearthstone game mode: Mercenaries. We'll keep an eye on the big 21.2 update and everything that comes with it here at Shacknews, so keep an eye on us here and on the Hearthstone website.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?