Hearthstone: Murder at Castle Nathria expansion gets a clue in August

After emerging from its undersea journey in the previous expansion, Hearthstone has now found itself in the middle of a murder mystery. On Monday, Blizzard announced the second expansion for 2022, which will be titled Murder at Castle Nathria. Taking place just after the sudden and suspicious death of Sire Denathrius, players must now ready themselves for an investigation with some intriguing new keywords and some eye-opening new mechanics.

Hearthstone: Murder at Castle Nathria centers around a murder mystery in the Shadowlands. Sire Denathrius invited ten big names from across Azeroth over to his place for dinner, but suddenly turned up dead. This is the backdrop for a new set of cards, which will include the ten potential Legendary suspects. This also opens the door to a new keyword called Infuse, in which cards with that keyword become empowered by the spilled blood of friendly minions. Plus, the murder mystery theme introduces several new cards that will have players literally guessing throughout each session.

Cards will be unveiled in the weeks ahead, but here are a few that were unveiled during Monday's announcement trailer:

(3) Murloc Holmes (3/3) (Neutral/Murloc) - Battlecry: Solve 3 Clues about your opponent's cards to get copies of them.
(3) Primordial Wave (Shaman/Nature) - Transform enemy minions into ones that cost (1) less and friendly minions into ones that cost (1) more.
(2) Priest of the Deceased (2/3) (Neutral) - Taunt. Infuse (3): Gain +2/+2.
(6) Decimator Olgra (3/7) (Warrior) - Battlecry: Gain +1/+1 for each damaged minion, then attack all enemies.
(3) Prince Renathal (3/4) (Neutral) - Your deck size and starting Health are 40.
(4) Baroness Vashj (3/6) (Shaman/Naga) - If this would transform into a minion, summon that minion instead.
(1) Door of Shadows (Rogue/Shadow) - Draw a spell. Infuse (2): Add a temporary copy of it to your hand.
(1) Suspicious Usher (1/3) (Priest) - Battlecry: Discover a Legendary minion. If your opponent guesses your choice they get a copy.

Sanguine Depths is one of Hearthstone's first ever Location cards. (Image courtesy of Blizzard)

On top of that, the newest Hearthstone expansion will introduce an entirely new mechanic called Locations. These cards have no attack or health, but rather a durability value and an effect that affects both sides of the board. Each Location has a one-turn cooldown period before reactivating. Players must consider not only which minions work best with a Location card, but also must note that Location cards do take up a spot on the board. Here are the first two Location cards introduced:

(1) Sanguine Depths (3) (Warrior) - Deal 1 damage to a minion and give it +1 Attack.
(1) Muck Pools (3) (Shaman) - Transform a friendly minion into one that costs (1) more.

The Hearthstone website has more information on Murder at Castle Nathria. The expansion is set to release on August 2. However, if you want a taste of the fun early, the Prince Renathal card is available to all players for free starting today. Simply log in to claim it. We'll have more to say about the latest expansion in the weeks ahead, so keep it on Shacknews and the Hearthstone topic for any updates.