The new expansion of Hearthstone’s Scholomance Academy will arrive on August 6, with a theme that will take you to a magical school. In the story, the wizard of Kirin Tor Kel’Thuzad is doing dark experiments in the basement. But some at Scholomance took on the wizard, as the character behind the GameSpot card reveals: Keymaster Alabaster.
Keymaster Alabaster is a legendary late game neutral that can generate huge amounts of value if your opponent can’t eliminate it. Simply giving him a copy of your opponent’s draws is already a huge advantage in providing him with information about his hand, but it goes one step further by making his version of the card potentially cheaper. Simply by playing Alabaster and going to your opponent’s turn you will get at least one cheap card from his deck, and if they can’t eliminate it, you can make two of them. If they have to find a solution to eliminate it, it will continue to generate value.
The Neutral designation means that Alabaster could appear in any deck, but it will be especially powerful in the Control decks of the last game that seek to devalue your opponent and those that benefit from low-cost cards. That includes Rogue, who is always looking for more low-cost cards to act as triggers for his Combo effects. Drawing 1-cost spells can be especially effective for Priests and Wizards, and synergizes well with the new Spell Explosion keyword.
Spellburst is one of the new mechanics at Scholomance Academy. A Battlecry-like effect is activated on the first use of a spell, so you can determine when it is best to activate it. Scholomance will also introduce new Dual Class Cards and “Study” spells that will allow you to discover a card while reducing the future cost of its type.
Scholomance Academy is now available for pre-order as two packages. A pre-purchase bundle ($ 50) returns 55 bundles, a legendary random Golden Legendary, and a Kel’Thuzad card. The Mega Bundle ($ 80) offers you 80 packs, five Scholomance Gold Packs, a Legendary Random Gold, a Kel’Thuzad Mage Hero and card back, and a Tavern Pass with four Arena Tickets.
For more information on Scholomance Academy, read our interview with game designers Chadd Nervig and Liv Breeden.
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