It's time to blow the horns and crack your knuckles, the Grand Tournament begins today. After showing off the final 132 cards and a little challenge at the Tavern Brawl, Hearthstone's much-anticipated second expansion The Grand Tournament is now open. Players should watch out for or be strategic when a Joust or Inspire mechanic flashes their way, as these two might make or break a player's game.
The venue for the Grand Tournament will be the frost-covered continent of Northrend. This happens to be the same place where the heroes of the Argent Crusade held a prestigious tournament to select the bravest and mightiest champions in all the land.
On the other hand, the 132 cards can be put together to create some truly amazing decks or enhance the existing ones in play. As previously announced, this new set of cards comes with the new game mechanics - the Joust and Inspire.
The Inspire mechanic is an incredibly useful skill. Players who have Inspire cards can summon a legendary card instantly, while others increase the power of their weapons or destroy enemy monsters. According to the Market Watch, "inspired minions, which are triggered by using a Hero Power, can grow in strength, restore health, and even call for reinforcements."
Another mechanic added is the new minion battlecry called Joust. When the Joust is activated, it picks two random cards from both the player's and their opponent's deck. If the player who activated the Joust gets a higher value card than his opponent, his minion will gain some perks.
According to Android Headlines, this is for a single combat, one-on-one between two minions picked randomly from the players' decks. Or, it could help them win the overall match as well.
It is said in Gamespot, that in recent weeks, it's been Patron Warrior, along with the Rush Paladin, that have flared up the community. However, the dominance of rush decks might be about to crumble with the upcoming expansion, and with the introduction of the new mechanic Joust.
Joust punishes decks with low-mana cards, which makes aggro the most susceptible. Aggro decks might work for some, but for others, these are troublesome; especially when a player had put in four or five hours of play just to build his ideal cards.
This might be considered the biggest expansion launched yet for Hearthstone. Blizzard had put its best foot forward for this Grand Tournament. With these new developments in the game, no wonder Hearthstone is not a wild card in this game category.
Hearthstone: The Grand Tournament is now available for Windows and Mac PCs, iOS, and Android tablets.
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