I’ll be the first to admit that it has been a while since I’ve played Hearthstone properly. A game here and there over the months has kept my love and passion alive for the digital collectible card game. As a gamer whose love for video games started truly with World of Warcraft and card games with a slight Magic the Gathering obsession back in the day, Hearthstone captured me immediately with the lore alone. That’s why when Blizzard announced the release of a new class (the first new class since Hearthstone launched back in March 2014 might I add), excitement bubbled out of me like a child with a new toy.

The Year of the Phoenix continues with a bang with the release of the Demon Hunter class! The new classes prologue has already been released consisting of four story-focused single-player missions to help players get to know his back story before the official release on April 7. Destructive, chaotic, and overall an incredibly aggressive playstyle with weapons and giant creatures alike. This new class will very likely be a really fun one to play. Before I get too far into his role in Hearthstone, his abilities and the cards that will be released with him I need to go on a little nerd rant. The Demon Hunter class is all structured around the one and only Illidan Stormrage, now some of you may recognize that last name from the Druid classes Malfurion Stormrage. They are indeed brothers, twin night elves as a matter of fact, while Malfurion mastered the many druidic forces, Illidan leaned towards Highbrorne magic. From there it was easy for Illidan to succumb to the seduction of the dark power of the Burning Legion and it all went downhill from there. Long story short, Tyrande Whisperwind broke his heart, he betrayed his heritage, then got locked up for 10 000 years by Malfurion due to his treachery. Tyrande then proceeded to release him in hopes that he would aid in the battle against the Legion, he managed to locate a demonic artifact called the Skull of Gul’dan (yep also in Hearthstone) and claimed the power as his own. The artifact changed him, the once nightelf began to grow large horns from his head and giant wings sprouted out from his back. So now you have a little backstory on exactly how Illidan Stormrage became a demon. His lust for power overshadowed everything else in his life, his brother, his heritage, everything, everything except for his love for Tyrande. I’m really looking forward to the interactions between the three on release.

Now let’s get into the Demon Hunter cards and it’s hero power. The hero power on this bad boy is called Demon Claws, a one mana cost ability that grants you one attack, naturally, it’s very similar to Druids Shapeshift which yields one attack and one armor for a turn. This has proved to be an incredibly strong early game ability just due to the fact that it’s able to deal with cheap minions from the get-go with it only costing one mana. The early game against the Demon Hunter deck has already been confirmed to be a nightmare for other classes, trying to out tempo DH at this point is a non-viable option within the realm of Hearthstone. When looking at the cards that have been released with Illidan, I’m seeing a lot of lifesteal and burst damage. With Demon Hunter’s ability to easily clear the board and then immediately flood it once more with immensely powerful creatures, the chances of survival are not high. The two legendaries that we’ve so far seen include Altruis the Outcast who deals one damage to all enemies if you play either the left or right-most card in your hand and Nethrandamus (a DRAGON) that summons two random zero cost minions on entering the battlefield and also upgrades each time a friendly minion dies. With nerfs coming in early for this one it will be interesting to see how Blizzard manages to balance the Demon Hunter deck and stabilize the ladder moving forward.

Altogether I think we can all agree that this is an inconceivably exciting time within the Hearthstone universe. I have needed a bit of a pick me up ever since the Knights of the Frozen throne departed, I was rather distressed when those disenchantments had to happen. A tear was shed for Frost Lich Jaina and of course Shadow Reaper Anduin (yes I hold onto grudges) but this brings a ray of sunshine back into Hearthstone for me.