BlizzCon 2016: Hearthstone's Next Expansion, Mean Streets of Gadgetzan Coming In December, Introduces Tri-Class Cards

UPDATE (11/4, 1:15 p.m. PDT): Want some Gadgetzan lore and a peek at a few more cards from the expansion? Here you go!

To no one's surprise, the much-teased next expansion for Hearthstone, Mean Streets of Gadgetzan, was formally announced at BlizzCon 2016. The new expansion comes out in early December, bringing 132 new cards and at least one interesting new mechanic.

Life in Gadgetzan revolves around the three factions that dominate the streets, each of which brings with it special tri-class cards that can be used by any of those three classes: the Grimy Goons offer hunter, paladin, and warrior cards, the Kabal are mage, priest, and warlock, and the Jade Lotus assists druid, rogue, and shaman decks. One card that was shown off at the presentation was the Kabal Courier, a 3-cost 2/2 with "Battlecry: Discover a Mage, Priest, or Warlock card." (It looks like each of the families has a similar card.)

Other cards shown off during the initial presentation include the Piranha Launcher, a five-cost, 2/4 hunter weapon that generates a 1/1 piranha every time it attacks, and the Lotus Assassin, a 5/5 that gains Stealth every time it kills an opposing minion. Then there was the insane legendary Kazakus, a 4-cost, 3/3 with "Battlecry: If your deck has no duplicates, create a custom spell." Hearthstone Executive Producer Hamilton Chu took us through the process of creating a spell with Kazakus, which involved choosing a mana cost for it and then discovering two effects for the combined-use spell.

You can learn more about Mean Streets of Gadgetzan on the Hearthstone website, or pre-order 50 packs for $49.99 from the Battle.net store. If there's any more big news on the expansion during BlizzCon weekend, we'll report it right here!