Hearthstone To Add Quillboars To Battlegrounds And Sell "Battle-Ready Decks" Next Week

Hearthstone's second patch since the launch of Forged in the Barrens goes live next week, and it's shaking up the Battlegrounds meta as well as offering something new for sale. A new minion type, Quillboar, is the primary attraction, with 17 new Battlegrounds minions in the fold, along with three new heroes.

Quillboars have strong synergies with Blood Gems, spells that give a minion +1/+1. Some Quillboars generate Blood Gems, while others support them through various interactions. As a new minion type, Quillboars will appear in every match until the next major content patch.

Also coming in the 20.2 update is a curious new offering in the store. For the first time, Blizzard will be selling "Battle-Ready Decks," complete and competitive decks for each class that will occupy a permanent space in your collection. The decks are "handcrafted using data captured across hundreds of thousands of play sessions to ensure you're taking home a combat-worthy list!"

The decks sell for $19.99 apiece and are an interesting step for Blizzard to take with Hearthstone, not unlike how some physical CCGs have sold complete and competitive decks in the past. For now, you can only buy one deck per account, as Blizzard is doing a "limited run now to gauge community interest before we decide how expansive this should be." My guess? It won't be long before Blizzard will gladly take $200 from its most devoted fans who want to buy all 10 decks.

When Update 20.2 goes live on May 4, players will also be able to collect Diamond Ragnaros by completing the Classic Legendary Collector and having all 36 Classic legendary cards. A new Book of Heroes chapter featuring Thrall will come later, on May 25. Learn more about Quillboars and the Battle-Ready Decks in the blog post about them or via the complete patch notes.