How to play Hearthstone Twist

Hearthstone is getting a new constructed mode called “Twist,” which replaces Classic. This new mode will give players the opportunity to play “regular” Hearthstone — that is, the competitive mode where you build decks and battle against other players, trying to win games in order to climb ranks, from Bronze to Legend — but with different rules that will change with every season.

Those rules should impact how you approach building your deck and playing the game: for instance, the first set of rules the mode will have will be “all cards from Ashes of Outland and forward are allowed (which means that many cards which aren’t currently allowed in Standard mode will be playable here), but no neutral cards can be used.”

Sounds interesting? If it does, you might be wondering: how can I even play this game mode? The answer is that you’ll find it by pushing the button labeled “Hearthstone” on the main menu (above “Battlegrounds,” “Mercenaries,” and “Modes”), and then clicking the Year of the Wolf button at the top right corner, above your rank and the “Rewards” icon with the treasure chest.

This will open a menu featuring four options: Twist, Standard, Wild, and Casual. The one you want is, of course, the first one, “Twist,” with the twister icon. Clicking that button will change it so that you’re now in Twist mode, rather than one of the other three. Your deck selection on the left should warn you if you don’t have any decks that are eligible for whatever the current Twist mode rules are — and in that case, there will be a button that takes you to your “My Collection” pane, where you can build one. If not, your eligible decks should be selectable.

The first set of rules — you can use cards from Ashes of Outland and forward, but no neutral cards — will be valid for the very short June season, which should be starting soon, and also for the July season. All that’s left to do is select a valid deck and click the Play button at the bottom right corner!

We don’t know yet how Twist mode will play out, but we’ll definitely give it a try, and it should prove to be a fun diversion from the other modes. The fact that the rules are ever-changing should keep things fresh, with the right amount of craziness, and hopefully feel like a more casual alternative to Standard Hearthstone.