When is the next Hearthstone expansion release date?

The next Hearthstone expansion, Showdown in the Badlands, releases November 14! Set to a wild west theme, it will bring 145 new cards to the game, as well as two new keywords: Quickdraw and Excavate. It also heralds the return of singleton (or “highlander”) decks for six classes, and very powerful Legendary Excavate minions for the other five.

Cards with the Quickdraw keyword get a bonus effect on the turn they’re added to your hand — so you’re aiming to play them before ending your turn. Those cards will allow Quickdraw to activate whenever they first enter your hand, no matter where they come from: it also works if they’re bounced back there from the board, or created directly in your hand from other effects, such as Discover.

Whenever you use Excavate, you get a random treasure from a fixed set. At first, you get Common treasures that cost 1 mana and are pretty weak. The second time you Excavate, you get a Rare treasure that costs 2 mana and is a little stronger. Then, for the third time, you get an Epic treasure that costs 3 mana and is pretty decent. At that point, if you’re playing Death Knight, Mage, Rogue, Warlock, or Warrior, you also get a very powerful 4-mana Legendary Excavate treasure if you use the keyword once again. After you get your final reward, though — whether it was the Legendary one for those five classes, or the Epic one for the others — you’re back to the Common tier on your next Excavate.

The other six classes — Demon Hunter, Druid, Hunter, Paladin, Priest, and Shaman — don’t get to enjoy the Legendary Excavate treasures, but they get to play with Legendary Outlaw minions, which give them a very powerful effect if their decks only have a single copy of each card. So they’ll get the option to build their decks differently, losing some consistency in the process, but getting to reap a big payoff once they draw and play their Legendary Outlaw card.

Keep in mind that new major patches for Hearthstone — including expansion releases — usually launch on PC around 12:00 PM (PT), though you may need to give it a few minutes or restart your client to allow the game to update itself. The mobile versions of the game usually go live a couple of hours after the desktop version does.

So there you have it: Showdown in the Badlands releases November 14, so make sure you’re quick on the draw, for it’s almost high noon!

Originally posted September 5, 2023. Updated November 6, 2023.