Hearthstone’s next expansion Lost City of Un’Goro takes us back to Un’Goro, reintroduces Quests, and adds the new Kindred keyword

There’s a hidden Tortollan city deep in the Un’Goro Crater, and Hearthstone’s upcoming expansion, The Lost City of Un’Goro, is taking us there. Yes, we are, in fact, getting brand-new, Titan-related Tortollan lore — which isn’t even that unexpected, since the race was first introduced in the Journey to Un’Goro expansion in 2017, before being added to World of Warcraft canon.

This second bout to Un’Goro in Hearthstone revisits the Quest mechanic, introduces a new Keyword, and has us meet old friends like Elise Starseeker again. So read on to learn all that you’ll find in this fun new adventure, which releases July 8.

Quests are back, and the new Map cards might work well with them

Quests are 1-cost spells that, if added to your deck, will always be found in your starting hand (unless you decide to mulligan them away). Once you play these spells, you’ll need to perform certain actions that are specific to each quest in order to earn a very powerful reward.

In past expansions where Quests existed, this mechanic was fun, but also somewhat troublesome: it guided decks, and gameplay in general, to a very large extent, which could sometimes make games feel too same-y, since players would always be trying to perform the exact same gameplan, playing the same cards on every turn of the game, in order to reap their reward as fast as possible. In addition to that, games could sometimes turn into “solitaire,” with each player just doing their own thing in order to finish their Quest, while largely ignoring what their opponent was doing.

Time will tell if these problems will return as well. Hopefully the designers have learned valuable lessons from the Quest mechanic and will be able to better avoid them this time.

Map cards are not a new mechanic per se, but a new card design that will have players Discover a card from their deck. If it gets played the same turn that it was Discovered, the player repeats the process — so even if they “lose a beat” with playing their key cards on curve, they might have the possibility to catch up. Perhaps this will allow players to find the cards they need to complete their Quests faster — which might have positive or negative repercussions for Quest gameplay in general.

The new Kindred keyword will reward you for planning which card types you play each turn

The new Kindred keyword is all about synergy: they reward you if you played a card of the same type (whether minion type or spell school) the previous turn. So, for instance, if you play a Beast this turn, any other Beasts with the Kindred keyword will get their special effects activated next turn. It’s very similar in nature to how decks like Elemental Mage have worked for the past several expansions.

There are also a few dual-type Kindred cards: one example given was Volcanic Thrasher, a Shaman Elemental / Beast that draws a Fire spell when played. The Kindred effect to this card can be activated by playing either an Elemental or a Beast the previous turn, making it much easier to activate. This mechanic will certainly reward players for being aware of every card on their decks, what they have already drawn or not, and planning their turns just right.

Pre-Purchase options for this expansion include, as usual, the regular and Mega Bundle options, but this time there’s also a new “Sequence Bundle” that can only be purchased after you’ve already bought both the regular and Mega Bundles (yeouch!). It includes ten Golden Lost City of Un’Goro Packs, 30 regular The Lost City of Un’Goro Packs, and two random Signature Legendary cards — assuming you’re willing to dish out that much money.

The Lost City of Un’Goro is almost here, and as usual, you can already get a small taste of it: if you login right now, you’ll get the Endbringer Umbra legendary card for free, and then, if you head to the shop, you can also find two copies of Blob of Tar in there! Keep an eye out for card reveals over the next days, until the expansion releases on July 8.