Escape from Violet Hold is Hearthstone’s new expansion, launching July 7, and it’s all about breaking the rules

Hearthstone has a new upcoming expansion, Escape from Violet Hold, and this time VanVan — that’s Vanessa VanCleef for you uninitiated — is commanding a daring prison break from the Violet Hold, now guarded by none other than Maiev Shadowsong. This expansion heavily features a “rule breaking” theme, with cards that have effects like allowing two copies of legendaries in your deck, drawing two cards instead of one at the start of your turns, getting a second hero power, or playing minions on your opponent’s side!

There’s a lot of crazy rule-bending here to be seen here. But first, here’s the cinematic trailer!

“Rulebreaker” legendary effects break some of Hearthstone’s core rules

These legendary minions are possibly the most exciting part of the expansion so far. Each class gets one, and each allows them to break the normal game rules in some way:

• For Warrior, Chainbreaker Hogger duplicates all other Legendary cards in your deck at the start of the game.
• For Death Knight, Blood Doctor Thal’ena has a Battlecry that gives you a second Hero Power (which costs three Corpses to activate, instead of mana). This Hero Power gives a minion +3 Attack.
• For Demon Hunter, Irida Sinseeker allows you to draw two cards from your deck at the start of your turns, rather than one, with her Battlecry effect. But keep in mind that your actual deck is sent into the Void, so you will start taking Fatigue damage.

We don’t know what the other Rulebreaker effects are yet, but if those three are any indication, we’re certainly excited about what else is to come.

New keyword: Prepare lets you pay in advance for mana discounts

The only new actual keyword in this expansion is Prepare, which works as a way to cheat out expensive cards earlier than intended. When you drag a card with Prepare into your deck, it spends all your remaining mana to give it a discount. The discount amount is equal to the mana you paid plus one.

So, for example, let’s say you have a card that normally costs seven mana and has the Prepare keyword. You have two mana left. You drag the Prepare card into your deck. You spend your two mana, and the card returns to your deck costing four mana instead of seven. That’s because you paid two mana, so your discount is three (2 + 1 = 3).

Just remember that you’ll have to draw the card again!

Disguised minions can be played on the opponent’s side

That’s right: when you play one of the new Disguised minions — that’s not an actual keyword, but just minions that happen to have “Disguised” in their names — you can choose to play them either on your own board, or on your opponent’s! These minions will feature effects that can be beneficial or detrimental, depending on circumstances.

For example, the Warrior minion Disguised Watchman is a 2/4 minion for 2 mana that deals 1 damage to all other friendly minions, twice. Its higher-than-normal stats offset the fact that it damages the other minions on its side, but while that can be used to kill off weak minions from your opponent if you play it on their side, as a Warrior, you can also benefit from Enrage effects if you play it on yours.

Bribe cards give you something powerful and a a smaller treat to your opponent

Like Disguised cards above, Bribe cards are another also not a keyword, just a category of cards that share a name and have similar effects. This time, the idea is that Bribe cards are pretty powerful, but your opponent also gets a little something out of them.

The Rogue spell Deadly Bribe costs 3 mana and lets you destroy any minion you want, but the caveat is that your opponent gets a Coin. However, it also features a Combo effect where you get a Coin too. Meanwhile, Dark Bribe, a Warlock spell (Shadow) costs 2 mana and draws you three cards, but you have to pick one to give to your opponent.

As usual, there are pre-purchase bundles and free login rewards (that you can get right now)

Login to Hearthstone right now to get your free Vanessa the Ringleader legendary card. More cards will be available through in-game events over the next weeks.

You can also pre-purchase bundles (and you’ll be able to open them in advance during the pre-release Tavern Brawl, as we’ve grown used to by now). The regular bundle, for $50, includes:

• 60 Escape from Violet Hold packs
• 2 random Escape from Violet Hold legendaries
• the High Commander Beatrix card back

The mega bundle, for $80, includes:

• 80 Escape from Violet Hold packs
• 10 golden Escape from Violet Hold packs
• One random signature Escape from Violet Hold legendary
• One random golden Escape from Violet Hold legendary
• Four Tavern Tickets
• The High Commander Beatrix Paladin skin and card back

The pre-release Tavern Brawl is coming June 30, and the Escape from Violet Hold expansion releases July 7. You can find more details in the official blog. Have a good prison break, inmate!