The best art from Hearthstone’s Reign of the Black Empire cards

The newest Hearthstone expansion, Reign of the Black Empire, is a bit of a throwback — a few hundred thousand years, give or take, to when the Old Gods and Titans clashed on primordial Azeroth. Along with all of the new mechanics, familiar faces, and abundant tentacles can be found the usual array of stunning artwork.

While I wish I could highlight every single one of the detailed, provocative, and hilarious illustrations, I’ll have to settle for the usual: showcasing some of my favorites. Let’s shuffle up and deal to take a look at some of the best art from the new Hearthstone expansion. Be sure to check out the full, hi-res images of each artwork to appropriately bask in their glory.

M.O.T.H.E.R. said knock you out

We have seen flashes of the Black Empire across the franchises that take place on Azeroth, but there are quite a few cards in this set that really highlight the direct conflict between Team Titanforged and Team Old God Spawn. Show of Force depicts a shiny new stone golem battering a C’Thrax right in the tentacles, but Shadow Dance shows a very similar golem getting a faceful of sabre-void from an Aqir.

I really love the last stand vibe on Aqir Goliath, with the Vrykul soldier ready to die with their war kilt and thigh-high boots on. On the opposite end of the scale, Bombardment does a great job at revealing the true scale and ultimate outcome of the war: the fiery annihilation of the Black Empire.

They can see everything

The Old Gods and their horrible creations typically have an overabundance of eyes, and there is a good deal of art that shows off the versatility of all those peepers. While you never want the gaze of a horrible tentacled monster to come near you, Drest’agath does a great job of illustrating exactly what it might feel like to be the sole subject of an abomination’s gaze.

Some cards, like Bloodfiend, showcase the eyes of a creature gone completely berserk, while others such as Attentive Tender display enough care and compassion to almost make you feel bad that the entire Black Empire was wiped from the surface of the planet in a fiery scourge. No rundown of crazy eyes would be complete without an Old God, and my favorite is the absolute guano-caked insanity emanating from the many gazers of Y’Shaarj, Titan Bane.

Epic cosmic war, Three Stooges-style

Part of the enduring charm of Hearthstone is its ability to have some fun within the Warcraft universe. Cards like Titan Sized are guaranteed to induce a smile at the thought of swarms of Aqir fleeing from a suddenly enormous yet still playful fox.

I love the expressions on the K’thir fleeing from Clockwork Boars as well as the robot frozen in fear in Encircle. Sometimes you need just a bit of a Scooby-Doo slapstick vibe to balance out the epic battle scenes.

My favorite of the whole set, however, might be Hungering Cavern. I adore the thought of the generals of the Old Gods sitting around a table and dreaming up new ways to fool Mechagnomes into being devoured by massive, cleverly disguised elementals.