Landscape After Galakrond's Awakening – Hearthstone Still Rules Supreme
Many have tried, many have died. Whether you like it or not, Hearthstone sits sprawled on the throne of virtual cards, uncontested by anyone. The Descent of Dragons and Galakrond's Awakening only confirm it.
Table of Contents
Welcome, pilgrim! The market of network card games is a bloody Wild West: it's hard to even put your foot in, not to mention dominating it. There's one, extremely stubborn daredevil, though. The release of Galakrond's Awakening, a new single-player adventure, is a great reason to discuss and evaluate the condition of Blizzard's card blockbuster. Sit down, spare a minute, order something stronger, and listen about Heartstone's exploits.
How Wild West was conquered
- What is it: a new story expansion for Hearthstone. It consists of two campaigns, in which we will face different challenges after siding with the League of Explorers and the League of E.V.I.L. The first portion of the expansion is free.
- Release of the first Chapter: 21.01
- Number of new cards: 35
A leader doesn't really have to be the smartest, nor the most complex. It has stand somewhere in the middle of the current trends determining popularity. Hearthstone managed to do that. The Galakrond's Awakening expansion proves one more thing. That you can tell a nice, little, engaging story in a card game. You only need to approach it with appropriate creativity. Of course, the game has come a long and bumpy way, full of uncertainty and struggle for the attention of the players. The fort wasn't built in a day.
Imagine that the genre of card games is a city in the Old West. One, where brawls continue from dusk till it's done, a duel takes place every afternoon, from which a new sheriff emerges, and the grave-digging is the most lucrative and secure profession. Corpses lay thick. The sheriff's star shone for a long time on the chest of Magic: The Gathering. It was then contested by Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and several other franchises, as well as other, smaller daredevils. In 2014, the scuffle was ostentatiously interrupted by Hearthstone, which promptly fed everyone the humble pie.
Blizzard won players over with recognizable characters and better accessibility. At the same time, it was pretty, brazenly funny, and completely frivolous. Here's a card game with explosive, cheeky cards portraying strangely familiar characters. Previously, the genre was a niche – vast and noble, yes – but a niche nonetheless; with the help of Hearthstone, however, the popularity of the genre soared. The game was pleasant, dynamic and straight-forward (for example, you couldn't play cards in the opponent's turn, which was a hallmark of Magic the Gathering).
As I write these words (January 18 – Saturday night), Hearthstone streams on Twitch are being watched by more than 30,000 people – more than any other card game currently on the market.
Hearthstone started a gold rush. There were new prospectors, also born from the free-to-play model, came into town like vultures, but many have failed. Several rivals were left on the battlefield, but the giant had already wrapped his fat palms around the largest pocket of ore. TES: Legends seems to be stuck in its niche for good. Gwent can hope for the support of #team witcher, but the changes made and the reshaping of the campaign into the – quite successful Thronebreaker – has significantly reduced its audience. Blizzard's card game didn't even notice Artifact, heralded as the next big thing. We are hoping that Legends of Runeterra will be the last worthy opponent, but there's no saying how long can it stand its ground against the heavy-weight champion. In the end, it faces the smartest and toughest opponent of them all.
