Game Rant participated in a group interview with Hearthstone lead designer Liv Breeden and game designer Cora Georgiou about the upcoming set. Infuse and Locations–the new Murder at Castle Nathria keyword and card type respectively–are exciting new additions to the game, but their history is more complex than it would seem at first glance. Breeden and Georgiou pull back the curtain on how these and other mechanics came to be in Hearthstone, and the mechanics that inspired them.
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Infuse and Board-Based Hearthstone Gameplay
Infuse is a new keyword coming to Hearthstone in Murder at Castle Nathria. Infuse cards gain additional effects when played after a certain number of friendly minions die with the card in hand. The exact number of creatures and effects vary from card to card, and some cards, like Sire Denathrius, can become Infused more than once. Like the Corrupt cards from Madness at the Darkmoon Faire, these cards have unique artwork once they become Infused.
Cards from Hearthstone’s past operate with similar mechanics to Infuse, but the new keyword itself breathes ironic life into this deathly mechanic. Anima was a major plot device, resource, and currency in Shadowlands, and the mechanics it uses in Murder at Castle Nathria reflect it. “It was pretty cool we had a keyword and a driving theme of Anima and Infusion that all of our characters could relate to, even though we were grounded in Revendreth,” Georgiou said.
However, according to Georgiou, Infuse almost looked very different. “There were a couple different iterations we went through. Could Anima be a different kind of resource? Could it be this really flashy thing involving mana crystals?” Hearthstone hung on to the idea of Infuse transforming Mana Crystals into red Anima crystals for some time, but found the mechanics to be underwhelming outside the visuals.
Though this iteration would have been interesting, the mechanics Hearthstone settled on for Infuse are for the best. Hearthstone has sought to encourage board-based gameplay, rather than combo decks, for some time. “It is a really great opportunity to be able to come back to the fundamentals," Georgiou said, “We are a card game that thrives on minion-based combat, and we want to incentivize that.” By rewarding players for their own minions dying, Infuse presents a way to do that while still allowing players to plan ahead for their perfect combo.
Setting the Scene for a Murder at Castle Nathria
No murder mystery can be complete without a good setting, and Hearthstone brings the setting onto the board. Locations are a new Hearthstone card type played on the board like a minion. Immediately or on subsequent turns, Locations can be activated to use a special power a number of times before it is destroyed. After being used, Location powers become unavailable for a turn before they can be activated again.
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Hearthstone does not add new card types to the game lightly. “This is a once in a four or five year thing,” Breeden said. “We wanted to capture the idea of a setting; we can do people pretty well, we can do characters, we can do spells or silly things happening, but settings and locations have been difficult for us to make gameplay around.” Unlike the set-specific Infuse, Locations will be a permanent addition to Hearthstone from now on.
However, Hearthstone played around with a lot of different ideas before landing on Locations as they are now. According to Breeden, one of the other candidates for the new card type was Champions. Champions would have had their own health pool and a Hero Power, and could be attacked instead of the player, similar to Planeswalkers in Magic: The Gathering. However, Hearthstone couldn’t find a good balance for their cost and health to keep them worthwhile investments and targets. This led them to Locations, which share similarities to MTG’s Land cards.
Unlike minions, Locations cannot be attacked or damaged by opponents outside specific cards that target Locations, like Demolition Renovator. Despite this, Breeden is confident Locations will support the board-based gameplay Hearthstone wants to encourage while reinforcing the setting of Murder at Castle Nathria–especially since most of the Location cards are Rare, meaning players will be able to collect them easily.
Hearthstone Keeps it Classy in Murder at Castle Nathria
Every Hearthstone expansion focuses on one or two class archetypes for each of the 10 playable deck classes. These choices sculpt both the meta of Hearthstone and the flavor of the individual set. Though it takes many cards to offer true support for a Hearthstone archetype, Legendary cards are the most exciting part of the deck. “There are so many cool characters in the Shadowlands!” Georgiou said. The Legendaries from Murder at Castle Nathria consist mainly of the murder suspects–memorable Hearthstone and World of Warcraft characters from across the Shadowlands–as well as characters from Revendreth, the Castle Nathria raid, and a few Hearthstone originals. These cards define the different archetypes of each class.
Some classic Hearthstone archetypes are receiving support in Murder at Castle Nathria. Evolve Shaman is getting support in Hearthstone via Baroness Vashjj, Stewart the Steward is a great card for Silver Hand Recruit Paladin decks, and the Harvester of Envy adds a powerful staple for the Thief Priest archetype. “I like building archetypes off the remnants of cards that didn’t make it,” Breeden said, referring to the latter. “Finally, we get enough support [for Thief Priest] because I built it up over the course of four expansions of cut cards.”
Murder at Castle Nathria also gives players the opportunity to explore new Hearthstone class archetypes. One such archetype is the Relic Demon Hunter–one of the most difficult archetypes Hearthstone designed in the set. Relics are a new type of Demon Hunter spell that grants a relatively weak ability, but improves future Relic spells–an effect inspired by the Jade Golems from the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan.
Murder at Castle Nathria is promising a Hearthstone expansion cycle full of mystery, creativity, and flavor. As Georgiou said, “The only thing that can make a murder mystery dinner party better is a gothic setting and vampire characters. It really was the perfect marriage of these wonderful tropes.” With how different Murder at Castle Nathria is to Voyage to the Sunken City, players can only imagine what Hearthstone will have in store for its final set for the Year of the Hydra later in 2022.
Hearthstone is available now for mobile and PC. Murder at Castle Nathria launches August 2nd.
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