Hearthstone Basics [CnC welcomed]

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is a digital card game based on the trading card game set in the World of Warcraft universe. It is currently in beta stage (the stage before actual game release where bugs, speed/performance issues and glitches still exist. Users of the beta phase are called beta testers. The testers report any bugs that they find, and sometimes suggest additional features they think should be available in the final version). The game will be free to play when released but offers purchasable decks of cards.

There are nine heroes player's can choose to be:

Malfurion Stormrage (druid)

Malfurion inflicts pain on enemies by shifting between his forms, displaying impressive flexibility.
Hero Power: Shapeshift: +1 Attack this turn. +1 Armor.
Special techniques: Choose One: Select between one of two options when playing certain cards. ​

Rexxar (hunter)

Due to his natural likeness to beasts, many of Rexxar's cards focus their effects on beast minions.
Hero Power: Steady Shot: Deal 2 damage to the enemy hero.
Special techniques: Charge: Can attack immediately. ​

Jaina Proudmoore (mage)

Jaina uses magic to hold her enemies back whilst she dishes out damage in many different ways.
Hero Power: Fireblast: Deal 1 damage.
Special techniques: Freeze: Frozen characters lose their next attack. ​

Uther Lightbringer (paladin)

Uther calls upon the power of the Light to aid his allies and inflict damage on enemies.
Hero Power: Reinforce: Summon a 1/1 Silver Hand Recruit.
Special techniques: Divine Shield: The first time a Shielded minion takes damage, ignore it. ​

Anduin Wrynn (priest)

Anduin heals and empowers his allies with the light but extinguishes his enemies using shadow magic.
Hero Power: Lesser Heal: Restore 2 Health. ​

Valeera Sanguinar (rogue)

Valeera's precision when striking alongside her deceit and trickery bring down her enemies.
Hero Power: Dagger Mastery: Equip a 1/2 Dagger; or Give your weapon +1 Attack this turn.
Special techniques: Combo: A bonus if you already played a card this turn. Stealth: Can't be attacked or targeted until it deals damage.
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Thrall (shaman)

Thrall uses the enemies for battle. Strengthening his allies and subduing his foes.
Hero Power: Totemic Call: Summon a random Totem.
Special techniques: Freeze: Frozen characters lose their next attack. Overload (X): You have X less mana next turn. ​

Gul'dan (warlock)

Gul'dan takes power over demoinic minions and magicks, stopping at nothing to strike down his enemies, he even sold his own soul.
Hero Power: Life Tap: Draw a card and take 2 damage. ​

Garrosh Hellscream (warrior)

Garrosh fears nothing as he leads his minions on the battlefield, relying on strength of arms to defeat his foes.
Hero Power: Armor Up!: Gain 2 Armor.
Special techniques: Charge: Can attack immediately. ​

Players then take turns playing cards from decks which can be customised for use - using these to cast spells, use weapons and abilities or even summon characters to aid them in order to bring down their opponents.

• The game starts with a coin toss. The coin toss winner draws 3 cards. The coin toss loser draws 4 cards and receives The Coin card: Gain 1 mana for this turn only.
• Each player’s Hero starts the game with 30 health. The game ends when a Hero has 0 health.
• Each hero has cards specific to only them as well as there being cards available to all heroes.
• Each player has 90 seconds to play their turn. Countdown begins at 15 seconds.
• Each player also starts with 30 cards exactly, no more or less. A player cannot have more than 10 cards in their hand at any time.
• A player starts with 0 mana (crystals). They gain mana at the start of every turn. Each card has a mana cost associated with it, some cards cost 0 mana. Some cards grant mana. Mana is capped at 10.
• If a player runs out of their 30 cards, the player adds 1 fatigue for every attempt to draw a card. This applies also if you have 10 cards and cannot draw another. 1 fatigue costs 1 damage. Fatigue is cumulative, for example:
  You attempt to draw a card, triggering 1 fatigue and suffering 1 damage. The next turn, you attempt to draw a card but have no cards to draw, your fatigue increases to 2 and you receive 2 damage that turn.

There are three types of card:

• Minion: Minions are creatures summoned in to play. You can have 7 minions in play at any given time. They can generally only attack once per turn and not usually on the turn they are drawn. When the minions health reaches 0 it is removed from play.
• Equipment: These cards give your hero a weapon. Heroes cannot directly attack without a weapon or other card giving a hero attack. Each use of the weapon removes 1 durability, when a weapon reaches 0 durability it's destroyed. It can be used on the turn it is drawn and cannot be active on the opponent's turn.
• Spell: Spells require a target to be active. For example, a spell increasing a minions stats requires a minion on the battlefield.

Cards have a coloured gem in the centre of the card, indicating how rare it is. The levels of rarity are as follows:

• Starter (no gem)
• Common (white gem)
• Rare (blue gem)
• Epic (purple gem)
• Legendary (orange gem)

Gameplay is obviously more advanced and complicated than this thread suggests, and requires practise as well as trial and error to perfect or become good at.

Examples of The Coin, a minion, a weapon and a spell card.
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What is Hearthstone?
Hearthstone is a free-to-play digital strategy card game that anyone can enjoy. Players choose one of nine epic Warcraft® heroes to play as, and then take turns playing cards from their customizable decks to cast potent spells, use heroic weapons or abilities, or summon powerful characters to crush their opponent.

Sheathe your sword, draw your deck, and get ready for Hearthstone - the fast paced strategy card game that's easy to learn and massively fun. Start a free game on Battle.net and play your cards to sling spells, summon creatures, and command the heroes of Warcraft in duels of epic strategy.
With powerful prebuilt decks, and hundreds of additional cards to win, craft or purchase - your collection never stops evolving.
Challenge players of all skill levels on Battle.net or hone your skills in practice matches against some of the greatest strategists of Azeroth - Thrall, Uther, Gul'dan, and more!

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There are currently 382 cards in the game, with more to be added later; booster packs can either be earned in-game or bought. Each pack comes with five random cards, including at least one "rare". Players can choose one of nine "heroes" which are similar to the classes in World of Warcraft and are based on characters from Warcraft lore that correspond with those classes. These classes and characters are Mage (Jaina Proudmoore), Priest (Anduin Wrynn), Warlock (Gul'dan), Paladin (Uther the Lightbringer), Warrior (Garrosh Hellscream), Druid (Malfurion Stormrage), Hunter (Rexxar), Rogue (Valeera Sanguinar), and Shaman (Thrall). The game is based around 1v1 matches and operates through Blizzard's Battle.net.There are no plans for cards to be traded between players.
The are four in-game modes:
The Play mode, which is free to play, has the player using a previously constructed deck of 30 cards, that can feature only two of any one card and only one of each 'Legendary' card. There are two options in the mode, either to play a Casual or Ranked game. Both options have a hidden Match Making Rating that attempts to match games with similar level players. In Ranked games, as you win you will advance in the ranking. Past rank 1 is the special rank called Legend. This rank cannot be lost until the season ends and it features a number that gives the exact rank in your region. Each season is planned to last one month.
The Arena mode, which costs in-game gold or real money to play, has the player drafting a deck by choosing between 3 cards until they have picked 30. Players then use their drafted deck to do battle in a series of games against other Arena players. Each Arena run lasts until the player has reached three losses or twelve wins, or chooses to retire their deck, at which point they are granted a number of rewards determined by the total number of games won. While constructed decks have card restrictions, Arena decks have no such card limits.
The Practice mode has the player playing against A.I. opponents of each of the heroes. There are two sets of opponents, basic and expert. The difference is the experts have access to common and rare cards, and the basic opponents only has access to basic cards. This mode is initially used to unlock new playable heroes.
The Collection Manager allows the player to browse the card collection, craft new cards, disenchant cards for materials, and build custom decks.

Gameplay Images

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Bibliography -

"Hearthstone Wiki." Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft Wiki. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.

"Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Jan. 2014. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.
"FAQ - Hearthstone." Hearthstone. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.

 

Great overview Roary, thanks for including my description too

 

Really nice work.

Love Hearthstone, good game.