Hearthstone’s The Boomsday Project continues Dr. Boom’s climb to stardom

Video game characters can start from humble roots before becoming stars. Mario was once a more generic hero called Jumpman who starred in a game named after his enemy, Donkey Kong, and this came after Nintendo lost the rights to make a Popeye arcade game. And now the star of Hearthstone’s next expansion, The Boomsday Project, continues the inventor goblin Dr. Boom’s journey from a random World of Warcraft enemy to a cover star.

Card games are an important and growing market in video games worth $1.3 billion in 2017, research firm Superdata reports. It should hit $1.7 billion in 2019. Hearthstone makes 3.3 times more than its closet competitor, and expansions give players a reason to keep spending more money on preorders, hero skins, and card packs. And to keep players interested (and attract new folks), The Boomsday Project will add 135 new cards when it launches on August 7, including legendary spells for each class and the new Magnetic keyword. Magnetic minions can attach to Mech cards to increase their stats, but you can also just play them like a normal minion.