Hearthstone’s Year of the Raven will change cards and quest rewards, test in-game tournaments

Blizzard Entertainment revealed changes coming to its hit digital card game Hearthstone with the launch of the next annual Standard cycle, the Year of the Raven. The Year of the Raven will launch when the next, unannounced expansion comes out.

These cycles give Blizzard a chance to freshen up the leader of the $1 billion-plus digital card game market. Three older expansions — Whispers of the Old Gods, One Night in Karazhan, and Mean Streets of Gadgetzan — will rotate out of Hearthstone’s most popular Standard mode and into the Wild format, where all cards are eligible. Three new expansions will come out during the Year of the Raven. Blizzard has released a roadmap, which you can see below, that teases the new sets. Expansions drive sales of new cards, and the first one of the year, along with the Standard rotation, brings the greatest amount of change and excitement to the game.