Hearthstone: Reign of the Black Empire Launches October 20 as the Old Gods Return

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The Black Empire Rises

Hearthstone’s next expansion, Reign of the Black Empire, unlocks on October 20 at 10:00 AM PDT. The 135-card set goes back to ancient Azeroth, when C’Thun, N’Zoth, Yogg-Saron and Y’Shaarj ruled a corrupted world and waged war on the Titan-forged.

Official video: Reign of the Black Empire Cinematic Trailer | Hearthstone (Hearthstone on YouTube)

The Four Old Gods

All four Old Gods arrive as Legendary Neutral minions, and you can run only one per deck. Each has four abilities and, instead of attacking, invokes two of them each turn. Once all four are exhausted, the Old God is free to attack.

  • C’Thun, Eye of the Empire: trigger all four of its abilities first (with cards like Spawn of C’Thun), and C’Thun triples the effect of every ability.
  • Mastermind Yogg-Saron: takes an entire extra turn on your behalf.
  • N’Zoth, Dream’s End: Deathrattle and board-building payoffs.
  • Y’Shaarj, Titan Bane: rewards decks built on enormous minions.

New Keyword: Assemble

Assemble adds a minion to your hand, then replaces part of its card text with text from another minion from a curated pool. In effect, you build custom minions mid-game.

Cards to Watch

  • Isiset (Mage Legendary): her Battlecry summons two 10/10 Constructs that stay Frozen until you have spent 15 Mana on spells.
  • Arrival of the Old Gods / Arrival of the Titans: draw minions or spells and refresh Mana Crystals for explosive turns.
  • M.O.T.H.E.R.: a free Legendary. Under the current rules it is granted on login; after Patch 37.6 it will be granted when you own your first Reign of the Black Empire pack.

Launch Events and Rewards

  • October 20 – November 10: the “Reign of the Black Empire” in-game event: 5 Reign packs, 5 Escape from Violet Hold packs, 2 Golden Escape from Violet Hold packs and the Ritual N’Zoth Warlock hero skin.
  • October 23 – November 3: a Legendary Quest Chain in Ranked Standard for a Reign pack and a Golden Reign pack.
  • From October 20: Tavern Rewards. Eligible Battle.net Shop purchases earn Tavern Tender to redeem for bonus Hearthstone content (not available in Mainland China).
  • November 10 – December 1: “30 Years of Terror,” a Diablo crossover event, with the Dark Wanderer Tavern Brawl from November 10–18.

Looking Ahead

Blizzard confirmed at BlizzCon that the Monk joins Hearthstone in March 2027, the game’s first new playable class in six years.

RUIN Downtime

Hearthstone is RUIN’s between-operations game: quick to pick up during Forever queue times and launch-week downtime. Share your Old God lists and Assemble combos in Discord.

Join RUIN on Discord: discord.gg/ruin

Sources: Blizzard, Command the Old Gods in Reign of the Black Empire; 37.0 Patch Notes; BlizzCon 2026 Opening Ceremony.

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