5 things to know to master Hearthstone as beginners

Hearthstone has always been one of the most popular digital card games of all time, often hailed as a landmark in the collectible card game genre. This game has over 30 million players, with more than 50,000 logging in every day to play. However, since this game is over 10 years old, there are more than 3,000 cards, and dozens of unique abilities, it can be a daunting game to learn for beginners.

Here are five things all beginners must know about this game when starting Hearthstone.

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5 things every new Hearthstone player must know

Since this game has thousands of cards and a lot of depth, it takes time to understand its core mechanics. As such, here are five things all beginners must know while starting this game.

1) Learning Classes one at a time

All Hearthstone decks are built around a specific class (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

New players must learn the game’s Class-based deckbuilding system. Each Hearthstone class has an associated Hero Power - a signature spell you can play once every turn. Moreover, all cards from your deck must be from the same class (except Neutral cards).

Currently, there are 11 classes, all of which have a unique playstyle. They are:

• Warriors
• Hunters
• Mages
• Paladins
• Priests
• Rogues
• Druids
• Shamans
• Warlocks
• Demon Hunters
• Death Knights

Learning the powers and synergies of cards in each class will help in deckbuilding and figuring out your opponent’s strategy. However, new players should focus on unlocking and learning one class at a time by playing the Solo Adventure mode.

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2) Learn all Keywords and their effects

Learn the effects of all Hearthstone keywords (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Keywords are common abilities shared by many cards in this game. Many decks and classes are often built around cards with the same keyword, catering to specific playstyles. Since most cards have a keyword, learning them all will benefit new players in the long run.

Currently, there are 11 Hearthstone keywords, which are:

• Adapt
• Battlecry
• Charge
• Choose One
• Combo
• Deathrattle
• Discover
• Divine Shield
• Enrage
• Freeze
• Inspire
• Mega-Windfury
• Overload
• Secret
• Silence
• Stealth
• Spell Damage
• Taunt
• Windfury

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3) Utilizing mana effectively

Use mana effectively (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Mana is the most important resource in Hearthstone. Each turn, you gain one mana gem, which stacks. Therefore, on your 10th turn, you get your last mana gem, totaling a maximum of 10 mana gems.

Since all your minions and spells cost mana to play, you must build your deck and play your cards keeping their costs in mind. Many decks use weaker but cheaper cards, while others use more powerful but expensive cards.

Moreover, you must pay attention to your mana curve. It’s unwise to build decks with cards costing five or more. Your deck must have cards with mana costs evenly spread out so you can at least play one card every turn.

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4) Complete Quests to earn Gold and unlock new cards

Complete Quests to earn Gold (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

As a new Hearthstone player, you must first focus on collecting as many cards as possible. Therefore, you must buy card packs in the shop by spending Gold, an in-game currency you get by completing daily and weekly quests.

Moreover, the Rewards Track purse you with Gold for reaching several tiers you unlock by winning matches and gaining XP (experience points). Therefore, the more you play, the more gold you get, and the more cards you can unlock. You must also learn how to disenchant extra copies of cards to generate Dust for creating new cards.

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5) Card Sets and Rotations

Focus on the latest Hearthstone card sets (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Each year, three new sets get released, each containing 100s of new cards. So far, there are 32 sets in Hearthstone. However, you don’t need to collect cards from all sets, since the three oldest sets get rotated annually, limiting you to building decks using cards from sets released in the last two years. However, you can always use cards from the Core set, which you get for free and never go out of rotation.

It’s recommended to focus on these sets for deckbuilding if you start playing this game in 2024:

• Whizbang's Workshop
• Voyage to the Sunken City
• Murder at Castle Nathria
• March of the Lich King
• Festival of Legends
• TITANS
• Showdown in the Badlands
• Ashes of Outland
• Scholomance Academy
• Madness at the Darkmoon Faire
• Voyage to the Sunken City
• Murder at Castle Nathria
• March of the Lich King

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That's it regarding five things to know about Hearthstone as beginners. We hope this article helped you get a headstart on learning how to play this game.