By: Devyn Nguyen, Luke Ren
On August 7, the second expansion of the Year of the Raven was officially released for all Hearthstone players. The Boomsday Project expansion has brought 135 new collectible cards that all involve aspects of science and experimentation to the strategic card game.
The main character of the expansion, Dr. Boom, is featured as the only hero card included in the set and is only usable by the warrior class. The entire expansion centers around Dr. Boom’s laboratory and the different fields of science being studied there. A list of the scientific fields include, but are not limited to, biology, cloning, astrology, robotics, and demonology.
The Boomsday Project brings in fresh content that can attract any new card player. Fun, wacky cards allow players to express their creativity in numerous ways. For those considering getting into Hearthstone, a new card has been added that creates random, viable decks, allowing for a new experience every game.
For the experienced players, The Boomsday Project expansion introduces several new meta-defining decks and cards into the game. However, similar to the expansion that came before The Boomsday Project, many of the popular decks still remain untouched and only sport one or two new inclusions.
To say that the meta as a whole has not shifted would be far from the truth. The Boomsday Project expansion has brought two classes to the top of the spectrum: Warlock and Druid. Although these classes as a whole do not have the highest win rates, the powerful new additions that The Boomsday Project expansion has brought along makes these classes meta defining.
The Boomsday Project expansion is notable for shifting the meta towards even more aggressive decks than before. Aggressive, fast-paced decks tend to perform better than slower decks and are generally despised for their generic and straight-forward gameplay. Games last five or six turns rather than ten to twenty.
Critics of The Boomsday Project expansion tend to point out its neglect of certain classes such as Priest and Shaman, whom have received little to no strong support cards. Another critique is the fact that certain deck archetypes, such as Odd Rogue, Odd Paladin, and Spell Hunter, are dominating the meta and only include one or no new cards from the expansion.
To the delight of some players and the dread of others, The Boomsday Project has also introduced and added support for a multitude of one-turn kill or OTK decks. Inner Fire Priest, Malygos Rogue, and Mecha’thun Druid are just a few of the many fan favorite OTK decks. Because the new OTK decks involve more thought, strategy, and fun than a typical deck, The Boomsday Project has shown that the developers still care about players having fun.
Along with the new cards and metas that The Boomsday Project has brought to the Hearthstone community, a new puzzle adventure was added to challenge the minds of all players. The complex puzzles provide incredibly difficult trials for all players, stumping even the minds of some veteran Hearthstone players.