Card pack

A gnome opening a new card pack.

Card packs are items that players can open to acquire cards for filling a player's collection.

Every expansion has its own type of card pack with unique artwork, and each card pack contains 5 cards from that card set. Each card opened has a chance to be of common, rare, epic or legendary rarity, but each pack is guaranteed to contain at least one card of at least rare rarity. Each card opened also has the chance to be a golden version of that card. The chances for rarities and golden versions are the same for all types of card packs, and is well-documented in the statistics section below.

Card packs are considered the most cost-efficient means of obtaining cards. They offer the quickest way of expanding the player's collection for a particular set, but when wishing to obtain a specific card, players will generally find it cheaper and quicker to craft the card instead.

As of patch 29.2.2.198711, all card packs, Standard and Wild, are available for purchase in the in-game Shop. However, only Standard card packs are awarded from in-game rewards, such as Ranked rewards and Arena rewards.

Opening a pack

Purchasing options in the Americas region.

• All types of card packs feature the same chance of producing cards of any given rarity, and of golden and regular versions. This suggests that the internal process for the selection of each card functions by first determining a rarity, then randomly selecting a card of that rarity to produce. There is evidence suggesting that cards can have "predetermined rarities", experienced when opening packs "again".
• The contents of each pack are decided at random, at the time of opening.
• The amount of packs purchased at once does not in any way affect the contents of the packs.
• Players can only use 2 of each card in a deck (and only 1 of each Legendary), meaning additional copies of cards beyond these limits are of no value. When receiving unwanted cards from card packs, the disenchant option can be used to destroy unwanted cards in exchange for Arcane Dust, which can then be used to craft new cards. This process allows players to convert unwanted cards into more desirable options.
• When opening packs, cards are displayed using the player's currently selected card back.
• As of Patch 23.4.0.139963, every craftable card in the game can now be opened from card packs. Wild card packs can even contain those that were previously craftable-only, such as true Legacy cards.

Functionality

Card packs can be opened by clicking on the "Open Packs" icon from the main menu screen. The number underneath the icon indicates how many unopened card packs you currently possess.

Once the Open Packs screen has been reached, all current unopened packs will be displayed on the left-hand side. Drag a pack over to the right-hand section or hit the space bar to open it. Once you open a pack, 5 cards appear face down. This forces you to turn each card individually either by hitting the space bar or clicking each card.

Hovering over a card shows a border depending on the rarity of the card. Hearthstone uses quality colors based on World of Warcraft's gear system.

• No color means the card is of common rarity
• A blue glow means the card is of rare rarity
• A purple glow means the card is of epic rarity
• An orange glow means the card is of legendary rarity

Once the cards are face up, cards that you didn't have a copy of before the pack was opened will be surrounded by a glowing blue border and the word "NEW!" will appear next to those cards. Existing copies of the other quality (Normal or Golden) are ignored when it is determined whether the border and the word "NEW!" should appear.

Card Drop Rates and Rules

As of March 14, 2023, all card packs follow these rules to determine their cards:

• Duplicate Protection
  • You will not receive more than one copy of a Legendary card until you have received every Legendary card in that card set. Similarly, you will not receive more than two copies of any Common, Rare, or Epic card until you have received two copies of every card of that rarity in that card expansion.
  • Crafting a card counts towards owning it, and any cards you disenchant (whether golden or non-golden) count as well. This means that if you get a card you don't want, you can disenchant it and you will not receive it again until you have all cards of that rarity from that card set.
• Pity Timer
  • Each rarity has an average probability to be obtained, which increases every time you open a pack that does not contain a card of that rarity. Eventually, you are guaranteed to get a card of that rarity in a determined number of packs, which is informally called the Pity Timer. Once you get a card of that rarity, that probability is reset.
  • One Legendary card is guaranteed within the first 10 packs of any type. Subsequent Legendary card drops will follow the above rule.

How to get

Standard format card packs can be obtained from various sources. They can be gained from competing in Arena, the first Tavern Brawl win each week, Ranked rewards, certain quests, or they can be purchased from the in-game Shop, either for gold or for real money. Standard format card packs can also be purchased from the online shop. Standard card packs can also be obtained as rewards through the Recruit A Friend system.

Wild format card packs are never granted as rewards. However, Wild format card packs can be bought from the in-game Shop. Players who had packs left over when the set moved to Wild format can still open them and receive cards as normal, and players can still obtain Wild format cards through crafting.

Types of card packs

Normal

These Normal packs are always available for purchase in the Shop. (See #Normal pack pricing for pricing details in Shop)

These packs are also considered Normal packs, but are only available in Bundles or during special occasions.

Normal packs have the following features:

• Each pack contains 5 cards which are pulled from a pool depending on the pack description.
• Each pack has the same probability and Pity Timer listed below, as stated by Blizzard Entertainment.

  Card quality	Signature Legendary	Golden Legendary	Golden Epic	Golden Rare	Golden Common	Legendary	Epic
  Average probability	0.6%	0.6%	1.4%	7.1%	8.1%	5.0%	21.0%
  Max packs for Pity Timer	361	361	142	29	25	40	10
  Max packs for First Pity Timer	-	-	-	-	-	10	-

• One of the cards will be Rare or better.
• The remaining cards will be Common or better.

Golden

These Golden packs are always available for purchase in the Shop. (See #Golden pack pricing for pricing details in Shop)

These packs are also Golden packs but are only available in Bundles or during special occasions.

Golden packs have the following features:

• Each pack contains 5 cards which are pulled from a pool depending on the pack description.
• Each pack has the same probability and Pity Timer listed below, as stated by Blizzard Entertainment.

  Card quality	Signature Legendary	Golden Legendary	Golden Epic
  Average probability	5.0%	5.0%	21.0%
  Max packs for Pity Timer	40	40	10
  Max packs for First Pity Timer	-	10	-

• One of the cards will be Rare or better.
• The remaining cards will be Rare or better.

Signature

These Signature packs are always available for purchase in the Shop. (See #Signature pack pricing for pricing details in Shop)

Signature packs have the following features:

• Each pack contains 5 cards which are pulled from a pool depending on the pack description.
• Each pack has the same probability and Pity Timer listed below, as stated by Blizzard Entertainment. The notable difference between Signature and Golden packs is the much higher probability to get a Signature Legendary card.

  Card quality	Signature Legendary	Golden Legendary	Golden Epic
  Average probability	20.1%	5.0%	21.0%
  Max packs for Pity Timer	14	40	10
  Max packs for First Pity Timer	-	10	-

• One of the cards will be Rare or better.
• The remaining cards will be Common or better.

Catch-Up

These Catch-Up packs are only available in Bundles or during special occasions.

Catch-Up packs have the following features:

• They only contain Regular versions of cards and no premium versions (e.g. Golden and Signature).
• Each Catch-Up pack has 5 slots. The card for each of those slots will be pulled from a different expansion.
  • Example: Badlands Catch-Up pack has 5 slots. Slot 1 will be pulled from Voyage to the Sunken City, slot 2 from Murder at Castle Nathria, slot 3 from March of the Lich King, slot 4 from Festival of Legends and slot 5 from TITANS.
• Each slot can contain X cards, based on the percentage of cards you own from that card set.
  • The percentage includes both currently owned cards and previously disenchanted cards.
  • The total number for percentage includes 2 copies of each Common, Rare, Epic, and 1 copy of each Legendary. (For example, a set of 145 cards with 27 Legendaries in it will have a total of (145 - 27)*2 + 27 = 263 copies of cards.)
  • X is determined as followed:
    • If you own 25% or less of the set's cards, X will always be 10.
    • If you own 75% or more of the set's cards, X will always be 1.
    • If you own between 25% and 75%, X is determined by this formula: X = -18Y + 14.5, with Y being the percentage. The fraction part turns into a chance to get 1 more card.
      • For example, if you own Y = 55%, your X = 4.6 will be rounded down into X = 4. Then, you will have a 0.6 chance to make X = 5.

• Each slot (not each pack) has the same probability and Pity Timer listed below.

  Card quality	Legendary	Epic
  Average probability	1.2309%	4.4800%
  Max cards for Pity Timer	163	45
  Max cards for First Pity Timer	50	-

• Overall, at least 20% of total cards from all slots should be Rare or better rarity.
• The rest will be Common cards.

Purchasing

Card packs can be bought using:

• Real money, from the Blizzard store or the in-game Shop.
• Gold or Runestones, from the in-game Shop.

The following pricing options are currently available. Note that:

• Only the single pack option is available for gold (although players can buy more than one pack at a time).
  • All other options require real money or Runestones. Players can use any of the payment methods that are also available for buying games and goodies from the Blizzard store.
• Some of these prices were subject to changes on March 22, 2017 and may no longer be accurate.
• A discount is offered when buying in bulk with real-money or Runestones. Purchasing 40 packs of cards at once presents a 12-16% discount compared to buying cards in sets of 2. Exact prices and discounts vary by currency.

Normal pack pricing

Packs	Gold	Runestones*	USD	GBP	EUR	RUB**	BRL	AUD
1	100
2		300	$2.99 ($1.495 per pack, $0.299 per card)	£2.99 (£1.495 per pack, £0.299 per card)	€2.99 (€1.495 per pack, €0.299 per card)	149.00 р. (74.50 р. per pack, 14.90 р. per card)	R$ 7,00 (R$ 3,50 per pack, R$ 0,70 per card)	A$3.95 (A$1.975 per pack, A$0.395 per card)
7		1000	$9.99 ($1.427 per pack, $0.285 per card)	£8.99 (£1.284 per pack, £0.257 per card)	€9.99 (€1.427 per pack, €0.285 per card)	499.00 р. (71.28 р. per pack, 14.25 р. per card)	R$ 21,00 (R$ 3,00 per pack, R$ 0,6 per card)	A$13.50 (A$1.929 per pack, A$0.386 per card)
15		2000	$19.99 ($1.333 per pack, $0.267 per card)	£16.99 (£1.133 per pack, £0.227 per card)	€19.99 (€1.333 per pack, €0.267 per card)	999.00 р. (66.60 р. per pack, 13.32 р. per card)	R$ 39,00 (R$ 2,6 per pack, R$ 0,52 per card)	A$26.95 (A$1.797 per pack, A$0.359 per card)
40		5000	$49.99 ($1.250 per pack, $0.250 per card)	£44.99 (£1.125 per pack, £0.225 per card)	€49.99 (€1.250 per pack, €0.250 per card)	2500.00 р. (62.50 р. per pack, 12.50 р. per card)	R$ 99,00 (R$ 2,475 per pack, R$ 0,495 per card)	A$66.95 (A$1.674 per pack, A$0.335 per card)
60***		7000	$69.99 ($1.167 per pack, $0.233 per card)	£59.99 (£1.000 per pack, £0.200 per card)	€69.99 (€1.167 per pack, €0.233 per card)	3500.00 р. (58.33 р. per pack, 11.66 р. per card)	R$ 145,00 (R$ 2,417 per pack, R$ 0,483 per card)	A$94.95 (A$1.583 per pack, A$0.317 per card)

* Runestones available only in-game. Real money purchases available only in the Blizzard store.

** Russian Ruble prices are frequently changing due to unstable exchange rate.

*** Only available on PC and Mac.

Golden pack pricing

Please add any available information to this section.

Signature pack pricing

Please add any available information to this section.

History

Statistics

Note: This section contains information in between 2014-2020.

Hovering over an Epic card.

Main article: Card pack statistics

Various attempts have been made to establish the chances of receiving each rarity of card when opening card packs. Note that all types of card pack have the same chances at rarities and golden cards.

The following numbers combine data from several other studies. Since the numbers provided by each study are relatively similar, this is mostly for the convenience of a single overview of the statistics, as well as improved accuracy in the rarer cases. The original studies can be found in the linked article.

Currently included studies: Steve Marinconz (June 2014), E. R. Kjellgren (August 2014), Amaz (February 2015), HearthSim (August 2015). This produces a total sample size of 27,868 card packs, describing 139,340 cards in total.

	Common	Rare	Epic	Legendary
Percentage of total	71.65%	22.84%	4.42%	1.10%
Count per 27,868 packs	99,836	31,821	6,152	1,531
Probability of at least 1 per pack	99.81%	72.64%	20.21%	5.37%

In April 2017, in compliance with Chinese law, Blizzard published official probablities of card drops. Though the official announcement applies to the Chinese region only, it is likely that the drop rates are across all regions.

The officially announced drop rates are:

• RARE - At least 1 rare or better in each pack. (This was already known).
• EPIC - Average of 1 every 5 packs. (This implies that at least 4% of all cards are epic).
• LEGENDARY - Average of 1 every 20 packs. (This implies that at least 1% of all cards are legendary).

The reported drop chances are slightly lower than the observed drop rates. This is likely an indication that the announcement drop rates have to be read as "at least 1 epic every 5 packs", and "at least 1 legendary every 20 packs".

Golden cards

Golden card data gathered prior to The Grand Tournament show significant differences from that gathered after. For this reason the below information is currently taken solely from the most recent study: HearthSim (August 2015).

• This yields a disenchantment value of 98.25 Arcane Dust per pack, on average.

		Common	Rare	Epic	Legendary
Percentage of total	Regular	70.36%	21.60%	4.08%	0.94%
	Golden	1.48%	1.27%	0.19%	0.07%
Count per 15,109 packs	Regular	53,151	16,319	3,086	710
	Golden	1,120	957	146	56

The following table describes the likelihood of getting at least 1 golden card in a given pack.

	Common	Rare	Epic	Legendary	Any rarity
Probability of at least 1 golden per pack	7.4%	6.35%	0.95%	0.35%	15.05%

The following table describes the percentage of cards of each rarity which will be golden.

	Common	Rare	Epic	Legendary
Percentage golden	2.06%	5.54%	4.52%	7.31%
Rough probability	1 in 48.5	1 in 18.1	1 in 22.1	1 in 13.7

Duplicate protection

Duplicate protection in Hearthstone pack opening refers to the protection given to a player that prevents them from opening a card which the player has acquired more than one copy of (for legendaries) or more than two copies of (for commons, rares, and epics). Duplicate protection arises from the fact that normal game rules prohibit players from using more than one copy of a legendary card, or more than two copies of a common, rare, or epic card, in a typical playing deck. With duplicate protection, players are able to collect cards without having to worry about frequently getting useless duplicate and triplicate cards from card packs. Duplicate protection did not exist as a rule in Hearthstone before August 10th, 2017.

On June 22nd, 2017, Blizzard announced the brand new rule of duplicate protection would be implemented for legendary cards opened from card packs. The announced duplicate protection rule and some additional rule changes to pack opening were officially implemented on August 10th 2017 with the launch of the Knights of the Frozen Throne expansion and were as follows:

• When you open a Legendary, you are guaranteed to find a Legendary that you do not yet own a (non-golden or golden) copy of, unless you already own all Legendaries of the set.
  • At this time, this meant that if a player owned all Legendaries in a set and disenchanted one of them, they were guaranteed to open the disenchanted Legendary in their next card pack containing a Legendary.
• A single pack will never contain more than two copies of the same Common, Rare, or Epic card, or more than one copy of the same Legendary card.
• Within each new set, you are guaranteed to get at least one Legendary within the first ten packs.

In-game notification of duplication protection after March 26, 2020

On March 17th, 2020, Blizzard announced that duplicate protection would be extended to all rarities when opening card packs, meaning that commons, rares, and epics would now be given triplicate protection, in addition to legendaries having duplicate protection. The new triplicate protection rules and some additional rules of card tracking were officially implemented on March 26th 2020, about two weeks prior to the launch of the Ashes of Outland expansion, and were as follows:

• When a Legendary card is opened, you are still guaranteed to find a Legendary card that you do not yet own a copy of (non-golden and golden inclusive), but now only if you have not yet opened a copy of all Legendary cards in the set.
  • A Legendary card is still guaranteed within the first ten packs of an expansion.
• When a Common/Rare/Epic card is opened, you are guaranteed to find a card of that rarity that you do not yet own two copies of (non-golden and golden inclusive), but only if you have not yet opened two copies of all cards of that specific rarity in the set.
• For tracking purposes, cards are marked as "collected" whenever a player acquires a card (golden or non-golden) through any means, and cards which are disenchanted still remain marked as being "collected". This means that disenchanted Legendary cards, as well as disenchanted Common/Rare/Epic cards, are not guaranteed to show up in card packs after a player has "collected" all copies of cards of that rarity, but they will continue to show up as normal per the rarity distribution of card packs. Once a card is marked as "collected", it is forever marked as such. Tracking for such disenchanted cards began when the patch went live on March 26.
• When a player has obtained 2 of all Commons, future Commons will be random but non-goldens will be ones which the player still hasn't gotten non-golden of, and goldens will be ones the player still hasn't gotten golden of. This means that non-golden and golden cards are marked separately, as well as individually, for the purposes of card tracking.
• Additionally, outside of card pack openings, if players receive single-card rewards from elsewhere in the game, such as from Ranked rewards, these cards will also obey the duplicate protection rules afforded to card pack opening.
• On December 6, 2022, rerolling possibilities were also added for duplicate cards obtained from packs. If a player opens a card but already owns a craftable version of lower quality, a pop-up will appear asking the player if they want to reroll that lower quality copy for free. If requested, it rerolls it into a different card of the same card set, rarity, and quality.

Trivia

Concept art for the Goblins vs Gnomes card pack opening animation

• The Goblins vs Gnomes card pack and its opening animation was originally designed by Jomaro Kindred, and animated by John Zwicker.
• Prior to an unknown patch^{[citation needed]}, no bulk purchase option was presented for gold transactions, so there was a feature where players could double-click on the '1 pack' option to instantly order multiple packs by entering a number from 1 to 50. Players were informed of this option upon entering the shop for the first time with a sufficiently large amount of gold.

Videos

• Purchasing card packs (2013-08-15)
• Opening card packs (2013-08-17)

Gallery

• 

  1 pack to open

• 

  Picking up the pack

• 

  Placing it in the center

• 

  The pack bursting open...

• 

  …to reveal...

• 

  …5 brand new cards

• 

  Mousing over cards reveals their rarity

• 

  Another pack down

• 

  The player's current card back is used when opening packs

• 

  Gaining card packs from an external source

• 

  Variety pack: One each Legendary, Epic, Rare, Common and Golden Common.

• 

  Opening multiple packs at once

• 

  Promotional art (a gnome opening card packs)

Patch changes

• Patch 27.6.0.187190 (2023-10-17): Player can now open multiple packs at once (Up to 40 for Normal packs and 20 for Golden, Signature and Catch-Up packs).
• Unknown patch: Player can now buy Golden packs with gold.^{[citation needed]}
• Unknown patch: Player can now buy packs with gold in bulks using buttons instead of double-clicks or double-taps.^{[citation needed]}
• Patch 24.2.0.148211 (2022-08-30): Card pack bundles can now be purchased with Runestones.
• Patch 17.6.0.53261 (2020-07-14): When random card back is selected, you will now see a randomized card back every time you open a pack, as well as every time you open the Crafting menu.
• Patch 17.0.0.44222 (2020-03-26): Duplicate protection applied to all rarities. (Read details)
• Patch 16.0.0.37060 (2019-12-05): Wild card packs can now be purchased with in-game gold in the Shop.
• Server-side patch (2018-08-10): Duplicate protection applied to Legendary cards.
• Patch 2.0.0.7234 (2014-12-04): Expert card packs have been renamed to “Classic” card packs.