Year of the Phoenix

Year of the Phoenix is the Standard format year from April 7, 2020 to March 30, 2021.

Card sets

These card sets are released as a part of Year of the Phoenix.

Expansion
November 17, 2020

Expansion
August 6, 2020

Expansion
April 7, 2020

• Ashes of Outland
• Scholomance Academy
• Madness at the Darkmoon Faire

Roadmap

For the first time ever, Blizzard Entertainment has introduced a roadmap that represents the direction and the content they will be working throughout the year.

Patches

These patches were released during Year of the Phoenix.

Version	Build	Release date	Highlights
19.6.0	74257	2021-02-19	Forged in the Barrens pre-order, Card changes, Battlegrounds card changes, Duels card changes, Book of Heroes: Valeera
19.4.1	72661	2021-01-28	Card changes, Duels card changes
19.4.0	71603	2021-01-21
19.4.0	71003	2021-01-21	Darkmoon Races release, Arena rotation, Battlegrounds updates, Duels updates, Lunar New Year event, Book of Heroes: Anduin
19.2.1	70828	2021-01-08	Card changes, Battlegrounds card changes
19.2.0	68600	2020-12-15	Rewards Track changes, Card changes, Battlegrounds updates, Darkmoon Prizes, Duels updates, Winter Veil event, Book of Heroes: Garrosh and Uther
19.0.0	66927	2020-11-13
19.0.0	65614	2020-11-12	Madness at the Darkmoon Faire release, Battlegrounds updates, New achievements, New Rewards Track, Quest revamp, New Profile, Duels updates, Arena rotation
18.6.1	65000	2020-11-05	Battlegrounds card changes, Duels card changes
18.6.0	63160	2020-10-22	Madness at the Darkmoon Faire pre-order, Duels introduction, Card changes, Battlegrounds card changes
18.4.2	62331	2020-10-15	Battlegrounds card changes
18.4.0	60352	2020-09-29	Battlegrounds updates: Elemental, Card changes, Book of Heroes: Rexxar, Hallow's End event
18.2.0	58638	2020-09-09
18.2.0	58213	2020-09-08	Battlegrounds updates, Book of Heroes: Jaina, Forbidden Library event
18.0.2	56359	2020-08-18	Card changes, Battlegrounds card changes
18.0.0	54613	2020-07-30	Scholomance Academy release, Weapon frame changes, Hunter frame changes, Battlegrounds card changes
17.6.0	53261	2020-07-14	Scholomance Academy pre-order, Card changes, Battlegrounds card changes
17.4.1	51510	2020-06-18	Battlegrounds card changes, Card changes
17.4.0	49534	2020-06-09	Battlegrounds updates: Pirate, Felfire Festival event, Trial by Felfire release
17.2.2	48705	2020-05-21
17.2.1	48313	2020-05-18	Card changes
17.2.0	47374	2020-05-12	Battlegrounds updates, Re-ordering deck introduction
17.0.2	45932	2020-04-20	Card changes, Battlegrounds card changes
17.0.0	45310	2020-04-09	Card changes, Arena changes
17.0.0	44582	2020-03-30
17.0.0	44222	2020-03-26	Year of the Phoenix rotation, New class: Demon Hunter, Ashes of Outland release, Priest revamp, Card changes, Duplicate protection, Arena rotation, Battlegrounds updates, Ranked system overhaul changes, Free Deck introduction

Notable announcements

A sneak peek at the content released during the Year of the Phoenix.

The fifth Standard year begin with the announcement of Ashes of Outland. The beginning of 2020 (officially, April 7) saw The Witchwood, The Boomsday Project, and Rastakhan's Rumble rotate into Wild format. It also included five neutral cards inducted into the Hall of Fame - Leeroy Jenkins, Mountain Giant, Mind Control Tech, Acolyte of Pain, and Spellbreaker.

The Priest Basic and Classic set received a major overhaul on March 26th, sending Auchenai Soulpriest, Northshire Cleric, Shadowform, Divine Spirit, Holy Fire, and Prophet Velen to the Hall of Fame and introducing Psychic Conjurer, Power Infusion, Kul Tiran Chaplain, Scarlet Subjugator, Shadow Word: Ruin, and Natalie Seline to replace them. It also had Power Word: Shield, Holy Smite, Shadow Word: Death, Holy Nova, Shadow Madness, Temple Enforcer, and Thoughtsteal reworked or buffed.

Additionally, the Year of the Phoenix introduced Hearthstone's first ever new playable class - the Demon Hunter, represented by Illidan Stormrage. The Demon Hunter added 10 new cards to the Basic set and also came with 20 new cards in a special Demon Hunter Initiate set, which retroactively rotates alongside the Year of the Dragon. The class and all of these Demon Hunter cards are available for free by completing the Demon Hunter Prologue, released April 2nd.

On March 17th 2020, a 2-hour-long Hearthstone 2020 Showcase livestream detailed the many things that were coming in the Year of the Phoenix.

Also, an interview with Hearthstone's Game Director Ben Lee and Production Director Nathan Lyons-Smith revealed how the large amount of changes planned for the Year of the Phoenix came to be, with the introduction of the new Demon Hunter class to Hearthstone, the revamped Ranked league system, the extension of duplicate protection to all rarities when opening card packs, the rework of the Priest class, the Hall of Faming of Leeroy Jenkins and many other cards, the gift of free new decks for returning players, and the promised delivery of new game modes and player achievements in the near future.

Ranked Overhaul

With the Year of the Phoenix, the Ranked reward system was overhauled. It now followed a system of Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and Legend. Each ranked is divided into 10 subranks (excluding Legend, which is unchanged). At the start of each season, players are returned to Bronze 10. However, getting further will unlock star bonuses, allowing higher-ranked players to more quickly climb. In addition, Ranked matchmaking was reworked to match players based on their performance and time played rather than simply their current Rank.

New and Returning Player Experience

After leaving New Player ranks, new and returning players gained the option to select a class and gain a free, prebuilt deck. This unlocks every card in that deck, allowing the player to freely use the unlocked cards in any deck they choose.

Card packs were also modified. All rarities now follow the Duplicate rule. You can no longer open duplicate copies of any card you own, unless you already have all cards of that rarity from that set. This is an expansion of the Legendary rule that was implemented in 2017 with Knights of the Frozen Throne.

Timeline

Main article: Hearthstone timeline

2020

March 13

• It is revealed that on March 17, there will be a Hearthstone 2020 showcase, with developers promising "We’re going to share more than we ever have before".

March 17

• Ashes of Outland, Hearthstone's 14th expansion is announced.
• Demon Hunter, Hearthstone's first ever new playable class is announced.
• For the first time, a roadmap for the Hearthstone year is released, visualizing planned content for the year.

March 26

• Duplicate protection is extended to all rarities in card packs.
• New and returning players who graduate from the New Player ranks will now get a free deck from a class of their choice.

April 1

• The Ranked system is overhauled, moving from the 25-rank system to a Bronze-Diamond system, with 10 ranks per tier.

April 2

• Demon Hunter Prologue, a new adventure to unlock the Demon Hunter Initiate set and Basic set for Demon Hunter is released.

April 7

• Ashes of Outland is released.
• Tavern Passes are introduced, including 4 Arena tickets and Battlegrounds Perks.
• The fourth Standard year (the Year of the Dragon) ends, and the fifth Standard year (the Year of the Phoenix) begins.

May 12

• Deck reordering is introduecd. In the collection manager, the order of decks can now be changed.

June 9

• Pirates are added to Battlegrounds, the second new minion type addition.
• Battlegrounds will now have a shifting minion pool, with only five minion types active at a time.

June 17

• Trial by Felfire, a new mission is released.

June 24

• Trial by Felfire receives the Heroic Challenge Mode.

July 14

• Scholomance Academy, Hearthstone's 15th expansion is announced.
• Weapons receive new frames to make it more distinct what class they come from.

August 6

• Scholomance Academy is released.
• Dual-class cards, the second type of multi-class cards are released.

September 8

• Battlegrounds parties are released, allowing players to queue with more than one other player. Battlegrounds Parties will allow groups of players to queue Battlegrounds together, and it supports a full lobby for private games.

September 15

• Book of Heroes: Jaina is released, the first part of a new collection of missions.

September 29

• Elementals are added to Battlegrounds, the third new minion type addition.
• Battlegrounds receives a new rating system, where matchmaking is based on player's invisible internal rating.
• Masquerade Ball, a new event is released.

October 13

• Book of Heroes: Rexxar is released, the second part of the collection of missions.

October 15

• It is revealed that the Hearthstone Fall Reveal will begin on October 22.

October 22

• Madness at the Darkmoon Faire, Hearthstone's 16th expansion is announced.
• Duels, Hearthstone's second new multiplayer game mode is announced, starting with an early access for players who pre-purchase Madness at the Darkmoon Faire
• A completely new progression system is announced, featuring Achievements, Rewards Tracks and the Tavern Pass, a Quest revamp, and an updated Profile page.
• Cosmetic coins are introduced, as rewards for finishing Rewards Tracks or completing set collections.

November 17

• Madness at the Darkmoon Faire is released
• Duels: Season One begins in "beta" (can be seen as the full release of the mode, as it is still in beta as of 2024).
• The progression and rewards revamp is released.
• Battlegrounds Perks are moved to a standalone purchase, separate from the Tavern Pass, which now only includes the premium Rewards Track.

December 7

• After a controversy and player criticism regarding the Rewards Track, which proved it was system that granted less gold than before,, Blizzard announces that rewards will be made better, quests easier, and gives players a gift of 5 packs and 500 gold for logging in starting December 15.

December 15

• Darkmoon Prizes are added to Battlegrounds, the first new system additon.

December 16

• Book of Heroes: Garrosh is released, the third part of the collection of missions.

2021

January 5

• Book of Heroes: Uther is released, the fourth part of the collection of missions.

January 19

• Darkmoon Races, Hearthstone's first mini-set is announced.

January 21

• Darkmoon Races is released.

February 2

• Book of Heroes: Anduin is released, the fifth part of the collection of missions.

February 9

• The Core set is announced.
  • The Core set will replace the Classic and Basic sets, which will be moved to Wild in the form of the Legacy set.
  • The Core set will be free for all players, setting a new high for free-to-play improvements in Hearthstone.
  • Cards from various sets across Hearthstone's history can be given a chance to be in the Core set.
• Classic format is announced.
  • Classic format will restrict players to the original 240 cards as they were in 2014 in Patch 1.0.0.5834 with any and all balance changes since then reverted.

February 11

• New statistics are revealed for Hearthstone, including that the number of active players in 2020 was 23.5 million.