BlizzConline 2021 saw a series of Hearthstone announcements, including the new Mercenaries mode and an exciting new expansion focused on WoW's Horde. The Year of the Gryphon will also see changes to existing formats, including a Classic format that takes you back in time to Hearthstone as it was in 2014 and a new Core Set that will be offered for free to all players.

Details on the exact contents of the core set are few at the moment, but we do know that it will contain 235 cards. So far, Team 5 has revealed that the set will feature re-created versions of iconic dragons, including Marigos, Isela, and Deathwing, as well as the pesky Anoio Autolon Mek. We do know, however, that Lord Jaraxxus will not be joining the core set in his current form.

"The new version of Jaraxxus in the core set will be a hero card," Hearthstone designer Chadd Nervig said in an interview today.The nine-mana daemon currently destroys his hero and Lord Jaraxxus and Battlecry to destroy your hero and replace it with Lord Jaraxxus. At the moment, he has a max health of 15, equips a 3/8 weapon, and changes his Hero Power to "Summon 6/6 Infernal". However, it appears that this may change once he is promoted to a hero card. While specific details are not yet known, Nervig said, "The tuning of "Jaraxxus" (in the core set) is a bit different. We are balancing it accordingly."

The Hearthstone community has discussed this exact change in the past, so it's great to see Team 5 showing some love for the old lord. Last April, Blizzard decided to nerf Sacrificial Pact, a Warlock spell that previously could destroy any daemon and restore a player's hero's health 5 times (now only targets allied daemons (It now targets only allied daemons.) It is a spell of the Lord Jaraxxus. While this was good news for Lord Jaraxxus, Lord Jaraxxus was no longer directly targeted by his opponents and instantly destroyed. It will be interesting to see how the team plans to change his effects to support his new hero card status.