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A Day in Curse of Naxxramas’ Arachnid Quarter

A Day in Curse of Naxxramas’ Arachnid Quarter

Hearthstone’s Curse of Naxxramas singleplayer adventure went live in Europe yesterday on Wednesday, July 23 , and needless to say I had a bit of an procrastination day to play as much of it as I could.

And the end of that day, I walked away with new cards, the first wing of the adventure completed, and the compulsion to beat Arachnid Quarter’s Heroic Mode.

Arachnid Quarter, the first of five wings in the Curse of Naxxramas adventure, was tricky to start with as I was thrown by the new cards and their functions. Thankfully I knew about some of the cards already, but that doesn’t mean to I didn’t experience the odd curveball.

So what does Arachnid Quarter have to offer? Four new cards (six if you include the cards rewarded by completing the Class Challenges), Heroic Mode and the aforementioned Class Challenges. I’m not too sure if you’re rewarded cards for completing Heroic Mode, as I have yet to beat it personally.

On that note, Heroic Mode isn’t lying when its description reads, “ Heroic Bosses are extremely difficult. They will require many attempts and multiple deck revisions to defeat. ” It certainly took me several attempts to beat the first Heroic Boss, and I just nope’d right out of the second boss on turn four.

In amongst the four new cards is a Legendary card, and each of the other four wings also has the same setup; four new cards to be unlocked, one of which is a Legendary.

The cards unlocked for the Class Challenges are specific to the Druid and Rogue classes, and no doubt more classes will be added to the Challenges once the other wings are unlocked.

All the cards you’ll unlock in Curse of Naxxramas’ Arachnid Quarter wing (as well as the Class Challenge) have been detailed below, with their respective statistics and descriptions included.

A Day in Curse of Naxxramas’ Arachnid Quarter

Arachnid Quarter

  • Hunted Creeper (Common Minion), 1/2 for 2 mana; Deathrattle: Summon two 1/1 Spectral Spiders.

  • Nerub’ar Weblord (Common Minion), 1/4 for 2 mana; Minions with Battlecry cost (2) more.

  • Nerubian Egg (Rare Minion), 0/2 for 2 mana; Deathrattle: Summon a 4/4 Nerubian.

  • Maexxna (Legendary Minion), 2/8 for 6 mana; Destroy any minion damaged by this minion.

Class Challenge

  • Poison Seeds (Druid, Common Spell), 4 mana; Destroy all minions and summon 2/2 Treants to replace them.

  • Anub’ar Ambusher (Rogue, Common Minion). 5/5 for 4 mana; Deathrattle: Return a random friendly minion to your hand.

Needless to say all these new cards have opened up new strategies for Hearthstone players, and I’m certainly looking forward to what the rest of the wings will offer. Conveniently, you can see for yourself what cards you’ll be rewarded for each of the five wings, even for the four that have yet to be unlocked.

Curse of Naxxramas’ Arachnid Quarter is free for all to access for “ roughly a month or so, ” so you’ll have plenty of time to steel yourself for the rest of Curse of Naxxramas’ content. Whether or not Arachnid Quarter will remain free after the adventure’s launch event has yet to be made clear.

After Arachnid Quarter, the remaining four wings will set you back €5.99 / £4.99 (or your regional equivalent) each . Alternatively, you can spend 700 in-game to unlock each of the wings as they become available, which can be done by winning games, beating The Arena or by completing Quests.

I look forward to see what Curse of Naxxramas’ second wing–Plague Quarter–will bring next week, and now doubt I’ll be recounting my experiences with that wing as well. In the meantime, have fun with your new cards!

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