March of The Lich King Release Date, New Cards List, Expansion (2023)

It’s finally here. After months of speculation, and years of anticipation, Blizzard has finally announced the March of the Lich King expansion date. With a whole new class, a new minion type, new cards, and more, there is a lot for players to look forward to. If you’re looking for the expansion’s release date, then you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll brief you on everything you need to know about the March of the Lich King Release Date, so you can prepare for the new Death Knight meta! So, let’s take a look, shall we?

Now Read: Hearthstone Mercenaries Tier List 

Release Date

The March of the Lich King Expansion will release on December 6, 2022, for all players worldwide. The exact time of the expansion hasn’t yet been confirmed, but we’re guessing around 10 am Pacific Standard Time. However, it could be a little later due to technical issues. 

There will likely be a few teething problems on the release date, which is perfectly normal. Just don’t expect everything to be smooth sailing, as the expansion is very big, meaning a whole lot can go wrong.

Expansion Info

The March of the Lich King expansion is set to be Hearthstone’s biggest expansion to date. The theme surrounds the game’s new class, the Death Knight, so expect plenty of undead-related cards and animations. 

Here’s an overview of what the March of the Lich King expansion will bring to Hearthstone:

• New Class- The biggest feature of the new expansion is the new Death Knight class. We’ll talk about this in detail a little later, but it’s already looking like the Death Knight is going to seriously shake up the meta.
• New Minion type- The expansion will also feature a new minion type- undead. This really enhances the theme surrounding the expansion and will open up the gates for new synergies, artwork, and mechanics.
• Duel-Minion types- The expansion will also bring duel-minion types into the game, which means one minion can have multiple types (a bit like the Amalgams). This is bound to make for some interesting combos and synergies.
• New Keywords- Two new keywords will be entering Hearthstone’s standard format with the March of the Lich King expansion. The first is ‘reborn’, which has already been implemented into the game. The second is manathirst, which is a completely new keyword. We’ll explain both of these features in more detail a little later on.
• New Signature Cards- Artwork lovers are going to love the new signature card look that’s coming to Hearthstone in the new expansion. Even rarer and more expensive than diamond cards, these cards will have a unique color, frame, and style.

The Death King

The most anticipated aspect of the latest expansion is the arrival of none other than the Death King himself. There has been plenty of speculation about a Death Knight class coming to Hearthstone, and it seems that finally, our prayers have been answered.

Here’s everything we know so far about the new class.

• Hero Power, ‘Goul Charge’- The Death Knight’s hero power is called Goul Charge. For two mana, you’ll be able to summon a 1/1 ghoul with charge. The catch is that it dies at the end of your turn. This is a ‘ping’ like hero power, with the added benefit of having a minion die, which is very important for Death Knight.
• Corpses- Every time one of your minions dies, you’ll gain a corpse. You can see your total corpses via the counter just below your mana. Corpses are a little like a currency, and can be spent to make certain cards much more powerful. Take a look at our cards list below to see some examples.
• Runes- The Death Knight class will make use of runes, whcih is a new deck building mechanic. There are 3 runes- blood, frost and unholy. You can have up to three runes in your deck at once. More powerful cards will take up more runes. To put it into context, if a card has 3 blood runes, you won’t be able to put any unholy or frost rune cards into your deck. By contrast, if a card has two frost runes, you’ll still be able to use cards with one unholy/blood rune. This mechanic will make for interesting deck building choices, whilst also balancing the class as a whole, as you won’t be able to put every powerful card into your deck.

Rune System

Here’s a more detailed overview of each of the three Death Knight runes:

• Blood Rune- Blood rune cards are the tankiest cards in the Death Knight’s arsenal. This deck archytype focuses on big minions, board control, and manipulating your life total. If you’re a control player, you’ll love this rune the most.
• Frost Rune- Frost rune cards have great burst damage potential. You’ll be able to stall out the board, and chain together multiple spells for huge face damage. There may even be some one turn kill gameplans.
• Unholy Rune- Unholy rune cards untilse the corpse counter the most effecitvely. Using unholy rune cards will give you the ability to generate plenty of corpses, and spend them to create huge boards, or clear out enemy minions.

It’s going to be very interesting to see how people build their Death Knight decks in light of the rune system. Will you decide to go all-in on one rune, to reap the payoff cards? Or, will you decide to diversify your deck, to gain access to a bigger pool of resources?

March of the Lich King Card List

The New Expansion is going to bring 145 cards to the game. Here’s a detailed overview of every single one that we know about so far.

Death Knight

• Overseer Frigidara- This card will allow you to draw 2 spells, with the potential upside of dealing 2 damage to all enemies, if they’re both frost spells. She does require 2 frost runes but will be a great reload card for your burst damage frost deck.
• Patchwerk- Some people are already calling Patchwerk overpowered, and it’s easy to see why. For 7 mana, you’ll be able to put a body on the board and delete three of your opponent’s cards.
• Lord Marrowgar- This card will be perfect for any token Death Knight. If you play your cards right, you might just be able to overwhelm your opponent with stats on turn 8.
• Skeletal Sidekick- This card is potentially a 1 mana 2 attack, 3 health minion. Perfect for any aggressive or midrange deck.
• Battlefield Necromancer- If you have a constant supply of corpses, this card is bound to generate tonnes of value, and will be impossible for some decks to deal with.
• Gnome Muncher- Gnome Muncher is a near-perfect control card. Big stats, instant removal, taunt, and life gain- what’s not to love?
• Acolyte of Death- Much like the old card, Acolyte of Pain, Acolyte of Death has the potential to grant you some great card draw. If you’re running a token deck, this card will be a great addition. 
• Obliterate- This card will allow you to destroy an enemy minion for two mana. Sure, you’ll take some damage, but blood rune Death Knights seem to have plenty of life gain.
• Defrost- If you’ve got the corpses, Defrost will allow you to draw two cards for two mana- talk about efficiency!
• Graveyard Shift- 3 mana to summon 4 1/1 zombies doesn’t seem very powerful. But, if you start looking at this card as 3 mana to gain 4 corpses, you might see its utility. 
• Army of the Dead- If you’ve got the corpses, Army of the Dead is a 5 mana deal 10 damage card. Great for removing enemy minions, or developing a wide board of threats.
• Frostwyrm’s Fury- This card requires three frost runes, and is very powerful as a result. It will allow you to stall out the enemy board, push five damage and develop a big minion.
• Corpse Explosion- Circumstances permitting, Corpse Explosion will allow you to clear the enemy’s board. However, there will be situations in which this card will feel like a waste of mana.
• Vampiric Blood- Vampiric blood requires you to devote all three of your deck runes to blood. But, pair this card with Prince Renathal, and you’ll be able to bring your life total up to 60.
• Horn of Winter- This card is basically a better version of mana bloom. It’ll also for some crazy burst potential. Although, the two frost rune requirement may be offputting.
• Frost Strike- 2 mana, kill a small minion and discover a card. What’s not to love?

Paladin

• Blood Matriarch Liadrin- This card has some crazy potential when paired with hand buffs. It’s bound to make midrange Paladin even scarier to deal with.
• For Quel-thalas!- This card essentially deals 5 damage for 2 mana, which is very efficient indeed!

Mage

• Arcane Bolt- Arcane Bolt is one of the first examples of a manathirst card. However, this particular reward doesn’t seem very appealing.
• Arcane Defenders- This card might just fit perfectly into your big spell mage deck. It’s a great card at 8 mana, but if you can cheat it out for less, you might just out-tempo your opponents.

Demon Hunter

• Deal with a Devil- There’s no other way to put it- this card is terrible. Hopefully, Demon Hunter’s other cards aren’t so dreadful.

Druid

• Nerubian Flyer- In a perfect world, this card is a 2 mana 4/5. This is great stats for the cost, and we might just see Nerbuian Flyer make its way into token Druid.

Hunter

• Arcane Quiver- This card hints that Hunter will have some sort of spell damage synergies in the future. The discover effect is also very strong.

Shaman

• Deathweaver Aura- This card seems very efficient, but it may be too slow for the current meta.
• Unliving Champion- Unliving Champion just might be one of the scariest cards in the newest expansion. Dealing with 9/6 worth of stats on turn three seems like a nightmare.

Warrior 

• Embers of Strength- This card hints at some fire spell synergies with Warrior. The manathirst bonus is a great touch too.
• Silverfury Stalwart- Silverfury Stalwart is a quick card, which could help Warrior keep up with tempo. Although, at 6 mana, dealing 4 damage might still be too slow.

As you can see, only a fraction of the new cards has been released. So far, the Death Knight package looks much stronger than the other classes’ new cards. But, as more cards are released, we’ll be able to see what Blizzard has planned for each class.

New Features

Here’s a list of all the new features that you can expect with The March of the Lich King expansion:

• Reborn Mechanic- Whilst the reborn mechanic isn’t technically new, it hasn’t been in the standard format for a while now. In case you’ve forgotten, a card with reborn will come back to life with one health after it’s been killed.
• Manathirst mechanic- The other interesting new feature coming with the expansion is the new keyword ‘manathirst’. Manathirst means that, once your total mana reaches a certain number, your card will upgrade in some way. You don’t have to spend the mana, merely have access to it. This mechanic will offer some interesting choices between playing cards early for the tempo, or holding them to gain greater value.

Final Thoughts

So, that’s everything that we know about the March of the Lich King expansion so far. This update looks absolutely awesome, and Blizzard certainly hasn’t cut any corners. The new Death Knight class looks versatile, and powerful and is bound to shake up the meta. The new manathirst effect has some serious potential, and it’ll be interesting to see how reborn keeps up with the new meta. Stay tuned for even more card releases, and make sure to be online as soon as the update drops on the 6th of December!

We hope you’re as excited about the expansion as we are!