Duels Content Update
The 20.0 patch includes a big update for Duels! When the patch hits on March 25, Duels ratings for Casual and Heroic will reset, and the pool of eligible cards you can use to build your 15-card starter deck will be updated as follows:
- (NEW) Forged in the Barrens
- (NEW) Core
- The Darkmoon Races Mini-Set
- Madness at the Darkmoon Faire
- Scholomance Academy
- (NEW) Journey to Un’Goro
- One Night in Kharazan
- Whispers of the Old Gods
- Curse of Naxxramas
- Legacy (Basic/Classic)
What’s more, Forged in the Barrens cards can be found in card buckets offered between matches in Duels before the expansion unlocks on March 30!
New Passive Treasures
The following Passive Treasures can now be found between matches in a Duels run:
Duels Balance Updates
Watermarks on cards pictured below are not final.
Frost Shards- Old: [Costs 2] Deal 1 damage. Add a 1/1 Ice Shard that Freezes to your hand. → New: [Costs 1] Deal 1 damage. Add a 2/1 Ice Shard that Freezes to your hand.
- Old: [Costs 1] Attack 1, Health 1. → New: [Costs 2] Attack 2, Health 1.
- Old: Look at up to 4 cards in your hand and discard 1. Then, draw 1 card. → New: Look at up to 3 cards in your hand and discard 1. Then, draw 1 card.
- Old: Battlecry: Cast 1 random blessing on this minion. (Improves during run) → New: Rush. Battlecry: Cast 1 random blessing on this minion. (Improves during run)
- Old: Attack 2, Durability 2. → New: Attack 2, Durability 3.
- Old: At the start of your turn, add a 1/1 Informant to your hand. → New: At the start of your turn, add a random 1-Cost minion to your hand.
- Now has the Beast tag.
Banned Cards
We’re banning several cards from Duels in 20.0 for deckbuilding specifically, and then excluding a few more from card buckets. As you may have noticed, Self-Sharpening Sword has been banned in Duels since the mode launched. In the 20.0 patch, Self-Sharpening Sword will be unbanned from Deckbuilding, will become Discoverable, and can now show up in the Group Learning bucket.
Unbanned from Deckbuilding and Card Buckets:
- Self-Sharpening Sword
Banned from Deckbuilding:
- Ice Lance
- Sylvanas Windrunner
- Leeroy Jenkins
- Ice Block
- Doomguard
- Divine Favor
- Prophet Velen
- Auchenai Soulpriest
- Mind Blast
- Old Murk-Eye
- Divine Spirit
- Tour Guide
- Pen Flinger
- Lightning Bloom
- Nozdormu the Eternal
Banned from Card Buckets:
- Jungle Giants
- The Marsh Queen
- Open the Waygate
- The Last Kaleidosaur
- Awaken the Makers
- The Caverns Below
- Unite the Murlocs
- Lakkari Sacrifice
- Fire Plume’s Heart
Duels General Updates
We’ve made a few miscellaneous updates to Duels outside of the balance changes listed above. You might notice we’ve updated the general game flow to offer Passive/Active Treasures, adjust Health values, and offer card buckets at new intervals throughout a Duels run. Also, Spell Schools have been added to several Signature Treasures!
- Nature – Warden’s Insight, Marvelous Mycelium, Deadly Weapons 101, Chaos Storm
- Shadow – Fractured Spirits, Shadow Word: Void, Acquired Allies, Demonology 101
- Fel – Summoning Ritual, Gift of Legion, Binding Chains
- Holy – Men at Arms, Humble Blessings
- Fire – Elemental Learning
- Arcane – Infinite Arcane
We’ve also added six new buckets of cards that will appear between matches:
- Little Bites (Hunter)
- Razerrattle (Demon Hunter)
- Hero Power (Mage)
- Divine Duty (Priest)
- Hero Power (Neutral)
- Barrens Chat (Neutral)
Lastly, we’ve updated the unlock criteria for all Signature Treasures and Hero Powers to now count duplicates in your Collection, and no longer require unique cards.
