Kneel to the Old Gods or fight to protect the Emerald Dream in Hearthstone

I’m not one to go for a conspiracy theory, but I believe Hearthstone heard me saying that Digimon Alysion was muscling in on their turf because they have only gone and recently released an update. It is called Into the Emerald Dream and is packing keywords, 145 cards, and a host of events.

Let’s start with a quick word on the update name. Into the Emerald Dream. It sounds delightful, doesn’t it? Like an ode to St Patrick's Days’ gone by. There are also some ruddy great big Wild God cards, just to bring it back to the action.

Every class gets its own Legendary Wild God, and they can really turn the tides. Goldrinn allows Friendly Beasts to deal double damage for that fluffy onslaught. Tortola starts with 30 Health and 1 Attack and comes with Taunt. Each time it takes damage, it gains 1 Armor and 1 Attack. Field them when your opponent only has scrubs, and things will get out of control quickly.

As defenders of the Emerald Dream, Druids, Hunters, Mages, Priests, and Shamans all have the Imbue Keyword. Play an Imbue card and you’ll unlock a Hero Power specific to the class. Further uses of Imbue will buff this up. Or, support the Old Gods and harness the power of the Dark Gifts Keyword. Discover cards will have nightmarish effects, such as finding Demons.

Once consigned to the Druids, all classes will now get to play with the Choose One mechanic. Spark of Life gives you a choice between discovering a Mage or Druid spell, whereas summoning Lightmender will allow you to pick between having +3 Attack and Divine Shield or +3 Health and Lifesteal.

Finally, you can choose your side between Dreams and Nightmares with the new event. Until April 15th, you can complete quests to gain XP, with Nightmare missions being a little harder but worth more. Hearthstone can be downloaded from the App Store and Google Play now.