Hearthstone lead designer Ben Brode has taken to youtube to announce a new format for Hearthstone. The format is called Standard, and will encompass all card sets released in the most recent two years. At the start of each year, card sets older than two years will rotate out of the game as the first expansion of the year gets added. Cards from the basic and expert sets are excepted from this rotation and will stay in Standard forever.  Since these shifts will be an annual thing, Blizzard is tying them to what it calls “The Hearthstone Zodiac”, dubbing this first year of standard “The year of the Kraken”. Players will still be able to play in a format with all cards available, which was the only format available up until this point. This format has now been redubbed “Wild”. Check out the announcement video below the jump.

[youtube id=0KNQsYBrNtY]

I have been playing Hearthstone since the early beta, having put in several high legend finishes over the past two-and-a-half years. As a person that detests the standard format of MtG, I have a feeling the Wild format will be more for me. Having said that, a Standard format makes it so that players wanting to get into competetive play don’t have to own every single set that has come out since release, which will become a problem as Hearthstone ages. Right now Standard will encompasses all cards that have been released since 2015. The Naxxramas and Goblins vs. Gnomes card sets will rotate out, which will be a major gamechanger in competitive play. Still, I’m all for diversity in format, plus I’m finally getting my extra deck slots!