by JR Cook - 2 months ago     show comments

Hearthstone’s next expansion, Escape from Violet Hold, is launching July 7, and Blizzard is rolling out a full week of community events to celebrate the jailbreak. Theorycrafting streams kick off June 25 with a twist, the Pre-Release Tavern Brawl debuts June 30 with a brand new format, and there are packs to be earned just for watching streams.

Theorycrafting Streams and the Rulebreaker Hunt

The Theorycrafting event runs June 25-26 across all regions, with NA, LATAM, and EMEA going live June 25 from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. PDT. This time there’s a community challenge on top of the usual deck testing: catch all 11 Rulebreakers. These are dev team members playing as the escaped inmates, and if the community defeats all of them during the event, participants earn bonus codes to distribute during Community Days.

All Theorycrafting decks must include at least 10 Escape from Violet Hold cards (that can be 10 unique cards or 5 duplicates, player’s choice). The Rulebreakers will follow the same deck restrictions, so it’s a level playing field. Twitch Drops are enabled category-wide from June 25, 9:00 a.m. to June 26, 8:00 a.m. PDT, letting viewers earn up to 2 Escape from Violet Hold packs by watching any Hearthstone stream. Participating creators will also give away Pre-Purchase Mega Bundle codes during the event.

The official Hearthstone Twitch channel will host TheoryCasting on June 25 from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. PDT, with Sottle, Lorinda, Edelweiss, and Raven calling the action as the meta takes shape. If you’re planning to tune in for the full event, a quality headset like the Razer BlackShark V2 X Gaming Headset or the HyperX Cloud III Wireless makes marathon stream sessions a lot more comfortable.

Pre-Release Tavern Brawl Debuts June 30

When Patch 36.0 drops June 30 at 10:00 a.m. PDT, the Pre-Release Tavern Brawl opens with a new format. Players build decks using only Escape from Violet Hold cards with no class or rune restrictions, and everyone gets free trial copies of all Common cards from the set to make deck building accessible. The trial cards are only available during the Brawl, which runs until the expansion launches July 7 at 10:00 a.m. PDT.

The first run is free, then each entry costs 2 Tavern Tickets, 300 Gold, or 400 Runestones. Play until you hit 6 wins or 3 losses, and earn more new cards based on your performance. The Pre-Purchase Mega Bundle now includes 6 Tavern Tickets specifically for this Brawl, on top of the 80 packs, 10 Golden packs, and the new bonus Signature Legendary Vanessa the Ringerleader card.

Community Days and Twitch Drops

Community Days run from June 30, 10:00 a.m. PDT through July 4, 10:00 a.m. PDT. Watch any Hearthstone stream on Twitch to earn up to 8 packs total, 4 from The Lost City of Un’Goro and 4 from Into the Emerald Dream. Each drop requires 2 hours of watch time, and the drops are stacked in pairs, so you’ll collect 1 Un’Goro pack and 1 Emerald Dream pack per drop milestone.

The Pre-Purchase bundles are available until July 7 when the expansion unlocks. The Mega Bundle is the one with the added Signature Vanessa the Ringerleader, which is an exclusive bonus that wasn’t part of the original offering. If you’re still deciding whether to grab a bundle, this is the last week to lock it in.

Source: BlueTracker Hearthstone