Hearthstone is one of the most popular card games to make up the niche within the esports ecosystem. It was originally launched in 2014, and today, it remains as popular as ever, backed by Blizzard and boasting millions of fans around the world. With this guide, learn everything you need to know about the Hearthstone ranking system, and finding out what’s required to get up the levels in the game’s more challenging modes.
© Hearthstone
Introduction Of The Core Set
One of the most significant changes introduced to the modern Hearthstone ranking system is the core set, which replaced the well-known classic set. The core set is available to everyone for free, and it includes a set of all card types (from uncommon to legendary) for all classes.
The core set is such a good change because it rotates each year. Some of the cards from the core set may be completely new cards, while some cards may be already available in the wild format.
To earn gold variants of the core set, players simply have to level up classes by playing games, just like they would with the old base set.
New Hearthstone Ladders
When it comes to Hearthstone ranks, there are three different ways players can compete to increase their rank and gain rewards. It is essential to note that getting ranked high in different ladders will not earn additional player rewards at the end of the month; instead, they will earn rewards only from their highest rank on all the ladders.
Standard Ranked Ladder
In this ladder, the set of cards that is available for use rotates every year, and it consists of:
- The core set (which rotates every year)
- All expansions from the current year.
- All expansions from the previous year.
Wild Ranked Ladder
In this ladder, players can use all of the cards, with a few exceptions, which are cards that are on the ban list. The banned cards are:
- The Demon Seed
- Stealer of Souls
- Switcheroo
Classic Ranked Ladder
In this ladder, players can use cards only from the Classic era, which are the cards from the old Base set, and cards available in Classic packs.
The New Hearthstone Ranking System
In 2020, a brand new Hearthstone ranking system was introduced.
A total of five leagues now exist, from Bronze to Diamond. Players will have ten ranks within each of the five leagues – and those who move beyond the Diamond one league will now be able to move up further to the Legend tier, which works as previous ranks/leagues did, except it’ll offer some additional challenges for the top players out there.
New players will start in the Apprentice league – a new, lower level, rather than joining straight into ranked play. It has a total of 40 levels that players can work their way through, earning rewards along the way – specifically, Standard packs. You can’t lose your stars while you’re in the Apprentice league, and you also only have to complete it once – you can’t fall back down into it.
There are also some packs from recent expansions up for grabs once you make the jump from Apprentice to Bronze. As of the first day of the new season, you will also get some star bonuses based on how you performed in the previous month – you can gain between two and ten stars depending on your rank from before.
It’s a long journey from Bronze, but who knows, maybe Hearthstone ranked will mould you into a player that one day competes at the Hearthstone World Championship.
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Starry skies
Depending on your star yield, you’ll have a much easier time climbing out of the lower ranks at the beginning of a month because losses affect you less – and if you don’t want to play Ranked at all, you can take a one-month break without any loss of MMR or rank. After that, you’ll see some decay and even an effect on your star bonus.
So, even if you don’t yet have the best Hearthstone decks, you should still play the occasional Ranked match to use the star bonus and rank up to regain the star bonus for the next month too! In the new Hearthstone ranking system, you may even find it easier to progress up to higher ranks!
Hearthstone Ranking System Rewards
In the new Hearthstone ranking system, you’ll also get some additional rewards – first-time rewards for reaching ranks and then end-of-season rewards for keeping a certain rank up. These rewards are either entire expansion packs of both Classics and recent expansions or individual rare cards.
These changes are sure to shake up the casual and competitive player scene – right down to esports betting fans that are keen take part in Hearthstone betting. This newest change, the new expansion and the added incentives for players to work their way up are sure to shake things up and draw some more of the best Hearthstone players into the competitive scene.
