Hearthstone is celebrating 10 years of RNG mayhem with free cards for everyone and a new nostalgia-themed expansion

Can you believe Hearthstone turns ten this year? My bank manager can, because over the course of that decade I could have bought a small car rather than a near-complete card collection, but here we are. This week, Blizzard released a slew of announcements about what to expect from what it has dubbed The Year of the Pegasus. (Fun fact: Pegasus was the game's internal codename during early development.) 

Let's run through them:

The celebrations kicked off earlier today with a patch that added 12 brand new cards for everyone, including a legendary. Each of the 11 classes received a «Gift» card, all of which cost 1-Mana and generate a temporary copy of an iconic card from your class. So, for example, the Warrior version is called Garrosh's Gift and it reads: "Discover a temporary Execute, Shield Block, or Brawl". 

What I like about the Gifts is that they essentially function like a mini sideboard, enabling you to run extra copies of single-target removal, board clears, card draw etc. Obviously, you're paying a premium for that flexibility because you have to pay 1-Mana up front and have to use the card you pick on the same turn. But it's a cool concept, and clearly leans on the success of E.T.C., Band Manager from Festival of Legends, which was also a sideboard on a stick.

In keeping with the nostalgic theme, which looks like it'll be prevalent all year, you'll also get a very cool legendary called Harth Stonebrew—who's none other than Hearthstone's own innkeeper, and has been used in marketing materials since launch, but never actually been collectible in-game. 

He costs 6-Mana and comes with a suitably cool effect: "Battlecry: Replace your hand with an iconic one from Hearthstone's past. (Once per game.)"

In practice, what that actually means is that when you play Darth your entire hand—regardless of how many cards you're holding—will be swapped for eight cards from one of the game's most famous decks. Note that what you receive could be from any class. The first time