While most rules in Hearthstone are fairly easy to ascertain, when several effects, each with their own behaviours, are brought into conflict, things can get a little more complicated. The advanced rulebook offers a comprehensive explanation of the game's underlying processes, complete with examples and video references.

For information on the game's basic mechanics, see Gameplay, Minion, Abilities and Character.

If you are looking for a specific bug, see https://github.com/HearthSim/hs-bugs/issues .

For an in-depth reference to Hearthstone's internal program design, see Internal design.

For large changes to the game mechanics in Hearthstone, see Game Mechanics Updates.





Because the advanced rulebook is written to document findings about how Hearthstone works, rather than the other way around, any given patch of Hearthstone may cause the advanced rulebook to have out-of-date information; Blizzard doesn't release a full changelog of bug/mechanic changes with each patch, and changes are often unintended. If you notice that something in the advanced rulebook is incorrect, please record what actually happens (such as by using https://obsproject.com/ ), upload the footage to Youtube and post a link on the talk page. Your contributions are always appreciated!

If you want to discuss advanced mechanics of Hearthstone in real time, join #hearthsim on http://irc.freenode.net/ , where many scientists, bug testers and simulator writers hang out.

Keep in mind while reading this document that no interaction is hard-coded.[1]

Advanced mechanics 101 (READ THIS FIRST) [ edit | edit source ]

Definition: Player Actions are actions a player chooses to take on their turn while nothing is happening, such as attacking, playing a card, using your Hero Power and ending your turn. Definition: A Sequence is what begins when a Player Action is taken. A Sequence consists of one or more Phases, that are resolved in order. Definition: Phases are surrounding blocks created whenever one or more triggers/Events are raised. When the outermost Phase resolves, Hearthstone will run several Steps, including processing Deaths and updating Auras.

Hearthstone splits Turns into Sequences .

. Player Actions (such as Combat, playing a card and ending the turn) form a Sequence of one or more Phases.

Examples

Sending a Character to attack another character creates a Sequence of two Phases - "Preparation" and "Attack".

Whenever a minion is summoned, a Sequence immediately begins with an "On Summon" and ends with an "After Summon" Phase.





Definition: An Event is any change in the game state. For example: Damage Event, Heal Event, Death Event, etc. (Additionally, all Phases have an associated Event(s).) Definition: A Trigger is something that reacts to an Event, i.e. is something that reacts to an Event, i.e. triggered effects Secrets and Deathrattles Definition: Resolving means playing out all related consequences, one at a time.





Rule 1a: A Phase, trigger or Event is only resolved when all of its consequences are resolved. Rule 1b: When resolving simultaneous events, Hearthstone must resolve one event before it begins resolving the next. Rule 1c: Death is not checked during the standard resolution of Events.





Hearthstone would resolve them in. The process of resolving an event is similar to a depth-first search - Imagine every circle being an event and every arrow representing a trigger starting a new event. The numbers on each circle are the orderwould resolve them in.

When multiple events are awaiting resolution, the need to resolve an event before starting the next is a depth-first resolution. (If multiple events could be partially resolved, that would be breadth-first ).

resolution. (If multiple events could be partially resolved, that would be ). The moment a new trigger/Event is raised, Hearthstone begins to resolve it and immediately begins exploring its consequences, before resolving those remaining for the current trigger/Event. When a trigger/Event is resolved , Hearthstone picks up where it left off.

begins to resolve it and immediately begins exploring its consequences, before resolving those remaining for the current trigger/Event. When a trigger/Event is , picks up where it left off. It seems that a trigger cannot be nested inside itself. Instead it works the skipped times as a compensation after all other consequences of it are resolved. See Trigger Re-entrancy Exploration.

If a player concedes in a Swedish style bracket, the result is .5 - .5 in player score.

Examples





Definition: A Queue is a sequential container where multiple simultaneous triggers or Events are held. Rule 2a: When we start to resolve a Phase or Event, A Queue is created and filled with all triggers that can respond, in order of play. Rule 2b: If multiple events are considered simultaneously (such as damage, healing, Deaths or 'return to hand' effects) they are Queued by order of play, then for each, triggers are Queued by order of play (as per Rule 2a). Rule 2c: A Queue becomes immutable once Hearthstone starts to resolve the first entry in it. No new entries can be added to the Queue after this point.

Order of play means the order the Entities each Event/trigger is associated with entered play, from oldest to newest.

means the order the Entities each Event/trigger is associated with entered play, from oldest to newest. Minions, Heroes, Weapons, Secrets, attached Enchantments and added Deathrattles are all Entities, and all exist in the same order of play list together.

list together. Minions and Secrets summoned while resolving an Event cannot respond to Events that are in the middle of resolution, because their associated Queues are now immutable. However, they can Queue on any later Phases and Events created.

an Event cannot respond to Events that are in the middle of resolution, because their associated Queues are now immutable. However, they can Queue on any later Phases and Events created. After Patch 9.2.0.21517 triggers in a Sequence that read 'After ...' can only work if they're valid when the Sequence starts. [9]

After Patch 9.2.0.21517 consequences of Death can only work if their position and controller are valid before Death Creation Step.

Examples:

Notes and exceptions:

Some triggers have a Priority that supersedes order of play and always triggers earlier or later. One example is Redemption which always Queues last.





Rule 3: Once a Phase begins, nested Phases with their own Queues may start and end inside of it, but only the outermost Phase ending initiates the Death Creation Step.





This means that you will NEVER see an Entity be killed in the middle of a Phase, no matter how complexly nested it becomes.

in the middle of a Phase, no matter how complexly nested it becomes. This also means that even though Sequences like summoning a minion have many Phases, if it occurs as a consequence of another Player Action instead of being due to playing a card, the entire thing happens before any Deaths occur.

Examples:

You play Knife Juggler then Dr. Boom. When Dr. Boom's Battlecry (a Phase) begins, Boom Bots are summoned, and each one triggers the Knife Juggler to throw knives at enemy minions. Even though minion summoning is a Sequence of multiple Phases, we are already inside of a Phase, so the entire Battlecry remains inside of one Phase, rather than starting and stopping. Finally when the Battlecry resolves , Deaths are processed and the Deathrattles go off. [11]

, Deaths are processed and the Deathrattles go off. You play three Unstable Ghouls. Your opponent plays an Acolyte of Pain, damages it to 1 Health and casts Flamestrike. All three Unstable Ghouls's Deaths are considered in one Phase, meaning that the Acolyte of Pain is hit, triggered and draws three cards, despite being mortally wounded after the first Deathrattle. Finally the Phase ends and the Acolyte of Pain is killed . [12]

after the first Deathrattle. Finally the Phase ends and the Acolyte of Pain is . Your opponent has a Cult Master and Novice Engineer both at 1 Health. You play a Mad Bomber, and both are reduced to 0 Health during the Battlecry Phase. Regardless of order of play, and regardless of the order the minions are mortally wounded by the bombs, the Cult Master cannot draw a card from the Novice Engineer dying because both deaths occur simultaneously after the Phase ends.[13]

Exceptions:

There are three effects in the game that break this rule and kill minions in the middle of a Phase. For more information, see the Forced Death Phase section.





Rule 4a: After the outermost Phase ends, Hearthstone does an Aura Update (Health/Attack), then does the Death Creation Step (Looks for all mortally wounded (0 or less Health)/pending destroy (hit with a kills them, removing them from play simultaneously), then does an Aura Update (Other). Entities that have been removed from play cannot trigger, be triggered, or emit auras, and do not take up space. After the outermost Phase ends,does an Aura Update (Health/Attack), then does(Looks for all(0 or less Health)/(hit with a destroy effect) Entities andthem, removing them from play simultaneously), then does an Aura Update (Other). Entities that have beencannot trigger, be triggered, or emit auras, and do not take up space. Rule 4b: Besides, whenever a minion is summoned (but not played), Hearthstone updates both kinds of Auras. Rule 4c: Some Auras that are known to update in Aura Update (Other) is as follows: Auchenai Soulpriest, Brann Bronzebeard, Violet Illusionist, Drakkari Enchanter, The Four Horsemen (Hero Power). Some Auras that are known to update in Aura Update (Other) is as follows: Baron Rivendare Mal'Ganis 's Immune effect, Prophet Velen Rule 4d: Enchantments apply and modify Health/Attack/Mana costs the moment they are attached. However, during Aura Update (Health/Attack), the Enchantment List is re-processed and Health/Attack Auras, having a priority later than Health/Attack Enchantments, will be moved to the end of the Enchantment List during this timing. (However, Mana Cost Auras have no special priority compared to Mana Cost Enchantments.)

When a minion is played, its Aura is sent for the first time before the Battlecry Phase. When a minion is stolen, it does not start emitting its aura until the outermost Phase ends, unless a new minion is summoned. [14]

Until the moment it is removed from play , the Entity can be brought back from 0 or less Health by healing or Health buffs, and still shares auras. This is important when multiple minions are attacked simultaneously, or when a hero dies in the same Sequence as minions with Deathrattles.

, the Entity can be brought back from 0 or less Health by healing or Health buffs, and still shares auras. This is important when multiple minions are attacked simultaneously, or when a hero in the same Sequence as minions with Deathrattles. If you kill a minion with an aura and a minion with a Deathrattle simultaneously, non-Health effects of the aura are not active during the following Death Phase because the minion is removed from play . However, Health effects of the aura will be active, because Hearthstone does not recalculate Health changes after the minions are killed, unless a new minion is summoned. [15] [16] [17] However, a health-granting aura such as Mal'Ganis can save a minion from dying, even if it enters play the same Phase the other minion was mortally wounded , because the aura recalculation is done before the Death Creation Step. [18]

a minion with an aura and a minion with a Deathrattle simultaneously, non-Health effects of the aura are not active during the following Death Phase because the minion is . However, Health effects of the aura will be active, because does not recalculate Health changes after the minions are killed, unless a new minion is summoned. However, a health-granting aura such as Mal'Ganis can save a minion from dying, even if it enters play the same Phase the other minion was , because the aura recalculation is done before the Death Creation Step. Auras are not recalculated due to minions leaving play or due to minions being stolen in the middle of a Phase.。 [19]

Brann Bronzebeard, Baron Rivendare and Drakkari Enchanter check before an Event starts. This means if one Battlecry/Deathrattle/End of turn effect summons them, it will not trigger again. But Deathrattles/End of turn effects that follow can benefit, for Aura (Other) is updated when you summon them.

Some auras in the game have a higher Priority than others. This means that order of play does not matter if one aura's Priority is simply higher. For example, Summoning Portal's aura always comes first (meaning also having a Mechwarper makes Harvest Golems cost 0 mana, regardless of play order) and Lightspawn's and 'Tar' minions' auras always come last.

Despite not visually updating, enchantments take effect the moment they are created.[20]

Examples:









Rule 5: While characters cannot be killed in the middle of a Phase, 'negative' (damaging/destroying/hindering/misdirecting) triggers ignore mortally wounded and pending destroy characters. Also, abort if their specific target is mortally wounded, pending destroy or they otherwise cannot meaningfully trigger. However, 'beneficial' (healing/buffing) triggers count mortally wounded, and AoE effects count mortally wounded. While characters cannot bein the middle of a Phase, 'negative' (damaging/destroying/hindering/misdirecting) triggers ignoreandcharacters. Also, Secrets if their specific target isor they otherwise cannot meaningfully trigger. However, 'beneficial' (healing/buffing) triggers count, and AoE effects count Rule 5b: For the purposes of 'if it survives'/'if that kills it' effects, mortally wounded and pending destroy Characters are considered to not have survived/to have been killed, even though they are (for now) still in play. If the target is in the Graveyard, it is also considered to have been killed.





Examples:





Rule 6: Subsequent Phases of a Sequence will not run if a subject is required but is no longer in play. However, this is the only requirement - If the target of the action has some requirements beyond that, the requirements are not re-checked.





The subject of casting a spell doesn't exist - so Counterspell only stops Overload and Spell Text Phase.

The subject of playing a minion is the minion itself.

The subjects of combat are the attacker and defender.

Examples:

Exceptions:

If you cast a targeting spell, but the spell's target is removed from play before the spell text begins, it still goes off anyway (this matters, for example, with spells like Drain Life that have side-effects).

before the spell text begins, it still goes off anyway (this matters, for example, with spells like Drain Life that have side-effects). Cards which target 'if you're Holding a Dragon' (Rend Blackhand, Blackwing Corruptor, and Book Wyrm) check their requirements a second time during the Battlecry Phase, and will fail to have effect if their owner lacks a Dragon at this point, even if they were given a target.[41]





Rule 7: If one or more Deaths happened after the outermost Phase ended, a new Phase (called a “Death Phase”) begins, where Deaths are Queued in order of play. For each Death, all Death Event triggers (resolved in order of play. When this is complete, the Death has been resolved. If one or more Deaths happened after the outermost Phase ended, a new Phase (called a “Death Phase”) begins, where Deaths are Queued in. For each Death, all Death Event triggers ( Deathrattles , on-Death Secrets and on-Death triggered effects ) are Queued andin. When this is complete, the Death has been

After Patch 9.2.0.21517 consequences of Death can only work if their position and controller are valid before Death Creation Step.

Besides Redemption, which has a special Priority that makes it always queue last, all triggers follow order of play exactly, however mingled that makes them get.[42][43]

Examples:

You have a Duplicate put into play, a Sludge Belcher injured to 4 Health and Dark Cultist, played in that order. Your opponent casts Flamestrike. In the Death Phase that follows, we consider first the Sludge Belcher's Death, queuing Duplicate then its Deathrattle. They go off in order, giving you two Sludge Belcher cards then summoning a Slime. Now we consider the Dark Cultist's Death, queuing its Deathrattle. It triggers, buffing the Slime to 1/5. If the minions were played the other way around, the buff would have no target at time of activation and the Slime would remain at 1/2 (and you would be given two Dark Cultist cards instead).

You play a Mad Scientist then a Bloodfen Raptor. Your opponent casts Flamestrike. In the Death Phase that follows, we consider first the Mad Scientist's Death, queuing its Deathrattle. It goes off and puts into play a Duplicate. Now we consider the Bloodfen Raptor's Death. Since Duplicate is not present in Death Creation Step, it remains hidden.





Rule 8: A Death Phase can have yet another Death Phase after it. This process repeats forever until no new Deaths occur, and we can finally move on to the next intended Phase in the Sequence.



Examples:

You have an Explosive Sheep and an Abomination. Your opponent casts Consecration. This creates a Death Phase to resolve the Death of the Explosive Sheep. Its Deathrattle triggered, after that Death Phase ends, the Abomination is dead and a second Death Phase is created to resolve its Death.

Exceptions:

There are four effects in the game that break this rule and kill minions in the middle of a Phase. Since it's in the middle of a Phase, when this “Forced Death Phase” ends, a new Death Phase can't be made to resolve new Deaths, and they remain unresolved for now. For more information, see the Forced Death Phase section.





Rule 9: Finally when the Sequence ends and the player gets control again, Hearthstone checks if the game has ended in a Win, Loss or Draw.

This means that if one Hero dies, the game does not immediately end - further triggers in the current Sequence may lead to the other Hero also dying.

Examples:

The enemy hero is at 1 Health and you aim an Elven Archer's Battlecry at them. This kills them, but later your allied Knife Juggler still triggers. This can cause the game to instead tie, for example if the knife kills an Abomination which kills your hero.

Exception: Hearthstone decides the game as a win/loss/draw between the Preparation Phase and Combat Phase of attacking with a character. This is the only known exception.

You are at 2 Health and you attack with a Snowchugger into Explosive Trap. Preparing to attack is a Phase, containing the triggering of the Explosive Trap. During the Death Creation step following the Phase, your hero is killed (a Death Phase is made to resolve the Death of your hero, but there are no Death Event triggers so nothing happens). After that, Hearthstone checks if the game is over, and declares a Loss for you. (Note that the Snowchugger never finished its attack!)





Rule 10: Minions and effects have no memory of earlier board state. The moment an event takes place the board state is updated. Whenever a Queue is populated or an effect resolved (or continued), the most up to date board state is used.

One consequence of Rule 10 is that minions only know who their current controller is - they have no memory of their original controller. In MtG terms, this means owner = controller.

This also applies to effects that trigger or end at a specific player's start or end of turn. If they are stolen, then they forget their previous owner, and use the timing of their new owner.

The exception is Blessing of Wisdom, which draws cards for its caster no matter how many times it is stolen. (However, its CONTROLLER tag is still changing values, like any other stolen enchantment attached to a stolen entity.)[44] Shadow Madness also remembers which side it 'should go back to' even if stolen by Sylvanas Windrunner in the mean time.[45]

Examples:





Rule 10b: Triggered effects with a condition check their condition at these timings: Pre-check timing, Queuing and Triggering.

Only triggers in After Play Phase and Death Phase apply a pre-check - see Rule 2.

Targeting effects with a condition (like targeting Battlecries and Spells) work differently - see Rule 6.

Examples:

Death Phases and consequences of Death [ edit | edit source ]

(This section has a video accompaniment! Check out the 20 minute long video [Hearthstone Science] When Do Minions Die? here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3d_qlm4Xws )



Let's recap the Rules that are relevant to Death and processing it:





Rule 3: Once a Phase begins, nested Phases with their own Queues may start and end inside of it, but only the outermost Phase ending begins the Death Creation Step.





Rule 4a: After the outermost Phase ends, Hearthstone does an Aura Update (Health/Attack), then does the Death Creation Step (Looks for all mortally wounded (0 or less Health)/pending destroy (hit with a kills them, removing them from play simultaneously), then does an Aura Update (Other). Entities that have been removed from play cannot trigger, be triggered, or emit auras, and do not take up space. After the outermost Phase ends,does an Aura Update (Health/Attack), then does(Looks for all(0 or less Health)/(hit with a destroy effect) Entities andthem, removing them from play simultaneously), then does an Aura Update (Other). Entities that have beencannot trigger, be triggered, or emit auras, and do not take up space. Rule 4b: Besides, whenever a minion is summoned (but not played), Hearthstone updates both kinds of Auras. Rule 4c: Some Auras that are known to update in Aura Update (Other) is as follows: Auchenai Soulpriest, Brann Bronzebeard, Violet Illusionist, Drakkari Enchanter, The Four Horsemen (Hero Power). Some Auras that are known to update in Aura Update (Other) is as follows: Baron Rivendare Mal'Ganis 's Immune effect, Prophet Velen Rule 4d: Enchantments apply and modify Health/Attack/Mana costs the moment they are attached. However, during Aura Update (Health/Attack), the Enchantment List is re-processed and Health/Attack Auras, having a priority later than Health/Attack Enchantments, will be moved to the end of the Enchantment List during this timing. (However, Mana Cost Auras have no special priority compared to Mana Cost Enchantments.)





Rule 7: If one or more Deaths happened after the outermost Phase ended, a new Phase (called a “Death Phase”) begins, where Deaths are Queued in order of play. For each Death, all Death Event triggers (resolved in order of play, then the Death is resolved. If one or more Deaths happened after the outermost Phase ended, a new Phase (called a “Death Phase”) begins, where Deaths are Queued in. For each Death, all Death Event triggers ( Deathrattles , on-Death Secrets and on-Death triggered effects ) are Queued andin, then the Death is





Rule 8: A Death Phase can have yet another Death Phase after it. This process repeats forever until no new Deaths occur, and we can finally move on to the next intended Phase in the Sequence.



Notes:

An on-Death triggered effect triggers for a Death so long as its bearer is not dead yet and thus still in play . (Don't forget that mortally wounded and pending destroy are ONLY converted into dead once the outermost Phase ends!)

yet and thus still . (Don't forget that and are ONLY converted into once the outermost Phase ends!) An on-Death Secret triggers for a Death so long as it existed at pre-check timing AND its queuing conditions were satisfied (in the case of Avenge for example) at the time the Queue was created.

Exceptions:

Redemption has a Priority that means it always queues last, regardless of order of play. (It still queues with the first Death it can.) This prevents the minion's Deathrattle from affecting the newly revived copy, such as if it was an Explosive Sheep.[56]

Examples:

Your opponent plays a Deathlord. You damage it to a 2/2 then play a Bloodfen Raptor and Avenge. Your opponent trades the Deathlord into your Bloodfen Raptor, killing both. In the following Death Phase, the Deaths are considered in order - first the Deathlord (putting into play for you a River Crocolisk and finally the Bloodfen Raptor (triggering the Avenge, as at the moment of the queuing you have an alive minion for its target). If the Deathlord was second in order of play, not first, the Avenge would not go off as it would not have a valid target, THEN you would get a new minion. [57]

you have an alive minion for its target). If the Deathlord was second in order of play, not first, the Avenge would not go off as it would not have a valid target, THEN you would get a new minion. You play Ancestral Spirit on an Explosive Sheep and your opponent pings it. Because the Ancestral Spirit entered play second, in the following Death Phase, the 2 damage Deathrattle occurs THEN a new Explosive Sheep is summoned.

You play a Piloted Shredder and Explosive Sheep. Your opponent plays Flamestrike. In the following Death Phase the Deaths are considered in order - first the Piloted Shredder (summoning a new Explosive Sheep) then the Explosive Sheep ( mortally wounding the new Explosive Sheep). There are new Deaths, so once again a Death Phase is queued, where the new Explosive Sheep's Deathrattle resolves and also deals 2 damages to minions. If in this scenario your Explosive Sheep was played first, the newly summoned minion from Piloted Shredder would be undamaged.

the new Explosive Sheep). There are new Deaths, so once again a Death Phase is queued, where the new Explosive Sheep's Deathrattle resolves and also deals 2 damages to minions. If in this scenario your Explosive Sheep was played first, the newly summoned minion from Piloted Shredder would be undamaged. You play an Explosive Sheep and a Cult Master. Your opponent pings the Explosive Sheep. In the following Death Phase the Explosive Sheep's Death is considered, and its Death Event triggers are queued in order - first the Explosive Sheep's Deathrattle, which mortally wounds the Cult Master, then the Cult Master's on-Death trigger, which draws a card. Finally, a new Death Phase begins where the Cult Master is killed and its Death Event triggers resolved. If Death happened instantaneously, the Cult Master would not have drawn once, but since it is delayed, he remained alive for the Phase's duration.

the Cult Master, then the Cult Master's on-Death trigger, which draws a card. Finally, a new Death Phase begins where the Cult Master is and its Death Event triggers resolved. If Death happened instantaneously, the Cult Master would not have drawn once, but since it is delayed, he remained alive for the Phase's duration. You play a Cult Master and Bloodfen Raptor in that order and have Redemption in play. Your opponent plays Flamestrike. A Death Phase begins where we consider first the Death of the Cult Master, triggering Redemption and summoning a new Cult Master, then the Death of the Bloodfen Raptor, where the newly summoned Cult Master cannot trigger.

You play Feugen and Stalagg and weaken both to 4 or less Health. Your opponent casts Flamestrike, mortally wounding both during the Spell Text Phase. After that Phase ends, during the Death Creation Step, both minions are Killed and removed from play. In the subsequent Death Phase, we consider the Deaths in order - but since both Deaths already happened, you get two copies of Thaddius, not one.[58]

Player Action Sequences [ edit | edit source ]

Start and end of turn [ edit | edit source ]

Now that we know the 10 Rules, we can very simply describe what happens between turns:

Notes:

Enchantments that trigger at the start or end of turn Queue in order of play alongside typical triggers. Enchantments that simply end without any side-effects end 'between turns' instead.

in alongside typical triggers. Enchantments that simply end without any side-effects end 'between turns' instead. Echoing Ooze works by making an end-of-turn triggered effect on itself that can be doubled by Brann Bronzebeard. (Faceless Manipulator and Mirror Entity can copy this.)

Shadow Madness works by timing its enchantment to end in order of play, so it can occur before and after end-of-turn triggers.

Examples:

Playing a spell [ edit | edit source ]

When you play a spell, the following Sequence takes place:

Notes:

Examples:

Playing a weapon [ edit | edit source ]

When you play a weapon, the following Sequence takes place:

The card is removed from your hand and its Mana cost is paid. The card enters Play as a weapon. If it targets, the target is remembered. On Play Phase: All triggers on playing a card Queue and resolve here, such as Questing Adventurer, Fel Reaver and Illidan Stormrage. Equipping Phase: The Battlecry of your new weapon (if any) is resolved. Then Buccaneer triggers. Finally your old weapon is destroyed and removed from play. The Deathrattle of your old weapon (if any) and Grave Shambler are resolved in the order of play. After Play Phase: Voidform's refreshing effect resolve here. Hearthstone checks for win/loss/draw.

Notes:

Your old weapon isn't removed immediately your new weapon enters play, and you are regarded as equipping two weapon simultaneously during this time. Both weapons' effects can trigger even if they are of the same name.

Your new weapon's Battlecry can be affected by your old weapon.

Before Patch 9.0.0.20457 there is no concept of pending destroy coded for Weapons. This means that the spells Sabotage and Blade Flurry and the Battlecries of Acidic Swamp Ooze and Harrison Jones, and even the very basic action of equipping a weapon over a weapon must forcefully move the weapon to the Graveyard, rather than letting it naturally happen at the end of the Phase in order of play with any other Deaths caused.

Examples:

Playing a Hero card [ edit | edit source ]

When you play a Hero card, the following Sequence takes place:

The card is removed from your hand and its Mana cost is paid. On Play Phase: All triggers on playing a card Queue and resolve here, such as Questing Adventurer, Fel Reaver and Illidan Stormrage. Battlecry Phase: First your hero is replaced by a Hero with the same current Health and maximum Health and gain Armor displayed on the card. Then replace your Hero Power with Hero’s Hero Power. Finally the Battlecry/Choose One is resolved. Hearthstone checks for win/loss/draw.

Whenever you replace your hero with another Hero, in general, everything that is an attribute of or an enchantment on your previous hero is gone, and the following things happen:

You are unfrozen. [102]

All temporary enchantments are NOT destroyed (such as temporary Attack or Shadowblade's temporary Immune enchantment).

If the replacement hero does not have a new weapon, you keep your weapon. Else a new weapon is automatically equipped, destroying any previous weapon.

Your weapon swing is not refreshed. [103]

Your Hero Power is replaced with the Hero card’s associated Hero Power, and is immediately usable.

Your hero becomes the class of the Hero card.

Playing/summoning a minion [ edit | edit source ]

When you Play a minion, the following Sequence takes place, which ends early if the minion leaves play (such as due to death):

If a minion is merely summoned rather than played, it is inside of a larger Phase, so we are currently not processing Deaths or checking for win/loss/draw. The Sequence is now far simpler:

The card is generated (or moved from your hand/deck if due to a Force Play mechanic) and enters Play, creating a Summon Event and becoming interactible. After Summon Phase

Notes:

Examples:

Minions removed from play during summoning [ edit | edit source ]

A few effects can cause minions to be removed from play after a minion enters play but before its summoning completes, usually by mortally wounding them.

If the minion being played or the target of its Battlecry is removed, the Battlecry is not canceled, but uses the minion's new position and attributes in the Graveyard instead of its old in play status. Note that when minions are placed in the Graveyard, they are restored to default attributes, including their original maximum Health.

If the minion being played is removed from play before the After Play Phase, as of Patch 7.1, no Secrets will trigger on the played minion.[147]

Examples:

Note: Illidan Stormrage is currently the only card that adds or removes minions from the board in between a minion's being played and its Battlecry, so it is used in conjunction with Knife Jugglers and minions that react to damage or death (e.g. Explosive Sheep and Abomination) to accomplish minion removal in most examples.

If a Twilight Drake becomes mortally wounded before the Battlecry Phase, it is removed from play before the Battlecry Phase can save it from dying (and most triggers in the summoning sequence will not work). [148]

before the Battlecry Phase, it is before the Battlecry Phase can save it from dying (and most triggers in the summoning sequence will not work). Faceless Manipulator and Druid of the Claw will still transform even if they are removed from play by the Illidan combo. (Before Patch 7.1, Mirror Entity would copy the post-transformed state from the Graveyard. [149] ) However, if the post-transformed minion has a Deathrattle, it will not trigger, because the minion already died before the transformation happened. [150]

by the Illidan combo. (Before Patch 7.1, Mirror Entity would copy the post-transformed state from the Graveyard. ) However, if the post-transformed minion has a Deathrattle, it will not trigger, because the minion already died before the transformation happened. If an Ironbeak Owl is removed from play before the Battlecry Phase, the silence still goes off on its target. [151]

before the Battlecry Phase, the silence still goes off on its target. If Vol'jin targets a minion that is removed from play before the Battlecry Phase, the Health swap still goes off - and since minions moved to the Graveyard are reset to default attributes, Vol'jin gets full, undamaged Health instead of 0 Health. [152] Conversely, if Vol'jin is removed from play before the Battlecry Phase, the target has its Health swapped with 2. [153]

before the Battlecry Phase, the Health swap still goes off - and since minions moved to the Graveyard are reset to default attributes, Vol'jin gets full, undamaged Health instead of 0 Health. Conversely, if Vol'jin is before the Battlecry Phase, the target has its Health swapped with 2. If a Defender of Argus is removed from play before the Battlecry Phase, it does not Taunt adjacent minions because the Battlecry triggered in the Graveyard. [154]

before the Battlecry Phase, it does not Taunt adjacent minions because the Battlecry triggered in the Graveyard. If a C'Thun is removed from play before the Battlecry Phase, it will shoot 6 missiles, since his default state will be that of a 6/6 in the Graveyard.[155]

Sequence of self-transform minions and Potion of Polymorph [ edit | edit source ]

If the minion you play transforms through battlecry (such as Faceless Manipulator or Druid of the Claw), its Battlecry Phase and After Play Phase will be different from normal minions:

Battlecry Phase: First transform the original minion, then an After Play & After Summon Phase is inserted for the post-transform minion called Inserted Phase. After Play Phase: After Play triggers for the pre-transform minion are resolved.

Inserted Phase also starts for the Sheep when the minion you played is transformed by Potion of Polymorph in After Play & After Summon Phase or Inserted Phase.

Notes:

Examples:

When you order a minion to attack another minion, the following Sequence takes place: (As with other Sequences, if the attacker or defender leaves play for any reason, the current Phase will finish resolving but the Sequence will end early afterwards.)

If you have Gladiator's Longbow or Candleshot at the start of Combat Sequence, you are Immune in the whole Sequence.[156][157] Combat Preparation Phase: A Proposed Attack Event is resolved. If the defender changes, another Proposed Attack Event is created and placed in this Phase's Event Queue after the current Proposed Attack Event. (It will begin to resolve when the current Proposed Attack Event finishes resolving.) Finally, an Attack Event is resolved. Additionally, the attacker will lose Stealth.[158][159] Hearthstone checks for win/loss/draw.[160] Combat Phase: Damage is dealt simultaneously in the order (attack, counterattack) and resolved. The attacker's weapon loses durability (unless prevented due to the weapon being Immune). An After Attack Event is resolved even if 0 damage was dealt to the defender. Note that after Patch 9.2.0.21517 after attack triggers can only work if they're valid when the Sequence starts. Hearthstone checks for win/loss/draw.

The subjects of Combat are the attacker and defender. Even if the attacker or defender (or both) is mortally wounded or leaves play, triggers that ask what the current attacker/defender is will continue to be able to queue and resolve (assuming their other conditions are satisfied.)

Proposed Attack Event [ edit | edit source ]

Triggers on the Proposed Attack Event include those that can change the defender, cause the attacker to become mortally wounded or leave play, and so on.

At the start of resolving a Proposed Attack Event, triggers queue based on the defender at that moment, and will remain in the queue even if the defender changes.

When the defender changes, a new Proposed Attack Event is inserted into the Combat Preparation Phase's Event Queue after the currently resolving one. (It will therefore resolve once the current Proposed Attack Event finishes resolving, and therefore use the defender at that point in time.)

(As a reminder: Queuing conditions are only required to be true when the Event they trigger on starts to resolve, whereas trigger conditions are only required to be true when the trigger resolves.)

A full list is as follows:

Attack Event [ edit | edit source ]

Triggers on the Attack Event include those that need to occur only once the final defender is known, or those that do not significantly affect the game state. The Attack Event is only resolved if the previous Proposed Attack Event did not change the defender. A full list is as follows:

Truesilver Champion has a condition of 'attacker is your hero'. [182] [183] [184]

Gorehowl has a condition of 'attacker is your hero and defender is a minion'. It attaches an Enchantment called "Bloodrage" to Gorehowl, which makes Gorehowl Immune and triggers on the After Attack Event. [185] [186]

Cutpurse has a condition of 'attacker is this minion and defender is a hero'. It implicitly requires the Cutpurse to still be in play. [187]

Power Word: Glory has a condition of 'attacker is this minion'. It implicitly requires the attacker to still be in play, as it gets detached when the attacker leaves play. [188]

Blessing of Wisdom has a condition of 'attacker is this minion'. It implicitly requires the attacker to still be in play, as it gets detached when the attacker leaves play.[189][190][191]

After Attack Event [ edit | edit source ]

An After Attack Event is resolved as long as the attack was successful, even if it dealt 0 damage.

(Note that unlike other triggers that go 'after' something, such as Rumbling Elemental and Djinni of Zephyrs, the After Attack Event is resolved in the same Phase, not a later Phase, as the combat damage, meaning death processing is not done in-between.)

Triggers on the After Attack Event are as follows:

Gorehowl has a condition of 'attacker is your hero and defender is a minion' and attaches to itself an Enchantment granting -1 Attack.

Gorehowl's Enchantment "Bloodrage" has a condition of 'attacker is your hero' and triggers to detach, ending Gorehowl's temporary Immune state. [192]

Bear Trap has a condition of 'defender is your hero and board is not full'. [193] [194]

Foe Reaper 4000/Magnataur Alpha has a condition of 'attacker is this minion'.[195]

Proposed Attack Events/Attack Events



Death processing

As with all other Sequences in Hearthstone, death processing is not done in the middle of a Phase, but is done between Phases, and Death Phases inserted to resolve triggers on Death Events until no new deaths occur.

Examples:

It is commonly said that Truesilver Champion heals you before Explosive Trap, and that's why you stay alive. This is not true - you actually stay alive because your hero cannot die in the middle of a Phase (which the Preparation Phase is), and that is also why the order of play does not matter.[201][202] (Similar interactions, such as Floating Watcher vs Explosive Trap, work the same way.)[203]



Auras

As with all other Sequences, Auras added or removed after the Combat Preparation Phase will affect the outcome of the Combat Phase, such as changing Attack values[204] or adding/removing Immune status.[205]



Ending the Game

Normally, Sequences wait to be fully resolved before checking for win/loss/draw. However, the Combat sequence additionally checks just before the Combat Phase would begin. This can cause what 'should be a draw' to be a loss instead, usually due to Explosive Trap.

The visual result is that the attacking character remains suspended in mid-air as the game ends.

A combat started by Swamp King Dred's effect also has Combat Preparation Phase, but no Death Creation Step or check for win/loss/draw run after it.[206]

Examples:

If you are at 2 Health and your opponent at 2 Health and attack with Stormwind Knight into Explosive Trap, the Explosive Trap triggers, and Hearthstone checks for win/loss/draw. The Stormwind Knight's attack never finishes, and you lose. [207]

checks for win/loss/draw. The Stormwind Knight's attack never finishes, and you lose. If you have an Auchenai Soulpriest on the field, are at 4 Health and attack with a minion which you previously cast Power Word: Glory on, the Power Word Glory triggers in the Combat Preparation Phase, mortally wounding your Hero. Win/loss/draw is checked before the Combat Phase, and you lose the game, even if the attack finishing would have caused a draw. [208]

If you are at 2 Health and your opponent at 2 Health and attack with Stormwind Knight into Explosive Trap and Freezing Trap (played in that order), the Explosive Trap triggers, mortally wounding your hero, then the Freezing Trap triggers, sending the Stormwind Knight back into your hand, then Hearthstone checks for win/loss/draw, and you lose. [209] (You of course still lose if the order is the other way around, as Explosive Trap will trigger anyway.)

checks for win/loss/draw, and you lose. (You of course still lose if the order is the other way around, as Explosive Trap will trigger anyway.) As usual, Hearthstone checks (again) for win/loss/draw when the Sequence is fully resolved. For example: You have a Knife Juggler and Bear Trap in play and your opponent's Health is 1. Your opponent attacks your Hero with a minion, reducing you to 0 or less Health, but before the game ends, your Bear Trap triggers, triggering the Knife Juggler to reduce your opponent's Health to 0. Then, the game ends in a draw[210]



Ordering of damage in the Combat Phase

Because the weapon losing durability and the damage are in the same Phase, weapons with Deathrattles such as Death's Bite have their Deaths Events considered in order of play with the minion that died, in the following Death Phase. [211]

If both minions trigger when they take damage (such as a Grim Patron and an Imp Gang Boss), the defender ALWAYS triggers first, regardless of order of play. [212] [213] Keep in mind that Grim Patron has a trigger condition of 'not mortally wounded', so even if it survived the initial damaged, follow-up damage may prevent Grim Patron from triggering.

Keep in mind that Grim Patron has a trigger condition of 'not mortally wounded', so even if it survived the initial damaged, follow-up damage may prevent Grim Patron from triggering. If both minions trigger when they deal damage (such as Queen of Pain and Poison), the attacker ALWAYS triggers first, regardless of order of play.

Examples:

You play a Grim Patron. Your opponent has a Knife Juggler and plays an Imp Gang Boss (the knife hits face). On your turn, your Grim Patron attacks their Imp Gang Boss. The simultaneous damage triggers are queued in the order [Imp Gang Boss, Grim Patron] because the defender queues first. An Imp is summoned, triggering the allied Knife Juggler to throw a knife and mortally wound your Grim Patron. Now your Grim Patron would trigger, but it is mortally wounded, so the trigger condition fails and you do not get a new Grim Patron. [214]

You attack with a 4/1 Death's Bite into a 3/4 Sludge Belcher, mortally wounding both the weapon and the minion. Whether the Slime appears first (and thus becomes a 1/1) or second (and thus stays a 1/2) depends on whether the minion or weapon entered play first.



Unusual attackers/defenders

Besides the attacker or defender leaving play, there are no other known conditions that will cause the Combat Phase to be skipped - for example, the defender becoming an ally, the attacker becoming an enemy, the attacking character becoming 0 Attack and the attacking weapon being replaced with a new weapon all allow Combat Phase to proceed.

Examples:



Cancelling combat

If the attack is cancelled (after 0-1 Death Phases), the attacker has not used one of their attacks for this turn and can immediately attack again.

However, if combat is cancelled because the defender dies after 2 or more Death Phases, such as Noble Sacrifice triggering Knife Juggler mortally wounding a Boom Bot, which in the subsequent Death Phase mortally wounds the defender, which THEN dies, then the attack is cancelled AND the attacker cannot attack again this turn. We can tell this is a bug, because the minion also remains visually in the wrong place on the board.[224]



Other

Before Patch 8.2.0.19506， due to the way Gorehowl is coded, if you propose to attack a minion, but the attack is cancelled due to the defender dying (an easy way is to be Misdirection redirected onto a minion, then the minion is mortally wounded by Explosive Trap), Gorehowl will continue to have "Bloodrage" attached and continue to be Immune. Enemy Bloodsail Corsairs will not deal damage (since Immune prevents damage), but it can still be destroyed. In addition, if you perform an attack with this Gorehowl on the enemy Hero, it will not lose Durability OR Attack, but will lose "Bloodrage" and thus its Immune state. [225] [226] Now "Bloodrage" will be removed if the battle is canceled. [227]

Now "Bloodrage" will be removed if the battle is canceled. Sometimes Combat is still cancelled when both attacker and defender are alive. For example, you attack with your 6/2 self buffed Floating Watcher into enemy Explosive Trap. Watcher cannot finish the attack but is still alive as a 8/2, and it cannot attack again. If it is an unbuffed 4/2 previously, it attacks successfully. [228]

Before Patch 5.2.0.13714 (2016-07-14), Ice Barrier was an Attack Event trigger rather than a Proposed Attack Event trigger.[229][230][231]

Using your Hero Power [ edit | edit source ]

Related Video for this section: [Hearthstone Science] TGT Science #01: Inspire and Advanced Mechanics

The Hero Power Sequence is as follows:

Hero Power Phase: Your Hero Power takes effect then is exhausted. (The "number of times you have used your Hero Power this turn" and "number of times you have used your Hero Power this game" counters are increased by 1.)

Your Hero Power takes effect then is exhausted. Inspire Phase: Inspire triggers, Poisoned Blade, Dart Trap and Ice Walker [232] Queue and Resolve here. Note that after Patch 9.2.0.21517 these triggers can only work if they're valid when the Sequence starts.

Inspire triggers, Poisoned Blade, Dart Trap and Ice Walker Queue and Resolve here. Note that after Patch 9.2.0.21517 these triggers can only work if they're valid when the Sequence starts. Hearthstone checks for win/loss/draw.

Notes

Inspire also belongs to 'After ...' effects. After Patch9.2.0.21517 it can only work if it's valid at an earlier timing.

Ice Walker still triggers even the target is not present, including dying, being removed out by Transmute Spirit and being returned to hand by Coliseum Manager. Moorabi can get a copy of it. Multiple Ice Walker can trigger Moorabi multiple times.[233]

Examples:

You use your Hero Power to kill an enemy Deathlord, putting into play for you an Inspire minion. Its Inspire effect cannot work.

If your Hero dies as a result of your Hero Power or deaths caused by it, a friendly Tournament Medic will not be able to heal you because of the Death Creation Step between Phases. However, if you play a Spawn of Shadows and a Tournament Medic in that order, the Spawn of Shadows can mortally wound you, then the Tournament Medic can heal you back to positive Health, because the two triggers are in the same Phase.

you, then the Tournament Medic can heal you back to positive Health, because the two triggers are in the same Phase. If you use your Hero Power to kill the enemy Hero, then a Spawn of Shadows triggers in the Inspire Phase and reduces you to 0 Health, then the game ends in a tie instead of a win, because Hearthstone checks for win/loss/draw only at the end of the Sequence.

checks for win/loss/draw only at the end of the Sequence. If you play Brave Archer, Recruiter and a second Brave Archer, then use your Hero Power with an empty hand, the first Brave Archer triggers, then the Recruiter triggers, then the second Brave Archer does not trigger, because it checks its condition when triggering and decides not to trigger.

If you use your Hero Power to kill an enemy Mal'Ganis, then a Spawn of Shadows triggers in the Inspire Phase, the enemy Hero will take 4 damage because Aura Update (Other) runs between Phases.

Refreshing your Hero Power [ edit | edit source ]

TODO: Re-test Garrison Commander entering play and being bounced/stolen immediately (using Deathlord + Anub'ar Ambusher/Sylvanas Windrunner) to 100% confirm it's Aura Update (Health/Attack) timing.

Your Hero Power is refreshed (and thus made usable again) at the following timings:

At the beginning of your turn, when the "number of times you have used your Hero Power this turn" counter is reset too;

When you replace your Hero Power with a new one (casting spells like Shadowform [234] , or replacing your hero using Lord Jaraxxus or Majordomo Executus), even if it's with the exact same one; [235] (Replacing your Hero Power also resets the "number of times you have used your Hero Power this turn" counter.)

, or replacing your hero using Lord Jaraxxus or Majordomo Executus), even if it's with the exact same one; At Aura Update (Health/Attack) timing, if you control a Coldarra Drake;

At Aura Update (Health/Attack) timing, if you control a Garrison Commander and the "number of times you have used your Hero Power this turn" counter is 1;

When you cast a spell to activate Auctionmaster Beardo;

When you play a card to activate Voidform;

When you activate the battlecry of Blackwald Pixie.

Notes:

As of Patch 5.0.0.12574 (WotOG patch), Coldarra Drake and Garrison Commander refresh your Hero Power at Aura Update (Health/Attack) timing as long as you control them, regardless of how you began to control them (including stealing them and transforming into them). [236] They do not unrefresh your Hero Power if they leave your control (such as due to death).

They do not unrefresh your Hero Power if they leave your control (such as due to death). Coldarra Drake and Garrison Commander used to be a combination of a Summon Resolution Step trigger (for when they were initally played, summoned or transformed into by a Battlecry) and an Inspire trigger (for after you use your Hero Power thereafter). This caused some bugs, such as Mind Controlling a Garrison Commander not refreshing your Hero Power.[237]

Examples:

You use your Hero Power once then Mind Control a Garrison Commander. Your Hero Power is refreshed.

You use your Hero Power once then Faceless Manipulator an enemy Garrison Commander. Your Hero Power is refreshed.

You use your Hero Power to kill your Garrison Commander. Your Hero Power is refreshed, then the minion dies.

Since when you replace your Hero Power the "number of times you have used your Hero Power this turn" counter is reset to 0, Garrison Commander will allow you 2 more uses of your new Hero Power that turn.[238]

Other mechanics [ edit | edit source ]

Replacing your hero [ edit | edit source ]

Whenever you replace your hero with a new one, in general, everything that is an attribute of or an enchantment on your previous hero is gone, and the following things happen:

Damage and Armor are reset to 0. [239]

You are unfrozen. [240]

All temporary enchantments are destroyed (such as Ice Block's temporary Immune enchantment). [241]

If the replacement hero is Ragnaros, you keep your weapon. If it is Lord Jaraxxus, a new weapon is automatically equipped, destroying any previous weapon.

Your weapon swing is not refreshed. [242]

Your Hero Power is replaced with the replacement hero's, and is immediately usable again.

Your hero becomes the type of whatever replaced it. For example, if your hero is Lord Jaraxxus, you are targetable as a Demon.

Your hero becomes the class of whatever replaced it for the purposes of Nefarian, Discover, Burgle etc. (Lord Jaraxxus the Hero is Warlock. Ragnaros is Neutral and each such effect has a fallback. For example, Nefarian gives two Tail Swipes and Burgle gives two coins.[243])

Losing the game [ edit | edit source ]

If/when Hearthstone runs the Death Creation Step, your current Hero is mortally wounded or pending destroy, the next time Hearthstone checks for win/loss/death you will lose the game. (Technical details: When an in-play Hero dies, the PLAYSTATE tag on the corresponding Player Entity is set to LOSING.) You still lose the game even if your Hero is later replaced.

Note that if your Hero is replaced in the same phase that it is mortally wounded, this means you do not lose the game (for a similar reason why Truesilver Champion + Explosive Trap lets you avoid losing the game). Currently Majordomo Executus's Deathrattle is the only way to accomplish this:

For example, you are at 2 Health and have a 4/1 Abomination and 9/1 Majordomo Executus played in that order, and your enemy plays Arcane Explosion. Both your minions die, and a Death Phase queues both their Deathrattles - the Abomination's, which mortally wounds you, and Majordomo Executus's, which replaces your hero with Ragnaros. At the end of the Death Phase, Hearthstone checks for additional deaths, and since your hero is not mortally wounded at this point, you do not lose the game.

you, and Majordomo Executus's, which replaces your hero with Ragnaros. At the end of the Death Phase, checks for additional deaths, and since your hero is not at this point, you do not lose the game. Consider instead, you are at 2 Health and have a 9/2 Majordomo Executus when your enemy plays Hellfire, mortally wounding you in the Spell Text Phase. That phase ends, and Hearthstone checks for deaths, discovering both you and Majordomo Executus are dead, so a Death Phase begins. The Deathrattle will replace you with Ragnaros, but it is too late, since Hearthstone already considers you dead. Once the Death Phase is over, the game ends in your loss.[244]

Also note that killing a Hero that is no longer in-play does not result in the game ending:

For example, if you cast Sacrificial Pact on the enemy Lord Jaraxxus hero, but Violet Teacher plus Knife Juggler kills an enemy Majordomo Executus, replacing the enemy hero with Ragnaros before the Spell Text Phase begins, Sacrificial Pact will target and destroy Lord Jaraxxus the Hero in the Setaside Zone. No visible side-effects occur, and the game continues.[245]

Alexstrasza can raise the maximum Health of the Ragnaros hero from 8 to 15. It is a permanent increase.[246]

When a minion is transformed, it is removed from play immediately and replaced by the minion it got transformed into. All enchantments, triggers, Deathrattles, etc. are detached. This does not count as dying for the purposes of on-Death triggers and Secrets and Resurrect/Kel'Thuzad, nor does it count as summoning for the purposes of on-summon triggers. When the outermost Phase ends or a new minion is summoned, it stops emitting any auras it had.

If you play a self-transform minion (such as Faceless Manipulator), new After Play Phase and After Summon Phase are inserted to guarantee further triggers to run. Similarly, if your played minion is transformed by Potion of Polymorph, later triggers work on the Sheep. For more information, see the Sequence of self-transform minions and Potion of Polymorph section.

Besides, minions resulting from non-spell transformations are counted as 'summoning a minion' and allowed to participate in the Summon Resolution Step (see the Summon Resolution Step section).

Examples:

Exceptions:

Shifter Zerus does not work like usual transformation effects. Every time he transforms in your hand, he is still the same Entity but has changed his Card ID, and all attached Enchantments remain attached. In addition, he tracks that he should keep changing by attaching the Enchantment 'Shifting' (OG_123e) to himself. This Enchantment is detached if Shifter Zerus enters play, and copies of cards in hand do not copy attached Enchantments, so cards like Mind Vision will copy only what minion Shifter Zerus is, and the copy will not keep changing.

Copy effects [ edit | edit source ]

Effects that create a card in your hand that is a copy of another card (such as Mind Vision, Chromaggus, Thoughtsteal and Convert) do not copy attached Enchantments, such as those that affect Health/Attack (such as from The Mistcaller) or those that affect Mana Cost (such as from Far Sight or Emperor Thaurissan). [247]

Effects that put a minion into play that's a copy of another minion in play (such as Echoing Ooze, Mirror Entity, Faceless Manipulator) copy all of the minion's state and all attached Enchantments, with a few exceptions:

Auras affecting the target minion aren't copied. For example, if you copy a minion that is at 1 current Health due to an allied Stormwind Champion with Faceless Manipulator, your copy will have 0 current Health and immediately die. [248] [249]

Obviously, controller, zone position, zone, etc. are not copied and are overridden by the act of creating the copy.

Similarly, how long the original minion has been in play is not copied, meaning the copy will have summoning sickness (if not overridden by Charge).

Rule H1: Any time a minion's maximum Health is increased, its current Health is increased by the same amount. Rule H2: However, when a minion's maximum Health is reduced, its current Health is only reduced if it exceeds the new maximum.





Minions track both a "current Health" and a "maximum Health" stat.

A 1/1 minion gaining +1 Health becomes a 1/2. There is no distinction between a minion's 'natural' Health and Health granted through auras/enchantments.

Effects which grant a minion +X Health actually work by increasing the minion's maximum Health; their current is automatically increased by the same amount.

Losing current Health due to a reduced maximum Health does not count as damage, in the same way gaining Health does not count as healing.

Silencing off a maximum Health reduction is equivalent to adding a maximum Health enchantment of the same value, and vice versa.[250]

Examples

An Injured Blademaster with 3 current Health out of 7 maximum may be increased to 4 Health (and 8 maximum) by a friendly Stormwind Champion. If the Champion is then silenced, the Injured Blademaster's maximum Health is returned to 7, but his current Health of 4 will not be reduced back down, since it does not exceed the maximum.

A Chillwind Yeti (4/5 with max 5 Health) is played. Crazed Alchemist gets played on it and it (becomes 5/4 with max 4 Health). 1 damage is done to it (becomes 5/3 with max 4 Health). When it then gets silenced, the Yeti becomes 4/4 with max 5 Health. This is because its maximum Health is increased from 4 to 5 by the Silence effect, so this also causes the current Health to go up from 3 to 4.

An Injured Blademaster is 4/3 with a maximum Health of 7. When you cast Divine Spirit on it, the spell increases both the current and maximum health of the Blademaster by 3 (the value of its current Health at the time of resolving the spell). This resulting Blademaster is a 4/6 with a maximum Health of 10.

Exceptions

Crazed Alchemist and Reversing Switch do not raise or decrease the maximum Health stat. They apply a buff that sets a new maximum Health (see Enchantments section). At the time of application, it also sets the current Health to the new maximum Health.

Rule E1: If a minion has multiple order of play. If a minion has multiple enchantments , they are applied to the minion in





This is the same order shown when mousing over the minion - oldest to newest, top to bottom.[251] However, that order does not always show repeated applications of the same enchantment.

Examples:

You have a 6/9 Gahz'rilla and play Lance Carrier (buffing to 8/9) then target it with a Cruel Taskmaster. The damage and buff of Cruel Taskmaster are simultaneous, so Gahz'rilla triggers after being buffed to 10/8, doubling to 20/8. Finally, you target it with an Abusive Sergeant, buffing it to 22/8 (returning to 20/8 after your turn ends). If enchantments were applied in any other order, the resulting Attack value would be different.[252]





Rule E2: When a temporary enchantment is removed from the middle of the enchantment list, the minion's state is recalculated from scratch.[253] When a temporary enchantment is removed from the middle of the enchantment list, the minion's state is recalculated from scratch.





This as opposed to, for example, a 'reverse of the enchantment' enchantment being added to the end of the list.



Examples:

If a 6/9 Gahz'rilla has its Attack temporarily reduced to 4 by a Shrinkmeister, and then suffers damage, the order of the enchantment stack will result in a total of 8 Attack: (((6 - 2) * 2) = 8). At the end of the turn, the Shrinkmeister's buff will be removed, resulting in the Gahz'rilla's Attack increasing not by 2, but by 4, to a total of 12: ((6 * 2) = 12). If enchantments were not dynamically recalculated, the Gahz'rilla's Attack would instead be increased to 10, since its previous net result of +4 Attack had already been established prior to the removal of the Shrinkmeister's buff.[254]





Rule E3: When a minion is order of play. When a minion is Enraged , it creates an enchantment with that effect. If it later becomes un-Enraged (losing the enchantment) and then re-Enraged, it creates a new enchantment, rather than re-creating the old one with its old



Examples:

You play an Amani Berserker and Enrage it, giving it 5 Attack. You then play Humility on it, giving it 1 Attack. You then heal and Enrage it a second time - the new Enrage is at the end of order of play, going after the Humility effect and it now has 4 Attack.[255]

Notes and Exceptions:

Enchantments like Crazed Alchemist/Reversing Switch that swap the Attack and Health of a minion are calculated by directly setting the Attack and Health to those new values (as opposed to, for example, calculating how much to change Attack and Health by and making that enchantment), and thus temporary enchantments placed prior to the stat reversal ending will have no observable effect. [256]

However, enchantments that double Attack like Blessed Champion and Gahz'rilla do not double auras, because the effect of the enchantment is to double the Attack prior to the enchantment, so when the aura is moved to the end of the list again it is not doubled. [257]

Enrage Enchantments do not seem to apply their effect immediately, but instead do so at the next Aura Update (Health/Attack) Step.[258]

Auras are ongoing effects tied to Entities which affect other Entities (such as cards, minions, your hero or itself) as long as the provider is in play (and not silenced). Every time Aura Update (Health/Attack) runs, Auras are processed strictly after all other Enchantments, even if the Aura was in place prior to the other buffs being gained. (Note that Enchantments take affect immediately when applied, and so will briefly apply 'out of order'.)[259]

Let us review Rule 4:





Rule 4a: After the outermost Phase ends, Hearthstone does an Aura Update (Health/Attack), then does the Death Creation Step (Looks for all mortally wounded (0 or less Health)/pending destroy (hit with a kills them, removing them from play simultaneously), then does an Aura Update (Other). Entities that have been removed from play cannot trigger, be triggered, or emit auras, and do not take up space. After the outermost Phase ends,does an Aura Update (Health/Attack), then does(Looks for all(0 or less Health)/(hit with a destroy effect) Entities andthem, removing them from play simultaneously), then does an Aura Update (Other). Entities that have beencannot trigger, be triggered, or emit auras, and do not take up space. Rule 4b: Besides, whenever a minion is summoned (but not played), Hearthstone updates both kinds of Auras. Rule 4c: Some Auras that are known to update in Aura Update (Other) is as follows: Auchenai Soulpriest, Brann Bronzebeard, Violet Illusionist, Drakkari Enchanter, The Four Horsemen (Hero Power). Some Auras that are known to update in Aura Update (Other) is as follows: Baron Rivendare Mal'Ganis 's Immune effect, Prophet Velen Rule 4d: Enchantments apply and modify Health/Attack/Mana costs the moment they are attached. However, during Aura Update (Health/Attack), the Enchantment List is re-processed and Health/Attack Auras, having a priority later than Health/Attack Enchantments, will be moved to the end of the Enchantment List during this timing. (However, Mana Cost Auras have no special priority compared to Mana Cost Enchantments.)

When a minion is played, its Aura is sent for the first time before the Battlecry Phase. When a minion is stolen, it does not start emitting its aura until the outermost Phase ends, unless a new minion is summoned. [260]

Until the moment it is removed from play , the Entity can be brought back from 0 or less Health by healing or Health buffs, and still shares auras. This is important when multiple minions are attacked simultaneously, or when a hero dies in the same Sequence as minions with Deathrattles.

, the Entity can be brought back from 0 or less Health by healing or Health buffs, and still shares auras. This is important when multiple minions are attacked simultaneously, or when a hero in the same Sequence as minions with Deathrattles. If you kill a minion with an aura and a minion with a Deathrattle simultaneously, non-Health effects of the aura are not active during the following Death Phase because the minion is removed from play . However, Health effects of the aura will be active, because Hearthstone does not recalculate Health changes after the minions are killed, unless a new minion is summoned. [261] [262] [263] However, a health-granting aura such as Mal'Ganis can save a minion from dying, even if it enters play the same Phase the other minion was mortally wounded , because the aura recalculation is done before the Death Creation Step. [264]

a minion with an aura and a minion with a Deathrattle simultaneously, non-Health effects of the aura are not active during the following Death Phase because the minion is . However, Health effects of the aura will be active, because does not recalculate Health changes after the minions are killed, unless a new minion is summoned. However, a health-granting aura such as Mal'Ganis can save a minion from dying, even if it enters play the same Phase the other minion was , because the aura recalculation is done before the Death Creation Step. Auras are not recalculated due to minions leaving play or due to minions being stolen in the middle of a Phase.。 [265]

Brann Bronzebeard, Baron Rivendare and Drakkari Enchanter check before an Event starts. This means if one Battlecry/Deathrattle/End of turn effect summons them, it will not trigger again. But Deathrattles/End of turn effects that follow can benefit, for Aura (Other) is updated when you summon them.

Some auras in the game have a higher Priority than others. This means that order of play does not matter if one aura's Priority is simply higher. For example, Summoning Portal's aura always comes first (meaning also having a Mechwarper makes Harvest Golems cost 0 mana, regardless of play order) and Lightspawn's and 'Tar' minions' auras always come last.

Despite not visually updating, enchantments take effect the moment they are created.[266]

Notes and Exceptions

There is one known exception to 'auras are applied strictly after all other enchantments' - Summoning Portal's Priority is so high it's applied before enchantments. [267] [268] [269]

The interaction between Crazed Alchemist/Reversing Switch and auras is as follows: The newly created buff directly sets Attack and Health to the opposite values (e.g. as opposed to computing an Attack change and a Health change and creating that buff) considering all auras, and then the auras are re-applied afterwards at the next State update, creating the impression that the auras have been 'counted twice'.

If a minion is being given a Health increase by an Aura such as Stormwind Champion, then Silencing that minion will not temporarily remove the Aura's effect (which would then be added back at the next Aura Update (Health/Attack) Step).

A consequence of this effect is that if a 1/1 is buffed to 2/2 by Stormwind Champion then damaged for 1, if it is silenced, it does not temporarily become a 1/1, get buffed by Stormwind Champion again and thus become an undamaged 2/2.[270]

However, besides not removing the effects of Auras, Silence seems to immediately remove all other properties of the minion it targets. For example, Earth Shocking a friendly Wrath of Air Totem will remove the Spell Damage +1 before the 1 damage is dealt, and thus you will deal only 1 damage, not 2.[271]

Each Entity in a game of Hearthstone exists in one of several specific areas, called Zones.[272] In addition, it has a 'controller', which determines which half of the zone it is. Changing controller will also be referred to as changing 'zones', even though it is technically different.

Note that cards, minions, weapons, heroes, etc are all Entities. Playing a minion card moves the Entity from the Hand Zone to the Play Zone, rather than destroying the card and creating the minion, for example.

The Zones are:

Visible

Play

Deck

Hand

Secret

Not fully visible

Graveyard

Removed from game

Set aside

Other

Invalid

Minions that are killed and removed from play have their attributes (most notably current Health) reset to a default state and are moved to the "Graveyard Zone". Spells after being cast, destroyed and equipped over weapons, dead heroes and discarded cards (from hand or from deck) also go to the "Graveyard Zone".

The "Set Aside Zone" holds cards and Entities existing in any intermediate or 'not really on the board' state, such as the three cards presented to you by Tracking, the original minion after Weasel Tunneler's Deathrattle (which shuffles a copy; Malorne's Deathrattle instead shuffles the original minion), the prior state of transformed minions and Lord Jaraxxus the minion after his Battlecry occurs. The Amazing Reno's Battlecry works by moving all minions to the Set Aside Zone.

The "Removed From Game Zone" holds enchantments that have expired, been detached or been silenced off.

Hearthstone imposes limitations on how many Entities can be in each Zone.[272] The limitations are:

5 Secrets (or Quest) per player's "Secret Zone", one Quest at most and only one copy of a specific Secret per "Secret Zone"

10 cards per player's hand

7 minions, 1 hero, 1 weapon, 1 hero power per player's "Battlefield Zone"

60 cards per player's deck[273]





Rule Z0: If Hearthstone would generate a new Entity in a Zone but the limit has been reached, instead nothing happens.

Note that attempting to generate an Entity in a full zone does not generate and then destroy it. Rather, nothing happens.[274]

Moving between Zones [ edit | edit source ]

TODO: There seems to be some kind of new rule that says that a minion can't be bounced to deck and then from deck to hand. Or maybe it's not a moving between zones rule, but a rule about triggers' trigger conditions? Figure out which it is and edit the appropriate section of the two. See https://github.com/HearthSim/hs-bugs/issues/636

Rule Z1: When an Entity tries to move from one Zone to another, it first checks if the destination is full. If it is, it instead dies and moves to the Graveyard Zone. Rule Z1b: If an Entity tries to move from a Zone to the Zone it's already in, do not apply Rule Z1 (such as steal effects on a minion you already control, or bounce effects on a minion already in your hand). However, other effects of the zone change still happen (such as gaining If an Entity tries to move from a Zone to the Zone it's already in, do not apply Rule Z1 (such as steal effects on a minion you already control, or bounce effects on a minion already in your hand). However, other effects of the zone change still happen (such as gaining summoning sickness ). Rule Z2: If multiple Entities are moved from one Zone to another simultaneously, they check and move themselves in order of play, and thus newest minions are the ones that get If multiple Entities are moved from one Zone to another simultaneously, they check and move themselves in, and thus newest minions are the ones that get Destroyed if there is insufficient room.

This means that after the outermost Phase ends, its Death will be resolved in the subsequent Death Phase in order of play.

Note that if it was a minion, its Death Event is resolved in the Zone it was in, not the Zone it tried to go to.[275] This is because the attempted Zone change did not happen.

Examples:

Exceptions:

Force play mechanics such as Deathlord and Ancestor's Call are different from steal/bounce mechanics - they do not destroy/discard the minion if there is no room in the destination zone. Instead, they do nothing. [278] (Or in the case of Varian Wrynn, the minion is moved to your hand instead of force played.)

destroy/discard the minion if there is no room in the destination zone. Instead, they do nothing. (Or in the case of Varian Wrynn, the minion is moved to your hand instead of force played.) Likely due to a bug, effects that move a card to your deck, such as Entomb and Patch 4.0.0.10833-on Malorne do not respect the limit of 60 cards in the deck. [279] [280] (Mind Control effects moving a card from one deck to another also do not respect the limit.) [281]

(Mind Control effects moving a card from one deck to another also do not respect the limit.) Due to a bug, if you steal a card from your opponent's hand (such as by targeting Mind Control on a minion bounced to the hand by Anub'ar Ambusher before the spell resolves), the limit of 10 cards in your hand is not checked.[282]





Rule Z3: If [283][284] If Kezan Mystic tries to steal a Secret but none can be stolen (because your Secret Zone is full or you already have a copy of all enemy Secrets), a random Secret is destroyed and revealed. Rule Z4: If you would draw a card but have no room for it, its side-effects of drawing (such as If you would draw a card but have no room for it, its side-effects of drawing (such as Flame Leviathan 's or Burrowing Mine 's) do not trigger, because it never entered your hand.



Examples:

You have Mirror Entity up and so does your opponent. You play a Kezan Mystic. Because the Mirror Entity cannot move to your Secret Zone, it is destroyed and revealed instead. [285] However, if the enemy also had a Duplicate active, the Mystic would steal it with a 100% chance, since Kezan Mystic only destroys Secrets as a last resort.

However, if the enemy also had a Duplicate active, the Mystic would steal it with a 100% chance, since Kezan Mystic only destroys Secrets as a last resort. You have 10 cards in your hand and attempt to draw Burrowing Mine. It is revealed and discarded. You do not take 10 damage or draw a new card.

Notes:





Rule Z5: When an Entity moves from one zone to another, the minion's tags (such as Damage, Divine Shield and pending destroy) are reset to a default state.[291] The rules are as follows: When an Entity moves from one zone to another, the minion's tags (such as Damage, Divine Shield and) are reset to a default state.The rules are as follows: Rule Z5a: Play Zone to any other Zone: All Enchantments detached.[292][293] Play Zone to any other Zone: All Enchantments detached. Rule Z5b: Hand Zone to Play Zone: Enchantments are NOT detached.[294] (However, Mana cost related Enchantments will trigger to detach in the On Play Phase.)[295] Hand Zone to Play Zone: Enchantments are NOT detached.(However, Mana cost related Enchantments will trigger to detach in the On Play Phase.) Rule Z5c: Deck Zone to any other Zone: Enchantments are NOT detached.[296] Deck Zone to any other Zone: Enchantments are NOT detached. Even though Enchantments are detached when moving between zones in this way, if you target a spell or Battlecry at a minion, but before the spell/Battlecry resolves the minion leaves play, the spell/Battlecry can put an Enchantment on the minion in an unexpected Zone (such as the Hand Zone, Graveyard Zone or Deck Zone). The Enchantment will be considered to be in Play, even though the attached minion is not. As a result, the Enchantment will be able to trigger (for example if it is Shadow Madness) and will be able to give your player Spell Damage +1 (Velen's Chosen).

Notes: Before an unknown Patch between 5.0 and 7.0, Deck Zone to any other Zone caused ALL Enchantments to detach.[297] (The Mistcaller was actually coded to create a permanent on-draw trigger, rather than to enchant minions in your deck.)[298]

Exceptions:

Notably, the rule that all tags are reset when a minion changes zone seems to be implemented in an ad hoc way. For example, Echoing Ooze's tag change is not cleared if the minion's Battlecry resolves in-hand and is played from your hand,[299] and TO_BE_DESTROYED used to not be cleared when a minion is bounced to the hand or played from the hand (causing the Vaporize/Freezing Trap bug) but now is cleared when the minion is played from the hand.[300]

Rule Z6: When several consequences of Death try to move the dead minion, only the first one works. Others don't work and remain hidden if it's a Secret.

Examples:

You play Malorne and Gateway Kodo, then cast Soul of the Forest. Enemy kills your Malorne, and its Deathrattle returns it to your deck. Gateway Kodo remains hidden and Soul of the Forest summons a Treant for you. If you swap the order of Malorne an Gateway Kodo, Gateway Kodo will return Malorne to your hand. Its deathrattle doesn't trigger and Soul of the Forest also summons a Treant.

Note:

Resurrecting effects such as Ancestral Spirit and Redemption don't move the dead minion. They summon a new copy of it.

Full Zone Instant Removal [ edit | edit source ]

When a minion is destroyed because it tries to move to a Zone that is already full, it is not marked pending destroy. Instead, it is immediately counted as having died and sent to the Graveyard zone. However, its Death Event is correctly included in the subsequent Death Phase, and its consequences of Death queued and resolved at that timing. But since it is immediately removed from play, it is immediately uninteractible, unable to trigger or be triggered. Also, their attributes are reset when moved to the Graveyard zone, like normal death.[301]

Also, note that the order of resolution of Death Events is not the order they are created in (e.g. the order they died in), but the play order of the respective minions.[302] However, Kel'Thuzad will revive the minions in the order their Death Events were created in.[303]

It should also be noted that the Death Event is only created if the minion was in play. If it was in your Hand or in the Graveyard, it goes to the Graveyard and nothing else happens. (If it created a Death Event, Anub'arak dying while your hand is full would create an infinite loop.)

Examples:

You play Sylvanas Windrunner, Deathlord and five other minions. Your opponent plays a Knife Juggler. You cast Feign Death. First, the Knife Juggler is instantly killed and removed from play, then a minion is summoned for your opponent due to the Deathlord Deathrattle, but no knife is thrown because the Knife Juggler is already not in play. [304]

You play a minion. Your opponent plays a Freezing Trap. You play Blessing of Wisdom on your minion. You wait until you have 10 cards in hand, then attack with the minion. First the Freezing Trap triggers, instantly killing and removing from play your minion. Bleesing of Wisdom does not trigger because the minion is already not in play.

Mana Crystals and mana costs [ edit | edit source ]

Rule M1: Your current mana is capped at 10 but has no lower limit. Negative current mana is displayed as 0. Rule M2: Your maximum mana (number of Mana Crystals) is always at most 10 and at least 0. Rule M3: Your current/pending Your current/pending Overloaded Mana Crystals has no upper limit. Rule M4: Gaining or losing maximum mana has no effect on your pending/current Overload. Rule M5: The mana cost of a card has no lower limit. Negative mana costs are displayed as, and use, 0, but help to counteract mana cost increases.[305][306] The mana cost of a card has no lower limit. Negative mana costs are displayed as, and use, 0, but help to counteract mana cost increases. Rule M6: When multiple effects change the cost of a card or your Hero Power, they are applied in order of play (Auras and Enchantments having no special priority). One exception is Volcanic Drake, When multiple effects change the cost of a card or your Hero Power, they are applied in(Auras and Enchantments having no special priority). One exception is Summoning Portal 's aura , which has a very early Priority that makes it considered before ALL other effects. Besides, cards that apply a Mana Cost Aura ( Molten Giant Dread Corsair , etc) have a latest priority. Rule M7: When an effect refers to the cost of casting a spell (such as When an effect refers to the cost of casting a spell (such as Summoning Stone or Gazlowe ), it means the amount of mana you paid to cast it, not the base mana cost. Rule M8: Kun the Forgotten King gives you 10 temporary mana crystals, but no more than your maximum mana.



Examples:

Why available mana can be negative [ edit | edit source ]

TODO: What is the interaction between Kun the Forgotten King and Overload?

Tags are values on Entities (such as minions, players and cards) that can have any value between 0 and 2^31 - 1. if their final value would be negative in 32 bit signed arithmetic, it is instead assigned to 0. The tags related to mana and mana costs are as follows:

MAXRESOURCES (player): largest value RESOURCES and 'available mana' can be; it is always set to 10.

RESOURCES (player): number of permanent Mana Crystals (also called 'maximum mana').

RESOURCES_USED (player): number of permanent Mana Crystals which are empty or Overloaded.

TEMP_RESOURCES (player): number of temporary Mana Crystals (such as due to The Coin).



When you pay mana, TEMP_RESOURCES is deducted before RESOURCES_USED is increased by what's left over. Spend mana sets TEMP_RESOURCES to 0 and RESOURCES_USED to the value of RESOURCES.

OVERLOAD_OWED (player): total pending Overload for the next turn.

OVERLOAD_LOCKED (player): current Overload.

At the start of turn OVERLOAD_LOCKED and RESOURCES_USED are set to the value of OVERLOAD_OWED, and OVERLOAD_OWED is set to 0. Unlocking Overloaded Mana Crystals (such as with Lava Shock) will set OVERLOAD_OWED to 0, decrease OVERLOAD_LOCKED to 0, and decrease RESOURCES_USED by the same amount.

NUM_RESOURCES_SPENT_THIS_GAME (player): total mana paid this entire game.

OVERLOAD_THIS_GAME (player): total mana Overloaded this entire game.

COST (card or Hero Power): how much mana you will pay when playing this card.

OVERLOAD (card): can be 1 or 0, indicating if this card has the Overload ability or not.

OVERLOAD_OWED (card): how much pending Overload playing this card will give you.

'Available mana' does not exist as a tag, but is calculated as RESOURCES + TEMP_RESOURCES - RESOURCES_USED.

Because it doesn't exist as a tag, 'available mana' can go negative (such as if you Overload more mana than you will have the next turn): although it will still be displayed as 0 in the GUI, it will affect mana-generating effects like those granting temporary Mana Crystals.

Example: If you have 10 Mana Crystals and 11 current Overload, your mana counter will display 0/10 even if your 'available mana' is 10 - 11 = -1. If you play Innervate it will correctly display 0/10, not 1/10.

Conversely, because COST is a tag, even if you reduce a card or Hero Power's cost below 0, its COST will be clamped to 0, so you won't 'gain mana' by playing it.

Drawing a Card [ edit | edit source ]





Examples

Exceptions:

Tracking does interact with on-draw triggers. [323]

Daring Reporter has the same priority as 'the card may have an effect when drawn'. For example, if Sea Reaver is drawn, the order of triggering of Daring Reporter and Sea Reaver is determined by the Dominant Player Bug. [324]

The expression 'Auras that change cards' cost don't affect the damage dealt by Holy Wrath' is not completely right. That is because Aura Update is not run in-between. You control a Emerald Hive Queen and Dragon Egg, and your Holy Wrath draws a Flame Leviathan. Flame Leviathan first deals 2 damage to all characters, causing Dragon Egg summoning a Black Whelp. The cost now is affected by Emerald Hive Queen, and Holy Wrath deals 9 damage.[325]

Damage and Healing [ edit | edit source ]

Rule DH1: When an area of effect Damage or Healing effect happens, all of the Damage/Healing Events are created in play order, then all of the Damage/Healing Events are resolved (queuing and resolving triggers) in play order. Rule DH2a: When a Damage/Healing Event is created: Apply Rule DH7). Then the Character's current Health+Armor is reduced by the Damage Event's proposed damage. (If the target is affected by Commanding Shout, its current Health is prevented from dropping below 1.) When a Damage/Healing Event is created: Apply Auchenai Soulpriest . Then apply Spell Damage Fallen Heros . Then apply Prophet Velens . If the target is Immune or the Damage Event's proposed damage is 0, the Damage Event is prevented. Then if the target has Divine Shield , the Divine Shield is removed and the Damage Event's proposed damage is reduced to 0. Then queue and resolve Predamage triggers (see). Then the Character's current Health+Armor is reduced by the Damage Event's proposed damage. (If the target is affected by Commanding Shout, its current Health is prevented from dropping below 1.) Rule DH2b: When a Damage/Healing Event is resolved: If it was prevented, or if it did not change the Character's current Health+Armor total (including due to [326] When a Damage/Healing Event is resolved: If it was prevented, or if it did not change the Character's current Health+Armor total (including due to Divine Shield and Commanding Shout ), it will not run any triggers. Otherwise, they queue and resolve in play order.









(Your Heroes are older than every minion. The Hero of the Dominant Player is older than the Hero of the Secondary Player.)

Note that minions do not die the moment they are mortally wounded (0 or less Health). For more information, see Death Phases and consequences of Death.

Note that damage from two Characters engaging in Combat is not based on play order, - the attacker always damages the defender first. For more information, see Combat.

Note that Immune also prevents enemy targeting, like Stealth. It does not prevent any other kind of interaction, including healing.

Note that Stealth is also lost when a minion declares an attack, even if the combat is cancelled or it would fail to create a Damage Event due to losing all its Attack. For more information, see Combat.

The definition of 'apply Auchenai Soulpriest' is 'If the Event's source's controller also controlled an unsilenced Auchenai Soulpriest since the last Aura Update (Other) step, replace the Healing Event with a Damage Event having proposed damage equal to its proposed healing'. (The definition of 'apply Prophet Velens' is similar.)



Examples:

If you cast Circle of Healing with damaged minions and Shadowboxers in play, all of the minions will be healed before the Shadowboxers trigger on each Healing Event and deal damage, preventing them from damaging a minion that would later be healed.

If you cast Flamestrike while your opponent has two Armorsmiths, the Armorsmiths will be mortally wounded but remain in play, triggering on each Damage Event and giving your opponent's Hero 4 Armor before the spell resolves and the Armorsmiths die and are removed from play.

If you play Light of the Naaru, restoring an enemy minion to full health, but also triggering an allied Shadowboxer to damage the target enemy minion, Light of the Naaru's second step then runs and sees the target is damaged, summoning a Lightwarden. [335]

If you cast Holy Nova while your opponent has an Imp Gang Boss and a Knife Juggler, because the Damage Events are Created and Resolved before the Healing Events are Created and Resolved, the extra damage caused by the knife from the summoned Imp may be healed by the second step of Holy Nova.





Predamage Triggers [ edit | edit source ]

Rule DH7: Just before a Damage Event is created, Predamage triggers will queue and resolve in play order. They will stop triggering if the Damage Event is prevented, as there is nothing to do. The full list of Predamage triggers is Ice Block, Animated Armor.[336][337] Additionally, Animated Armor has an early priority.[338] Just before a Damage Event is created, Predamage triggers will queue and resolve in play order. They will stop triggering if the Damage Event is prevented, as there is nothing to do. The full list of Predamage triggers is Bolf Ramshield Additionally, Animated Armor has an early priority. Rule DH7b: Bolf Ramshield 's effect is to prevent the Damage Event, then create a Damage Event whose source is still the original source but target is Bolf Ramshield, and whose proposed damage is the same as the original Damage Event's. Rule DH7c: Animated Armor 's effect is to lower the Damage Event's proposed damage to 1. Rule DH7d: Ice Block 's effect is, if the Damage Event's proposed damage is currently greater than or equal to your Hero's current Health, to prevent the Damage Event and create an Enchantment attached to your Hero which says "Become Immune until the turn ends."





Because Bolf Ramshield creates a new Damage Event with the source being the original source, if a minion with a 'when this minion deals damage' trigger such as Queen of Pain, Water Elemental and Emperor Cobra has its combat damage prevented by Bolf Ramshield, the trigger will still run. [339]

Like other triggers, Bolf Ramshield and Animated Armor can trigger even if mortally wounded for as long as they are in play.



Examples:

If you play Ice Block and Animated Armor, your Hero is at 4 Health and your opponent deals 4 damage to your Hero, regardless of order of play, Animated Armor triggers and reduces the incoming damage to 1 before Ice Block checks for the damage being lethal (and since it isn't, it remains intact).

If you have multiple Bolf Ramshields in play, the first one to enter play will trigger and intercept the damage when your Hero takes damage.

If you have Animated Armor and Bolf Ramshield, regardless of order of play, your Bolf Ramshield will intercept 1 damage.

If you adapt Bolf Ramshield to gain Poisonous, it won't be killed by its own effect.

Notes:

Prior to Patch 5.0.1.13030 (2016-06-01), Animated Armor did not have an early priority, and would trigger in order of play with the other predamage triggers.[340]

Cursed Blade [ edit | edit source ]

Rule DH8: Cursed Blade's effect is to double the proposed damage of Damage Events targeting your Hero (whenever queried by a Predamage trigger or when your Hero takes the damage).





This leads to the following interactions: The final damage you take will be doubled, after all modifiers (like Spell Damage, Prophet Velen and Fallen Hero) are taken into account. If you have Cursed Blade and Ice Block, Ice Block will take into account the double damage from Cursed Blade when deciding to trigger or not. If you have Cursed Blade and Bolf Ramshield, Bolf Ramshield takes double damage when intercepting, regardless of play order. [341] If you have Cursed Blade and Animated Armor, Animated Armor will set the Damage Event's damage to 1, but Cursed Blade's effect will double its damage whenever it is read, so you will still take 2 damage (Bolf will still intercept 2 damage, etc). (In addition, normally Animated Armor does not trigger if you take 1 damage, but Cursed Blade's effect doubles the reported damage to 2, so Animated Armor will trigger for no effect in this scenario.) [342]



Death Event Cache [ edit | edit source ]

Rule DEC1: Hearthstone keeps track of every Death Event that has been created this game in the Death Event Cache. It remembers the Entity ID that died, its controller when it died, and what turn it died on. Rule DEC2: If the same minion dies more than once (for example if it's the same If the same minion dies more than once (for example if it's the same Malorne ), each Death Event is added to the Death Event Cache separately. Rule DEC3: Cards that check if a minion has died this turn/this game (Kel'Thuzad, N'Zoth, the Corruptor, Anyfin Can Happen, Cards that check if a minion has died this turn/this game ( Feugen Stalagg ) and cards that resurrect minions that died this turn/this game ( Resurrect Doomcaller ) do not check the Graveyard Zone. They check the Death Event Cache. Rule DEC4: Resurrect effects summon new, fresh copies of minions based on the Death Event(s) they select, and do not remove the Death Event from the Death Event Cache. Except for Resurrect effects summon new, fresh copies of minions based on the Death Event(s) they select, and do not remove the Death Event from the Death Event Cache. Except for Kel'Thuzad who uses order of play, Death Events are selected in random order.

If a minion goes to the Graveyard Zone in any way besides dying (milled from deck, discarded from hand, etc) it never died, so it does not get added to the Death Event Cache.

Entries in the Death Event Cache are never removed, even if a Resurrect effect selects that Death Event.

Minions that leave the Graveyard Zone don't remove their Death Event from the Death Event Cache (for example if it's Malorne, Anub'arak or The Skeleton Knight).

The Entity ID is used to find out what kind of card died. For exactly one card - Shifter Zerus - the Card ID it was when it died might not be the Card ID it is now. It will use the Card ID it is now.

Examples:

Spell Damage [ edit | edit source ]

Spell Damage is unlike Auras - it does not update when each outermost Phase resolves and Hearthstone updates Auras. Rather, it updates constantly - it is always the most up-to-date value.

Examples

Notes

Jungle Moonkin gives your opponent Spell Damage +2 via an indirect mechanism.

Extra Turns and Temporary Effects [ edit | edit source ]

There are 2 effects giving players extra turns in Hearthstone (excluding those in Adventure Mode), and here are their rules:

Temporus's battlecry gives your opponent an extra turn before his next turn starts, and gives you an extra turn after a series of opponent's turns (perhaps more than 2).

Time Warp gives you an extra turn immediately this turn ends.

In general, temporary effects only work in one turn. However, effects that read 'In your opponent's next turn...' keep working until the end of a series of opponent's turns， including Millhouse Manastorm, Saboteur and Loatheb.[351]

Examples: (A refers to your turn, and B refers to opponent's turn.)

You have Brann Bronzebeard and play Temporus and Time Warp. Regardless of play order, the following turns are ABBBAAA.

You play Temporus and then your opponent also plays Temporus. The following turns are BBAAABB (including your opponent's this turn).

Visual appearance of Player Actions [ edit | edit source ]

When you perform a Player Action, Hearthstone processes the entire outcome server-side and then slowly displays the result in client-side animation. With the exception of conceding, Hearthstone shows the initial result of all Player Actions (summoning a minion to the board, flipping the Hero Power, flipping the End Turn button, etc) but in reality, Hearthstone has processed your Player Action at the appropriate time server-side - after all previous Player Actions have resolved.

You can tell when Hearthstone server-side finished processing the outcome because your valid Player Actions will be highlighted in green once more (and if you have none, you will hear 'Job's done'). This allows you to tell ahead of time things like 'Did this minion die?' (that minion is not highlighted green) or 'Did the game just end?' (no actions are presented)[352] or 'Are all enemy minions dead?' (an enemy minion targeting spell in your hand is not highlighted green). The only reason to wait through animations is if a randomized outcome is important for your decision making - such as the Deathrattle of Piloted Shredder.

Some consequences and oddities of Player Actions ignoring animations:

If a Mechwarper is alive, even if the mana cost has not been updated, Mechs that you can play are highlighted in green. [353]

If you return a minion to your hand such as with a Youthful Brewmaster, it will be highlighted in green even before visually turning into a card. If you interact with it, the game will play it from your hand, a useful time-saver.

If you draw cards and immediately hear 'Job's done' you know none of them are playable this turn.

Technically you can target an enemy minion spawned by a Deathrattle, play a card drawn, etc the moment the server has processed the outcome - but until the animations of client-side Hearthstone render it, there is no way for the user to do so without using an external program or a hack.

render it, there is no way for the user to do so without using an external program or a hack. "Cast X random spells" effects can make visual updates based on changes in available mana before the actual display of available mana is updated. Example: Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron casts Shadowform as its first spell, replacing the Hero Power with Mind Spike. The new Hero Power is immediately highlighted green despite the client still displaying 0 available mana, because the Puzzle Box will cast Nourish later, generating 2 available mana.[354]

Turn timers [ edit | edit source ]

Whenever a player's turn begins (including the Mulligan turn), the Hearthstone server gives them 75 seconds from that exact point in time until their turn ends. (It was 90 seconds during Beta.) This time limit totally ignores animations bec