Hearthstone left BlizzCon 2026 with a dated expansion and a rare new-class clock. Per Blizzard’s Opening Ceremony roundup — also mirrored in Game Informer — Reign of the Black Empire arrives October 20, 2026, returning to ancient Azeroth at the height of Old Gods power and introducing the Assemble keyword that merges two cards into a powerful new one.
Further out, the Monk class hits the Tavern in March 2027, framed as Hearthstone’s first new playable class in six years with a fluid, adaptable fantasy. Same-ceremony Battlegrounds color adds Aberrations as a new minion type on September 22, 2026 — useful sidebar for BG mains, secondary to the expansion/Monk lead here. Blizzard also previewed an overhauled Journal that wraps expansions in a growing narrative quest/achievement shell.
Platforms stay the live Hearthstone footprint: PC/Mac plus iOS and Android. This desk is not inventing console SKUs or a separate Monk-only download. Pricing for expansion bundles follows normal Tavern shop patterns when Blizzard publishes them — no invented pre-order dollar figure in this filing.
Why it matters: a hard October 20 expansion street plus a March 2027 class drop gives the card-game desk two concrete clocks in a year when Blizzard’s ceremony otherwise skewed toward long-horizon Diablo/StarCraft reveals. Assemble’s merge fantasy is the mechanical hook for Standard/Wild theorycrafters between now and mid-October.
For adjacent live Microsoft/Blizzard ecosystem coverage on RCG, see Xbox Caps Game Pass Cloud Hours in November — different product, same broader Microsoft gaming desk.
What we are not saying: no invented expansion MSRP, no console invent, and no claim Monk ships with Reign of the Black Empire on October 20 (Monk is March 2027).
Mark October 20, 2026 for Reign of the Black Empire and March 2027 for Monk; treat September 22 Aberrations as the near-term Battlegrounds beat.
