A new tournament may have inadvertently revealed the release date for Hearthstone’s next expansion.
The official announcement for the Sydney Inn-vitational suggests that the Kobolds and Catacombs expansion will be out before that tournament begins on Dec. 9 on U.S. time. The post on the official Hearthstone website outlines the format, saying that “all new expansion cards will be allowed.”
This would marry up with speculation from Reddit on the timescale for reveals and release. According to the post, releases usually take place on a Thursday an average of 34 days from the announcement of the expansion. For Kobolds and Catacombs that would point to a release on Thursday Dec. 7.
The card reveals for the expansion will begin on Nov. 20, meaning we will be treated to two weeks of card announcements if the date is accurate. That would be about the same timeframe as previous expansions, too.
The Inn-vitational in Sydney is the second such event to take place, after the inaugural edition at BlizzCon last week. Four players from Australia and New Zealand will partner with an international player each in a single elimination format.
If the expansion does release around Dec. 7, it might cause issues for another tournament. The Gold Club World Championship playoffs are taking place until Dec. 10 in Chinabut players will be locked into pre-expansion decklists.