Original artwork from the release of The Great Dark Beyond expansion.

Hearthstone: The Great Dark Beyond

Hearthstone's new expansion has finally been announced and while it's hard not to feel a bit sad seeing familiar faces like Magatha, Bane of Music and Fanottem, Lord of the Opera rotate to Wild, we can't help but smile at the bright future that Standard has in store.

The new expansion—The Great Dark Beyond takes us to the far reaches of space, featuring cards like Meteor Storm shuffling asteroids inside your deck, or Xor'toth, Breaker of Stars allowing you to wield the power of the stars to wipe away your opponent's board, HP and dreams.
Also, be very careful when boarding your ship, as Dirdra's crew looks quite suspicious... you might want to call for an Emergency Meeting.

The power level decreases... but is it a bad thing?

The full art for the new card called: Velen, Leader of the Exiled.

While this expansion is one of the best in terms of flavor, many users have found the power level to be a bit... underwhelming. But is that really a bad thing?
First of all, the power level isn't nearly as bad as social media makes it out to be. There are plenty of good and very exciting cards in the set and the absence of S+ pieces (at least for now...) might actually be a good thing.
A slower-paced and more value-centered meta might be the perfect solution to the power creep that has plagued the game for quite some time now. Sure, there will be cards that outperform others, but it doesn't seem like we are going to see new cards as annoying as Tsunami or Reno, Lone Ranger.
Oh and speaking of Reno, the popularity of Starships on release will likely lead to a rise in the Lone Ranger's popularity as well, with all of its consequences (mostly negative ones). But we already covered that in this article.

The Great Dark Beyond: recap

The full art for the release of The Great Dark Beyond, containing various new cards such as Velen, Leader of the Exiled, some Draeneis and Starships.

The Great Dark Beyond is an exciting and promising expansion—some would say a breath of fresh air.
Overall, the power level appears to have decreased slightly, promising longer games where value might regain its central role in the game. The set art is astounding and arguably the best of all previous expansions. Each card has a really beautiful flavor to it, with the signature cards truly capturing and transpiring the immense scale of space and the entities that inhabit it in the universe of World of Warcraft.
It's safe to say that Blizzard set a high bar for this release, and they've certainly delivered.