Hearthstone Across The Timeways: All You Need to Know about the Newest Expansion
Hearthstone's latest expansion, Across the Timeways, launches on November 4, 2025, bringing 145 new cards and two groundbreaking mechanics that promise to shake up the competitive scene. As the third expansion in the Year of the Raptor, this time-warping set pulls legendary Warcraft heroes from across different timelines into an epic showdown against Murozond, Lord of the Infinite.
The Story Behind the Timeways
At the expansion's heart lies Chromie, the Bronze Dragonflight's chronomancer who discovers that Murozond is manipulating all timelines toward a single apocalyptic fate. Unable to stop him alone, Chromie races through time itself to recruit Fabled heroes from the past, future, and alternate realities. This includes a pre-Banshee Sylvanas, a mech-piloting future version of Gelbin Mekkatorque, and warriors from timelines never before seen in Warcraft lore.
The expansion features a fascinating duality theme, with Timelord Nozdormu fighting against his corrupted future self, Murozond. This represents the expansion's core message: no fate is inevitable, and even the darkest futures can be rewritten.
Revolutionary New Mechanics
Rewind: Taking Control of RNG
Rewind is Hearthstone's first mechanic designed to give players agency over random card effects. When you play a card with Rewind, the effect triggers first, then you're presented with two choices: keep the current outcome or rewind time for another roll.
Portal Vanguard exemplifies this perfectly: it draws a random minion and gives it +2/+2, but if you don't like what you drew, you can Rewind and draw a different minion. Semi-Stable Portal works like the classic Unstable Portal, adding a random minion to your hand that costs 3 less, with the added safety net of being able to reroll if the result disappoints.
The free legendary Mister Clocksworth originally featured triple Rewind, allowing three separate rerolls of his effect (summoning two random Legendary minions). However, due to animation length concerns, he was nerfed to double Rewind before launch, making him faster to play while still offering significant RNG mitigation.
Fabled: Legendary Card Packages
Fabled represents the expansion's most innovative deck-building mechanic. When you add a Fabled Legendary to your deck, it automatically includes two additional Legendary cards that synergize with the main card. All three cards count toward your 30-card deck limit, and you must include all three: removing one removes them all.
Each of Hearthstone's 11 classes receives a unique Fabled hero:
Hunter: Ranger General Sylvanas
The pre-Scourge version of Sylvanas comes with her sisters, Ranger Captain Alleria and Ranger Initiate Vereesa. This trio delivers powerful board control and represents the Windrunner family in their prime, before Arthas's invasion of Silvermoon.
Paladin: Gelbin of Tomorrow
A futuristic gnome whose consciousness was preserved through Holy magic now pilots a giant mech. He brings two Legendary Auras: Chronological Aura (summons a dragon guardian each turn) and Manifested Timeways (deals damage to all enemies if you control an Aura).
Warlock: Timethief Rafaam
The expansion's most ambitious design features "Fabled+" designation. Rather than three cards, Rafaam's package includes ten different versions of himself, expanding your deck size to 40 cards. Each Rafaam (1-mana through 9-mana, plus the 10-mana Timethief) has unique effects, and if you play all nine supporting Rafaams, the 10-mana Timethief's Battlecry destroys the enemy hero.
Priest: Medivh the Hallowed
Costs 10 mana (or 0 if you control Karazhan), with a Battlecry that silences and destroys all other minions. He comes with Karazhan the Sanctum (a Location that summons two random 8-cost minions) and Atiesh (a weapon that doubles your spell damage and healing).
Shaman: Muradin, High King
Brings the High King's Hammer, a weapon that creates infinite value potential. Content creators quickly identified this as potentially the strongest Fabled package in the set.
Rogue: Garona Halforcen
Features mechanics centered around opponent card copying and cost reduction, fitting Rogue's thief archetype.
Mage: Azure Queen Sindragosa
A timeline where Sindragosa avoided corruption, offering frost-based synergies.
Death Knight: Talanji of the Graves
In this dark timeline, Talanji was struck down and raised as a death knight. She draws or resurrects Bwonsamdi, then lets you choose Boons to buff him, with effects stacking across multiple activations.
Demon Hunter: Broxigar
The legendary orc warrior famous for being the first mortal to wound Sargeras.
Druid: Lo'Gosh (Blood Fighter)
Represents Varian Wrynn during his time as a gladiator in the Crimson Ring.
Warrior: The Blood Gladiators
A trio of 7/7 minions that summon each other from your hand upon death, each with different keywords (Rush, Taunt, and Elusive).
Time-Bending Neutral Legendaries
Beyond class-specific Fabled heroes, the expansion introduces powerful neutral Legendaries that manipulate time:
Timelord Nozdormu - The leader of the Bronze Dragonflight returns as a cornerstone card, reminding players that no fate is inevitable.
Murozond, Unbounded - Nozdormu's corrupted future self represents the antagonist force.
Chromie - The expansion's protagonist appears as a playable neutral card.
Chrono-Lord Deios - A neutral Legendary with special Battlecry effects.
Timeway Warden - Imprisons an enemy minion for 10,000 turns (essentially removing it from the game unless the Warden dies).
Divergence - Splits a minion in your hand into two copies, creating alternate timeline versions.
Free Cards and In-Game Events
Blizzard is providing four free cards to celebrate the expansion's launch:
Mister Clocksworth (Legendary) - Available immediately upon login, featuring double Rewind to summon two random Legendary minions.
Portal Vanguard (Rare, 2 copies) - Claimable from the in-game Shop, this 3-mana 2/2 with Rewind draws a minion and gives it +2/+2.
Semi-Stable Portal (Rare, 2 copies) - Earned through the Chromie's Chrono Catastrophe event.
Storm the Gates - A Sidequest card that lets you craft your own undead monstrosity.
The Chromie's Chrono Catastrophe event runs from October 14 to November 4, 2025, offering substantial rewards including 4 Across the Timeways packs, Golden versions of Portal Vanguard, 2 Tavern Tickets, and the exclusive Nozdormu the Timeless Paladin Hero Skin.
Early Access and Theorycrafting Insights
The theorycrafting streams on October 23-24, 2025, gave content creators and professional players their first hands-on experience with the expansion. Participating streamers included Zeddy, Brian Kibler, Jarla, languagehacker, and reqvam, all testing decks with at least 10 Across the Timeways cards.
Content Creator First Impressions
Kris O Five spent over 7 hours testing the expansion during early access, providing extensive impressions across all classes. His early meta predictions highlighted several standout cards and archetypes.
Key observations from theorycrafting included:
- Strong Class Performance: Priest, Warlock, and Shaman emerged as early favorites. Medivh's board-clearing package gave Control Priest legitimate viability, while Rafaam Warlock offered a completely unique win condition.
- Handbuff Priest emerged as a surprisingly strong archetype, featuring Disciple of the Dove (draws a minion and gives minions in hand +1/+1) and Hourglass Attendant for consistent tempo.
- Muradin Shaman was praised as potentially meta-defining, with the High King's Hammer creating infinite value and the package offering removal, tempo, and win condition in one Fabled bundle.
- Rafaam Warlock captivated players despite being challenging to pilot. The deck requires playing nine specific minions before the 10-mana Timethief can destroy the opponent. Early testing showed the individual Rafaams are strong tempo plays even without completing the full combo.
- Underperforming Archetypes: Some theorycrafted decks failed to meet expectations. Demon Hunter's new cards felt disjointed without sufficient dormant minion support. Certain Rewind cards, while fun, proved too slow for aggro-dominated matchups.
Across the Timeways Deck Codes from Theorycrafting
Content creators shared several promising day-one decks:
- Healthy Handbuff Priest: AAECAa0GBuuoBtfSBuHrBqD7BsODB9+tBwydoATOwAaMwQaSpAeCrQeXrQebrQfjrQfSrwePsAetsQfbsQcAAA==
- Blood Fighter Brigade Warrior: AAECAQcGqIoEw4MHm6UHnaUHnqUH8a8HDIigBImgBI7UBJDUBNOXB8uYB5KkB+qnB7etB/yvB/2vB4+xBwAA
- Rafaam Time Warlock: AAECAf0GEKnhBqrqBuHrBqn1BsODB4ilB4mlB4qlB5GlB5OlB5SlB5WlB5alB5elB5qlB5WxBwyPnwTnoASVswaJtQaTywbZggffggepiAe2lAeEmQeSpAeqrQcAAA==
- Catch the King Rogue: AAECAaIHBpegBL2eBsODB4aoB4eoB4ioBwz2nwT3nwStpwazqQa2tQbBlwfmowehqAfWrQfHrgfdrwe2sgcAAA==
- Influx of Nature Shaman: AAECAaoIBsODB9umB9+mB+WmB4anB5WxBwzq5wP5nwSopwbmlgeSpAftqgfvqgfwqgfxqgf1rAeArQe8sQcAAA==
Across the Timeways Tavern Brawl Pre-Release
The Pre-Release Tavern Brawl runs from October 28 to November 4, 2025, allowing players who pre-purchased packs to open them early and compete in a limited format. The format uses cards from Core Set, Event Set, The Lost City of Un'Goro, and Across the Timeways (with Dive the Golakka Depths banned).
The Brawl operates on a ticket system: one free entry per account, then 2 Tavern Tickets, 300 Gold, or 400 Runestones per run. Players compete until they reach 6 wins or 3 losses, earning card packs based on performance.
Twitch Drops and Community Days offer generous rewards:
- [October 23rd-24rd] Theorycrafting Streams: 2 Across the Timeways packs (category-wide drops)
- [October 28th-November 1st] Community Days: 3 Into the Emerald Dream packs, 3 The Lost City of Un'Goro packs, and 4 Across the Timeways packs (total 6 hours watch time required)
Standard Format Compatibility
Across the Timeways joins the Year of the Raptor card pool alongside Into the Emerald Dream, The Great Dark Beyond, Perils in Paradise, Whizbang's Workshop, and The Lost City of Un'Goro. The Core Set remains available to all players for free.
This Standard rotation creates diverse deck-building options, with the new Fabled mechanics integrating smoothly with existing archetypes. The expansion's focus on individual class identity through unique Fabled packages suggests each class will have distinct competitive pathways.
Pre-Purchase Bundles
Three pre-purchase options are available until November 4:
- Mega Bundle ($79.99): 80 packs, 10 Golden packs, 1 Random Signature Legendary, 1 Random Golden Legendary, 4 Tavern Tickets, Timewalker Chromie Mage Skin, and Card Back.
- Standard Bundle ($49.99): 60 packs, 2 Random Legendaries, Timewalker Chromie Card Back.
- Sequence Bundle ($69.99): Only available after purchasing both previous bundles. Includes 35 packs, 15 Golden packs, 2 Random Signature Legendaries, and Diamond Timelord Nozdormu.
Purchasing both the Mega and Standard bundles unlocks an additional free Random Golden Legendary.
Signature Cards and Cosmetics
The expansion features extensive Signature card variants for most Legendaries and key cards across all classes. Notably, Priest Signatures and Timethief Rafaam's Signature were not available at launch but are planned for a later update.
The Empress Alexstrasza Mythic Hero Skin is available through the Darkmoon Faire Treasures system (running September 29 to October 21), featuring fully animated 3D portrait, custom hero frame, and unique visual effects.
The Mini-Set: The End of Time
The expansion's storyline will conclude in a mini-set titled "The End of Time," presumably resolving the conflict between Chromie's assembled heroes and Murozond's forces. This follows Hearthstone's recent pattern of narrative continuity across mini-set releases.
Ready for Across the Timeways?
Across the Timeways represents one of Hearthstone's most mechanically ambitious expansions in recent memory. The combination of Rewind's RNG mitigation and Fabled's automatic deck construction creates genuinely novel gameplay experiences while celebrating Warcraft's rich character roster across multiple timelines.
Content creator reception has been overwhelmingly positive, with many praising the expansion's creativity and departure from recent design trends. The theorycrafting phase revealed diverse competitive options across all classes, suggesting a healthy meta rather than a single dominant strategy.
For esports readers and competitive players, Across the Timeways launches November 4, 2025, with early access beginning October 28 through the Pre-Release Tavern Brawl, with this expansion offering compelling reasons to travel across the timeways.
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Feature image credits: Hearthstone