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As Hearthstone's latest expansion - Whispers of the Old Gods - looms large on the horizon, time is ticking for some of the card game's most iconic decks. When the expansion becomes available sometime between the end of April and the beginning of May, Blizzard's solution to keeping competitive play under control - despite an ever-expanding card pool - will come into effect. At that point, the much-touted Standard mode will launch and exclude cards issued in expansion packs older than two years, while cards from the vanilla game's Classic and Basic sets - along with the latest expansions - will remain. The new Wild mode, however, will become a place where anything goes, and any card can be played. These two ranking formats will run side by side, and are officially recognised as equally legitimate paths to ranked glory, but only the Standard rule-set will be used for official tournaments.
In a sense, then, the coming of the Old Gods heralds the end of a spotlight that's shone brightest not just on some of the inn's most famous inhabitants, but also on wider metas so deeply ingrained that it's hard to imagine they weren't a part of the game's original release. The Curse of Naxxramas and Goblins vs Gnomes sets will be the first to be retired from Standard play, taking with them a handful of infamous - not to mention ubiquitous - cards like Dr. Boom.
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