"Hearthstone" expansion news: "The Grand Tournament" features new cards available in August

"Hearthstone" official web site

Blizzard has made an announcement last week regarding a major update on "Hearthstone," which will be called "The Grand Tournament," and will be available by August.

Eric Dodds, the game design manager, made the announcement during Blizzard's live event and described the upcoming expansion to focus more on "epic characters doing battle on epic steeds," according to a report from IGN.

The live event also revealed that new cards will be available with the expansion. Dodds also added that more new hero power cards will arrive.

As initially promised, "Hearthstone" players will now get the chance to place a pre-order for "The Grand Tournament" boost packs, which will be ready to open once the expansion arrives.

Battle.net provides full details of the deal, with Blizzard highlighting that the bundle is sold one time only for each Battle.net account holder.

Pre-purchasing the card packs will also let a player earn an exclusive Grand Tournament card back.

The packs may not be available for opening until the expansion, but the exclusive card back can be used immediately.

"The Grand Tournament" game will take place on a whole new board featuring different interactive areas, ShackNews reported. One includes an area where a player can enjoy scrumptious "virtual food" that will refresh from time to time as the match goes on.

As for "The Grand Tournament expansion," Blizzard has yet to make an announcement as to the specific date of release.

Meanwhile, iDigitalTimes reported that a section found in the official "Hearthstone" website suggests that several additional cards from the expansion game will be featured before the expansion itself becomes available.

There's also a page dedicated to cards that have been currently revealed so players can review them.

IGN made the latest reveal of cards that will appear in the expansion, and they include Savage Combatant — a Druid class card — and the neutral card Clockwork Knight.