'Hearthstone' gameplay news: Jousting and new rewards coming

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A new gameplay mechanic known as Jousting has been added to "Hearthstone."

The new mechanic will be adding cards with the joust ability to "Hearthstone." Once someone has drawn a card with the joust ability, both players will now have to draw a random card from the two decks. The player who draws the card with the higher value or mana will be considered the winner of the joust. As a reward, the player who ends up winning will also receive the boost specified on the initial card that started the joust.

Some of the cards that will have the joust ability have already been revealed.

As one of the new cards is the Master Jouster, it can grant the winner of the joust both the taunt and divine shield abilities. Another card that will feature the joust ability will be the Tuskarr Jouster, and this card will restore seven health points to a player's hero.

With the addition of Jousting, Blizzard hopes that players will now be more inclined to add a more diverse array of powerful cards into their decks, according to PC Gamer.

In addition to the new Jousting gameplay mechanic, "Hearthstone" will also have a new monthly rewards feature moving forward.

The new addition, known as Highest Rank Bonus, will effectively give players incentive to participate in more ranked matches in "Hearthstone," according to Polygon.

With Highest Rank Bonus, players will no longer need to worry about their rank going down even in the midst of a losing streak. Instead, players will be rewarded for the highest rank they managed to achieve in "Hearthstone" in a given month. Players who manage to exceed level 20 in a given month while playing "Hearthstone" will receive rewards in the form of new golden cards and arcane dust.

Both Jousting and Highest Rank Bonus will be included in "The Grand Tournament" expansion.