Today's Hearthstone Battlegrounds Update Adds A New Keyword And Swaps Out Dozens Of Minions

Note: Activision Blizzard is still under investigation by the state of California for serious harassment charges.

Hearthstone's Battlegrounds mode has received a major revamp today that adds a new keyword and makes a series of other fundamental changes to the mode. The Avenge keyword is unique to Battlegrounds and triggers after a certain number of friendly minions die. The other major changes to the mode are that damage per turn is capped at 15 until at least one player is knocked out of the game, and the timer for turns three through nine has been increased by five seconds.

Today's patch also brings a large number of changes to the card pools for the mode. 37 minions have been swapped out, and there are two new heroes: Master Nguyen and Cariel Roame. You can see the full list of changes on the Hearthstone site.

Meanwhile, Blizzard revealed details regarding the new mode coming to the game on October 12, Hearthstone Mercenaries. This mode will see players recruit parties to take on procedurally generated bounties, "combining RPG and roguelike elements with some of your favorite Hearthstone characters." You can get several heroes for free by playing the mode when it launches or pre-purchase one of three bundles, featuring Sylvanas, the Witch King, and -- in a bit of Blizzard crossover magic -- Diablo.