Hearthstone: Embers of the World Tree Review - Main Cards and Mechanics!

Embers of the World Tree is the first Hearthstone mini-set of 2025! It is an extension of Into the Emerald Dream, which marked the start of the new year in Hearthstone. This set features an elemental theme and a new type of card - it will most likely be one of the most fun sets in all of Hearthstone!

On May 13th, this mini-set will add 38 new cards to the game: 4 Legendary cards, 2 Epic cards, 16 Rare cards, and 16 Common cards. You can get the regular version of the mini-set for US$14.99 or 2,000 Gold, which includes 72 cards: a copy of each Legendary card and two copies of all the other types of cards.

You can also get the Golden pack, which includes the 72 cards we mentioned above, but golden, and a diamond copy of the neutral legendary card Fyrakk the Blazing as a bonus.

Let's see the main cards from this set!

This set introduced a new mechanic: Smoldering cards. These cards get better each turn, but will be burned - discarded - if you keep them in your hand for too long.

The three Smoldering cards in this set are: Smoldering Grove, Smoldering Strength, and Smoldering Ascent.

They're quite interesting, as you'll have to time them really well. If you don't figure out a way to use them in just a few turns, they'll be burned. Drawing them on turn 1 will also force you to find a way to use them or risk burning them.

In all, three new cards were released for each of the 11 classes, as well as five neutral cards. Let's go through the ones we believe will impact the current meta and decks.

The three Death Knight cards are quite decent. Cremate and Frostburn Matriarch are two halves of a decent combo with one of the new keywords from Into the Emerald Dream. As for Volcoross, it will be a great option whenever you have a few leftover Corpses to use, and whenever you need to make your board stronger. It is also flexible, as you can use it to attack or defend yourself.

All three new Demon Hunter cards interact with each other: with Scorchreaver, you can Discover and discount the cost of Sigil of Cinder. When you play Sigil of Cinder, in turn, you'll activate Felfire Blaze, and deal even more damage to enemy cards. These three cards will most likely give control decks that focus on removing the enemy board even more space.

We might see some classic Druid Token decks in the meta again, as the three new cards for this class either create minions or buff them. Amirdrassil, Overheat, and Charred Chameleon are also quite cheap, which is common in Token lists.

With the two new Fire spells - Smoldering Grove and Scorching Winds - and the Elemental Inferno Herald, Mage lists will be able to create extremely cheap resources in your hand.

Priest lists might will be much more aggressive, as cards like Light of the New Moon and Spirit of the Kaldorei will help you build a very solid board.

Shaman lists will be rather slow. The new cards cost a lot of mana and deal a lot of AoE damage, that is, they effectively clear the enemy board. Emberscarred Whelp gives you one extra mana on the following turn, so it will be better in control lists.

One of the new Warrior cards stood out to me: Keeper of Flame, which will make handbuff Warrior lists even stronger. Hunter lists will also benefit from this card, as we can use a legendary card with Tourist to use this Warrior card in them. Handbuff strategies were already popular in the meta, and should become even more consistent.

Finally, a few neutral cards that stood out to me were Tindral Sageswift, which can damage all enemies considerably, and Fyrakk the Blazing, one of the stars of this mini-set. This Dragon not only has a rather striking artwork, but also casts random spells on random targets, a very fun effect. As it'll cast Fire spells in particular, it will probably be a good way to remove any dangerous minions and deal a lot of damage to the enemy hero.

Embers of the World Tree introduced new mechanics, even though it only gave us a few new cards. The Smoldering cards are interesting and the legendary minions, most of them, seem quite strong!

What did you think of the new mini-set? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!