Images courtesy of Blizzard
In this guide, I’ll walk you through all the fundamentals of how Hearthstone Standard format works, including what it is, why it exists, and who it’s best suited for. Whether you’re brand new to the game or someone returning to the tavern after a decade-long break, I’ll help you understand why the Standard format is such a big deal — and how to jump right in.
What is Hearthstone Standard Format?
Standard is basically Hearthstone’s flagship format. It works as a limited, curated collection of expansions plus the Core Set. Unlike Wild, which throws in every single card ever printed, Standard only keeps the most recent sets and rotates older ones out each year.
By trimming out older expansions on an annual cycle, Blizzard makes sure the Standard meta will always stay fresh. Need proof? Just wait until the next Hearthstone expansion drops; you’ll see the entire ladder going wild (pun intended) with deck experimentation, even if the cards are weak.
For newcomers or more casual players, the Standard format is a godsend, as you don’t have to collect every card from Hearthstone’s past to stay competitive.
How Standard Rotation Works
In Hearthstone, each expansion typically remains in Standard for about two years. Long story short, all expansions from two years ago rotate out when a new Standard year starts. The trick is that expansions released in the same “Standard year” will all rotate out together once that year ends, no matter when they launched.
Here’s where it actually can get confusing: a Standard year doesn’t line up with the normal January-to-December calendar. Instead, Hearthstone usually starts its new Standard year in the spring, right alongside the first major expansion of that period.
Each Standard year gets its own special name (like “Year of the Phoenix,” “Year of the Unicorn,” “Year of the Elephant,” you get the deal). Any expansions released during that named year, whether in March or December, count as part of the same block. When the next Standard year arrives, the entire block from two years ago rotates out together.
If an expansion arrives early in the Standard year, it’ll typically stay in Standard for close to two full years. If another expansion launches late in that same Standard year, it’ll still rotate out at the same time, so it might stick around for more like 16 or 17 months. Either way, they all leave in bulk when the following year’s new Standard cycle begins, making room for the latest expansions.
- NOTE: You can check which year each Hearthstone expansion and its corresponding mini-sets belong to on the official Hearthstone expansions page.
How Core Set Works in Hearthstone Standard Format
The Core Set is a pool of staple cards that Blizzard offers to all players free of charge, and it changes every Standard year.
If you’re coming from the days of Basic and Classic sets, the Core Set is basically the modern replacement for those old evergreen cards. Back in the early days of Hearthstone, Basic and Classic served as the foundation for every deck.
While they got the job done, they eventually started to feel stale; some cards never saw play, while others were simply limiting design space for new expansions. The Core Set fixes both problems by letting Blizzard choose the best (and most balanced) cards to keep around, and then rotate them if they cause issues or lose relevance.
How to Unlock Hearthstone Core Set Cards
One of the best parts about the Core Set is that you don’t have to spend gold or dust to get it. Instead, you unlock these cards just by leveling up each class in Hearthstone.
| Class Level | Rewards |
| Level 1 | You start off with the hero and a few initial Core cards right away. It’s basically your welcome package to that class. |
| Levels 2, 4, 6, and 8 | At these milestones you’ll pick up more class-specific Core cards. This is where you’ll see stronger cards compared to what you’ve started playing with. |
| Level 10 | Once you reach level 10, you unlock all the regular (non-golden) Core Set cards for that class. By this point, you’ll have the class’s full Core Set. |
Anything past level 10 usually involves unlocking golden versions or other cosmetics — which are optional goodies, not must-haves. Since you can level up simply by playing matches in literally any game mode, grabbing these Core cards doesn’t feel like a grind; you easily can do each class in less than an hour.
Hearthstone Standard Packs
Standard Packs in Hearthstone are special card packs that can contain any card from the current Standard format.
Unlike an expansion-specific pack, these don’t limit you to cards from just one set. Instead, they pull together all the expansions that are legal in Standard at the time you open them. Like any Hearthstone pack, you’re guaranteed to see at least one Rare (or higher card rarity) per pack.
Alright, that about covers how Hearthstone Standard format works. If you want to see which expansions are going to leave Standard this year, check out Hearthstone 2025 Rotation: Key Cards Leaving Standard by yours truly. Good luck on the ladder, and see you in the next meta!
