Blizzard has announced new details regarding its free-to-play collectible strategy card game, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.

To start, there will be over 300 cards in the game. Players can unlock cards by purchasing or earning card packs, which will contain five cards each and maintain the rarity hierarchy of the World of Warcraft universe. A rep for Blizzard mentioned that packs will be set at $1, but this could change in the future as they modify the game. Blizzard made a point to create a dynamic interface where users can "virtually" open their packs -- the hope is that it exudes the same excitement of opening up a card pack in real life.

During the reveal, Blizzard showed off "The Forge" which is a card-crafting element where players can create their own cards for maximum deck customization. The Forge allows players to "disenchant" cards, which breaks them down and uses the ingredients to craft a new card of the player's choosing. To test these out, there is a practice mode where players can quickly compete against AI before starting a real game. Blizzard is also adding an "easy creation" deck mode to help novice players customize their own decks, or for the super lazy, the game can create a deck for you. 

Players can choose from nine heroes to represent their deck, similar to a Planeswalker in Magic: The Gathering. Each hero has a different class that aligns with the cards in the player's deck -- for example, a Rogue hero will benefit from having rogue-like cards that support the class. The board is a typical 1v1 play area, again very similar to Magic: The Gathering, where players cast card "spells" against each other and interact via hero emotes.

Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is playable on the show floor at PAX East starting now, so if you're here head on over to the booth to try it out!