Manathirst, Hearthstone’s new Keyword for March of the Lich King expansion. How does it work?

The March of the Lich King, Hearthstone’s latest expansion, will be a long journey, are you Manathirst already? The Death Knight class and undead minions are not the only new things in the March of the Lich King expansion, the Manathirst Keyword will play a big role in the months to come. Let's go over how this new Manathirst Keyword works in Hearthstone ahead of the December 6th release.

Hearthstone mechanics serve the purpose of telling stories. Early in 2022, we saw the Dredge in the aquatic Voyage to the Sunken City expansion. Then, with Murder at Castle Nathria, Sire Denathrius presented the Infuse keyword.

The March of the Lich King introduces Manathirst as the new Hearthstone Keyword. In this article, we will focus on this mechanic. However, if you wish to check out all the details about the new Death Knight class, Runes or the Undead minion type, we've got you covered. Below you can find a guide for each of them:

The new Manathirst Hearthstone Keyword will present players with a strategic decision. Cards with the Manathirst keyword will have an additional and more powerful effect once the player reaches that amount of Mana.

For example, Silvermoon Sentinel is a 3 Mana 2-5 Taunt minion (poor Silvermoon Patriarch). However, if you play the card when you have 8 Mana available, the new Manathirst Hearthstone keyword will activate, giving the card +2/+2 and Divine Shield.

One important thing to have in mind is that Manathirst doesn't consume the Mana required to activate the effect. The number is only a condition you need to meet to gain the additional bonus.

The Manathirst keyword also applies to Hearthstone spells. We have seen very few cards from the March of the Lich King expansion. Still, Blizzard revealed Embers of Strength, a Warrior Fire spell that also has the new Hearthstone Manathirst Keyword.

Sometimes games recycle mechanics. Hearthstone usually takes successful concepts from cards and turns them into something bigger and better. In that sense, the Manathirst Keyword from the March of the Lich King expansion can be compared to the Ranked spells from Forged in the Barrens.

Ranked spells had a base effect that improved whenever players reached 5 and 10 Mana crystals. The idea behind Ranked spells and the new Manathirst keyword is that Hearthstone players don't feel bad about drawing an early game card later in the game.

Most Ranked spells saw tons of play. They are even core cards in top-tier decks today. This makes us think that the new Manathirst Hearthstone cards should be something we should pay close attention to.

There is much more to discover in the March of the Lich King Hearthstone expansion so stay tuned to Esports.gg for more news and updates.