At the grand opening of the HCT Spring Championships, Blizzard has revealed Hearthstone‘s next expansion, Knights of the Frozen Throne. Darker in tone than any Hearthstone expansion we’ve seen so far, it’ll ask: “What if everyone dies?”

Knights of the Frozen Throne will introduce brand new ‘Hero’ cards to the game which, when played, will turn your hero into a ‘Death Knight’ version of their former selves. You won’t just end up with glowy blue eyes, but you’ll enter with a powerful ‘Battlecry’ ability and an entirely new hero power.

The example given in the announcement video is Deathstalker Rexxar, which does two damage to all enemy minions when played, grants you five armour and changes your hero power to Build-A-Beast. This new power ‘stitches’ two beasts together to create a single, disgusting abomination with combined stats and card text.

Elsewhere, there’ll be more ‘Deathrattle’ minions, because of course. The ‘Lifesteal’ ability is coming to minions and spells too, allowing you to heal for the damages caused by these cards.

Players will also be able to take part in eight, free, single player missions and face off against some iconic bosses from the Icecrown Citadel raid in World of Warcraft. Completing just one of these encounters will award you with one free legendary Hero card at random. A nice touch, so you can try out the new mechanic without having to pray for a lucky card pack.

More info and card spoilers can be found over on the official Hearthstone site, where you’ll also be able to pre-purchase 50 card packs at a discounted price of $49.99/£44.99.

Hearthstone: Knights of the Frozen Throne is scheduled for release this August.