Hearthstone's next expansion will be revealed this week

The wheels are turning on a new Hearthstone expansion, and while we don't know yet when it will be released, we do know when it will be revealed: at 9:30 am PT/12:30 pm ET on July 1.

Lead designer Alec Dawson will start the reveal event off with an overview of the second phase of the Year of the Gryphon, after which game designers Liv Breeden and John McIntyre will get into the meat of what's coming in the new card set. There will also be news on Hearthstone Battlegrounds.

Something that won't be seen during the stream is Hearthstone Mercenaries, the team-based roguelike mode with simultaneous combat that was revealed in February. A recent survey leak gave us a little more insight into what it's all about, but Blizzard said the mode isn't ready for its closeup just yet. The expectation right now is that Mercenaries will be rolled out sometime during Year of the Gryphon phase two. A date for that hasn't been set, but a "dedicated Hearthstone Mercenaries stream" will take place sometime in the fall.

As for the next expansion, there are no further details but the tease pretty obviously hints at something themed after the Alliance. Given that the previous expansion, Forged in the Barrens, was all for the Horde, that makes sense. The Hearthstone expansion reveal will be streamed on Twitch and YouTube, and we'll have an interview with the developers going shortly after the show ends.