Shuffle into deck effects place cards into a player's deck, with its placement randomly determined. While not stated in card text, the randomness of the card's placement is achieved through subsequently shuffling the entire deck.[1]
Shuffle into deck effects may act upon existing cards, or be combined with generate effects to shuffle entirely new cards into the deck. Existing cards are usually shuffled into the currently controlling player's deck, but some shuffle into deck effects like 
Entomb act as mind control effects, by transferring ownership of a card to the other player. Return effects perform a similar function to shuffle into deck effects, but place a minion into the player's hand instead of their deck.
In addition to those explicitly stated on cards, all Joust effects include shuffle into deck effects; once a Joust is concluded, the Jousting minions are shuffled back into their respective decks.[2][3] These are assumed to function identically to explicit shuffle into deck effects.
Notes
- When a card is shuffled into the deck, the entire deck is shuffled.[4][5][6] This is to mimic real life shuffling of a card into a deck. This means that cards which were previously added to a specific place in the deck by effects like Sightless Watcher, Timeway Wanderer, Sphere of Sapience, or Lorekeeper Polkelt will be relocated randomly once a shuffle occurs.
- The shuffle animation only shows a card being inserted without any shuffling animation. The developers did not want to implement a shuffle animation because they did not want to bog things down for the player.[7]
- If a card says "shuffle", it shuffles; otherwise, it does not shuffle.[8] In almost all cases, this is true; however, there are a few exceptions.
- For example, Dr. Morrigan and Madam Goya[verification requested] strictly swap cards and do not shuffle the deck.
- For example, Sightless Watcher does not shuffle the two cards not chosen by the player. The two cards are kept in their original positions in the deck.
- For example, Secret Passage shuffles the deck at the end of the turn when cards are put back into the deck, despite its card text not containing the word "shuffle".
- For example,
- All decks have a predefined order on the server.[9]
- It is not possible to predict where a shuffled card will be placed in the deck. The visual display of the card going into the deck does not indicate order or placement in any way.[10]
- Shuffling a minion on the battlefield into the deck does not destroy it. This means Deathrattles are not triggered.[11][12]
- While most shuffle into deck effects place the stated card into the player's deck, some such as Recycle actually generate a copy of the card and shuffle that into the deck.[verification requested]
- It is possible for shuffle into deck effects to target cards currently in players' decks, at least by accident, as with Weasel Tunneler + Baron Rivendare.[13]
Cards that shuffle into deck
- For Wild format listings, see Shuffle into deck/Wild format
Listed below are all cards with explicit shuffle into deck effects. For a list of cards with Joust effects, see Joust.
Collectible
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Lore
Shuffle into deck effects tend to represent the card being buried, hidden or thrown out of the mortal realm. Beneath the Grounds and Iron Juggernaut explicitly cause cards to burrow beneath the ground, popping up to ambush the player as they are drawn. Entomb seals a minion away, with the possibility of them emerging again on the opposite side of the battlefield, while Recycle and Malorne seem to throw the minion back to an earlier point in the cycle of life and death, to be reborn later that game. Elise Starseeker and Forgotten Torch involve seeking something which is hidden, while Ancient Shade and Excavated Evil seem to set in motion a shadowy sequence of events. Gang Up is a thematic exception, apparently involving a call for reinforcements, as well as Weasel Tunneler which seems to "tunnel" itself into the opponent's deck. Another theme exists with Raptor Hatchling and Direhorn Hatchling, where their Deathrattle effects appearing to represent its parent coming to protect or avenge its offspring.
Trivia
- The phrasing of shuffle into deck effects does not explicitly mention the reshuffling of the player's deck, likely in order to keep the card text as short as possible. However, this is believed to be functionally insignificant since it is not possible for the player to see the order of cards in their deck without drawing them. Those effects which draw directly from the player's deck do so randomly and thus are not affected by the order of cards within the deck.[14][15]
- However, with the addition of cards like Lorekeeper Polkelt, Sightless Watcher and Sphere of Sapience, players have the ability to know where certain cards are in their deck. Having a card shuffled into your deck after playing Lorekeeper Polkelt will once again cause the cards to be in a random order.
Patch changes
Patch 2.0.0.7234 (2014-12-04): Added, with the new Recycle, Iron Juggernaut and Malorne cards.
References
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2016-01-19).
- ↑ Whirthun on Twitter. (2015-08-06).
- ↑ Whirthun on Twitter. (2015-08-06).
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2016-01-18).
- ↑ Chadd Nervig on Twitter. (2020-04-09).
- ↑ HysteriA (October 5, 2019). Hearthstone Mythbusters 90 - Can You Survive Mechathun?! (03:05). YouTube. Retrieved on 2019-10-05.
- ↑ Chadd Nervig on Twitter. (2020-04-11).
- ↑ Chadd Nervig on Twitter. (2020-07-24).
- ↑ Chadd Nervig on Twitter. (2020-07-24).
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2014-12-20).
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2014-12-05).
- ↑ PlayHearthstone on Twitter. (2015-11-09).
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhZr5Sa7Bms&t=0m52s
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2015-01-19).
- ↑ Ben Brode on Twitter. (2015-02-16).
