Generate

Generate is an ability which creates new cards and places them into a player's hand or shuffles them into the player's deck.

Notes

• Generation cards may generate entirely new cards, or combine with a Copy effect to generate copies of existing cards. Discover effects incorporate a generate effect for the chosen card, while Summon and equip effects are essentially generate effects which place the generated minion or weapon directly into play, without passing through the player's hand.

• Generate effects often provide the only means of obtaining uncollectible cards like Spare Parts, Power of the Horde or even Burrowing Mine, but can also create collectible cards. Many generate random cards from a pool of possibilities. Cards created by generate effects usually display the text "Created by [name of card]" when played by the opponent or moused over in the history.

• Generate effects are distinguished from card draw and put into hand effects which draw cards from the player's deck; from Summon effects which summon new minions directly onto the battlefield; and from equip effects which directly equip the hero with new weapons.

• Generate effects cannot create cards in a player's hand if the hand is already full (10 cards). Effects which generate multiple cards, such as Thoughtsteal, will generate as many as possible without exceeding the maximum hand size. The same is true for generate effects which shuffle cards into the player's deck, although the deck maximum of 60 cards means this is rarely a concern.

• Card generation to the player's hand is often worded in one of two ways: "Add [card] to your hand" or "Get [card]". While most cards use the former, the preferred wording ever since the TITANS expansion is "Get [card]". In any case, both types of wording have the exact same effect.

Cards

For Wild format listings, see Generate/Wild format.

All cards with specific generate effects are listed below. For related effects, see Discover, Equip and Summon.

Swipe left or right to see the cards.

Excluded from card generation

For Wild format listings, see Generate/Wild format.

These cards are excluded from all types of card generation in Standard format.

Swipe left or right to see the cards.

Patch changes

• Patch 28.4.0.192412 (2024-01-18): Cards with multiple versions of themselves (such as Core cards) can no longer generate the other version of itself.
• Server-side patch (2020-08-13):
  • Discover cards can no longer Discover themselves randomly.
  • Cards that 'generate a random card' can no longer generate themselves.

Dev comment: Overall, this change is aimed at helping games feel a bit more varied. While generating the same card can be an exciting individual moment, these types of experiences tend to have diminishing returns after a while. These adjustments should make for healthier games against classes with a ton of resource generation.

For more info and examples, see Game Mechanics Updates.