Tavern Brawl 1/20/2016
Hello fellow Hearthstone players and welcome to this week’s Tavern Brawl. What a glorious week for Tavern Brawl players. Blizzard has announced fireside tournaments of Tavern Brawl and the winners will advance to a national preliminary tournament. I have hosted fireside tournaments myself and they are a blast. Now players like me will have an opportunity at the latest tournament scene in Hearthstone. I wish I could host one this time but due to work commitments I will be unable to. This is indeed a great announcement and I look forward to more opportunities like this one in the future. Tavern brawl is a great format and sometimes you do not have to make decks so the playing field can seem more even in certain formats. Time to get started on this week’s Tavern Brawl.
Wednesday 1/20/2016
The new Tavern Brawl is out. The title is Captain Blackheart’s Treasure. The theme is based on “The Captain has left treasure for EVERYONE, but mostly for you! Each turn, open a chest of three random cards and chose one to put it in your hand”. First off you choose you hero, and the games begin. You do not build a deck this as you get three choices every turn for a card. I enjoy not building a deck just as much as I do building a deck. I like the change of pace of not having to make decks everytime. Just pick a hero and you’re off. I believe you will get a base of every card for that hero including neutral cards. I like this format because at some point I will play every hero.
Game Play 1/20/2016
The first game I chose a Hunter. My opening hand since I was getting the coin was four pirate. I pitched all four and got four pirates again. My first three cards to choose from were cobra shot, chillwind yeti, and gahz’rilla. I thought the Pirates fit better with a Rogue but we will see. The first opponent was a Priest and his first card played was a Pirate. I guess that’s the theme with everyone getting pirates in their opening hand hence Captain Blackheart. I think card decisions are very important but anything that deals with your deck or the opponent’s deck avoid because from what I have seen so far the only thing in your deck is Pirates because after you start the game you have three card choices. I think the deck is just their for picture purposes and to fill the standard screen for game play. The deck has no bearing from I can see. I received my first win very quickly, seven minutes in against a Warlock, by concede and earned the free pack which was a classic pack. The pack yielded me one blue armorsmith, and one gold deadly shot. The pack also netted me thirty five dusts. Overall very nice for seven minutes of time spent. I have a quest to win two games with a Mage or Shaman so that is going to be my next hero selection in Tavern Brawl to get it completed. I went with a Mage for the next couple of games and went two and two. The coin is the key. I think if you don’t have the coin you are at a disadvantage. I started to conceded to get the coin as it seemed every other match you get the coin from my experience. I finished the day at over fifty percent win rate even with conceding for the coin. I never recommend conceding normally in this format but all my wins were with the coin. The coin is very important in this format in my opinion.
Game Play 1/21/2016
I continue to use the Tavern Brawl to complete daily quests as it’s efficient and everyone is on the same playing field with the exception of who gets the coin. The added advantage here is the games are for the most part quick. I have only played Hunter, Mage, and Paladin at this point. I feel that it may not matter as much which hero you select other than midgame and late game planning. I will give more thoughts, insights, and recommendations tomorrow after some more time spent in the Tavern Brawl. I had some extra time finally this evening so I have some extra impressions. The matchups are not that critical as everyone starts out on equal playing field. The decisions you make each turn influences your opponent’s choices on card selection on his turn. You have to remember decisions are made each turn based on a player’s turn and what they do. The game can actually change turn by turn. I also think based on each player’s choice affects the next players options. The hero of choice for me in this format, after playing all heroes, is the Paladin. I think if you are looking for your first win for the free pack, I would choose the Paladin first to get it completed. After netting twenty plus wins in Tavern Brawl I must confess based on my games played that Paladin is the best choice here but keep in mind that revolves around you getting the coin. The coin is crucial here in my opinion. That is it for today. I will have more insights tomorrow.
Game play 1/22/2016
The quest earned today is “The meek shall inherit”. This quest is for the player to play thirty minions that cost two or less for forty gold. I will utilize Tavern Brawl for this as you start off with a hand full of pirates that cost two. The last two days I am starting to see more Paladins as opponents more than anything else. The ratio has been 2 to 1 verses any other hero. I think my second choice for a hero in this format would be the Priest. I still prefer the Paladin but that is my second choice. Keep in mind when selecting cards each turn that anything that deals with any deck should be avoided as from I have seen it only nets Pirates. I have tested that scenario many times and in my experience that’s all I received. I also determined that the Paladin has the best win rate without the coin and with the coin its win rate for me has been over sixty percent. I also want to let you any card draw abilities only netted more Pirates for me. I have decided to avoid any card choices that deal with any libraries for either player. The only card I would use is the Priest’s entomb because you are putting a useful card in your deck at the expense of your opponent. The Druid is an interesting opponent because the ones I faced had a taunt creature such as the druid of the claw and sledge belcher almost as a choice every turn. I did not have a tough time using my Paladin against the Druid but with taunts as his disposal they were long drawn out games. The Druid’s also had chances at aviana which is great late game for them and if they somehow get some card draw it can be difficult.
Parting Thoughts
I have to say this week’s Tavern Brawl has been very productive and fun to play. The majority of the games does go past turn ten but are still quick depending on your opponent’s think time of course. I did not see a lot of early concedes this time but only when lethal was on the board. I encourage all of you to try each hero at least once so you can see the card choices for each hero. That is it for this week look for my next week’s Tavern Brawl article. Peace out from Texas.
