Tavern Brawl is something new in Heartstone. Each Brawl lasts for only a few days, and then gets replaced by a completely different one. There are unique rules for each Tavern Brawl, which I think helps to keep it interesting. To my surprise, I’m actually finding the Tavern Brawls to be a lot of fun!
In order to access a Tavern Brawl, a player must have at least one deck that is level 20 (or higher). It doesn’t matter which deck that happens to be. This time (and in the previous Tavern Brawl) player who won their first match received a free pack of cards.
I think of this particular Tavern Brawl as the “Banana Brawl”. It had some special banana cards that players could use in a number of ways. I ended up wining 2 matches before the “Bananas Brawl” ended. The screenshots you see in this blog were taken on June 24, 2015.
When I jumped into this new Tavern Brawl, the Innkeeper reminded me that the rules in there were going to be different from the rules last time around.
Innkeeper: There’s a new set of CRAZY rules each week!
This is the “Banana Brawl” screen. There are three somewhat sentient bananas that are dancing while standing in what looks like a pie. Streamers that fall down upon them suggest that this is a celebration of some kind.
The text says: Mukla is a year older, and he LOVES bananas! Whenever one of your minions dies, he gives you a Banana to celebrate!
I had absolutely no idea who Mukla was when I was playing the “Banana Brawl”. My best guess is that this Brawl is referring to a Legendary card that is called King Mukla. His battlecry gives your opponent 2 bananas.
The bottom of the screen shows zero wins. Would I be able to change that number? There is also a glowing chest, which indicates that there would be a prize. The previous Tavern Brawl gave players a free pack of cards after they won their first match. I expected that the same would happen this time around.
Off to the side, there is a box that says “Create Deck”. That’s new! Last time, players were handed pre-made decks (and randomly assigned to play as one of the two NPCs). This time, I get to use cards that I actually own. This also means that my opponent also gets to use their own cards. Would this Brawl become yet another situation where the player who has earned, crafted, or purchased the highest powered cards always wins?
This is what my Brawl Deck looked like. I was expecting to be able to use my “regular” Mage deck, but the “Banana Brawl” required players to make a new deck. I seem to have accidentally failed to take a screenshot of the entire Brawl Deck. Oh, well. At least I managed to show most of the cards that I put into it.
My first match was against a player who was using a Priest deck.
I’m going to feature some screenshots from the first match I had in the “Banana Brawl”. It used the “Jungle” setting, which seemed appropriate.
The fun begins after somebody loses a minion. I killed off his Goldshire Footman. Mukla gave him a Bananas card. It said: Give a minion +1/+1. He used it to buff up his Snowchugger card. So, instead of it being 2/3, it was now 3/4.
He used his buffed up Snowchugger to kill my Snowchugger. In doing so, his Snowchugger took 2 damage, and was now 3/2. I received a Rotten Banana card when my Snowchugger died. I used it on his Snowchugger to make it a 3/1 card. Then, I used an Arcane Missiles card to do 3 points of random damage.
One of the 3 damage points from my Arcane Missiles hit his Snowchugger (and killed it). That gave my opponent a banana card. Another point of damage hit his Nerubian Egg minion, and the third point hit my opponent directly.
He used a Shadow Word: Pain card to kill my Blood Knight. The Shadow Word: Pain card says: Destroy a minion with 3 or less Attack. My Blood Knight was 3/3. I did get to use that (directly against my opponent) before it died, so I was ok with this. Especially since…
…I knew it would give me a Banana card. This time, I got a Deviate Banana card that said: Swap a minion’s Attack and Health. My opponent used his own Bananas card, which said: Give a minion +1/+1. He used it on his Nerubian Egg card. So, instead of it being 0/1, it was now 1/1. Next, he used his buffed Nerubian Egg card to kill my Elven Archer. (This, of course, resulted in me being given another banana card.)
Anyway, I think you get the idea of how the “Banana Brawl” works. The extra banana cards, and the special things they did, made things interesting. I ended up winning my first match when my opponent conceded.
VICTORY!
Players who won their first match in the Banana Brawl were rewarded with a free pack of (Classic) cards. Before I open the pack, I want to take a minute to highlight the super fun Banana Cards. I ended up winning a total of 2 matches in the “Banana Brawl” (which doubles my winning from the first Tavern Brawl – where I only won 1 match).
Bananas: Give a minion +1/+1
Big Banana: Give a minion +2/+2
Deviate Banana: Swap a minion’s Attack and Health.
Rotten Banana: Deal 1 damage.
Time to open my free pack of cards!
BOOM!
Inner Fire is a card that can only be used in a Priest Deck. The card says: Change a minion’s Attack to be equal to its Health. The white gem in the middle of this card indicates that it is a Common card.
Sunwalker is a card that can be used in any Deck. It says: Taunt Divine Shield. The blue gem in the middle of this card indicates that it is a Rare Card. I can see where this card could provide a powerful defense.
Siphon Soul is a card that can only be used in a Warlock Deck. It says: Destroy a minion. Restore 3 Health to your hero. The blue gem in the center of this card indicated that it is Rare.
Earth Shock is a card that can only be used in a Shaman Deck. It says: Silence a minion, then deal 1 damage to it. The white gem in the center of this card indicates that it is a Common card.
Aldor Peacekeeper is a card that can only be used in a Paladin Deck. It says: Battlecry: Change an enemy minion’s Attack to 1. The blue gem in the center of this card indicates that it is a Rare card.
Overall, I think this pack was a good one. It had 3 rare cards, and I didn’t already have any of them. The “Banana Brawl” was fun and I was able to be somewhat successful in it. It’s always more fun when I can win a match or two (instead of losing almost all of them). I’ve no idea what upcoming Tavern Brawls will be like, but I hope they bring back the Banana Brawl again someday.