The “It’s Raining Mana” Tavern Brawl took place in September of 2015. Little did I know at the time that I was about to take a hiatus from Hearthstone not long after this Tavern Brawl was over. The more matches I lose, the less fun Hearthstone becomes.
For this one, I was still happy because I was able to win one match and receive the free pack of Classic cards. The fun thing about this particular Tavern Brawl was that players got extra mana (starting on their second turn). The screenshots you see in this blog were taken on September 7. 2015.
The “It’s Raining Mana” Tavern Brawl said: Dalaran floats overhead. it’s soaking your deck with mana! On your first turn you get 1 like normal, but then you get 3, then 5, then 7, etc. The glowing chest indicates that there is a prize for players who manage to win at least one match in this Tavern Brawl. So far, the prize has always been a free pack of Classic cards.
This Tavern Brawl required players to build a special Tavern Brawl deck from the cards that they own. I can see both positive, and negative, things about this.
On a positive note, it allows players to use cards that they are very familiar with. This prevents the embarrassing problem of having an unfamiliar card appear in your deck and having absolutely no idea how to best use it.
On a negative note, this could open up the Tavern Brawls to the same problem that I’m seeing in regular Play or Ranked Play. The player who gets matched up with someone who has better cards is going to be at a disadvantage.
I picked my Mage deck, because it is the one I use the most. The screenshot above shows the cards I selected. I chose more higher-mana cards than typical, figuring that the “It’s Raining Mana” Tavern Brawl would allow me to make use of more of those cards than usual.
The one and only match I had time for in this Tavern Brawl was against a Rogue deck.
I got a lucky draw and had an Arcane Missile card in my starting hand. That card says: Deal 3 damage randomly split among all enemies. My opponent didn’t have any minions on the board, so all three Arcane Missiles caused her direct damage.
I put this screenshot in just to show the extra mana. My opponent just finished her second turn – and she had 3 mana. I am on my third turn – and I have 5 mana. It goes like this until you hit 10 (and then it just stays at 10 like usual).
My opponent played a Trade Prince Gallywix card. It is a Legendary card. The card says: Whenever your opponent casts a spell, gain a copy of it and give them a coin. I didn’t need a coin in this match because this particular Tavern Brawl was giving both players extra mana. So, I decided to just not cast any spells, specifically so my opponent couldn’t get a copy of whatever spell I used.
I’m not going to do an entire “play by play” of this match (because I think that would be really tedious). In short, my opponent used cards like Assassinate to kill off one of my minions, and cards like Shadowstep to put my minions back in my hand. She also used her dagger every chance she got (and used cards that made it have more attack than usual).
My opponent had not one, but two, Burgle cards. I’ve never seen that card before. It is a Rare card. The card says: Add 2 random class cards to your hand (from your opponent’s class.) In this instance, the Burgle card was pulling random Mage cards out of thin air and giving them to my opponent to use. She ended up being able to use Mage cards that were not in my deck – because I did not own those cards.
My opponent received (and used) an Ice Lance card. Scroll back up, and you will see that this card is not in my Tavern Brawl deck. I do not own this card at all. But, thanks to the Burgle card, I now have a situation where my opponent, who is not using a Mage deck, gets to use Mage cards that I’ve never owned against me.
Ironically, it turned out that the Burgled Mage cards were what caused my opponent’s doom. It appeared that she was unfamiliar with the Flamestrike card (which is a Mage deck card that her Burgle card gave to her). Flamestrike is a Basic card. The card says: Deal 4 damage to enemy minions.
4 damage would wipe out my Snowchugger (which only had 2 health points at the time). But, it wouldn’t completely kill off my other two minions. One of them had 5 health and the other had 6 health. The Flamestrike card would hurt those minions – but it wouldn’t kill them off completely.
It appears that my opponent figured out the problem (and attempted to fix it as best she could.) She used her Hero Power to kill off my minion that now only had 1 health point left. My other minion remains (with 6/2). On my next turn, I can use my Hero Power to throw a Fireball at her minion. That would kill it off and enable me to use my minion directly against my opponent. The minion has 6 attack points. My opponent has 3 health.
My opponent then used one of the emotes to say “Mistakes were made.”
After that, my opponent quit. I win!
VICTORY!
I only needed one win to earn the prize. This one win will do!
I have officially earned a free pack of cards.
The little box that used to say zero now says 1.
Time to find out what cards are hiding inside this pack.
Dark Iron Dwarf is a card that can be used by all classes (and in any deck). It says: Battlecry: Give a minion +2 Attack this turn. The white gem in the middle of the card indicates that this is a Common card.
Bane of Doom can only be used in a Warlock deck. The card says: Deal 2 damage to a character. If that kills it, summon a random Demon. The Purple gem indicates that this is an Epic card.
Mirror Entity is a card that can only be used in a Mage deck. It says: Secret: When your opponent plays a minion, summon a copy of it. The white gem indicates that this is a Common card.
Ice Block is a card that can only be used in a Mage deck. It says: Secret: When your hero takes fatal damage, prevent it and become Immune this turn. The purple gem indicates that this is an Epic card.
Explosive Shot is a card that can only be used in a Hunter deck. This one is the golden version, which means it has animated artwork (that is typically more shiny or sparkly than the regular version of the card). This card says: Deal 5 damage to a minion and 2 damage to adjacent ones. The Blue gem indicates that this is a Rare card.