I’ve been enjoying the Tavern Brawls in Hearthstone, and try to get into as many as I can. The randomness of the rules in the Tavern Brawl, and the access to cards I don’t actually have, makes things really fun.
The “Too Many Portals!” Tavern Brawl took place at the end of July/beginning of August 2015. This particular Tavern Brawl had 10 hours left when I started playing it. I had enough time to play until I managed to win a match (and earn the free card pack). The screenshots you see in this blog were taken on August 2, 2015.
When I started playing this Tavern Brawl, I was expecting a whole lot of portals. The Tavern Brawl lived up to its name.
The “Too Many Portals!” Tavern Brawl says: The master mages of Dalaran have gone too far this time, opening up hundreds of portals! Choose a class and use a few spells and a WHOLE lot of portals to defeat your rivals!
I selected my Mage Deck. It seemed to fit the theme, and Mages use a lot of spells.
My hope was that I would have enough time to win at least one match before this Tavern Brawl ended. Players who won one match in this Tavern Brawl were rewarded with a Classic Pack of cards. I lost the first two matches I played and won the third one.
This is the hand I started with in the first match I played. The Tavern Brawl gave me a Mage deck with a bunch of Unstable Portal cards. That card says: Add a random minion to your hand. It costs (3) less. So, basically what a player needed to do was play the Unstable Portal cards in order to obtain minions. The minions did not come from my deck – and most of them were cards I did not know and had never had the opportunity to play.
First, play one of your Unstable Portal cards. An awesome looking portal opens. To me, it looked like the portals would take you to Ironforge.
The portal card gives you a random minion. This time, I got Big Game Hunter, a card I do not own and was not in my Mage deck. Part of what made this Tavern Brawl fun was waiting to see what random minion a portal card would give me. It was also really amusing to see portals popping up almost every turn of the game. You could see your own portal – and the portal your opponent made.
The screenshots that follow are from the one match that I managed to win. (The above screenshots are from the first match I played – which I lost.)
As I mentioned before, I was using a Mage deck. My opponent was using a Shaman deck.
This is the hand I started out with. I’ve never seen the Dragon’s Breath card before. It says: Deal 4 damage. Costs (1) less for each minion that died this turn.
The first portal card I used gave me Dragon Consort. It says: Battlecry: The next Dragon you play costs (2) less.
My opponent used a portal and it gave him Blingtron 3000. It says: Battlecry: Equip a random weapon for each player. I’d never seen this card before, and I hadn’t quite grasped what this card would do. Then, I noticed that both of us had obtained a weapon.
Blingtron 3000 gave me Death’s Bite. It says: Deathrattle Deal 1 damage to all minions. This weapon gives my portrait 4/2.
Blingtron 3000 gave my opponent Eaglehorn Bow. It says: Whenever a friendly Secret is revealed, gain +1 Durability. It made my opponent’s portrait 3/2. If my opponent used a card that had a Secret, the Eaglehorn Bow would receive additional durability.
This screenshot was taken after we both used up the weapons that Blingtron 3000 gave us. If I remember correctly, I used mine to take out Blingtron 3000 and to hit my opponent directly. I also used my minion to hit my opponent and take away 1 more health. He used his weapon to hit my minion (who started out 1/7).
Next, I played my Dragon Consort card. The Blood Imp card I played had to have come from an Unstable Portal.
The Blood Imp card says: Stealth. At the end of your turn, give another random friendly minion +1 Health. This worked out pretty well for me. My opponent could not directly attack the Blood Imp minion while it was in Stealth. It would remain in Stealth forever – unless I decided to use it to attack him (or one of his minions). Blood Imp is 0/1, which means it is not possible for me to use it to attack anything. (I’d have to find a way to “buff” it first, and didn’t have any cards that could do that.)
Every turn that Blood Imp still exists, it gives one of my other minions a +1 Health. It heals them! The only way for my opponent to get rid of the Blood Imp would be to use a card that automatically does damage to it when that card is played. He can’t use a minion against it and doesn’t have a Hero power that can target it.
My opponent played Abomination (which he got from an Unstable Portal). It says: Taunt. Deathrattle: Deal 2 damage to ALL characters. This card was a good one to play if his goal was to take out my Blood Imp. Abomination deals 2 damage – Blood Imp only has 1 health.
The Abomination card killed my Blood Imp. It also damaged my Dragon Consort and made it a 5/3 card. It damaged my Mogu’shan Warden card and made it a 1/1. Abomination gave me 2 damage, and I went from 24 health to 22 health.
The thing to keep in mind about Abomination is that it damages ALL characters – including the player who used the card and all of their minions that are on the board. So, Abomination took my opponent’s health from 24 to 22, and wiped out his Acolyte of Pain (which was at 1/2 right before he played Abomination).
I used my Dragon’s Breath card, which I was one of the three cards that were in the first hand I was dealt this match. It says: Deal 4 damage. Costs (1) less for each minion that died this turn. As a result, my opponent was now at 20 health. I used my Mogu’shan Warden to knock him down to 16 health points. Overall, the Abomination card hurt my opponent more than it hurt me.
My opponent used Lava Shock. It says: Deal 2 damage. Unlock your Overloaded Mana Crystals. I don’t think my opponent used any cards that had Overload, so that part of the Lava Shock card probably didn’t change anything. The 2 damage from Lava Shock killed my Mogu’shan Warden.
My opponent conceded. I won!
VICTORY!
Players who won their first match in the “Too Many Portals!” Tavern Brawl earned a free Classic pack of cards.
The Tavern Brawls keep track of the number of wins a player earns while the Brawl is active. There is my officially counted 1 win!
Time to open the free pack of Classic cards and find out what cards are inside it!
BOOM!
Cold Blood is a card that can only be used in a Rogue deck. It says: Give a minion +2 Attack. Combo: +4 Attack instead. The white gem means that this is a Common card.
Gadgetzan Auctioneer is a card that can be used in any deck. It says: Whenever you cast a spell, draw a card. It costs 6 mana to play this card, which means you can’t use it before your sixth turn. I can see where getting some extra cards at that point in the game would be useful. In addition, this card is 4/4, which means you can use it to attack stuff. The blue gem means that this is a Rare card.
Arathi Weaponsmith is a card that can only be used in a Warrior deck. It says: Battlecry: Equip a 2/2 weapon. This card is 3/3. The white gem means that this is a Common card.
Battle Rage is a card that can only be used in a Warrior deck. It says: Draw a card for each damaged friendly character. The white gem means that this is a Common card.
Worgen Infiltrator is a card that can be used by All Classes. It says: Stealth. The white gem means that it is a Common card.