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"Potassium Overwhelming!" - Tom "Matthieist" Matthiesen, 2015

It was a wild week at the tavern. We didn't have two monstrosities like Ragnaros and Nefarian clash claws, but instead King Mukla invaded the town, setting up the hugest distribution centre of bananas known to man.

As the brawlers studied the challenge, optimal decks and classes were found. Mage became the go-to class for this week's challenge. With cards like [card]Flamewaker[/card], [card]Sorcerer's Apprentice[/card] and [card]Archmage Antonidas[/card] - all of which work wonders with banana synergy - the majority of the population employed the services of Jaina and Medivh.

As we set up the first ever Tavern Brawl tournament in Hearthstone, we knew it was going to be Mage madness on the first day (Saturday). By the quarter finals, six of the eight players were using Mage, the rest being 1x Warlock and 1x Hunter which had to face each other, unfortunately. The Warlock became the winner in that one but he too was eliminated and that set up a Mage Mirror in the finals.

On the second day (Sunday), we banned Mage altogether, wanting to see what will happen when the dominant class is prohibited. We were almost fearing another mirror fest, as we knew how strong Warlock was in this format as well. It turns out we were wrong. The quarter finals featured 3x Warlock, 2x Paladin, 1x Shaman, 1x Priest and 1x Druid in a much more equal class distribution. And not having a mirror in the grand finals was a nice change of pace. 

Below are the cumulative stats from both days. Yes, even though Mage was banned entirely on day two, it's still the most winning class. And here are the decklists as well.

All Tavern Brawl VODs can be found here. 

Day 1: Grand final VODs

Day 2: Grand final VODs

Khauros interview

First of all - congratulations for becoming the first ever Brawl Champion! Do you feel special pride now?

Thanks a lot! It's an honour.

How did you enjoy the tournament, especially those crazy Mage mirrors?

I love the idea of Brawl tournaments with trying to abuse the format as much as possible each week. I expected a lot of mage obviously and built my deck with that in mind. The games were a lot of fun, with lots of huge swings by emptying your hand of bananas.

What was the most important part when deckbuilding a brawl mage to beat other similar decks like this?

Mage spells that don't have banana synergy were outclassed by many neutral minions that produce multiple bananas or increase their effect. I found that cards like [card]Ironbeak Owl[/card], [card]Wild Pyromancer[/card] and [card]Mind Control Tech[/card] were good counters to the meta.

You know, I was surprised that we didn't see more Hunters, since cards like [card]Hunter's Mark[/card] and Freezing/Explosive Trap help with tempo or [card]Violet Teacher[/card] tokens.

If I were to play Hunter I would definitely play Hunter's Mark and Unleash. I don't think those 2 traps would make the cut as they don't have banana synergy and can be played around.

How many brawl games did you play before entering the tournament? And how long have you been invested in Hearthstone in general?

My stats show me as having 87 wins, 14 losses with Mage in Brawl, so I played quite a bit. I've been playing Hearthstone since the release of Naxx last year.

Oh man, you really went hardcore with that, didn't you?

That's basically legend rank in Brawl, right?

Haha, indeed!

You switched to Warlock on day 2 after we banned Mage. What made you choose that class over the rest?

I had trouble finding a class with many cards actually worth playing over the many neutral minions with banana synergy. In the end I went for warlock just for Imp Gang Boss and Imp-losion, as well as lategame card draw if I run out of steam.

Do you prefer deckbuilding brawls or stuff like the Rag vs Nef battle?

Definitely deck-building, it's fun trying to find cards that abuse the format. Looking forward to seeing what Blizzard comes up with in future deck-building Brawls.

If you have to design a format for next week, what would it be?

Maybe something that would change up the early game of the usual 1-2 drops being played. How about all cards up to 3 mana cost are banned, players start at 4 mana?

Any final words to our readers?

I'm slightly disappointed that people are complaining that this week's Brawl was just tempo Mages, looking at my winning deck it only has 11 cards in common with a standard constructed tempo Mage deck. Anyway, looking forward to playing in future Brawl tournaments.
 

Felix interview

Let's start at the start: Congratulations on being one of the winners in our opening Tavern Brawl Open! Tell us a bit about yourself!

My name is Felix, I’m from Germany, 20 years old and currently doing my education as a Software developer.

What's your history with Hearthstone? How long have you been playing it and what attracted you with the Tavern Brawl Mode that you decided to actually join a tournament?

I’ve played Hearthstone since closed beta, but I never played a tournament before. I saw the post on reddit and thought, ok this is a good way to get into a tournament.

Do you think you'll try yourself in future Brawl Opens, or even normal tournaments now that you've had hands-on experience?

Yes for sure. This tournament was really fun and I hope for good future brawls. The banana brawl was ok, but I prefer to play control decks.

Ah, yes, the infamous Bananas. You took part in both: The first one was an unrestricted class-wise so it became a [card]Flamewaker[/card] fest. On Sunday, we banned Mage and we saw a lot more diversity. Which one did you like better?

I definitely liked the Mage ban more. First there was more variety of classes and second I felt more confident with my Warlock deck.

Why did you go for Zoo? We saw a lot of Paladins actually doing really well, especially in the bottom side of the bracket. There was even a Shaman Giants [card]Windfury[/card] deck that almost made it to the finals.

I thought after Mage was banned, that Warlock Zoo was the obvious best deck because of cards like [card]Imp Gang Boss[/card] and [card]Doomguard[/card]. I expected a lot of Warlocks. In my first two rounds I played two [card]Sacrificial Pact[/card]s, because I played against Warlocks.

Hah, that's smart! I remember Gnimsh used Pact like way back in 2014 at IEM. The ultimate teching I guess.

Yes, later I changed the Pacts with [card]Acidic Swamp Ooze[/card] because I played against Paladins.

Overall, how did you like this week's Tavern Brawl? Do you prefer these kinds of deckbuilding challenges or something like week 1?

This week’s Tavern Brawl was way better than the first one, because of the deckbuilding part. Rag vs. Nefarian got boring for me after the first game, because deckbuilding is the most fun part of every cardgame for me. The banana brawl wasn’t really special, but it was really cool to see some usually unused cards like [card]Mana Addict[/card] or [card]Dragon Egg[/card]. I hope for more and crazier brawls in the future.

If you were to design a Brawl Challenge for next week, what would it be?

That’s a hard question, but a brawl where every minion has its stats reversed would be interesting.

Enter [card]Dr Boom[/card] galore... You're wishing doom upon us all!

Just play [card]Injured Blademaster[/card]! And [card]Illidan Stormrage[/card] might see play finally.

Indeed, indeed.

You're actually leading the Brawl rankings at the moment, having finished top 4 in the first one on top of your victory in cup #2. How many Brawl games did you play before the tournament?

Actually, I didn’t play much, maybe 15 games before the first tournament and 15 additional games before the second tournament.

Damn, so you're a natural at this, then? You haven't been in a real bar brawl, have you?

No.

We'll be waiting for you next week to defend your position! Any closing words?

The tournament was really fun and I hope more players participate in the future.


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