The Tavern Brawl Open is a tournament series organized by GosuGamers, designed to give a hands-on experience to players who want to dive into the competitive world of Hearthstone, without struggling through grueling Constructed brackets. The tournament is held each week on both EU and NA servers and is free for everyone to join.

Ever since the Webspinner challenge was introduced during Curse of Naxxramas, Hearthstone fans wanted more of it. Now - they got it. 

The Webspinner brawl was deceptively simple. Players got to choose from either of nine classes. They'd get pre-constructed decks with randomized spells and [card]Webspinner[/card]s as their only minions. The goal was to contol the board and adapt to whatever [card]Webspinner[/card]s gave you and your opponent. 
 

Class stats


The first days of the brawl were tricky. Since all spells in all decks were randomized, players had to figure out the best possible class by sheer distribution of good/bad spells as well as application of the hero power. Classes like Mage and Druid drew a lot of popularity. Both classes could ping off enemy Webspinners without suffering damage; Druid also had mad [card]Swipe[/card] and [card]Wrath[/card] value and could even imbue Webspinners with [card]Soul of the Forest[/card] for a very persistent board.

Hunter was another logical choice. With the brawl centered around lots of cheap minions - all of which beasts - it made [card]Unleash the Hounds[/card] especially powerful. [card]Kill Command[/card] and [card]Explosive Trap[/card] also worked will with and against the Webspinner infestation, respectively. And a well timed [card]Feign Death[/card] could mean endless supply of beasts.

Those were also the three most picked classes in the four tournaments we held between Thursday and Sunday. For two of the three, the win-rates matched their popularity and only Rexxar held a subpar 42% win-rate. In the end, although the class features a lot of great spells, not getting them on time or at all meant playing with things like [card]Cobra Shot[/card], [card]Snipe[/card] or [card]Deadly Shot[/card]. Even the all-poweful tempo machine [card]Freezing Trap[/card] meant little against the multitude of 1-drops.

Staying on win-rate topic, there's one class that impressed - Warlock. Despite playing just four games, Warlock won all of them, boasting a proud 100% win-rate. True, it's a small sample of games, but still: Well done, Gul'Dan. 

Third behind Warlock and Mage came Rogue, a class not many players probably thought of first, but Valeera's hero power can actually eliminate two Webspinners for two mana and [card]Fan of Knives[/card] can do even more. [card]Backstab[/card], on the other hand, will always be a powerful tempo play, regardless of the match-up.


The first repeat champion


This week, we held a total of four Tavern Brawl Opens, two on NA and two on EU. More than 110 players in total signed up for these events, joining a round of casual tournament experience. On NA, Joseph "Thisisalongname" Smith and Nrhari "Deadfish101" Duran ruled the brackets. In Europe, Tenorio and Felix "Felix" Spittler came out victorious and for the latter, this was a weekend of excitement.

Felix is the first repeat champion of Tavern Brawl Open, but that wasn't the only thing to get excited about. In the finals, the brawler had to play Hearthstone veteran and tournament champion Jan "Ekop" Palys of Cloud 9. In a David vs Goliath battle, Felix ran away with the victory, his Rogue and Mage beating Ekop's Druid and Hunter.

Winners interviews
 

Congratulations on becoming Tavern Brawl champions! Feeling good? 

Felix: Feels really good. This was my second Tavern Brawl tournament win.

Thisisalongname: Thank you, it is always fun to win.


How was the tournament experience for you?

Felix: This tournament was quite funny with all the Webspinners.

Deadfish: Enjoyable, albeit difficult to learn how to work the site initially.


There wasn’t any deckbuilding involved compared to last week’s Brawl. The spells were also randomized each time. Did this make the Brawl worse or just more fun?

Felix: I prefer a Tavern Brawl where you can build your own deck. But there was at least some variety with the randomized class spells.

 Thisisalongname: As a Brawl it is probably my favorite so far. After a while you start to see the same beasts over and over, so I think [card]Unstable Portal[/card] would have been more fun, but still a great one. As for tournaments though, not really one that you can show your skill in. There are some tactics to gain an advantage, but in the end it was still mostly RNG and that makes winning a little bitter sweet.
 

What were the classes you predominantly stuck to? Or did you change line-up depending on opponents’ picks?

Felix: I always picked rogue and mage because they both have a really good hero power and good class spells.

Deadfish: Rogue was definitely the go-to class, primarily because of the cheap/efficient removal spells of cheap minions, tempo spells, and efficient hero power. Priest and Druid were the next best picks, being solid at controlling a wide range of threats and controlling the game's pace.

Thisisalongname: I stuck to Paladin and Mage through out. Somewhat because I had played those the most in constructed so knew their spells, but mostly because I thought their spells were best suited to this Brawl and most likely to give me an advantage. I noticed most would have a druid or priest, sometimes both, but felt they were too slow and their spells were very situational. For instance, one of my matches had my druid opponent play [card]Mark of Nature[/card] on a coin-turn-2 play. This buffed his Webspinner to a 1/5 taunt. While at first this seems good, all it really did though was do a little damage to me while I could freely run my Webspinners into him and get actual creatures to play. I had heard Rogue was very good, but the games I played with it didn't end well, so decided to stick to classes I knew.

"This Tavern Brawl was sometimes really luck dependent but in the end the better player will most likely win."


How many Brawl games did you play before entering the tournament? What lessons did you learn from them?

Felix: I played like 20 games before the tournament and learned to play around the crucial beasts like [card]Scavenging Hyena[/card] or [card]Stampeding Kodo[/card].

Deadfish: I played about thirty brawl matches before entering the tournament to grasp a few match-ups. I made an effort to play as each class and gauge their ability to deal with random beasts. I quickly learned the ineffectiveness of synergy dependent hero powers/hero powers that don't effect the board.

Thisisalongname: About ten or so. I learned that coin spinner is hardly a good play, and also that board clear is only really worth it when it kills less spinners and more creatures. Learning the value of [card]Tundra Rhino[/card] didn't hurt either.


A lot of people will say winning this Brawl is all about luck and no skill. As champions, do you disagree?

Felix: I agree that this Tavern Brawl was sometimes really luck dependent but in the end the better player will most likely win.

Deadfish: Yes and no. Clearly getting nothing but [card]Stonetusk Boar[/card]s will hamper your chances, but how you choose to play them, how you choose to clear your opponent's minions, and how you set up for the random beasts you may draw is all skill. To put it simply, getting [card]Savannah Highmane[/card], [card]Malorne[/card], and [card]Scavenging Hyena[/card]s is big, but setting yourself up for any beast is even bigger.

Thisisalongname: I wouldn't say no skill, though it is very RNG heavy this week. How you use your cards is just as important as which ones you get. There are occasions where the opponent will get one or two hyenas early and basically win from there, but majority of the time you got cards that can either get you big value and tempo if played correctly or flounder if not.

"It is probably my favorite Brawl so far."


Tell us your craziest story from this week’s Brawl tournament.

 Felix: In a game I had 2 [card]Pyroblast[/card]s virtually the whole game because I never had time to use them. I won the game with 4 life and 2 Pyroblasts in hand.

Deadfish: As a testament to the lesson in the last question, my most zany/difficult moment was a Rogue v. Druid where I faced two [card]Malorne[/card]s, both played in sequential order, with only a [card]Tundra Rhino[/card] and [card]Starving Buzzard[/card] and 18 health. When my opponent hit the face to put me in lethal range instead of clearing my minions, I knew I had a chance. I played some half dozen Webspinners, drew into another half dozen, got a hyena, and cleared the board with health and cards to spare thanks to free charge and unlimited spinners. With board control from there, the game swung back in my favor and the Druid couldn't help but lose to the Rhino-Arachnid forces.

Thisisalongname: Not sure if craziest, but my favorite moment was in a game with my Pally vs a Mage. I had cycled and gotten [card]Eye for an Eye[/card] in my starting hand, and was thinking that card would be pretty useless. It ended up saving me as I had put my opponent down to 1 health but couldn't finish the kill. He didn't have lethal on the board, but he would be within fireball or frostbolt/Tundra Rhino range so it was entirely possible to kill me from there. He also could have cleared my board and left me helpless with no direct damage. However, that card I thought would be useless ended up securing the win.


Now that you’ve won the wild Webspinner challenge, how much do you want to see Unstable Portal challenge?

Felix: An Unstable Portal challenge like the Webspinner challenge would be fine but it would be more interesting if you can create your own deck which has like 15 Unstable Portals by default.

Deadfish: Never. Again. Too many times have I seen [card]Neptulon[/card] from Unstable Portal to ever forgive the spell! Seriously, while I feel as though beast synergies are real and plausible, playing around any of 300+ minions is a very different story and much, much less controllable. The challenge, though wild, would be unplayable. I have a few ideas for cool brawls, but that is definitely not one of them.

Thisisalongname: So much it hurts. I would even settle for an RNG week were you get decks full of bombers and other RNG damage cards. I love some good RNG play.


What would you like to see introduced or improved to our Tavern Brawl Open initiative?

Felix: A prize for the winner. A few card packs for example.

Deadfish: Obviously a prize pool, be it small or even just a skin for the Warrior or something, would be nice and attract a larger player base. Still, if that's out of the question, maybe a GG.net streaming service or Twitch channel to host the tournament to make it feel that much more authentic. The tournament felt just a little too casual otherwise, but hey, it was definitely fun!