Storming Stormwind

The subject of this article is only available in Tavern Brawls.

"Lay siege to Stormwind! The city starts with 1 Health and goes up as you hit it. How much damage can YOU do?"

Storming Stormwind is a Tavern Brawl. It debuted on August 3, 2016.

This is the first single-player Tavern Brawl.

History

Tavern Brawl	Start	End
60	August 3, 2016	August 8, 2016

Overview

This first ever single-player Brawl sees players competing with constructed decks of any class against the computer-controlled hero City of Stormwind.

The objective of this Brawl is to inflict as much damage as possible upon the enemy hero before the player's Health is reduced to zero. When the player takes fatal damage, the Brawl ends in victory for the player. The player can also end the Brawl by dealing 1000 damage to the enemy hero. At the end of the Brawl, a scoreboard appears showing the total amount of damage dealt to the enemy hero, the number of turns played, and the number of enemy minions destroyed.

The City of Stormwind starts the game with the Armory weapon equipped, and from turn 2 onward the weapon's Attack is increased by 1 at the start of each turn. If it is destroyed, the weapon will replace itself at the end of the City's turn; the replacement weapon will have its Attack reset to 0, but will gain in Attack more rapidly until it catches up to the value it would have had that turn if it had not been destroyed. Armory is never used by the enemy hero to attack, but grants its Attack value in stats to Swordsman and Shieldsman, leading to ever more powerful minions being summoned as the match progresses. The City of Stormwind's Hero Power Barracks is auto-cast, meaning it is used at the start of any turn where the hero has at least 2 mana, immediately after Armory gains Attack.

Boss

Special cards

Deck

Please add any available information to this section.

The City of Stormwind uses a 40-card deck for the encounter, augmented by the minions summoned by Barracks, mostly composed of mage and paladin cards. Its deck notably includes some uncollectible cards, such as Armor Plating. The below table lists the maximum number of times each card has been seen within a single match, but given the size of the deck is likely missing many duplicate copies.

Class	Card	No
Mage	Arcane Missiles	2
	Flamecannon	1
	Cone of Cold	1
	Duplicate	2
	Fireball	1
	Frostbolt	1
	Mirror Entity	2
	Mirror Image	1
Neutral	Armor Plating	1
	Emergency Coolant	1
	Finicky Cloakfield	1
	Mind Control Tech	1
	Rusty Horn	1
	Stormwind Champion	1
	Target Dummy	2
Paladin	Blessed Champion	1
	Blessing of Kings	1
	Blessing of Might	1
	Enter the Coliseum	1
	Hammer of Wrath	1
Priest	Convert	1
	Dispel	1
	Lightbomb	1
	Mind Vision	1
	Resurrect	1
Warlock	Dark Bargain	1
Warrior	Commanding Shout	1

Notes

• Gold is not awarded for every three wins in this Brawl.
• If the player chooses to concede, the Brawl ends in defeat.
• Unlike boss fights, the order of play in this Brawl is random, meaning that either hero may get The Coin.
• Despite being a single-player encounter, the Brawl is not an adventure or Practice mode match, meaning the turn timer is active.
• The City of Stormwind will never attack, even if equipped with a different weapon via Blingtron 3000.
• When the Armory is destroyed, the rate at which it gains Attack is increased, but only until it reaches [number of turns - 1]: at this point it will return to increasing by 1 each turn. If the weapon is destroyed it will begin to gain 2 or 3 Attack each turn, until it reaches that number.
• Despite Shieldsman's ability being a Battlecry, the effect will activate even if summoned by Resurrect. This may be a bug.
• The damage dealt to City of Stormwind actually increases its Health, instead of reducing it; this serves to display the player's 'score' so far. When the player's hero would take lethal damage it instead gains an Immune effect, and the enemy hero is destroyed.
• Sideshow Spelleater can be used to copy this boss's Hero Power.
• If the player somehow manages to destroy or replace the City of Stormwind hero, it will revert to its original form and previous Health total and play will continue. Ways of destroying the City of Stormwind include playing Majordomo Executus into the City's Mirror Entity, then killing the copied Executus.
  • If the City of Stormwind is replaced by another hero during its own turn, it will immediately revert, while if it happens on the opponent's turn it will not revert until the replacement hero is destroyed (or possibly if the turn ends). Damage dealt to a replacement hero is not counted as damage dealt to the City of Stormwind, and is assumed not to be included in the player's score. However, any Armor will be lost as per the usual rules for hero replacement.
• If the player takes lethal damage but could survive because of Animated Armor, the game still ends.

Strategy

Winning is technically possible with any strategy since taking lethal damage at any time, even the first turn, will lead to a win screen. Therefore many players instead set personal goals of achieving high levels of damage before dying. In order to reach 1000 damage, for instance, the player will need to build a deck that works well against the City of Stormwind.

Because the special minions Swordsman and Shieldsman gain synergy from the City of Stormwind's weapon Armory, and the weapon increases in Attack each turn, destroying the opponent's weapon regularly is vital to prevent huge minions from quickly overwhelming your board. Cards that can accomplish this are Acidic Swamp Ooze, Harrison Jones, and Bloodsail Corsair (since the Armory's has only 1 Durability), along with Sabotage for rogues. Blingtron 3000 can also serve this role by forcing the City of Stormwind to equip a new weapon. However, while the City will not attack using the weapon, its Attack value will function for minions summoned by Barracks, making this a risky move. Any weapon will be replaced as usual at the end of the turn with a fresh Armory.

Effects that heal the opponent, such as Zombie Chow and Tree of Life, can be used in this Brawl without drawback.

Kel'Thuzad can be very effective in this Brawl.

Lore

Stormwind is the capital city of the Alliance, and home of the humans. Just to the north of the lush green lands of Elwynn Forest in the Eastern Kingdoms, the city has a long and troubled history. One of the last great human cities left on Azeroth, Stormwind was destroyed by the orcish invasion during the First War, but was painstakingly rebuilt following the Second War. A sprawling city criss-crossed with canals, Stormwind is split into several smaller districts, including the Cathedral of Light and the base of operations for SI:7. The capital is home to the humans of Azeroth, and the seat of Varian Wrynn, King of the Alliance, and his son, Anduin Wrynn, as well as Genn Greymane of the worgen.

Stormwind features in Hearthstone as a battlefield.

Trivia

• This Brawl has its roots in One Night in Karazhan, an early concept for which involved Azeroth's most powerful mages engaged in a race to the top of the tower. While the idea was rejected for the main theme, the developers experimented with it as a boss encounter within the adventure, with parts of the unused design eventually turning into the Stormwing Stormwind Brawl.
• The City of Stormwind does not have any emotes, but uses the summoning quote of Stormwind Champion for its opening remark.
• The name of this Brawl is a reference to the World of Warcraft achievement with same name where the players needs to kill the King of Stormwind.