Tavern Brawl

The Tavern Brawl interface

Tavern Brawl is one of Hearthstone's lighter game modes. A weekly event, a new Tavern Brawl begins each Wednesday (Thursday in Asian regions), ending the following Monday. Outside of these times, the mode is not available for play. See the schedule for this week's times.

Each Tavern Brawl presents a limited time opportunity to face other players in special matches with unique rules. These might be requiring players to use special pre-made decks, adding random cards or minions, or changing the very rules of ability activation or mana use. Some Tavern Brawls allow the player to construct special decks especially for the challenge from within the game mode itself, while others provide powerful premade decks, or entirely random decks, and some Brawls even see players take control of special heroes with their own Hero Powers. Some Brawls feature Tavern Brawl cards, special cards not playable normally, as well as boss cards from adventures such as One Night in Karazhan. Each week sees a fresh Tavern Brawl, with its own unique rules.

As well as being matched against other random opponents, players are able to challenge players on their friends list to a Tavern Brawl, as a special type of Friendly Challenge.

An intentionally "fun" game mode, Tavern Brawls offer unique limited time experiences, with far less of a competitive focus than other game modes. This makes them good for quick matches, friendly games and accumulating gold through quests and cumulative wins. With many Brawls incorporating random card generation or minion summoning, winning a Tavern Brawl often involves a fair amount of luck, as well as the ability to adapt to and deal with the situation at hand. Tavern Brawls help to break up the focused rigours of Hearthstone's other game modes by providing a fresh twist on the game's rules each week.

Tavern Brawls are intended to be highly accessible, even for players without extensive card collections. However, Tavern Brawls are not unlocked until the player reaches level 20 with at least one class.

For a compact list of unique Tavern Brawls, see Brawls list.

Schedule

Each week, the current Tavern Brawl will open and close according to the following schedule, depending on region:

Region	Open	Close
Americas	Wed 9:00 AM PST	Mon 3:00 AM PST
Europe	Wed 9:00 PM CET	Mon 6:00 AM CET
Taiwan/China	Thu 5:00 AM CST	Mon 6:00 AM CST
Korea	Thu 6:00 AM KST	Mon 7:00 AM KST

History

#	Open	Close	Tavern Brawl	Type
131	December 13, 2017	December 18, 2017	Reprise: Valeera's Bag of Burgled Spells	Randomized
130	December 6, 2017	December 11, 2017	Reprise: Yellow-Brick Brawl	Constructed
129	November 29, 2017	December 4, 2017	The Void Singularity	Constructed
128	November 22, 2017	November 27, 2017	Reprise: Decks Assemble!	Premade
127	November 15, 2017	November 20, 2017	Treasure in the Catacombs!	Randomized
126	November 8, 2017	November 13, 2017	Reprise: The Great Summoner Competition	Constructed
125	November 1, 2017	November 6, 2017	Reprise: Miniature Warfare	Constructed
124	October 25, 2017	October 30, 2017	The Headless Horseman Rides!	Single-player
123	October 18, 2017	October 23, 2017	Reprise: ShiftCon	Randomized
122	October 11, 2017	October 16, 2017	Reprise: Spellbook Duel	Constructed
121	October 4, 2017	October 9, 2017	Reprise: A Peek to the Past	Constructed
120	September 27, 2017	October 1, 2017	Reprise: Encounter at the Crossroads	Randomized
119	September 20, 2017	September 25, 2017	Reprise: The Great Stone of Challenge	Constructed
118	September 13, 2017	September 18, 2017	A Frozen Recipe	Premade
117	September 6, 2017	September 11, 2017	Reprise: An Evil Exchange	Premade
116	August 30, 2017	September 4, 2017	Reprise: Blood Magic - Standard	Constructed
115	August 23, 2017	August 28, 2017	BY THE POWER OF RAGNAROS	Constructed
114	August 16, 2017	August 21, 2017	Reprise: Encounter at the Crossbones	Randomized
113	August 9, 2017	August 14, 2017	Reprise: ShiftCon	Randomized
112	August 2, 2017	August 7, 2017	Battle for the Crater	Randomized
111	July 26, 2017	July 31, 2017	Reprise: Showdown at Blackrock Mountain	Premade
110	July 19, 2017	July 24, 2017	Ahune's Superior Brawl	Premade
109	July 12, 2017	July 17, 2017	Reprise: Clash of the Minions	Constructed
108	July 5, 2017	July 10, 2017	Ragnaros' Fire Festival	Constructed
107	June 28, 2017	July 3, 2017	Reprise: All-Star Squad	Constructed
106	June 21, 2017	June 26, 2017	Reprise: Spiders, Spiders, EVERYWHERE!	Randomized
105	June 14, 2017	June 18, 2017	Reprise: Cart Crash at the Crossroads	Randomized
104	June 6, 2017	June 12, 2017	Just a Hallucination	Premade
103	May 31, 2017	June 5, 2017	Reprise: Randomonium	Randomized
102	May 24, 2017	May 29, 2017	A Peek to the Past	Constructed
101	May 17, 2017	May 22, 2017	Reprise: An Evil Exchange	Premade
100	May 10, 2017	May 15, 2017	A Cavalcade of Brawls!	Premade
99	May 3, 2017	May 8, 2017	Reprise (variation): Heroic Tavern Brawl - Wild format	Constructed
98	April 26, 2017	May 1, 2017	Reprise: 'Servant of Yogg-Saron' Tryouts	Randomized
97	April 19, 2017	April 24, 2017	An Ancient Recipe	Premade
96	April 12, 2017	April 17, 2017	Reprise: Valeera's Bag of Burgled Spells	Randomized
95	April 5, 2017	April 10, 2017	Reprise: The Masked Ball	Constructed
94	March 29, 2017	April 3, 2017	A Mammoth of a New Year	Cooperative
93	March 22, 2017	March 27, 2017	Decorating Stormwind	Single-player
92	March 15, 2017	March 20, 2017	Reprise: Encounter at the Crossroads	Randomized

Older Tavern Brawls

#	Open	Close	Tavern Brawl	Type
91	March 8, 2017	March 13, 2017	Reprise: Heroic Tavern Brawl	Constructed
90	March 1, 2017	March 6, 2017	Gadgetzan Throw-Down	Premade
89	February 22, 2017	February 27, 2017	Reprise: Cloneball!	Randomized
88	February 15, 2017	February 20, 2017	Blood Magic	Constructed
87	February 8, 2017	February 13, 2017	Reprise: Battle of Tol Barad	Constructed
86	February 1, 2017	February 6, 2017	Reprise: Gift Exchange	Constructed
85	January 25, 2017	January 30, 2017	Boss Battle Royale	Premade
84	January 18, 2017	January 23, 2017	Spellbook Duel	Constructed
83	January 11, 2017	January 16, 2017	Reprise: Cart Crash at the Crossroads	Randomized
82	January 4, 2017	January 9, 2017	The Dark Wanderer	Single-player
81	December 28, 2016	January 2, 2017	Reprise: Party Portals!	Randomized
80	December 21, 2016	December 26, 2016	Reprise: Clockwork Card Dealer - Standard	Constructed
79	December 14, 2016	December 19, 2016	The Battle for Gadgetzan	Premade
78	December 7, 2016	December 12, 2016	Reprise: Double Deathrattler Battler	Constructed
77	November 30, 2016	December 5, 2016	Reprise: 'Servant of Yogg-Saron' Tryouts	Randomized
76	November 23, 2016	November 28, 2016	Valeera's Bag of Burgled Spells	Randomized
75	November 16, 2016	November 21, 2016	Heroic Tavern Brawl	Constructed
74	November 9, 2016	November 14, 2016	Reprise: Miniature Warfare	Constructed
73	November 2, 2016	November 7, 2016	Yellow-Brick Brawl	Constructed
72	October 26, 2016	October 31, 2016	Reprise: Captain Blackheart's Treasure	Randomized
71	October 19, 2016	October 24, 2016	Reprise: ShiftCon	Randomized
70	October 12, 2016	October 17, 2016	All-Star Squad	Constructed
69	October 5, 2016	October 10, 2016	A Friendly Game of Chess	Premade
68	September 28, 2016	October 3, 2016	Reprise: Boom Bot vs. Annoy-o-Tron!	Premade
67	September 21, 2016	September 26, 2016	Reprise: Randomonium	Randomized
66	September 14, 2016	September 19, 2016	Top 3	Constructed
65	September 7, 2016	September 12, 2016	Reprise: Cart Crash at the Crossroads	Randomized
64	August 31, 2016	September 5, 2016	Party Portals!	Randomized
63	August 24, 2016	August 29, 2016	Reprise: Captain Blackheart's Treasure	Randomized
62	August 17, 2016	August 22, 2016	Nefarian Rises!	Cooperative
61	August 10, 2016	August 15, 2016	A Dark Recipe	Premade
60	August 3, 2016	August 8, 2016	Storming Stormwind	Single-player
59	July 27, 2016	August 1, 2016	Reprise: Randomonium	Randomized
58	July 20, 2016	July 25, 2016	Reprise: Idols of Azeroth	Premade
57	July 13, 2016	July 18, 2016	'Servant of Yogg-Saron' Tryouts	Randomized
56	July 6, 2016	July 11, 2016	Reprise: Clockwork Card Dealer	Constructed
55	June 29, 2016	July 4, 2016	ShiftCon	Randomized
54	June 22, 2016	June 27, 2016	Pick a Hand, Any Hand	Randomized
53	June 15, 2016	June 20, 2016	Reprise: Heart of the Sunwell	Constructed
52	June 8, 2016	June 13, 2016	Cloneball!	Randomized
51	June 1, 2016	June 6, 2016	Cart Crash at the Crossroads	Randomized
50	May 25, 2016	May 30, 2016	Shadow Towers	Constructed
49	May 18, 2016	May 23, 2016	Reprise: Unite Against Mechazod!	Cooperative
48	May 11, 2016	May 16, 2016	Top 2	Constructed
47	May 4, 2016	May 9, 2016	Reprise: Spiders, Spiders, EVERYWHERE!	Randomized
46	April 27, 2016	May 2, 2016	Reprise: Encounter at the Crossroads	Randomized
45	April 20, 2016	April 25, 2016	Idols of Azeroth	Premade
44	April 13, 2016	April 18, 2016	The Great Stone of Challenge	Constructed
43	April 6, 2016	April 11, 2016	Reprise: Too Many Portals!	Randomized
42	March 30, 2016	April 4, 2016	You Must be This Tall to Brawl	Constructed
41	March 23, 2016	March 28, 2016	An Evil Exchange	Premade
40	March 16, 2016	March 21, 2016	Reprise: Battle of Tol Barad	Constructed
39	March 9, 2016	March 14, 2016	Reprise: Randomonium	Randomized
38	March 2, 2016	March 7, 2016	Deal Your Fate	Constructed
37	February 24, 2016	February 29, 2016	Clash of the Minions	Constructed
36	February 17, 2016	February 22, 2016	Lead from the Front	Constructed
35	February 10, 2016	February 15, 2016	Reprise: Decks Assemble!	Premade
34	February 3, 2016	February 8, 2016	Blingtron's Beauteous Brawl	Constructed
33	January 27, 2016	February 1, 2016	Miniature Warfare	Constructed
32	January 20, 2016	January 25, 2016	Reprise: Captain Blackheart's Treasure	Randomized
31	January 13, 2016	January 18, 2016	Return of Mechazod!	Cooperative
30	January 6, 2016	January 11, 2016	Battle of the Builds	Constructed
29	December 30, 2015	January 4, 2016	Reprise: Who's the Boss Now?	Constructed
28	December 23, 2015	December 28, 2015	Reprise: Randomonium	Randomized
27	December 16, 2015	December 21, 2015	Gift Exchange	Constructed
26	December 9, 2015	December 14, 2015	Reprise: Encounter at the Crossroads	Randomized
25	December 2, 2015	December 7, 2015	Decks Assemble!	Premade
24	November 25, 2015	November 30, 2015	Battle of Tol Barad	Constructed
23	November 18, 2015	November 23, 2015	Captain Blackheart's Treasure	Randomized
22	November 11, 2015	November 16, 2015	Reprise: Showdown at Blackrock Mountain	Premade
21	November 4, 2015	November 9, 2015	Unite Against Mechazod!	Cooperative
20	October 28, 2015	November 2, 2015	Reprise: Spiders, Spiders, EVERYWHERE!	Randomized
19	October 21, 2015	October 26, 2015	Who's the Boss Now?	Constructed
18	October 14, 2015	October 19, 2015	Randomonium	Randomized
17	October 7, 2015	October 12, 2015	Clockwork Card Dealer	Constructed
16	September 30, 2015	October 5, 2015	Boom Bot vs. Annoy-o-Tron!	Premade
15	September 23, 2015	September 28, 2015	Underdog Rules	Constructed
14	September 16, 2015	September 21, 2015	Reprise: Too Many Portals!	Randomized
13	September 9, 2015	September 14, 2015	Double Deathrattler Battler	Constructed
12	September 2, 2015	September 7, 2015	It's Raining Mana!	Constructed
11	August 26, 2015	August 31, 2015	Reprise: Encounter at the Crossroads	Randomized
10	August 19, 2015	August 24, 2015	Grand Tournament Match	Premade
9	August 12, 2015	August 17, 2015	Reprise: The Great Summoner Competition	Constructed
8	August 5, 2015	August 10, 2015	The Masked Ball	Constructed
7	July 29, 2015	August 3, 2015	Too Many Portals!	Randomized
6	July 22, 2015	July 27, 2015	Heart of the Sunwell	Constructed
5	July 15, 2015	July 20, 2015	Encounter at the Crossroads	Randomized
4	July 8, 2015	July 13, 2015	The Great Summoner Competition	Constructed
3	July 1, 2015	July 6, 2015	Spiders, Spiders, EVERYWHERE!	Randomized
2	June 24, 2015	June 29, 2015	Banana Brawl!	Constructed
1	June 17, 2015	June 22, 2015	Showdown at Blackrock Mountain	Premade

Repeated Tavern Brawls

While most weeks see a brand new Tavern Brawl, just under half are reprises of previous Brawls. Since each Brawl is only available for 5 days, this allows players to enjoy old favourites again, and avoids Brawls becoming overly similar due to a desire to explore past mechanics. Most reprises are simple repeat outings, identical to the original Brawl, but some involve changes, such as fixing bugs or balance issues, or even adding in extra elements.

The following table lists Tavern Brawls that have appeared more than once, including brief notes of any known changes.

Tavern Brawl	Number of appearances	Known changes
Encounter at the Crossroads	7	The 5th appearance featured Party Crashers, and instead of a Classic card pack, awarded a Journey to Un'Goro card pack. The 6th appearance was renamed as "Encounter at the Crossbones".
Randomonium	6
Captain Blackheart's Treasure	4
Cart Crash at the Crossroads	4
ShiftCon	4
Spiders, Spiders, EVERYWHERE!	4
An Evil Exchange	3	The 2nd appearance changed Kel'Thuzad's Hero Power from "Resurrect a friendly minion that died this game" to "Add a random Naxxramas minion to your hand", Rafaam's Hero Power at one and two pieces were changed, Noth the Plaguebringer's cost was increased, and three of Kel'Thuzad's cards in his deck were changed. The 3rd appearance buffed Kel'Thuzad's Hero Power to decrease the generated card's cost by 3.
Battle of Tol Barad	3
Clockwork Card Dealer	3
Decks Assemble!	3	The 3rd appearance instead of a Classic card pack, awarded a Kobolds and Catacombs card pack.
Heroic Tavern Brawl	3	The 3rd appearance used wild format decks.
Miniature Warfare	3
'Servant of Yogg-Saron' Tryouts	3
Showdown at Blackrock Mountain	3	Starting Mana Crystals for Nefarian reduced in the 2nd appearance
The Great Summoner Competition	3	The 3rd appearance used standard format decks
Too Many Portals!	3
Unite Against Mechazod! / Return of Mechazod!	3	Assassinate replaced by Prioritize in Mechazod's deck
Valeera's Bag of Burgled Spells
A Peek to the Past	2
All-Star Squad	2
Blood Magic	2	2nd appearance used standard format decks
Boom Bot vs. Annoy-o-Tron!	2
Clash of the Minions	2
Cloneball!	2
Double Deathrattler Battler	2
Gift Exchange	2
Heart of the Sunwell	2
Idols of Azeroth	2
Party Portals!	2	Changes made to Romulo, Party Elemental, Party Elemental and Mime
Spellbook Duel	2
The Great Stone of Challenge	2
The Masked Ball	2
Who's the Boss Now?	2
Yellow-Brick Brawl	2	2nd appearance used standard format decks

Latest Tavern Brawl

Valeera's Bag of Burgled Spells

Main article: Valeera's Bag of Burgled Spells

"Valeera has stolen spells from every class and filled your deck with them! Each of those spells will summon a random minion of the same cost when played."

This Tavern Brawl sees all players doing battle as the rogue hero Valeera, with randomized decks consisting entirely of spells. Whenever a spell is cast, a random minion of the same mana cost is summoned for the player.

Previous Tavern Brawls

The most recent Brawls are listed below. For a complete list, see the History section, above.

Yellow-Brick Brawl

Main article: Yellow-Brick Brawl

"Each player is given Dorothee, which grants Charge to minions on one side and Taunt to the other. Build a 10 card deck and we'll give you three copies of each!"

This Brawl sees players recreating the Crone encounter from One Night in Karazhan, with each player starting with a special Dorothee minion on their board, granting Charge to minions to Dorothy's left, and Taunt to those to her right. Players use custom constructed decks, of any class, containing 10 cards only (with a maximum of 1 copy of each card). Upon entering the Brawl each deck is made up to 30 cards, featuring 3 copies of each chosen card. Both players start with 30 Health and 10 Armor.

Special cards

The Void Singularity

"Beyond the Void's event horizon, all your minions become crushed into a single powerful entity of light. Build a deck and sacrifice your minions to The Void!"

This Brawl sees players doing battle with custom decks using any class. At the end of a player's turn, all of their minions are destroyed and their stats combined to form a single Void Singularity minion.

Featured cards

Decks Assemble!

Main article: Decks Assemble!

"All of Azeroth wants to brawl for you! Start with a small deck, recruit as you go, then send them to fight over and over!"

This complex Brawl sees players doing battle using special decks generated during the match itself. This Brawl has no mulligan; instead, the player starts with a small hand and deck of certain preset cards. At the start of each turn, the player is able to Discover a random card; options may be neutral or matching the player's class, and may be of any type. Each time a player plays a card, a copy is shuffled into their deck. At the end of each turn, the player's hand is shuffled back into their deck, and a new selection of four cards is drawn.

Starting cards

Treasure in the Catacombs!

Main article: Treasure in the Catacombs!

"The Catacombs are so close you can taste them! Race with your opponent to complete the quest giving both players a chance at awesome treasure!"

This Brawl sees players competing with almost entirely randomised pre-made decks. When the brawl starts, both players get a quest, Journey to the Catacombs. When one of the players complete the quest, they gain an 0/8 Master Chest while their opponent gains a 0/4 Master Chest.

Featured cards

The Great Summoner Competition

Main article: The Great Summoner Competition

"Summoners from across the world have come to compete. When you cast a spell, a random minion of the same cost is summoned for you!"

During this Tavern Brawl, whenever a spell is cast, a random minion of the same mana cost will be summoned for the player. Players are able to construct custom decks using any class.

Miniature Warfare

Main article: Miniature Warfare

"That pesky Shrinkmeister turned all your Hearthstone cards into toys! Now all your minions are 1/1 and only cost (1) mana!"

This Tavern Brawl has players constructing decks, the difference being that all minions are now 1/1 and cost 1 mana (note that this includes all minions summoned, not merely those played from the hand).

The Headless Horseman Rides!

Main article: The Headless Horseman Rides!

"It's time to battle the Headless Horseman! We'll arm you with the finest Hollow's End costumes Azeroth has to offer."

This single-player Brawl pits players against the eponymous Headless Horseman. Players on their first turn pick one of three costumes; based on their choice they receive a deck (replacing a deck made solely of Stormwind Champion). Beware: before dealing the finishing blow to the Horseman, players will have to defeat his head!

ShiftCon

Main article: ShiftCon

"Swap stories with fellow shifters at the tavern's Shifter Convention! Choose a class. We'll fill your deck with Shifters and spells."

This Tavern Brawl sees players doing battle with randomized decks. Each deck contains numerous copies of Shifter Zerus, as well as some random spells for the chosen class. Each player also begins their first turn with three Mana Crystals, effectively starting the game on turn three.

Featured cards

Spellbook Duel

Main article: Spellbook Duel

"Choose your spellbook carefully, champion! Pick 10 cards, and anytime you would draw a card, you instead Discover a copy of a card from your deck."

This Tavern Brawl sees players doing battle with custom decks composed of 10 cards chosen by the player, with only 1 copy of each card allowed. At the start of the game, both players mulligan as normal, but at the start of each turn instead of drawing a card, the player will instead Discover a card from three options matching cards currently in their deck. This Discover does not remove the card from the player's deck, but instead places a copy into their hand.

Card draw effects do not operate normally during this Brawl: instead of drawing a card from the deck, the player has a copy of Peruse added to their hand. This 1 mana spell can then be used to Discover a card in the same way that players gain new cards at the start of each turn. Put into hand effects similarly generate copies of Peruse.

The combination of these special rules means the player is unable to draw cards normally, but the contents of the deck can still be altered through put into battlefield, shuffle into deck, and replace effects, as well as unique cards like Fel Reaver and Tracking. Because the deck acts as a source for each turn's Discover effect, altering the contents of the player's deck will affect which options the player is able to Discover.

Special cards

A Peek to the Past

Main article: A Peek to the Past

"Let's take it down a notch, there, brawler. Make a deck using only cards from the Basic and Classic sets, but none of those fancy Epics of Legendaries, ya hear?"

This Brawl revolves around making a Standard deck using only cards from the Basic and Classic sets, but none of better rarity than Rare.

Encounter at the Crossroads

Main article: Encounter at the Crossroads

"Encounter at the crossroads! Pick a class. Let's see what's in your deck this time!"

This Brawl sees players competing with almost entirely randomised pre-made decks. Players can choose any class, and will then receive a deck randomly composed of neutral and class-specific cards. Decks are composed of 30 cards, but may break the usual card limitation of 2 copies per deck (1 copy per deck for legendaries), allowing any number of copies within a deck. This could be a reference to world PvP common at the Horde town Crossroads, which was prone to random encounters.

The Great Stone of Challenge

Main article: The Great Stone of Challenge

"Welcome, heroes, to the Great Stone of Challenge. Your deck building prowess will be tested: You may only use spells with an even cost; you may only use minions with odd attack! Build a deck and fight for the Stone of Challenge!"

This Tavern Brawl sees players doing battle with custom decks, with some special restrictions. Decks can only include spells with an even mana cost, and minions with odd Attack values. The Brawl's design mirrors the rules for deck construction in the original Challengestone tournament, to which the Brawl, its title and its artwork pay tribute.

A Frozen Recipe

Main article: A Frozen Recipe

"The Lich King spends much of his time cooking in between destroying adventurers. Pick a class and try out some of his deck recipes!"

This Brawl sees players competing with pre-made decks, matching Knights of the Frozen Throne-themed Deck Recipes, with most built around hero cards (Druid/Hunter/Mage/Priest/Rogue/Warrior) or synergy with types (Paladin/Shaman/Warlock). Before each game the player chooses a class, which also determines their deck. At the beginning of each player's first turn, the recipe's flavor text is displayed to both players, providing an overview of the deck's contents and strategy. All matches within this Brawl are played on the Knights of the Frozen Throne battlefield.

An Evil Exchange

Main article: An Evil Exchange

"Kel'Thuzad and Rafaam are competing to see who the superior endboss is! Take a side and battle for evil supremacy!"

This Brawl sees players taking on the roles of Kel'Thuzad and Arch-Thief Rafaam. Each player's role is randomly selected at the start of the match, determining their Hero Power and pre-made deck, featuring some unique and overpowered cards.

Heroes

Blood Magic

Main article: Blood Magic

"How much are you willing to sacrifice for power? All your spells will cost health instead of mana!"

This Brawl sees players creating their own custom decks using any class. Each spell the player casts reduces their hero's Health and/or Armor by an amount equal to the card's mana cost, instead of expending mana.

By the Power of Ragnaros

Main article: By the Power of Ragnaros

"FIGHT FOR THE AMUSEMENT OF THE EMPEROR! All cards in your hand have their costs reduced by one at the end of your turn."

There's not much different in this game mode outside of a normal game of Hearthstone. The only change is that everyone has their card costs reduced by one at the end of your turn, an effect that mimics Emperor Thaurissan's effect.

Notes

Tavern Brawl, promo art

Access

• Tavern Brawls have free admission. Very rarely, a Brawl such as Heroic Tavern Brawl may charge an admission fee.
• Tavern Brawls are only available to players with at least one level 20 hero.
• Players can play each Tavern Brawl as many times as they like while it is active.
• Only the current Tavern Brawl is accessible to players. Players are not able to access past Brawls, or challenge other players to take part in them.
• While each Brawl has a limited run, some Tavern Brawls are repeated later on. Reprise selection appears to be largely based on popularity.

Decks

• Tavern Brawls use unique decks, which do not take up any of the player's regular deck slots. Players create Tavern Brawls within the Tavern Brawl interface, and the deck is lost when the Brawl is retired.
• The composition of Tavern Brawl decks depends on the Brawl. Many are constructed partially or wholly from the player's own collection, with some seeing random cards added to the deck made. Other Brawls feature premade decks, either with specific (and often unique) cards, or entirely randomised.
  • Brawl decks will not require or allow the player to use more than 2 copies of a card from their own collection, or more than 1 in the case of legendaries.
• Most Brawls require the player to choose a class, either during deck construction or in place of deck construction, but some instead randomly assign players to take control of special heroes, with their own decks.
• Tavern Brawl cards are similar to Boss cards, special cards specific to Tavern Brawls are not available in other types of play. See below for more information.

Matchmaking

• Unless specifically challenging a friend, players will be randomly matched against other participating players "of similar skill level".
• Initial player seeding is apparently based on rankings in other types of play. This is most likely based on Casual or Ranked mode play, or a combination of the two.
• After the initial placement, player matchmaking is controlled by the player's success in Tavern Brawls, using a hidden MMR. Tavern Brawl MMR is ongoing, and carries over from week to week.
• Cooperative Tavern Brawls are an exception, and do not use any MMR.

Rewards and quests

• Players earn a free Classic card pack for their first Tavern Brawl win each week except some Tavern Brawls before new expansion launch - those Tavern Brawls rewards a pack of the upcoming expansion (Journey to Un'Goro and Kobolds and Catacombs).
  • No additional rewards are offered after the initial win. This is intended to prevent players from feeling they have to play, and may also be in order to allow design space for unusual and potentially uneven arrangements, which could otherwise prove frustrating for those seeking to earn repeated rewards through wins.
  • Very rarely a Brawl will offer other rewards, such as a unique card back, in place of the usual card pack.
  • The card pack reward was originally announced to end when the "launch event" ended. However, having begun in June 2015, it seems likely the reward is now intended to be ongoing.
• Tavern Brawls are eligible to count toward daily quests. Wins also count toward the "10 gold per 3 wins" reward.
• There is one Brawl-specific quest, "Everybody! Get in here!", which awards 60 gold for winning 5 Tavern Brawls.
• Challenging a friend to a Tavern Brawl will not be eligible for most quests, as these matches are considered Friendly Challenges for these purposes.
• Players can earn experience in Tavern Brawl.

General

• Tavern Brawls are released in the Americas region first, followed by the Europe, Taiwan/Korea and China regions, simultaneously, around 4 hours later. As a result, the Americas region sometimes experiences technical issues following the release of a new Brawl, serving as a testbed for the latest modifications. Despite not directly modifying other game modes, the release of a Tavern Brawl nevertheless involves changes which can cause disconnections and extended downtime for the entire game, making this testing period necessary to limit disruption to a single region. The four hour delay following the Americas release is intended to allow time for the developers to attend to any stability issues or severe bugs, before launching the Brawl in other regions.
  • As of December 2015, additional testing measures are planned, to reduce related stability issues. However, the changes will "take some time to implement".

Tavern Brawl cards

Tavern Brawl cards are special cards, heroes and Hero Powers only available to players when participating in a specific Tavern Brawl. These are usually provided through pre-made decks, although they may be granted to players directly during matches. Tavern Brawl cards usually match the theme of the Brawl, and often feature fun or outlandish powers not seen in regular cards.

For a full list of known cards, see Tavern Brawl card. Featured Tavern Brawl cards for each Brawl can be found on individual Brawl pages, or in the Previous Brawls section.

Fireside Brawls

Fireside Brawls are special Tavern Brawls that can only be played at Fireside Gatherings.

Each month there will be a different Fireside Brawl to try—check the Fireside Gatherings website to find out about the brawl that’s running this month. These special brawls run the whole month with no breaks, and they co-exist with the weekly Tavern Brawls.

The first Fireside Brawl that was got a large attention was Tavern vs. Lich King.

Design

"I'm not exaggerating when I say that each week, people tell me that we've created the greatest brawl ever, at the same time that others are saying it's by far the worst." - Ben Brode

As of October 2016, Tavern Brawls are primarily designed by Pat Nagle (the namesake of Nat Pagle) and Dan Emmons. The two designers "sit in a room and brainstorm", with additional inspiration from the internet and other team members. The ideas are then playtested and iterated upon with the rest of Team 5. Tim Erskine serves as producer for Tavern Brawl content.

According to designers Emmons and Nagle, the most important goal of Tavern Brawls is to provide variety and freshness, "mixing up" the standard game experience of ladder or Arena play, and providing players a reason and reward for logging in regularly. The "Surprise" of the new Brawl each week is also "really big" for the developers.

The designers originally considered having a ranked ladder for Tavern Brawl mode, including a Legend rank. However, they decided not to in order to avoid players feeling pressure to play, instead adopting a strong focus on "fun". For example, the card pack reward for a single win provides a reward for trying each Brawl, without creating any sense of compulsion for players who didn't that week's Brawl.

The first 19 Tavern Brawls, by popularity. Green Brawls are premade; brown use constructed decks; blue are randomised.

The Tavern Brawl mode is also designed to help with the game's accessibility. This is partly achieved through Brawls that don't require players to own a lot of cards, and also in the 'free' card pack reward each week, helping players to build their collections.

Tavern Brawls allow for experimentation, and are sometime used to test or develop new mechanics, allowing the developers to observe player reactions. This time spent developing the required technology makes it relatively simple to then implement the mechanic elsewhere in the game. Examples of this process include Discover. However, the developers balance the ease of experimentation with a desire to keep new mechanics fresh for players to discover in new sets. Ben Brode explains:

"There are pros and cons. The pros are obviously that we would get more confidence on balance. One of the cons is that part of the fun of card games is exploration. If we are putting it out there and a lot of it gets solved or figured out, then when we release a set it isn’t as crazy and exciting as it could be."

The brevity of Brawls also frees the developers to experiment with a variety of designs, since "even if [the developers] make a really bad one" it will only last a few days. This allows the designers to create Brawls that target specific groups of players, and take risks with their designs.

The designers learned from early Brawls like Spiders, Spiders, EVERYWHERE! with decks composed solely of minions, incorporating a small number of random spells into later minion-focused Brawls such as ShiftCon.

History

Tavern Brawls were being discussed by the developers prior to the launch of Hearthstone. However, it was not until June 10, 2015, more than a year after the game's release, that the feature would be announced to players.

The Tavern Brawl system was added with Patch 2.7.0.9166 on June 15, but was not activated until June 17, when the first Tavern Brawl, Showdown at Blackrock Mountain, went live. In the interim period before the first Brawl, the as yet blank fourth button on the game box would begin to sparkle each time the player entered the main menu.

Captain Blackheart's Treasure was planned for release in October 2015, in order to debut the upcoming Discover mechanic. However, technical problems prevented this, and the keyword was instead announced at BlizzCon 2015 with its accompanying adventure, The League of Explorers.

On November 4, 2015, the first cooperative Tavern Brawl was released, Unite Against Mechazod!, marking the first cooperative two-player experience within the game. At the time of its creation, this was the most difficult Brawl to create yet.

In December 2015, with disconnections and downtime in the Europe region coinciding with the release of the latest Tavern Brawl becoming a regular occurrence, Blizzard announced that they would be adding additional testing measures to help prevent this in the future. Shortly afterwards it was announced that the release times for Tavern Brawls in each region would be changing: instead of debuting in the Europe region at 4pm UTC, followed by Americas at 6pm and other regions at 7pm, new Brawls would now debut in the Americas region at 5pm UTC, then in all other regions 9pm.

In October 2016 Heroic Tavern Brawl was announced, marking a new hybridisation of the Tavern Brawl and Arena game modes. This was also the first known Brawl to use Standard format, rather than the usual Wild format. The first explicitly Standard format Brawl followed in December 2016 with Clockwork Card Dealer - Standard, a simple variant of the original Clockwork Card Dealer.

Trivia

• As of October 2016 Randomonium is "by far the most popular Brawl", both in terms of number of games played and hours in total spent playing. Designer Dean Ayala explains, "[Randomonium] continues to be one of the mostly highly played brawls by unique user in addition to one of the most highly played brawls by individual user. Basically this means a ton of people play it, and the ones that do play it play a ton of games."

• The developers considered placing the Tavern Brawl button in the third slot (currently occupied by the Arena button), which would have provided a more symmetrical appearance given the smaller amount of space available for lettering on the fourth button. However, they decided against it, possibly due to length issues in languages other than English.

• The unique chalkboard art for Tavern Brawls are created by Jomaro Kindred.

• On July 29, 2015, Showdown at Blackrock Mountain was mistakenly reprised as the seventh Tavern Brawl, sparking widespread complaint from players, who assumed this to be the intended Brawl. The correct Brawl, Too Many Portals!, replaced it around an hour later, but not until many players had already played and won games in the former Brawl, earning their weekly card pack. Zeriyah remarked, "Sometimes when you play with dimensional space, the wrong Tavern Brawl gets sucked through the portal. Whoops." A similar error has taken place with subsequent Brawls. On July 20, 2016, Battle of the Builds was reprised as the fifty-eighth Tavern Brawl, but bugs quickly became evident. Blizzard announced a few hours later that the Brawl "wasn't behaving" and replaced it with another reprise, Idols of Azeroth.

• Following the Gift Exchange Tavern Brawl, the 2015 winter break saw a repeat of Randomonium rather than another new Tavern Brawl. Ben Brode explained that this was partly due to there being "nobody in the office over the break to fix things if they go wrong, which new brawls are more likely to do."
• The 5th reprise of Encounter at the Crossroads was the first Brawl that didn't offer a Classic card pack, but instead a card pack from an upcoming expansion.
• The popularity of the Tavern Brawl game mode in Hearthstone has led to its adoption in other Blizzard games. Overwatch and Heroes of the Storm saw the introduction of the "Weekly Brawl" and "Heroes Brawl" game modes on March 22 and April 10, 2016, respectively, less than a year after the Hearthstone format's launch; while "PvP Brawls" were added to World of Warcraft on April 5, 2017. While the Tavern label is specific to Hearthstone, the term Brawl has thus become shorthand for an "alternative way to play", featuring special and regularly changing twists on the game's normal ruleset, with an emphasis on fun, "crazy" and "unique" matches.

Gallery

There is a couple of days' downtime after each Brawl

Trying to queue into a Tavern Brawl just after it has closed

The basic Tavern Brawl interface

The collection manager has some minor colour and interface tweaks when used in Tavern Brawl mode, and uses the Standard format colouring despite viewing in Wild format

Patch changes

• Patch 7.0.0.15590 (2016-11-29): The Tavern Brawl button on the main menu now lights up whenever there is a Brawl available that the player has not yet played.
• Patch 5.0.0.12574 (2016-04-24): Players can now challenge their friends to Tavern Brawls from any game screen. Previously the player had to be on the Brawl screen when issuing the challenge.
• Patch 2.7.0.9166 (2015-06-15): Added.

External links

• Designer Insights with Dan and Pat: Tavern Brawls (2016-10-17)
• Hearthpwn: Tavern Brawls and Open Q&A - BlizzCon 2015 Live Panel Recap (Fireside Chat) (2015-11-07)
• Brace Yourself for Tavern Brawl - announcement blog (2015-06-10)