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Tavern Brawl - UI

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.[1]

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.[2] 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:[3]

Region Open Close
Americas Wed 9:00 AM PST Mon 3:00 AM PST
Europe Wed 8:00 PM CET Mon 6:00 AM CET
China Thu 5:00 AM CST Mon 6:00 AM CST
Asia Thu 6:00 AM KST Mon 7:00 AM KST

Converted to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) the schedule is as follows:

Region Open Close
Americas Wed 4:00 PM GMT Mon 10:00 AM GMT
Europe Wed 7:00 PM GMT Mon 5:00 AM GMT
China Wed 9:00 PM GMT Sun 10:00 PM GMT
Asia Wed 9:00 PM GMT Sun 10:00 PM GMT

History

# Open Close Tavern Brawl Type
197 March 20, 2019 March 25, 2019 Battle of the Bans Constructed
196 March 13, 2019 March 18, 2019 Reprise: BY THE POWER OF RAGNAROS Constructed
195 March 6, 2019 March 11, 2019 Brawliseum - Miniature Warfare Constructed
194 February 27, 2019 March 4, 2019 Brawl of Champions Grand Finals Premade
193 February 20, 2019 February 25, 2019 Brawl of Champions Round Two Premade
192 February 13, 2019 February 18, 2019 Brawl of Champions Round One Premade
191 February 6, 2019 February 11, 2019 Reprise: 'Servant of Yogg-Saron' Tryouts Randomized
190 January 30, 2019 February 4, 2019 Reprise: The Void Singularity Constructed
189 January 23, 2019 January 28, 2019 Shiftcon West Randomized
188 January 16, 2019 January 21, 2019 Reprise: A Chance Encounter Randomized
187 January 9, 2019 January 14, 2019 Brawl Block: Old and New Constructed
186 January 2, 2019 January 7, 2019 Reprise: Just a Hallucination Premade
185 December 26, 2018 December 31, 2018 Reprise: Gift Exchange Constructed
184 December 19, 2018 December 24, 2018 Returns & Exchanges Constructed
183 December 12, 2018 December 17, 2018 A Royal Recipe Premade
182 December 5, 2018 December 10, 2018 Reprise: Your Standard Brawliseum Constructed
181 November 28, 2018 December 3, 2018 Reprise: Return of Mechazod! Cooperative
180 November 21, 2018 November 26, 2018 When Clones Attack! Randomized
179 November 14, 2018 November 19, 2018 A Temporus Shift Constructed
178 November 7, 2018 November 12, 2018 Send In The Murlocs! Randomized
177 October 31, 2018 November 5, 2018 Reprise: Decks Assemble! Premade
176 October 24, 2018 October 29, 2018 Reprise: The Headless Horseman Rides! Single-player
175 October 17, 2018 October 22, 2018 Monster Smash Premade
174 October 10, 2018 October 15, 2018 Reprise: Boss Battle Royale 2 Premade
173 October 3, 2018 October 8, 2018 Reprise: Spiders, Spiders, EVERYWHERE! Randomized
172 September 26, 2018 October 1, 2018 Six-Shooter Constructed
171 September 19, 2018 September 24, 2018 Duel of the Death Knights Randomized
170 September 12, 2018 September 17, 2018 Reprise: Pick a Hand, Any Hand Randomized
169 September 5, 2018 September 10, 2018 Reprise: Too Many Portals! Constructed
168 August 29, 2018 September 3, 2018 Reprise: Double Deathrattler Battler (Standard) Constructed
167 August 22, 2018 August 27, 2018 A Scientific Recipe Premade
166 August 15, 2018 August 20, 2018 Reprise: Your Standard Brawliseum Constructed
165 August 8, 2018 August 13, 2018 Reprise: A New Year Bash Cooperative
164 August 1, 2018 August 6, 2018 Reprise: Valeera's Bag of Burgled Spells Randomized
163 July 25, 2018 July 30, 2018 A Brawl of Fire and Ice Single-player
162 July 18, 2018 July 23, 2018 Reprise: Ragnaros' Fire Festival Constructed
161 July 11, 2018 July 16, 2018 Reprise: ShiftCon Randomized
160 July 4, 2018 July 9, 2018 Reprise: Blood Magic - Standard Constructed
159 June 27, 2018 July 2, 2018 A Less Friendly Game of Chess Constructed
158 June 20, 2018 June 24, 2018 Reprise: Shadow Reflection Constructed
157 June 13, 2018 June 17, 2018 Rise of the Zombeasts Randomized
156 June 6, 2018 June 10, 2018 Reprise: Randomonium Randomized
155 May 30, 2018 June 4, 2018 Voyage to the Sunken CityGone Fishin' Constructed
154 May 22, 2018 May 28, 2018 Reprise: Cloneball! Randomized
153 May 16, 2018 May 21, 2018 Top 2 - Standard Constructed
152 May 9, 2018 May 14, 2018 Everybunny Get in Here! Randomized
151 May 2, 2018 May 6, 2018 Your Standard Brawliseum Constructed
150 April 25, 2018 April 29, 2018 A Witchy Recipe Premade
149 April 18, 2018 April 22, 2018 Reprise: Idols of Azeroth Premade
148 April 11, 2018 April 15, 2018 A Chance Encounter Randomized
147 April 4, 2018 April 9, 2018 Blessing of the Raven Randomized
146 March 28, 2018 April 2, 2018 Reprise: Miniature Warfare - Standard Constructed

Older Tavern Brawls

# Open Close Tavern Brawl Type
145 March 21, 2018 March 26, 2018 Portals in Another Realm Randomized
144 March 14, 2018 March 19, 2018 Reprise: Cart Crash at the Crossroads Randomized
143 March 7, 2018 March 12, 2018 Reprise: Showdown at Blackrock Mountain Premade
142 February 28, 2018 March 5, 2018 The Wild Brawliseum Constructed
141 February 21, 2018 February 25, 2018 Venture into the Wild Premade
140 February 15, 2018 February 19, 2018 Boss Battle Royale 2 Premade
139 February 7, 2018 February 12, 2018 Reprise: Just a Hallucination Premade
138 January 31, 2018 February 5, 2018 UnidentifiaBrawl Randomized
137 January 24, 2018 January 29, 2018 Reprise: Nefarian Rises! Cooperative
136 January 17, 2018 January 21, 2018 Hall of Champions Premade
135 January 10, 2018 January 15, 2018 Shadow Reflection Constructed
134 January 3, 2018 January 8, 2018 Reprise: 'Servant of Yogg-Saron' Tryouts Randomized
133 December 27, 2017 January 1, 2018 Reprise: Idols of Azeroth Premade
132 December 20, 2017 December 25, 2017 Wacky Waxy Winter's Veil Constructed
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: Cart Crash at the Crossroads Randomized
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 7
Cart Crash at the Crossroads 5
'Servant of Yogg-Saron' Tryouts 5
ShiftCon 5
Spiders, Spiders, EVERYWHERE! 5
Captain Blackheart's Treasure 4
Decks Assemble! 4 The 3rd appearance instead of a Classic card pack, awarded a Kobolds and Catacombs card pack.
Idols of Azeroth 4
Miniature Warfare 4
Showdown at Blackrock Mountain 4 Starting Mana Crystals for Nefarian reduced in the 2nd appearance
Unite Against Mechazod! / Return of Mechazod! 4 LegacyAssassinate replaced by Prioritize in Mechazod's deck.
Valeera's Bag of Burgled Spells 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
Blood Magic 3 2nd and 3rd appearance used standard format decks.
Boss Battle Royale / Boss Battle Royale 2 3 The 2nd appearance changed priest and warlock deck to another heroes
The 3rd appearance changed druid deck changed to hero and warlock hero received changes.
Clockwork Card Dealer 3
Cloneball! 3
Double Deathrattler Battler 3 3rd appearance used standard format decks.
Gift Exchange 3
Heroic Tavern Brawl 3 The 3rd appearance used wild format decks.
Just a Hallucination 3 The 3rd appearance instead of a Classic card pack, awarded a Rastakhan's Rumble card pack.
The Great Summoner Competition 3 The 3rd appearance used standard format decks
Too Many Portals! 3
Your Standard Brawliseum 3
A Chance Encounter 2
A New Year Bash (A Mammoth of a New Year) 2 The 2nd appearance renamed the Brawl.
A Peek to the Past 2
All-Star Squad 2
Boom Bot vs. Annoy-o-Tron! 2
Clash of the Minions 2
Heart of the Sunwell 2
Nefarian Rises! 2
Party Portals! 2 Changes made to Romulo, Party Elemental, Party Elemental and Mime
Pick a Hand, Any Hand 2
Ragnaros' Fire Festival 2
Shadow Reflection 2
Spellbook Duel 2
The Great Stone of Challenge 2
The Headless Horseman Rides! 2
The Masked Ball 2
The Void Singularity 2
Top 2 / Top 2 - Standard 2
Who's the Boss Now? 2
Yellow-Brick Brawl 2 2nd appearance used standard format decks

Latest Tavern Brawl

Battle of the Bans

Battle of the Bans

Main article: Battle of the Bans
"Pick four cards. Your opponent will BAN one of them, then we'll make you a deck full of the cards remaining."

This Tavern Brawl sees players doing battle with custom decks composed solely of four cards. When the game starts, the opponent choose one card to ban (the opponent will see only three cards of your deck, the fourth one will be a hidden card) and a deck with 10 copies of the other three cards will be made.

Special cards
The Mystery Card

Previous Tavern Brawls

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

By the Power of Ragnaros

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 Blackrock MountainEmperor Thaurissan's effect.

Brawliseum - Miniature Warfare

Brawliseum - Miniature Warfare

Main article: Brawliseum - Miniature Warfare
"A new challenge for the tiny gladiators of the Brawliseum! Build a standard deck, all your minions are 1/1 and only cost (1) mana!"

This Tavern Brawl is a cross between what we're used to seeing for Heroic Brawls and bits of Arena, with the rules of Minature Warfare.

Brawl of Champions Grand Finals

Brawl of Champions Grand Finals

Main article: Brawl of Champions Grand Finals
"It all ends here, which Champion shall stand victorious!? Choose a troll champion and you'll get the strongesat shrine yet!!!"
  • Choose a class. This picks your rumble champion.
  • Your deck is preconstructed for your champion.
  • Your rumble champion has a shrine, just like in Rumble Run.


Heroes
Class
Druid Hunter Mage
Wardruid Loti
Zul'jin
Hex Lord Malacrass
Paladin Priest Rogue
High Priest Thekal
Princess Talanji
Captain Hooktusk
Shaman Warlock Warrior
Zentimo
High Priestess Jeklik
War Master Voone
Shrines
Druid Hunter Mage
Gonk's Armament
Halazzi's Trap
Jan'alai's Mantle
Paladin Priest Rogue
Shirvallah's Protection
Bwonsamdi's Sanctum
Treasure from Below
Shaman Warlock Warrior
Tribute from the Tides
Hir'eek's Hunger
Akali's Champion
Brawl of Champions Round Two

Brawl of Champions Round Two

Main article: Brawl of Champions Round Two
"The competition is heating up! Choose a troll champion and you'll get their deck and this week's shrine. Who's going to move up the rankings?"
  • Choose a class. This picks your rumble champion.
  • Your deck is preconstructed for your champion.
  • Your rumble champion has a shrine, just like in Rumble Run.


Heroes
Class
Druid Hunter Mage
Wardruid Loti
Zul'jin
Hex Lord Malacrass
Paladin Priest Rogue
High Priest Thekal
Princess Talanji
Captain Hooktusk
Shaman Warlock Warrior
Zentimo
High Priestess Jeklik
War Master Voone
Shrines
Druid Hunter Mage
Gonk's Mark
Halazzi's Hunt
Jan'alai's Progeny
Paladin Priest Rogue
Shirvallah's Vengeance
Bwonsamdi's Covenant
Pirate's Mark
Shaman Warlock Warrior
Krag'wa's Lure
Dark Reliquary
Akali's War Drum
Brawl of Champions Round One

Brawl of Champions Round One

Main article: Brawl of Champions Round One
"Welcome to the Season of Rastakhan! Choose a troll champion and you'll get their deck and this week's shrine. Who's loa is the mightiest?."
  • Choose a class. This picks your rumble champion.
  • Your deck is preconstructed for your champion.
  • Your rumble champion has a shrine, just like in Rumble Run.


Heroes
Class
Druid Hunter Mage
Wardruid Loti
Zul'jin
Hex Lord Malacrass
Paladin Priest Rogue
High Priest Thekal
Princess Talanji
Captain Hooktusk
Shaman Warlock Warrior
Zentimo
High Priestess Jeklik
War Master Voone
Shrines
Druid Hunter Mage
Bonds of Balance
Halazzi's Guise
Jan'alai's Flame
Paladin Priest Rogue
Shirvallah's Grace
Bwonsamdi's Tome
Bottled Terror
Shaman Warlock Warrior
Krag'wa's Grace
Blood Pact
Akali's Horn
'Servant of Yogg-Saron' banner

'Servant of Yogg-Saron' Tryouts

Main article: 'Servant of Yogg-Saron' Tryouts
"Help Yogg-Saron find a servant! Your deck is full of wannabes who cast a random spell at a random target when played."

This Tavern Brawl sees players doing battle with randomized decks, consisting entirely of minions. Every time a minion is played, a random spell is cast, with targets selected at random, similar to the Battlecry of Whispers of the Old GodsServant of Yogg-Saron, but with no limit on the mana cost.

The Void Singularity

The Void Singularity

Main article: 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
Void Singularity
Shiftcon West

ShiftCon West

Main article: Shiftcon West
"Shiftcon has gotten so big it's had to expand! Shiftcon West brings all the same fun but now includes commemorative Shifting Scrolls!"

This Tavern Brawl sees players doing battle with randomized decks. Each deck contains numerous copies of Whispers of the Old GodsShifter Zerus and Kobolds & CatacombsShifting Scroll.

Featured cards
Shifter Zerus
Shifting Scroll
A Chance Encounter

A Chance Encounter

Main article: A Chance Encounter
""We heard you like random cards! Choose a class and get a randomly filled deck of a randomly "random" cards...RANDOM!"

Each player is given cards with the word random in them.

Brawl Block: Old and New

Main article: Brawl Block: Old and New
"A new twist on Hearthstone! Construct a deck using ONLY cards from Goblins vs Gnomes, The Grand Tournament, The Witchwood, and The Boomsday Project."

This Tavern Brawl sees players doing battle with custom decks that can be build only using the Goblins vs Gnomes, The Grand Tournament, The Witchwood and The Boomsday Project sets.


Notes

Tavern Brawl - promo

Tavern Brawl, promo art

Access

  • Tavern Brawls have free admission.[1][4][5] 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.[1]
  • Players can play each Tavern Brawl as many times as they like while it is active.[6][7]
  • 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.[8]
  • 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.[9][10] 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.[11]
  • 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".[12]
  • Initial player seeding is apparently based on rankings in other types of play.[13] 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.[14] Tavern Brawl MMR is ongoing, and carries over from week to week.[15]
  • Cooperative Tavern Brawls are an exception, and do not use any MMR.[16]

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,[17] 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.[1][18] 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.[19][20] Wins also count toward the "10 gold per 3 wins" reward.[21]
  • 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.[22]
  • Players can earn experience in Tavern Brawl.[23]

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.[24] However, the changes will "take some time to implement".[24]

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

Main article: Fireside Brawl

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 got a large amount of 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[25]

As of October 2016, Tavern Brawls are primarily designed by Pat Nagle (the namesake of LegacyNat Pagle) and Dan Emmons.[26] 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.[27][28] Tim Erskine serves as producer for Tavern Brawl content.[29]

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.[26] The "Surprise" of the new Brawl each week is also "really big" for the developers.[26]

The designers originally considered having a ranked ladder for Tavern Brawl mode, including a Legend rank.[30] However, they decided not to in order to avoid players feeling pressure to play, instead adopting a strong focus on "fun".[30] 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.

Tavern Brawl chart - BlizzCon 2015

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.[30]

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.[31] 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."[32]

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.[26] This allows the designers to create Brawls that target specific groups of players, and take risks with their designs.[26]

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.[30]

History

Tavern Brawls were being discussed by the developers prior to the launch of Hearthstone.[33] 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.[27] 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.[27]

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.[24] 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.[34][3]

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.[35][36] 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."[37]
  • 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.[38]
  • 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."[39] 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.[40]
  • 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."[41]
  • 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;[42][43] while "PvP Brawls" were added to World of Warcraft on April 5, 2017.[44] 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.[42]

Gallery

Tavern Brawl back soon screenshot

There is a couple of days' downtime after each Brawl

Tavern Brawl now over screenshot

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

Tavern Brawl - UI deck

The basic Tavern Brawl interface

My Collection (Tavern Brawl)

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

  • Mean Streets of Gadgetzan logo 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.
  • Whispers of the Old Gods logo 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.
  • Blackrock Mountain logo Patch 2.7.0.9166 (2015-06-15): Added.

References

 
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Brace Yourself for Tavern Brawl. (2015-06-10). 
  2. Zeriyah on Twitter. (2015-06-10). 
  3. 3.0 3.1 Tavern Brawl Time Change. (2015-12-15). 
  4. Zeriyah on Twitter. (2015-06-10). 
  5. Ben Brode on Twitter. (2015-06-10). 
  6. Zeriyah on Twitter. (2015-06-10). 
  7. Whirthun on Twitter. (2015-06-10). 
  8. Zeriyah on Twitter. (2015-06-10). 
  9. Zeriyah on Twitter. (2015-06-10). 
  10. Zeriyah on Twitter. (2015-06-10). 
  11. Zeriyah on Twitter. (2015-06-15). 
  12. Yong Woo on Twitter. (2015-06-17). 
  13. Yong Woo on Twitter. (2015-06-17). 
  14. Zeriyah on Twitter. (2015-06-18). 
  15. Zeriyah on Twitter. (2015-06-18). 
  16. Ben Brode on Twitter. (2016-01-13). 
  17. Yong Woo on Twitter. (2015-06-17). 
  18. Zeriyah on Twitter. (2015-06-10). 
  19. Whirthun on Twitter. (2015-06-10). 
  20. Zeriyah on Twitter. (2015-06-10). 
  21. Zeriyah on Twitter. (2015-06-10). 
  22. Zeriyah on Twitter. (2015-06-15). 
  23. Tested by User:Taohinton, 2015-07-01. Gained XP (and a level) on rogue playing Spiders, Spiders, EVERYWHERE!
  24. 24.0 24.1 24.2 Official forums: Tavern Brawl and Stability Issues. (2015-12-02). 
  25. Ben Brode on reddit. (2016-10-17). 
  26. 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4 Designer Insights with Dan and Pat: Tavern Brawls. (2016-10-17). 
  27. 27.0 27.1 27.2 Tavern Brawls and Open Q&A - BlizzCon 2015 Live Panel Recap (Fireside Chat). (2015-11-07). 
  28. 28.0 28.1 Ben Brode's Stream Notes (17/April/16). (2016-04-17). 
  29. Yong Woo on Twitter. (2016-08-03). 
  30. 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 Hearthpwn: Tavern Brawls and Open Q&A - BlizzCon 2015 Live Panel Recap (Fireside Chat). (2015-11-07). 
  31. Whispers of the Old Gods Developer Q&A Transcript, This Week in Card Reveals. (2016-04-11). 
  32. PCGamer - Hearthstone’s Ben Brode on Old Gods and Reynad's match-making theory. (2016-03). 
  33. Ben Brode on Twitter. (2015-06-18). 
  34. http://us.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/19803850/hearthstone-patch-notes-2709166-tavern-brawl-new-heroes-and-customization-6-15-2015
  35. Ben Brode on reddit. (2016-10-17). 
  36. Ben Brode on reddit. (2016-10-17). 
  37. Dean Ayala on reddit. (2016-09-25). 
  38. Ben Brode on Twitter. (2015-06-14). 
  39. https://www.reddit.com/r/hearthstone/comments/3f1ai5/the_new_tavern_brawl_is_too_many_portals/ctkfenm
  40. Official Hearthstone on Twitter.
  41. Ben Brode on Twitter. (2015-12-30). 
  42. 42.0 42.1 Overwatch Beta Patch Notes – March 22, 2016. (2016-03-22). 
  43. BREAK ALL THE RULES WITH HEROES BRAWL. (2016-04-10). 
  44. [Patch 7.2 Content Release Timeline {{{3}}}]. (2017-03-29). 

External links

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