User:Taohinton/Sandbox5



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 even 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 available in other types of play, 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.

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

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.

All-Star Squad

 * "Spiders and Portals have had their chance, now you choose! Pick one card for your deck, and you will get 22 copies of it plus 8 random class cards!"

This Tavern Brawl sees players doing battle with decks composed of 22 copies of the card of their choosing, plus 8 random class cards.

Previous Tavern Brawls
A selection of the most recent Brawls are listed below. For a complete list, see the History section, above.



A Friendly Game of Chess

 * "Challenge an opponent to a game of chess! Most of your pieces will automatically attack the minion (or minions) in front of them!"

This Brawl sees players recreating the Chess encounter from One Night in Karazhan. At the start of each Brawl the players are randomly assigned to play either the White or Black King heroes, each with only 10 Health. Both use identical premade decks of 15 special cards, as well as the Castle Hero Power, matching the encounter's Heroic mode version. With most minions unable to attack directly - instead dealing damage automatically - players will have to think carefully in order to triumph in this Brawl.


 * Heroes


 * Hero Powers

All special cards are featured in both colours. For a full list, see the Brawl page.
 * Special cards



Boom Bot vs. Annoy-o-Tron!

 * "Two epic robots meet face-to-face. Sparks will fly, oil will flow! Help decide who reigns supreme... Boom Bot, or Annoy-o-Tron!"

This Brawl sees players doing battle in the roles of two special heroes - Boom Bot and Annoy-o-Tron - each has its own Hero Power and semi-randomised premade deck, mostly made up of Mechs and cards from Goblins vs Gnomes.


 * Heroes


 * Hero Powers



Randomonium

 * "An encounter at the crossroads... under a manastorm! Choose a class, get random cards. Each turn your cards' cost are randomized!"

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. At the start of each turn, each card has a chance to have its mana cost changed to a random value, equal to or lower than the card's original mana cost, but not lower than 1.



Top 3

 * "Let's mix it up a bit, shall we? Pick three cards and we'll make you a deck with ten copies of each card."

This Tavern Brawl sees players doing battle with custom decks composed solely of copies of three cards chosen by the player. Each deck includes precisely 10 copies of each chosen card. Players cannot include more than one copy of any card.



Cart Crash at the Crossroads

 * "You collided with another Hero and your decks are mixed up! Pick another hero at the start of the game; your deck will be a random combination of the two classes!"

This Tavern Brawl sees players doing battle with randomly constructed decks, using a combination of two selected classes. To enter the Brawl the player first chooses a class, after which a deck is randomly generated containing 19 cards suitable to that class. Following the mulligan, the player then chooses from one of three random "second classes", resulting in 11 cards suitable to that class being shuffled into their deck.



Party Portals!

 * "The Medivas are putting on a special show, and you're the star! Summon minions with various portals to create a most excellent performance."

This Brawl sees both players playing as Medivh, with randomized decks consisting entirely of various "Portal" cards. Each player also starts the game with a special immune Karazhan-themed minion on the battlefield (either Mark Moonwalker, Susie Sizzlesong or Wanda Wonderhooves) reducing the cost of Portals by 1.


 * Portal cards



Captain Blackheart's Treasure

 * "The Captain left treasure for EVERYONE, but mostly for you! Each turn, open a chest of three random cards and choose one to put in your hand!"

This Brawl sees players doing battle using classes of their choosing. However, regardless of class, both players' decks consist of 30 copies of Pirate. At the start of each turn, instead of drawing a card from their deck, the player Discovers a new card. This provides the player with a choice of three random cards, with their chosen option added to their hand. Cards of any type and cost may feature, although as with all Discover effects, class cards are four times as likely to be offered.


 * Featured cards



Nefarian Rises!

 * "Join forces with a friend to take down Nefarian. Again. Anduin teams up with newcomer Morgl in this new cooperative Tavern Brawl!"

This cooperative Brawl sees players working together to defeat Nefarian, a special boss minion. Each turn, Nefarian will swap which side of the board he is on, allowing the currently active player to attack him. However, not content to provide target practice for the players, at the end of each turn Nefarian will cast a special spell of his own, attempting to defeat the players.

Nefarian himself is a special minion with 200 Health. Nefarian starts with 0 Attack, but as soon as his Health reaches 160 he will become temporarily Immune, gain 5 Attack and cast Elemental Eruption, dealing 4-6 damage to all other minions. This process repeats at 60 Health, when he gains another 5 Attack (for a total of 10) and casts Twisted Light, healing himself 30 Health and dealing 30 damage to all other minions. Reaching the "glorious finale" also empowers Nefarian's spells, making them deal even more damage. If the players can bring him to 0 Health he will be destroyed, winning the Brawl.

At the start of the match the players are randomly chosen to play as Anduin (priest) and Morgl (shaman). Each player receives a premade deck as well as the standard Hero Power for their class. The decks contain a mix of regular cards and powerful Tavern Brawl cards, with the cards provided allowing for some very powerful combinations if the two players can work together.

There are too many special cards to list them all here, but some examples are featured below.
 * Special cards



A Dark Recipe

 * "Care for a taste of the Old God's power? Pick a class and we'll give you a taste of the Old God's Recipe for that class to do battle!"

This Brawl sees players using decks constructed from the Old Gods themed Deck Recipes.



Storming Stormwind

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

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.


 * Boss


 * Special cards



Idols of Azeroth

 * "Ever draw a spell when you really needed a minion? Never again! Your deck will be 30 Raven Idols, so you'll be able to discover whatever you need!"

This Tavern Brawl sees players doing battle with decks composed solely of Raven Idol, allowing players to repeatedly Discover either minions or spells.


 * Featured cards



Battle of the Builds

 * "What's better? Battlecry, Deathrattle, Spells, or Murlocs? Make a deck, pick a side, and let's find out!"

This Brawl sees players creating their own custom decks using any class. At the start of their first turn, each player chooses one of four possible bonuses: Battlecry Bonus, Deathrattle Bonus, Murloc Bonus or Spell Bonus. The chosen bonus remains in effect for the rest of the match, and cannot be reselected.


 * Bonuses

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THE FOLLOWING BRAWLS ARE NOT DISPLAYED BUT ARE KEPT HERE SO THAT THEY CAN BE EASILY ADDED TO THE VISIBLE LIST IN FUTURE



'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 Servant of Yogg-Saron, but with no limit on the mana cost.



Clockwork Card Dealer

 * "Tinkertown gnomes are testing their prototype card-bot: Optimotron! The card you draw on turn 1 will be a 1-cost card, if you have one. On turn 2, a 2-cost card..."

This Brawl sees players drawing cards entirely on curve, with a 1-mana card drawn on turn 1, a 2-mana card drawn on turn 2, and so on. Players able to create their own decks, using any class.



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



Pick a Hand, Any Hand

 * "Pick the first seven cards of your deck, and we'll fill the rest with Unstable Portals. You get your portals AFTER your mulligan."

This Tavern Brawl sees players doing battle with partly-constructed and partly-randomized decks. The player first chooses 7 cards for their deck from their collection as usual; this comprises the actual Tavern Brawl deck, and is persistent between Brawls until changed. At the start of each match, after the mulligan is complete, 23 Unstable Portals are automatically added to the player's deck, for a total of 30 cards.


 * Featured cards



Heart of the Sunwell

 * "In the Sunwell lies unlimited power, and that power is yours! Start each game with 10 mana and see what you can do with it!"

The unique quality of this Brawl is that each player starts the game with 10 mana. Starting at 10 mana removes the "ramping up" phase, and makes it possible to build extremely high mana decks which would otherwise be almost unplayable. Players must construct a custom deck, with any class.



Cloneball!

 * "The legends of Azeroth are playing Cloneball! Your team is random legends, each cloned four times. Go get 'em champ!"

This Tavern Brawl sees players doing battle with randomly constructed decks. Each deck is composed of seven randomly selected legendary minions, with four copies of each, along with three copies of the unique spell Offensive Play. This 0-mana spell reduces the cost of the next legendary minion the player plays, and all other copies of that card, by 3. With multiple Offensive Plays in each deck, the rate at which the usually costly legendary minions can be put into play soon accelerates.



Shadow Towers

 * "Who lurks in the shadow towers? You do! Skulking behind the Towers' sturdy walls, your minions have stealth their first turn."

This Tavern Brawl sees players doing battle with custom decks of any class. Whenever a minion is played, it gains Stealth, lasting until the start of the player's next turn. Each hero also starts with 10 Armor, in addition to the usual 30 Health.



Unite Against Mechazod!

 * "Can you defeat Gearmaster Mechazod? Join forces with another player and see. It's a cooperative Tavern Brawl!"

The first ever co-op Tavern Brawl, this Brawl sees two players cooperating to defeat Gearmaster Mechazod, a special minion. Each turn, Mechazod will swap which side of the board he is on, allowing the currently active player to attack him. Mechazod will in turn seek the defeat of both players. Players do battle with special pre-made decks, ensuring good chances of defeating the Gearmaster.

Unlike other Tavern Brawls, Unite Against Mechazod! is a co-operative Tavern Brawl, meaning the two players are working together to defeat Mechazod, rather than attacking each other. What's more, if either player is defeated, both players will lose the match, making it important to do everything you can to keep the other player alive. However, the first completed Brawl will reward both players with their weekly bonus card pack, regardless of the outcome.

At the start of the match, one player is randomly selected to play as Anduin Wrynn (priest), and the other as Uther Lightbringer (paladin). Players do battle with special pre-made decks, ensuring good chances of defeating the Gearmaster. With Mechazod dealing a lot of damage to players, both decks feature strong healing-synergy, and are designed to benefit the other player using card effects which are traditionally undesirable, such as the Deathrattle of Dancing Swords. Survival will not be easy, but can be achieved through cooperation.


 * Special cards



Top 2

 * "The Innkeeper is wondering which two cards work best together. Show him - choose 2 cards and we'll fill your deck with them!"

This Brawl sees players doing battle with custom decks, composed solely of copies of two cards chosen by the player. Each deck includes precisely 15 copies of each chosen card.



Spiders, Spiders, EVERYWHERE!

 * ''"Spiders have overrun everything, including your deck! Whatever class you play, your deck will be TEEMING with Webspinners."

This Tavern Brawl sees players doing battle with special pre-made decks, each teeming with Webspinners. Players can choose any class, with each match generating a unique deck filled with 7 randomly selected spells for that class, and 23 Webspinners.


 * Featured cards



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

 * "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.



Too Many Portals!

 * "The master mages of Dalaran have gone too far this time, opening up hundreds of portals! Choose a class and use a few spells and a WHOLE lot of portals to defeat your rivals!"

This Tavern Brawl sees players doing battle with special pre-made decks, each teeming with Unstable Portals. Players can choose any class, with each match generating a unique deck filled with 7 randomly selected spells for that class, and 23 Unstable Portals.


 * Featured cards



You Must be This Tall to Brawl

 * "Welcome to this very dangerous brawl event! Construct a deck with all your best spells, but this brawl is too intense for small minions. You may only use minions that cost seven or more!"

This Brawl sees players creating their own custom decks using any class. However, minions with a mana cost less than 7 cannot be included in decks.



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


 * Hero Powers


 * Special cards



Battle of Tol Barad

 * "Magical creatures are escaping from Tol Barad! Play a minion and get a random spell of the same cost, but for free!"

This Brawl sees players creating their own custom decks using any class. Each time a minion is played, a random spell of the same mana cost will be generated for the player, with the spell's cost reduced to 0. Spells may be of any class, and are not affected by the player's class.



Deal Your Fate

 * "The Tavern Keeper foretells a fateful brawl! You and your opponent discover random fates that affect you both!"

This Brawl sees players doing battle using custom decks using any class. At the start of the game, players are allowed to choose one from 4 of 6 possible Fate cards. Each Fate card puts into effect a special aura, affecting the game for both players. Fate card auras last for the rest of the match, and cannot be removed.

Subsequently, when a player is reduced to 20 Health or below, they are allowed to choose one from 4 of 6 possible Dire Fate cards. Dire Fate cards mostly also put special auras into play, but have stronger effects than the Fate cards.


 * Fate cards:


 * Dire Fate cards:



Clash of the Minions

 * "No time for cowards, soldier! Playing minions gives them Charge and Taunt! Ok, here's the Mulligan... go, go, GO!"

This Brawl sees players doing battle using custom decks using any class. Playing a minion grants it the Charge and Taunt abilities.



Lead from the Front

 * "Enough hiding behind your minions! Protect them! In this brawl, your hero has Taunt."

This Brawl sees players doing battle using custom decks using any class. During the Brawl each hero has the Taunt ability, making them vulnerable to attack throughout the battle. Each hero starts the game with 10 Armor, in addition to 30 Health.



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



Blingtron's Beauteous Brawl

 * "Blingtron is ready to rumble! He changes your hero power to "Get a random weapon." AND he gives you random weapons!"

This Brawl sees players doing battle with custom decks of any class. Each player starts the Brawl with 10 Armor (in addition to 30 Health), a Foam Sword equipped, and their usual Hero Power replaced by Cash In. The special weapon enchantment "Blingtron's Blade" is applied to the initial Foam Sword and any weapon generated by Cash In. The enchantment causes a new weapon to automatically be equipped when the enchanted weapon is destroyed, as well as granting the enchantment to the new weapon. Both Cash In and "Blingtron's Blade" equip a random collectible weapon.


 * Special cards



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 Brawl sees players doing battle using classes of their choosing. During the Brawl, a special non-removable enchantment is given to each minion, changing its base stats to 1/1, and its mana cost to 1. However, buffs can still increase minions' stats beyond 1/1.



Return of Mechazod!

 * "Mechazod wants a rematch! This time new allies stand against him. Good luck with this return co-op brawl!"

A direct follow-up to Unite Against Mechazod!, this Brawl sees two players cooperating to defeat Gearmaster Mechazod, a special minion. Each turn, Mechazod will swap which side of the board he is on, allowing the currently active player to attack him. Mechazod will in turn seek the defeat of both players. Players do battle with special pre-made decks, ensuring good chances of defeating the Gearmaster.

Unlike most other Tavern Brawls, Return of Mechazod! is a co-operative Tavern Brawl, meaning the two players are working together to defeat Mechazod, rather than attacking each other. What's more, if either player is defeated, both players will lose the match, making it important to do everything you can to keep the other player alive. Unlike Unite Against Mechazod!, the first completed Brawl will not reward both players with their weekly bonus card pack if they lose; it is necessary to actually defeat Mechazod to receive it.

At the start of the match, one player is randomly selected to play as Malfurion Stormrage (druid), and the other as Medivh (mage). Players do battle with special pre-made decks, ensuring good chances of defeating the Gearmaster. Both decks are designed to benefit the other player using card effects which are traditionally undesirable, such as the Battlecry of Millhouse Manastorm. Survival will not be easy, but can be achieved through cooperation.


 * Special cards



Who's the Boss Now?

 * "Dungeon bosses want to help you play! Build your own deck but get a random boss power. Each time you use it, get a new one!"

This Brawl sees players creating their own custom decks using any class. However, their Hero Power will be randomly selected from a range of possible boss Hero Powers, normally only seen in adventures. Each time the player uses their Hero Power, it will be replaced by a new one.
 * Possible Hero Powers



Gift Exchange

 * ''"Great Father is dropping crates on the battlefield! Get a gift each time you smash your opponent's crate... or your own!"

This Winter Veil-themed Brawl sees players creating their own custom decks using any class. The Brawl revolves around Winter's Veil Gifts, special minions with a Deathrattle that grants the destroying player a Stolen Winter's Veil Gift. The board starts empty, but if at the start of their turn a player has no Winter's Veil Gifts on their side of the board, a fresh Winter's Veil Gift will be delivered by Greatfather Winter.

Stolen Winter's Veil Gift allows the player to Discover a card belonging to the class of the player who controlled the Winter's Veil Gift minion, with its mana cost reduced by 5. In addition, only cards of 5 cost or higher are Discovered. Players also have a chance to Discover the special card Hardpacked Snowballs.

Instead of a card pack, winning in this Tavern Brawl awards a special card back: Winter Veil Wreath.


 * Special cards



Showdown at Blackrock Mountain

 * "These two epic bosses of Blackrock Mountain are settling things once and for all... with your help!"

This Tavern Brawl sees players take on the roles of Ragnaros and Nefarian, duelling it out for dominance of Blackrock Mountain, with a range of overpowered cards and Hero Powers like Wild Magic, DIE, INSECT!, Living Bomb and Open the Gates.

The November 2015 reprise of this Brawl sees Nefarian starting with one less Mana Crystal, helping to address balance complaints from the original run.


 * Heroes


 * Hero Powers



Clockwork Card Dealer

 * "Tinkertown gnomes are testing their prototype card-bot: Optimotron! The card you draw on turn 1 will be a 1-cost card, if you have one. On turn 2, a 2-cost card..."

This Brawl sees players drawing cards entirely on curve, with a 1-mana card drawn on turn 1, a 2-mana card drawn on turn 2, and so on. Players able to create their own decks, using any class.



Underdog Rules

 * "Each turn, if you're losing by more than 3 health then a random minion rallies to your side."

During this Brawl, at the start of each turn if the player is losing by more than 3 Health, a random 2 or 3-cost minion will be summoned for them. The minion may be of any mana cost and class, but will be exhausted and unable to attack that turn. Players are able to construct their own decks, using any class.



Double Deathrattler Battler

 * "Death is not quite the end... because minions with Deathrattle now rattle twice."

In this Brawl, any minion Deathrattle activated will take effect twice, adding value to minions with beneficial Deathrattles. Players are able to construct their own decks, using any class.



It's Raining Mana!

 * ''"Dalaran floats overhead, it's soaking your deck with mana! On your first turn you get 1 like normal, but then you get 3, then 5, then 7, etc"

This Brawl sees players gaining an extra Mana Crystal each turn after the first, causing them to reach higher levels of mana very quickly. Players are able to construct their own decks, using any class.



Grand Tournament Match

 * "On the road to The Grand Tournament, two knights face off! One relies on jousting skill, while the other inspires troops to great deeds. Who will win?"

Heralding the coming release of The Grand Tournament, this Brawl was designed to showcase its two new mechanics - Inspire and Joust - and allowed players access to cards from the expansions before they were otherwise available.

Grand Tournament Match sees players doing battle as two opposing heroes: Medivh and Alleria. Upon queuing, players will be randomly cast in one of these roles, with access to a special pre-made deck. Medivh's deck has a strong Inspire theme, while Alleria's features numerous Joust minions.



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.



The Masked Ball

 * ''"At the SI:7 mansion in Stormwind they have a grand masked ball every year. Everyone is in disguise! When a minion dies, its disguise is revealed, showing the minion to actually be a different random minion that costs (2) less and ready for another fight!"

This Brawl sees players doing battle with their own customs decks, of any class. The key change is that whenever a minion dies, it will summon in its place a random minion that costs 2 mana less.



Banana Brawl!

 * "Mukla is a year older, and he LOVES bananas! Whenever one of your minions dies, he gives you a Banana to celebrate!"

This Tavern Brawl sees the mighty King Mukla celebrating his birthday by granting a random Banana card to the player each time one of their minions dies. Players are able to construct custom decks using any class.


 * Banana cards

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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.
 * Co-operative Tavern Brawls are an exception, and do not use any MMR.

Rewards and quests

 * Players will earn a free Classic card pack for their first win each week. No other rewards are planned. 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.
 * This 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.

Design
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 Pagle, 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.

Tavern Brawls also 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.

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 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.

Trivia

 * 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 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.

Patch changes

 * 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.
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