Banana Brawl!

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

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

Banana Brawl! is a Tavern Brawl. It debuted on June 24, 2015. For exact times, see the schedule.

The Brawl saw King Mukla granting the player a random Banana card each time one of their minions died. Players were able to create a custom deck specifically for the Brawl. All matches were played on the Stranglethorn battlefield.

History

Tavern Brawl	Start	End
2	June 24, 2015	June 29, 2015

Additionally, Banana Brawl! was one of nine Tavern Brawls featured as part of the 100th Brawl, A Cavalcade of Brawls!. Its mechanics were used by the warrior class.

Overview

Banana Brawl! is essentially a regular Casual match, with one addition: whenever a minion dies, a random Banana card is generated for its owner. There are four different Banana cards, each with its own effects, although they are all 1 cost spells. Players do battle using custom decks, of any class.

The challenge of this Brawl lies in the creation of custom decks designed to make the most of the Banana cards.

Banana cards

All Banana cards are 1 cost spells.

Notes

• The player is given a random Banana card when the minion itself is removed from play - that is, strictly before all consequences of death (Deathrattles, on-Death triggers and Secrets) are resolved. This can be significant if you have minions like Loot Hoarder and Cult Master in play - if your hand is nearly full, you will get Bananas instead of the drawn cards.

Strategy

Banana Brawl! is essentially the same as Constructed play, however the addition of Bananas makes several different strategies more likely to succeed.

Because Bananas are spells, cards that benefit from the use of spells, by either player, become more valuable. Additionally, all the Bananas are 1-mana spells, activating cards like Gazlowe.

Some cards and mechanics that benefit from the use of Bananas: (For a full list of cards with spell synergy, see Spell#Related cards)

• Mana Wyrm (Bananas buff their Attack)
• Angry Chicken (if this minion is buffed to more than one Health point, it is possible to trigger its Enrage ability)
• Sorcerer's Apprentice (Bananas become free)
• Mistress of Pain (Bananas can be used to buff the Attack and gain extra healing)
• Flamewaker (Bananas cause extra damage)
• Questing Adventurer (Bananas can be played to rapidly buff the Attack and Health)
• Violet Teacher (Bananas summon minions, and their deaths give more Bananas)
• Dragonkin Sorcerer (Bananas give them extra Attack and Health)
• Loatheb (Makes it difficult for the opponent to play Bananas)
• Gazlowe (Bananas give you extra Mech cards)
• Gadgetzan Auctioneer (Bananas draw you cards)
• Antonidas (Bananas give you Fireballs)
• Foe Reaper 4000 (Bananas allow for greater damage)
• Burly Rockjaw Trogg, Stonesplinter Trogg, Troggzor the Earthinator (Their effects happen when the opponent plays Bananas)
• Any Windfury effect (Increased Attack damage from Bananas)
• Silence effects (Remove the effects of Bananas)
• Any effect that summons extra minions (their death gives you extra Bananas). Examples: Haunted Creeper, Unleash the Hounds, Imp Gang Boss, Muster for Battle, Piloted Shredder, Imp-losion, Silver Hand Knight, Dr. Boom, Onyxia
• Hero Powers of the paladin (Reinforce) and shaman (Totemic Call) (Summon minions, which give Bananas on death)

It is quite easy to fill your hand with mostly Bananas, leaving no room for the cards drawn from the deck. Overdraw and even Fatigue can feature prominently in this Brawl. Be careful when using Unleash the Hounds, Violet Teacher, Imp Gang Boss or similar cards or the Reinforce Hero Power. Try to empty your hand of Bananas and anticipate the effect of playing Bananas on Gadgetzan Auctioneer.

Having your hand mostly full has good synergy with Mountain Giant and Twilight Drake.

Big Bananas together with Deviate Banana can deliver a lot of burst damage.

Bananas, together with other cheap spells and minions can spell the doom of a player controlling Fel Reaver.

Due to many of its class-specific cards having great synergy with Bananas, namely Mana Wyrm, Sorcerer's Apprentice and Flamewaker, Mage is a popular and extremely viable choice in Banana Brawl!. Mirror Image allows the player to generate Bananas on the death of the Mirror Image minions, and can be buffed with Bananas themselves to form a wall against enemies. A possible but unlikely infinite loop involves the use of Violet Teacher to spawn minions, which can be killed by 0-cost Rotten Bananas due to Sorcerer's Apprentice's effect, generating potentially infinite Bananas that can trigger Flamewaker and Mana Wyrm's effects.

Secrets can also be used to great effect for classes that have them. A Mage can take advantage of Mirror Entity to generate extra minions, and Spellbender to draw the effects of the opponent's Bananas, spawning a free buffed minion or diverting a Rotten or Deviant Banana from its target. Paladins can use Avenge to buff an existing minion in addition to receiving a Banana, while Redemption can spawn another free minion that may be easily killed for another Banana.

Cards that take advantage of your opponent having many Bananas in their hand can be used, such as Goblin Sapper and Clockwork Giant. Loatheb can be used to prevent your opponent from easily playing their Bananas. Kezan Mystic is a good inclusion due to the number of Mages and Paladins that run Secrets in their decks, letting you steal the benefits of Secrets they play.

Rotten Banana can be used to trigger Enrage, destroy Divine Shields or to finish off weakened minions.

Patch changes

• Patch 2.7.0.9166 (2015-06-15): Added.