Battle of Tol Barad

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

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

Battle of Tol Barad is a Tavern Brawl. It debuted on November 25, 2015. For exact times, see the schedule.

History

Tavern Brawl	Start	End
24	November 25, 2015	November 30, 2015
40	March 16, 2016	March 21, 2016
87	February 8, 2017	February 13, 2017
254	April 22, 2020	April 29, 2020
307	April 28, 2021	May 5, 2021
336	November 17, 2021	November 24, 2021
368	June 29, 2022	July 6, 2022
387	November 9, 2022	November 16, 2022
407	March 29, 2023	April 5, 2023

Additionally, Battle of Tol Barad was one of nine Tavern Brawls featured as part of the 207th Brawl, The 207th Brawl Spetacular!.

Overview

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.

Notes

• The cost of the minion when played is used to determine the cost of the spell generated. For example, a Mountain Giant played for 3 mana will generate a 3 mana spell. (The Tavern Brawl in 2020 seems not to follow this and some other rules here).
• If you play Summoning Stone and cast one of your free spells, Summoning Stone will summon a 0-cost minion. (This is consistent with how Summoning Stone normally works. During the Brawl's original outing, due to a bug Summoning Stone would instead summon a minion based on the spell's undiscounted cost.)
• Loatheb is an especially valuable card, as his effect will cause all free spells previously existing and created on your next turn will cost 5 mana. This is different from how enchantments/auras apply in standard play.
• The lack of higher mana cost spells makes it possible to predict which spells will be generated above 6 mana (list current for Ashes of Outland):
  • 7 mana: Flamestrike, Sprint, Earthquake, Overflow, Soul Mirror
  • 8 mana: Lay on Hands, Twisting Nether, Inner Demon, Gift of the Wild, Deep Freeze, The Forest's Aid, Power of Creation, Tip the Scales
  • 9 mana: Libram of Hope, Plague of Death, Mass Resurrection
  • 10 mana: Nagrand Slam, Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron, Mind Control, Pyroblast, Eye of the Storm, Dimensional Ripper
  • For example, playing a 9 mana minion such as Ysera will always produce either Mass Resurrection, Plague of Death or Libram of Hope, while playing an 8 mana minion such as Ragnaros the Firelord can produce Lay on Hands or Twisting Nether. Lower mana costs feature too many possible spells for prediction to be useful.

Strategy

Playing minions on curve can be crucial, since it is good to have a spell each turn. Druid is a good class to select for this, since with Innervate and Wild Growth a big minion can be easily played, allowing a powerful spell to come along with the big minion.

Spells in the constructed deck should probably be restricted to only what is absolutely necessary. Normally superb spells like Fireball will simply fall behind the value of a 4 mana minion and its free spell.

Try to include minions that can take advantage of the many free spells you will accumulate. Flamewaker, Questing Adventurer, Gadgetzan Auctioneer, Summoning Stone, and Archmage Antonidas will all benefit from a large supply of free spells. You could also include counters to the rampant spell use, such as with Troggzor and Loatheb.

Another great strategy is to go with Priest and Embrace the Shadow or Auchenai Soulpriest, Bolf Ramshield, and a 0-cost Tree of Life will grant you a 100% chance to win the game, because if you would take 30 damage, Bolf intercepts it and you stay alive. (Old, now no longer Standard).

It is a good idea to bring lots of cheap high-health Taunt minions, as most players will mainly play their minions for their cost rather than their stats or abilities in this Brawl (though beware of your opponent managing to obtain silence or removal spells). Some Taunt minions who come with drawbacks for their high health are even more useful in this Brawl, such as Dirty Rat dragging out an enemy minion to deny your opponent a spell, or Conjured Mirage generating free 4-cost spells every time you replay it after reshuffling itself.

Following the release of Ashes of Outland, Kael'thas Sunstrider can synergize with the free spells generated (and generate a free 7-cost spell himself) to let you use your expensive spells quicker. Also, Demon Hunters can use the generated 0-cost spells to thin out their hand to trigger Outcast cards or deal lots of damage using Altruis the Outcast. In this Brawl, it is possible to play Combo Demon Hunter even quicker with both of its main components, Altruis and Kael'thas, having more free resources to activate their effects, allowing you to use Inner Demon or Skull of Gul'dan to gain a significant advantage sooner than in regular play.

Lore

The prison island of Tol Barad in World of Warcraft

Tol Barad is an island kingdom off the coast of Gilneas. Housing the mystical prison fortress of Baradin Hold, the central island is hotly contested by the Alliance and the Horde. But beneath the crumbling ruins something sinister is stirring, driving the prison's guards to madness and murder, as unholy forms stalk the island.

Tol Barad was added in Cataclysm as a PvP zone and questing hub. The island's peninsula provides a range of daily quests and PvE challenges, while the central island is a dedicated and persistent PvP zone, opened at regular intervals for battle between the two factions. Whichever faction currently controls the island gains access to the Baradin Hold raid and special vendors, as well as additional daily quests.

This section uses content from Wowpedia.

Tol Barad, pronounced (Tohl BAR-ahd), is a ravaged island kingdom located west of Gilneas.

More than one thousand and two hundred years ago, Arathor built the citadel of Tol Barad. During the Second War, Tol Barad was a strategic staging area for Alliance forces. The Horde viewed Tol Barad as an obstacle in their path to the Eastern Kingdoms and mounted an assault on the island. Unprepared for such aggression, the Alliance were expelled from Tol Barad and the citadel was razed, a charred symbol of the Horde’s brutal victory. Some of the original Stromic population remained.

Following the Second War, what remained of the blackened, derelict battlements was left to languish until the wizards of Kul Tiras claimed the isle for a new purpose. Towering walls were again stacked high from the war-scarred stones, but in their cleverness, the arcanists turned the citadel’s defenses inward, designing a mystical prison to hold the most powerful criminals. Serving the Tirasian magi, the Stromic population formed the Baradin's Wardens: charged with ensuring that the deadly prisoners locked away in the mystic Baradin Hold never again walk free on Azeroth. Even the Kirin Tor imprisoned some powerful demons in the repurposed stronghold.

When Stromgarde started to suffer a series of catastrophes, the town of Rustberg was abandoned as its population were recalled home. This settlement later became the base of a group of pirates that struck the towns along the shores of Baradin Bay.

With the Cataclysm Tol Barad once again became a battleground between the Horde and the Alliance. Warchief Garrosh Hellscream sent the elite warriors known as Hellscream's Reach to the island, charged with taking it from the humans. Defending it against them were the Baradin's Wardens, the army that originally guarded the prison. However, as the two forces fought for supremacy over the island, something sinister was taking over the prison fortress of Baradin Hold and the whole island in turn, with prison guards murdering each other or letting their charges free, insanity amongst Alliance soldiers, undead corpses rising from their graves, and spirits reliving their final battles.