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Top 2
This week’s Hearthstone Tavern Brawl may be one of the best yet. You pick two cards and your deck is filled with 15 copies of each, leaving you with the difficult decision of coming up with the most potent combo possible. Somewhat predictably, the “meta” of this brawl has become lightning fast, as most of the top card choices revolve around killing your opponent before turn 5.
We put together a list of some of our favorite combos to try, one for each class, but I encourage you to explore beyond these as well. It’s an incredibly unique way to play with your collection, and it was exciting to see so many different choices being made by my opponents. Some of the combos I've chosen are incredibly strong, but others are all about fun.
Got a combo you like that I didn't list? Post it in the comments below!
Hunter: Metaltooth Leaper - Mechwarper
Hunter deserves to top this list, as I’m not sure there’s a stronger combination of cards out there. If your opponent can’t deal with your first Mechwarper or play a taunt, you can dump your entire hand by turn 2, and they’ll be dead on turn 3. There are definitely more fun options out there, but if you are looking for raw power, Hunter once again proves that face is the place. Seeing Mechwarper this successful almost makes me miss Goblins vs Gnomes in Standard. Almost.
Shaman: Nerubian Prophet - Evolve
If you want downright crazy games, this deck is definitely the go-to option—possibly only second to Warlock with Renounce Darkness. The strategy here is a little counterintuitive, as you’ll want to totem as much as possible. Try and start the game with three Nerubian Prophets, and hold them for as long as you can. Then, when they are 0-1 mana, drop all three and evolve as many times as possible. You’ll end the turn (hopefully) with a board full of legendaries. As you can see in the image above, when it works, it really works.
Mage: Ice block - Fireball
I actually felt sort of bad for using this combination, as my first victim was a shaman with enough power on board to OTK me four turns in a row. With the right balance of draws, it’s almost unbeatable. Ideally, you can hit them in the face with Fireballs while Ice Blocking every single turn. They won’t be able to kill you until you run out of cards, so this deck is all about surviving the first couple turns and then ending it before you run out of card advantage.
Priest: Mind Blast - Light of the Naaru
Mind Blast is often the card chosen when asked the question “which card would you run 30 copies of?” so it makes sense it would show up in this week’s brawl. Light of the Naaru gives you some survivability and minions to potentially trade with, but really you’ll just want to Mind Blast every possible chance you get. Six Mind Blasts later, and hopefully they are dead!
Rogue: Preparation - Beneath the Grounds
I’m not going to lie, this is a difficult combo to pull off, but Rogue doesn’t have too many fun options apart from Mechwarper and Iron Sensei—which is categorically outclassed by Hunter’s use of Mechwarper. It’s laughably inconsistent, but you’ll still be laughing harder when over a third of your opponent’s deck is filled with traps. With some good luck, you’ll flood the board with Nerubians, and it’s a pretty hard counter to the popular Innervate and Coldlight Oracle Druid deck.
Warlock: Soulfire - Fist of Jaraxxus
Drag Soulfires to the opponent’s face and release. Hope Fist of Jaraxxus is discarded. Life Tap when needed. It’s a deck that pilots itself, but damn is it effective. Deal damage as fast as possible and turn a bad card into a steamroller. You can also replace Soulfire with Succubus if you’d rather play a minion version of this deck, but Soulfire is a quicker option.
As I mentioned before, the other great Warlock combo is Renounce Darkness and any other class card, but I’m not even sure if that can even stop the Mech-aggro onslaught.
Warrior: Bolster - Target Dummy
A good response to the heavy mech and rush decks, it’s finally Taunt Warrior’s time to shine. The simple fact is that this deck just can’t lose to some decks. I went up against a Mage that was wildly Frostbolting all of the Dummies she could, but you can’t keep up with an ever growing wall of Taunts. There’s also a variant with Shieldbearers, but Target Dummy’s 0 mana price can make for explosive starts.
Paladin: Holy Wrath - Molten Giant
The main problem with this plan is that it assumes you will live until turn 5 using nothing but your Hero Power. It’s possible, but not easy—especially with the prevalence of aggro combos and quick kills. But the good news is that if you do survive until turn 5 (or turn 6 if you go first) you are almost guaranteed a win. Depending on what you’ve drawn, you have roughly a 75% chance of getting at least one Molten Giant off of Holy Wrath. 25 damage to the face, plus a second Holy Wrath the following turn is all you need.
Druid: Innervate - Loatheb
There are a lot of Druid options out there sporting huge minions with either Innervate or Astral Communion, but I like the Loatheb combo more than all of them. Primarily because it leaves many opposing strategies absolutely gutted. Facing a Mage with Mana Wyrm and Arcane Missiles? That’s cute, because those Mana Wyrms are facing 5/5s and those Arcane Missiles cost 6 mana each. The Warlock in the image above couldn't even play Curse of Rafaam (his entire win condition) until turn 7. It’s definitely a beatable combo, but there’s a certain joy in trolling unsuspecting opponents so satisfyingly.
