Hearthstone "Banana Brawl" Review

 

          Welcome to Quigley Reviews and the second week of Hearthstone’s (Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.) new Tavern Brawl game mode.  Hearthstone is an immensely popular multi-player collectible card game available on Windows PC, OSX, iPad, iPhone and Android platforms.  Tavern Brawl, and Hearthstone itself, are free to play.  Tavern Brawl is always free, but does not provide any further rewards after the one card pack for a challenge’s first victory.

          I am a huge fan of Hearthstone, so I was naturally excited for a new way to play.  Last week players were introduced to the new game mode through the Showdown at Blackrock Mountain challenge.  Here, players competed in a one-on-one match with one of two pre-constructed decks.  These decks were ridiculously powerful, with many Legendary cards with incredible status effects.  Unfortunately, most of the cards were not collectible and were exclusive to this challenge. 

(A Warlock deck is a great start to Banana Brawl)

          This was a fun diversion from the normal course of gameplay, though many players found that the decks were unfairly balanced in favor of a hero called Nefarian.  I found this to be true as well, although after learning how to play the two decks to their strengths, the mode became much more enjoyable.  Nefarian was a control deck meant to throw hordes of minions on the board and create a long-lasting match.  The other deck’s hero, Ragnaros, was meant to be played as an “aggro”, dealing as much damage to the opposing hero as possible in a shorter match.  I will admit that Nefarian’s hero power, Wild Magic, is certainly overpowered, giving you a random spell that costs (0) mana to cast.  If that’s not bad enough, Nefarian begins the match with (5) mana, as opposed to the normal (1).  Balance issues aside, I did have a good time with this new mode, as it was a chance to play with much, much more powerful cards than I can in everyday play.

On to the next one…

        This week’s Tavern Brawl is called Banana Brawl.  Here, we are to create a deck with a hero of our choice.  These are the game’s nine classic heroes.

·        Warrior

·        Shaman

·        Rogue

·        Paladin

·        Hunter

·        Druid

·        Warlock

·        Mage

·        Priest

One of the first huge differences players will notice this week is that you can create a deck with all of the cards from your own collection.  For my first match, I used a Warlock deck.  The appeal of Banana Brawl (couldn’t help it) is that you get a “banana” card after the death of one of your minions.  This is a random card that gives small stat boosts, not unlike the “spare parts” associated with many mech-type cards.  Thanks to /u/thejdcole on Reddit, the different effects of their respective cards are as follows-

·        Rotten – Deal 1 damage

·        Normal - +1 Attack/+1 Health

·        Deviate – Swap a minion’s attack and health

·        Big Banana - +2 Attack/+2 Health

I won my first match, and the banana cards seemed to have had little effect on the outcome of this particular game.  However, I can see this mechanic being well suited to decks which require frequent loss of minions, namely Warlock.  Warlock decks work with a heavy theme of sacrifice, so this seems like a great match. 

After the first 3 matches I went 3-0, with all of my opponents conceding for unknown reasons.  I never felt like I dominated them or put them in impossible situations. 

          Next, to assist in the demise of my minions, I added a second Sacrificial Pact (0 mana) and one Power Overwhelming (1 mana).  In the next match I was put in my place by a deadly combination of Mana Wyrm (1), Loatheb (5) and Emperor Thaurissan (6).  Mana Wyrm gains 1 attack every time its owner casts a spell, so every banana used counts as a spell cast.  Loatheb makes her opponent’s spells cost 5 more mana the turn after she is played, and Emperor Thaurissan makes all of his owner’s cards cost 1 less mana at the end of each one of his turns. 

          I’ll admit that the more I played Banana Brawl, the more I realized how much strategic depth it could provide to players.  One thing you will learn quickly while playing this new challenge is to keep your hand small.  Since every death of your minions grants you one banana card, your hand can fill up quickly.  If you attempt to draw a card when you have a full hand (10 cards), the card will be destroyed!

         Say you have five cards in your hand and five minions on the board with 4 or less health.  Your opponent could throw out Flamestrike (7 mana), clear out your minions and give you 5 banana cards.  Your hand is now full, and the card you draw on your next turn will be vanquished.     

          So in short, Banana Brawl is certainly worth a try, as it is absolutely free to play and you get a card for your first win of the week.  I’m excited to see the creative decks and strategies that people come up with in the next four days of the challenge.  The balance issues of Showdown at Blackrock Mountain are no more, and we have another reason to love Hearthstone.