Astral Communion Druid – Shadow Towers (Tavern Brawl)

Shadow Towers (Tavern Brawl)

Who lurks in the shadowy towers? You do! Skulking behind the Tower’s sturdy walls, your minions have stealth their first turn.

Rule Clarifications:

•     Players begin the game with 30 Health and 10 Armor.
•     Minions gain stealth on play, but not summon.
•     Wild format, all cards playable.

General Strategy

This brawl greatly promotes minions that snowball the game if they survive a turn. Decks that either play big cards or insane spell combos benefit greatly from the increase in health. Cards that affect the opponent’s entire board and can deal with stealthed threatening cards also receive a boost in power.

Meta-Defining Cards

Much like in the current constructed metagame, every Tavern Brawl has its share of meta-defining cards. These cards typically define the pace of the Brawl and have text that is improved or enhanced by the Tavern Brawl rules.

Players who were around during the the reign of Mech Mage know how powerful this is in stealth. Antonidas is almost guaranteed to survive a turn which represents a near guaranteed 29 face damage (Antonidas attack and 4 fireballs) over the course of 3 turns.

Gadgetzan has stealth the turn it’s played, meaning the following turn is full of the best deals anywhere. Several decks can be built around the draw power that Gadgetzan affords. There are a few cards that can deal with a 4 health stealthed minion, but most rely on an element of RNG to work. 

Doomsayer with stealth is very close to a guaranteed board clear. With the extra health afforded by the armor, most decks have the ability to take a ton of face damage if it results in a clear board.

Seeing as how most decks run minions that win the game if they survive a turn, Mass Dispel is a great anti-meta card that prevents your opponent from achieving win conditions based on a single card such as a stealthed Malygos or Tundra Rhino.

With a deck full of big minions, Naga Sea Witch is a very threatening card. 5 Health is near impossible to remove easily and discounts of 4-5 mana on the big minions in your deck are exceptionally powerful.

Decklist

The provided decklist is an example of a deck that puts the meta-defining cards of the Brawl to use. It is by no means the only way to build a deck for the Brawl and we encourage you to experiment with your own variations and card substitutions.

    Mulligans:

Look for Innervate, Raven Idol, Wild Growth, and Astral Communion. Keep Naga Sea Witch if your hand contains Innervate, and Wild Growth already.

    Gameplan:

The goal of this deck is to out tempo your opponent by playing big minions several turns sooner than they would normally be able to be played. Druid’s ramp options and Naga Sea Witch with stealth allow the deck to perform fairly consistently. While the deck contains very little burst, your opponent will likely run out of ways to deal with your minions, which can snowball the game to your win.

    Techs:

Some brawls feature a more intricate metagame with multiple styles of decks being viable, each with their own strategy and power cards. Here are a few cards you might want to substitute in as needed.

Stampeding Kodo

   Stampeding Kodo deals with Alarm-o-bot and Doomsayer (regular and validated).

Doomsayer

   Doomsayer gains you tempo and deals with early aggression from very aggressive decks, giving you a few extra turns to draw the cards you need.

Bomb Lobber

   Useful for destroying stealthed Gadgetzans and Flamewakers buying you a bit more time against combo decks.

    Substitutions:

If you don’t have a few of the epic or legendary cards in this deck, they can certainly be replaced by the cheaper options listed below:

• Alarm-o-bot is a good replacement for Astral Communion, especially if you use the other cards in this list. Try to avoid playing both since Alarm-o-bot is a really bad draw after Astral Communion is played.
• Bog Creeper
• Ironbark Protector
• Volcanic Lumberer
• North Sea Kraken

Playing on  a Budget

Tavern Brawls are a great way to experience Hearthstone in a completely different way. However, because many Tavern Brawls limit the cards you are able to play or place in your deck, it may be difficult for players with limited collections to build a deck that works as well as other decks with rarer cards. In this section, we provide a decklist for the Tavern Brawl using only Basic, Common, and Rare cards in hope that players with fewer cards can join in on the fun and get those Tavern Brawl rewards!

    Decklist:

Budget List

    Summary: 

The Shaman deck focuses on swarming the board with difficult to remove minions, and ending the game with bloodlust.

While the deck has issues with board clears such as Doomsayer, Blizzard, and Flamestrike, the deck is aggressive enough to win against slower minion-based decks and uses the Shaman’s hero power to its advantage.

    Mulligans:

Loot Hoarder, Bilefin Tidehunter, Totem Golem and Tuskarr Totemic should be your top choices. Try to establish a board as quickly as possible to wear down the opponent’s armor. Flametongue Totem is a good keep if you have two of the above.

    Gameplan:

Play out as many minions as you can before the turn you use bloodlust, trade only when the minion on the other side can cause you to lose (Mechwarper, Flamewaker, Questing Adventurer, etc.) or when you have Cult Master on board.

Cult Master is one of your most powerful cards against other board-centric decks since it discourages your opponent from clearing your board, but don’t be afraid to just play it on turn 4 if you have nothing better to do.

Always count how much damage you have in hand from Bloodlust; if you think your opponent will clear your board the next turn use it to push for damage, your charge creatures will hopefully take care of the rest.

Good luck, have fun, and go Brawl!