Tavern Brawl – Aviana’s Night

I think I have finally figured out the more or less optimal deck for this brawl.

The core is an undead engine powerded mostly by Flesh Behemoth and Catrina Muerte.
The deck has cheap hard removal and many 187 minions against the big minions everybody else brings to this brawl.
whirlpool is a reset button if your opponent gets a better start or has jailer active.

additional notes:
the best first turn play is usually Lorthemar.
the best thing you can do on an empty board is Thaddius+lots of bombs
therefore lorthemar and thaddius are the cards to mulligan for, the third card to keep is Flesh Behemoth to get the engine going. It will fetch additional behemoths or Catrina, which will bring back a Flesh Behemoth to restart the loop.
Other good undead minions for Carina to hit are Thaddius and Invincible (actually many games are decided early when a T1 Flesh Behemoth yields an early Thaddius in play and an extra one in hand). Sylvanas and Black Knight have weaker stats, but Behemoth also gives you copies of them into your hand and allow you to kill or steal more minions.

The best thing you can do on a full board on both sides is an infused Insatiable Devourer. Using Insatiable Devourer should only be done if it can hit 2 or three large creatures or if no other options are available.
If only your opponent’s side of the board is full, then Whirlpool shines, but don’t forget that it is your only answer to Jailer so do not waste it.
Drown plays a special role because it prevents Deathrattle triggers and Reborn from happening which can be detrimental, thinking of opposing Ozumats, Invincibles and Flesh Behemoths.
Cannibalize is much much weaker than Drown (despite similar cost and effect) and is therefore not used.

Blackwater Behemoth has only one purpose: To grow Banjosaurs that were stolen with Identity Theft or Sylvanas.
It is still a decent 1st turn play if you mulligan into nothing better, and it provides some lifegain.

Some things to watch out for:
– Opposing Flesh behemoths have actually very low attack considering the size of the minions in this format.
You should only kill them if you can handle the 22/22 Thaddius that may spawn from it.
– Speaking of Thaddius, it has a weird interaction with the coin, which counts as an even cost card and becomes more expensive.
– Thaddius should not be played T1 if you only have odd-costed cards in your opening hand
– as illogical as it might sound, taunt minions with immune (by jailer) no longer stop your opponent’s minions from attacking your hero. not all opponents know this though, so you might trick them into not attacking
– One opponent actually played T1 Jailer against me. I had the Whirlpool and was thinking that I had already won, but I rushed it and played the Whirlpool immediately, not considering that his other minions were still immune even after Jailer was removed. He finally did me in with a large immune Overlord Drakuru, a game that would have been easily won by playing the whirlpool two turns later.
– don’t forget to play your draw spells BEFORE you trade minions, just in case you hit infuse minions
– bear in mind that if silvanas steals neptulon, the 4/2 hands will not follow

possible opponents:
I found the priest mirrors to be the hardest opponents, but there are god draws from shaman (T1 „From the Other Side“) and warrior (T1 Blackrock n‘ Roll followed by Trenchstalker) that can do you in, also Druid (T1 Topior, early Nourish for mana crystals) may overwhelm you with 3/3 whelps.
Hunter seldom was a problem. T1 Banjosaur looks impressive, but there are so many ways to kill their big minions. However, Lorthemar-buffed King Krush was an issue, and also Mister Mukla’s battlecry kills the extra copy you would get into your hand from Flesh Behemoth’s deathrattle.
Warlock has Infantry Recruiter and Arson Accusation, but overall Priest has the stronger card pool in this format.

Popular choices for the „customizable slot“ that is currently occupied by Ysera the Dreamer in my deck are: Jailer, Sister Svelna (good backup if you destroy your deck with jailer), Sunwell, Astalor, Zola, Mish-Mash Mosher, Blademaster Okani, and – oddly enough – Soul Seeker.

cards that were not good enough imho were: core set onyxia and ozumat (occupy too much board space), cannibalize, shadow word: ruin, ragnaros, denathrius, deathwing, amplified elekk, sleepy dragon, malygos, party crasher, dr. boom, concert promo drake (you rarely hit his finale trigger), stormwind champion, thrive in the shadows,

here is the deck:

cheap removal:
2x (1) The Light! It Burns!
2x (2) Shadow Word: Death
2x (4) Drown

card draw:
2x (3) Identity Theft
2x (3) Switcheroo

187 minoins:
2x (4) Big Game Hunter
1x (4) The Black Knight
1x (6) Sylvanas, the Accused
1x (7) Blackwater Behemoth
1x (9) Alexstrasza the Life-Binder
2x (9) Insatiable Devourer
1x (10) Neptulon the Tidehunter
2x (10) Stoneborn General

undead engine:
1x (7) Catrina Muerte
1x (8) Invincible
2x (9) Flesh Behemoth

reset button:
2x (8) Whirlpool

broken in this format:
1x (7) Lor’themar Theron
1x (10) Thaddius, Monstrosity

customizable slot:
1x (9) Ysera the Dreamer

deck code:
AAECAZ/HAgqwigS0igSotgS/zgSk7wTfogXvogXCpQW3ngbJngYKwZ8ElKAEobYE+dsEuNwErO0E4O0E9vEE+PEE1JUFAAA=
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