I value
-random wild legends at 4.00
-random standard legends at 5.00
-wild packs at 0.60
-standard packs at 0.67

so this pack would be worth [24 for the packs] plus [12 for the legs] for me –> buy

after playing lots of games in this tavern brawl i can say that in this format:
– pen flinger, questing adventurer and mana giant are busted
– flamewaker and firebrand make for good board control (unlike magic dart frog)
– loatheb is time warp on legs
– sire denathrius shows up at the end of every game (as if there was ever any doubt)
– you will never again have so many issues with hand space, board space, lack of time and especially: “free” spells that clog up your hand because you have no weapon or no demon or no beast to target.
(i even play amalgam as a remedy, but celestial ink definitely did not work for me)

golden legendary is 1 in 181 packs, so now it’s like 1 in 91 packs.

still a golden disenchantable legend is better, since it gives you 1600 dust to craft any legend you like, while signature is not disenchantable.

i just repost this from October 21 because it fits so well here:

maybe Theotar should just destroy the stolen card, while giving your opponent one from your hand.
this way you would not frustrate players twofold, once by denying them their card, and once more by using their card against them.

I also thought about having starting health equal to starting deck size.
with close restrictions (e.g. 25-40) this should be no problem.

When starting health gets larger than 40, aggro would essentially be dead, because at a certain point it is impossible to reduce an opponent to zero quick enough before the late game bombs of a control deck take over the game.

Once there was even a CCG where damage to the opponent just removed cards from their deck and you won by destroying their deck (roughly like a crumbling sanctuary card that is written into the game rules)

maybe Theotar should just destroy the stolen card, while giving your opponent one from your hand.
this way you would not frustrate players twofold, once by denying them their card, and once more by using their card against them.

fixing Denathrius would need to set its base battlecry from 5 to 0, and limit the lifesteal to the battlecry effect, so that the minion does not steal 10 life every turn by attacking

from blizzards perspective, the mercenaries game mode is a huge sink of in-game gold.
Whenever all mercs in my collection are upgraded to level 30, i cannot resist to buy new mercenaires packs just to keep my training grounds busy.

all that gold is not spent on heathstone packs, ever keeping me away from completing my wild collection (800k dust to go and every new expansion sets me back to that point)

opening the possibility to play the same bounty over and over again for benefit just destroys the game mode.

I did the math for everyone who likes percentages:
golden leg: 0,11% (0,2/181)
golden epic: 0,28% (0,2/71)
golden rare: 1,33% (0,2/15)
golden comm: 1,54% (0,5/13)

normal leg: 1,00% (0,2/20)
normal epic: 4,00% (0,2/5)
normal comm: 70,00% (3,5/5)
normal rare: 21,74% (100,00% – all of the above)

total leg: 1,11%
total epic: 4,28%
total rare: 23,07%
total comm: 71,54%

golden ratio leg: 9,95%
golden ratio epic: 6,58%
golden ratio rare: 5,78%
golden ratio common: 2,15%

my personal history of soon 10000 cards opened has a significantly higher rate of leg and epic, probably because of the pity counters at the beginning of each expansion (first 10 packs) and generally (after max 40 packs).
However, I also purchased bundles with standard packs and wild packs, and for those there is no pity counter-

it’s basically all mages and druids, with the occasional paladin “to the frontline”-decks thrown in.
(to the frontline is conveniently countered by mass polymorph)

i only played mage, so all my advice ist for that class. i do think that druid is slightly superior in this tavern brawl, because it’s cheap spells are better suited and it has better ways to create a threatening board, but in the end i won more games against druid that i lost.

i used Ablattel’s deck list below as a starting point, but soon it was clear that you want to play only spells, no creatures. Thalnos, Malygos, Primordial Protector and even Multicaster had to go, but if I had to play a creature, it would be the latter.
Long stoys short, I cut the creatures and Wildfires to add Sorcerer’s Gambit, 2 Syphon Mana, Ignite, Solid Alibi and second copies of Refreshing Spring Water and Flamestrike.

Basically, you can just type “spell” in the query field of deck editor and throw something together.
To actually win at a good rate, you have to choose your starting hand well and be lucky with your Runes otA.

cheap spells:
Sorcerer’s Gambit: I used it because it was always a cheap spell in my opening hand. sometimes gives you a relevant extra spell. i never got to play dawngrasp though.

First Flame: gives you 2 spells played for 2 mana total. downside: cannot be cast without creatures to target, and you do not have many creatures of your own. if you have a slow start against mage, you might not want to play “build a snowman”, because that gives your opponent a target for thair first flames.

Hot Streak and Flurry are super cheap, but have itself only very little effect on the game. Flurry has the additional downside of needing _enemy_ creatures to even can be cast. However, Shooting Star, Snap Freeze, Wildfire, Gifts of Azshara, and Volcanomancy are all inferior options because they cost more and do not offer a relevant effect either.

2 mana shots: Runed orb is by far the best, because it gives you an extra spell. Siphon Mana, Ignite, and Frozen Touch are more or less exchangable – i play 2 siphon and 1 ignite, but that’s a matter of taste.

card drawing:
full packs of Arcane Intellect, Arcane Brilliance and Refreshing Spring Water allowed me to cut Multicaster. sometimes the correct play is to use one of these as your third (discounted) spell to get the chain going. Arcane Brilliance produces copies, so it helps you not to run out of win conditions

big spells (defensive):
Mass polymorph can shrink any board no matter how big, but Druids can retaliate by global buffs if you leave too many sheep on the board. One should be enough in your deck, as you can create extra copies with Arcane Brilliance.

Flamestrike does not destroy most dragons from opposing Drakefire Amultes by itself, but together with the cheap enabling damage spells you can take them down. also comes in handy against Druid boards from Scale of Onyxia

Rune of the Archmage:
Nowadays Rune otA mostly destroys and freezes the board, so do not play it if your opponent has no creatures. You also will get a lot of useless Secrets (Objection, Explosive Runes), fizzling Seafloor Gateways and maybe some extra cards. Sometimes you get lucky and produce some skeletons, and Drakefire Amulet ist of course the Jackpot.

big spells (win conditions):
Pyroblast: useless in the early game, but can close games quickly later when played in multiples.

Build a Snowman: gives you a (relatively) cheap spell, an additional card, and ultimately a big creature to close out the game.
a little bit of everything, and on top of it it gives you a target for your First Flame if you really need one.

Drakefire Amulet:
most mage duels boil down to the question, who can better stick their dragons on the board. there are some terrible dragons (basically everything cheaper than nozdormu) and battlecries do not trigger, but you will always have a decent dragon (at least 4/12 or 8/8) to choose. obviously some are better than others.
1. Haleh, Matron Protectorate: so much fun with all the cheap spells
2. Deathwing: biggest dragon, fast clock
3. Kalecgos: so much fun with all the expensive spells (Pyroblast-Hot Streak-Pyroblast anyone?)
4. Onyxia the Broodmother (core set): also a very fast clock with all the whelps

emergency options:
1. Raid Boss Onyxia: no whelps, no immune, but still a 8/8 dragon with rush
2. Sleeping Dragon: if you are low on life
3. Primordial Dragon: if you are low on life and nothing better is offered

plain 8/8:
Nozdormu, Kazakusan, Alexstraza

plain 4/12:
Malygos, Ysera

it’s been only 12 weeks since we last had this brawl.
nothing has changed, i even used the same deck again
(make sure you have enough board space for your massacre turn)

apparently both bundles are 4000 runestones for 2 legendaries and 50 packs, at least on my account. the math above still holds true for the standard bundle (bob’s bargain), but the wild bundle (tavern special) is now significantly worse and therefore definitely a no-buy.

Secret Mage got two new staples in Objection and Contract Conjurer, so there are more Secret Mages than ever in wild after the mini set went online

Since most players have already completed their common+rare collections in standard, the 75 packs of the Bob’s Bargain bundle will mostly just yield dust. If you assume 17,5 packs for opening a legend, it results in 4 additional legends opened and about 6000 leftover dust that allows you to craft roughly 4 additional legends of your choice for a total of 7 random legends and 4 custom legends.

If you value a random legend at 4,00 and a custom legend at 8,00 then you get exactly
(7×4) + (4×8) = 28 + 32 = 60,00
your money’s worth.

Do the math!

The Tavern Special gives you 15 additional packs that accounts for almost one additional legend drawn and extra dust for well half a legend, but most legends in wild are effectively unplayable so it is probably only interesting for those who want to complete their wild collection.

Guaranteed T4 Vanndar sure looks like great fun.
Possibly the only way to use that card in a meaningful way.
The idea of Mal’Ganis+The Jailer Turns 6+7 makes me smile
(lock can still be broken with Whirlpool etc.)

I had success (i.e. 5-0) with Aggro self-discard Demon Hunter, as featured in the top standard decks section. The clou is to guarantee a 4th turn Sightless Magistrate (cut Blademaster Okani which is the only other 4 drop) while wasting your hand during turns 1-3 with Bibliomite and Dispose of Evidence. I do not own Kurtrus, but Jace Darkweaver sealed the deal whenever the game ever went to turn 8.

Thank you for this guide!
With this, MS Excel, and a little bit of luck I didi it on my 1st try (at 1 life)
keep up the good work 🙂

I don’t like runestones either, but at the moment it’s just one additional step in between, because you can buy exactly the amount of runestones you need (i.e. I never have any runestones on my account except for the few seconds between buying the runestones with money and buying the bundle with the newly acquired runestones.

Of course there is a greater scheme behind all that, and who knows what blizzard is cooking up behind the stages? only time will tell …

thanks a lot!

Hello H0lysatan,

Could you please explain a little bit, as I am not 100% sure if I understand the benefits of all these moves.
-arena: I know that all unfinished arena runs will be (kind of) refunded, so having an x-2 run ongoing gives me the prizes for an x-run and a free arena submission, correct? So if I am standing 6-2 with an above-par deck, I should probably try to get the precious 7th win, but if I am at 1-2, I should stop and cash in the free arena ticket?

– not visiting the reward track after updating: I understand that completing the daily and weekly quests is more valuable after the refresh, because 50 gold/level after level 100 is poor, but does visiting the reward track make any difference?

– murloc holmes craft+quest: I get that you can craft murloc holmes and full-dust-refund it for some days, but is there any benefit besides completing an achievement faster?