This week’s Tavern Brawl is “Wacky Waxy Winter’s Veil”!
Discuss this Tavern Brawl on our Discord!
Official Description for Wacky Waxy Winter’s Veil
Greatfather Kobold got a little carried away with the presents. He’s wrapped up the strongest creatures and heroes in Azeroth! Free them!
Wacky Waxy Winter’s Veil Chalkboard
General Information
- You get a card pack from the latest expansion for winning your first game this week.
- It’s the sixth time we see this Brawl. Last time we’ve seen it on December 20, 2023.
- This is a PvP Brawl.
- Brawl’s format is Wild.
- It’s a Constructed Brawl – you need to pick a Hero and build your own deck.
- Each player starts with four 0/4 Large Waxy Gifts on their board. When you destroy your opponent’s Gifts, you will receive a random Legendary minion that costs 3 less mana.
- On Turn 7, four more Gifts drop on each side of the board. If there isn’t enough space for all of them, they simply fill the remaining slots (or nothing drops if the board is full).
- Since you start with a few durable minions, anything that buffs them is a good idea. You want to make them harder for your opponent to get rid of (and if they Silence/Transform them, they lose the Legendary reward). There are also a few ways to just reap the rewards immediately by destroying your opponent’s gifts – e.g. Crazed Alchemist.
- Because your opponent wants to destroy your gifts, you can always try Silencing or Transforming (e.g. Evolving) them yourself to prevent the enemy from getting discounted Legendaries.
So, I did a deep dive this year. Partly, because I never remember which class I ended up using for this the prior year. Partly, to see what’s changed.
Every class has plenty of ways to deal 4 or more damage to knock out your opponent’s gifts and get those legendaries. So, I left that out of the comparison, but if you’re short any of the cards below, fill with things that do that.
I’m also leaving out “all minion” or other effects that could backfire if you’re actively trying to avoid your opponent getting free legendaries. If you don’t care about that, board wipe away!
Looking over the other options, outright destruction and not worrying about your opponent killing your gifts is starting to feel like the better plan. “Oh, that’s a nice Legendary you’ve got there. It would be a shame if someone were to blow it up.” On class cards alone, Rogue and Warlock are not far behind Priest and Shaman, and Priest leans toward destruction, as well. Upgrading your minions into bigger ones is all fine and good until your opponent clears your board, then what are you going to do?
From that perspective, Shaman is possibly the weakest choice. That said, you’ll note my analysis doesn’t take casting cost into consideration, so that may be the deciding factor here.
Happy Deck Brewing!
Death Knight (Destroy 6, Silence 0, Transform 0, Swap 0, Total 6)
Obliterate, Asphyxiate (if nothing bigger to hit), Suffocate, Headless Horseman (if only gifts on board), Sindragosa, Patchwork (random)
Demon Hunter (Destroy 0, Silence 0, Transform 0, Swap 0, Total 0)
Druid (Destroy 2, Silence 2, Transform 0, Swap 0, Total 4)
Naturalize, Mulch, Attorney-At-Maw, Keeper of the Grove
Hunter (Destroy 8, Silence 0, Transform 0, Swap 0, Total 8)
Pressure Plate (random), Acidmaw (deal 1+ damage), Deadly Shot (random), Spider Bomb (random), Krolusk Barkstripper (random), Deathroll, Rotnest Drake (if holding dragon, random), Crushing Walls
Mage (Destroy 5, Silence 0, Transform 3, Swap 0, Total 8)
Snap Freeze (if frozen), Shatter (if frozen), Conjurer’s Calling, Shattering Blast (if frozen, not if yours are), Chaos Creation, Polymorph: Boar, Polymorph: Jellyfish, Polymorph
Pally (Destroy 0, Silence 0, Transform 0, Swap 0, Total 0)
Priest (Destroy 11, Silence 7, Transform 0, Swap 2, Total 20)
Forbidden Words, Theft Accusation (play copied card), Shadow Word: Pain, Shadow Chord: Distort, Bristtlebone Destroyer (heal/damage hero), Cannibalize, Convincing Infiltrator (deathrattle, random), Time Rip, Galakrond (random), Natalie, Obsidian Statue (deathrattle, random), Silence, Deafen, Focused Will, Whispers of the Deep, Purify, Purifying Power, Kabal Songstealer, Topsy Turvy, Chillin’ Vol’jin (need a non-gift minion)
Rogue (Destroy 14, Silence 1, Transform 1, Swap 0, Total 16)
Murder Accusation (kill different minion), Antique Flinger (Excavate twice), Coerce (combo or damaged), Assassinate, Dubious Purchase (combo, random), Sabotage (random), Walk the Plank (if undamaged), Lesser Onyx Spellstone (random), Malevolent Strike, Vile Spine Slayer (random), Unidentified Contract, Blade of C’Thun, SI:7 Assasin (combo), Snatch and Grab, Deafen, Bamboozle (assumes they attack your gift)
Shaman (Destroy 2, Silence 1, Transform 17, Swap 0, Total 20)
Reincarnate, Ice Breaker (if frozen), Earthshock
Mutate, Blazing Transmutation, Convincing Disguise, Evolve, Muck Pools, Unstable Evolution, Explosive Evolution, Bogstrok Clacker, Hex, Backstage Bouncer, Master of Evolution, Matching Outfits, Bogspine Knuckles, JIVE INSECT!, Thrall, The Storm Bringer
Warlock (Destroy 19, Silence 0, Transform 0, Swap 0, Total 19)
Chaotic Consumption (need a non-gift minion), Corruption (wait a turn), Arson Accusation (take damage), Deadline, Eat! The! Imp! (need a non-gift minion), Suffocating Shadows, Unwilling Sacrifice (random, need a non-gift minion), Blastcrystal Potion, Brittlebone Destroyer (heal/damage self), Cascading Disaster (random), Dark Bargain (random), Impbalming, Siphon Soul, Twisted Teether, Spawn of Deathwing (random), Chaos Creation, Keli’dan (don’t play if just drawn), Riftcleaver, Demonbolt
Warrior (Destroy 7, Silence 0, Transform 1, Swap 0, Total 8)
Execute (if damaged), Blast Charge (if damaged), Coerce (if damaged or combo), Smoldering Lancer (if damaged and holding a dragon), Snowed In (if damaged), Undercooked Calamari, Crush, Backstage Bouncer
Neutral (Destroy 9, Silence 6, Transform 3, Swap 2, Total 20)
Scorp-o-matic, Voodoo Doll (deathrattle), Forgotten Animatronic, Sinrunner, Stampeding Kodo, Book Wyrm (if holding dragon), Taurajo Brave (frenzy, random), Concert Promo-Drake (finale), Ozumat, Dalaran Librarian, Ironbeak Owl, Royal Librarian, Spellbreaker, Wailing Soul, Defias Cleaner, Recombobulator, Faceless Corrupter, Furbolg Mossbinder, Crazed Alchemist, Kooky Chemist
Rush + Poison is also good in any situation.
I also overlooked, Shadow Hunter Vol’jin: swap one of your gifts with a minion in your opponent’s hand. Oops, they’re running all spells? Still good; you just put a dead card in their hand.
shadow hunter vol’jin does not work that way.
– either you swap one of the gifts on your side with a minion in your hand. that denies your opponent a legend, but you also probably miss out on an important battlecry (like crazed alchemist), unless you get lucky and hit your sea giant or one of the legends you got from destroying a gift.
– or you swap one of the gifts on their side with a minion in their hand. that denies a legend to yourself, which is bad, and it probably summons one of the legends they are holding from destroying a gift on your side.
either way, shadow hunter vol’jin is not a good card in this tavern brawl I think.
…Erp. I misread that card, but still useful for taking a gift off your board.
Thank you for all the work you put in.
You said it yourself – mana cost is a deciding factor.
Also, i think you underestimate transform effects in this brawl. The serve several functions:
1.) transforming your gifts denies your opponent the legends. And the legends are good, because they come at reduced mana cost.
2.) sometimes you get a legend with relatively weak stats compared to its cost, but transform gives you another chance to get fair value for your mana.
3.) lots of big creatures run around in this brawl. transform allows you to “heal” a damaged minion by replacing it with one at full health.
Finally, one important aspect of this tavern brawl is that the game starts with 8 minions on the board, which makes Sea Giant, , Mogu Fleshshaper, and very cheap – ready to be transformed into something gigantic. (To some extent this also works with Eredar Brute and Rabble Bouncer, but those only count your opponent’s minions, and ticking module Zilliax only counts your own minions. Still works fine with ticking/haywire, just transform it when the haywire damage gets annoying).
All that being said I agree to you that Priest has a imbalanced card in Purifying Power to silence all their own gifts with profit and a vast arsenal of spells that mass kill the opponent’s gifts (which both come in handy when new gifts arrive at T7 and T9)
Yeah, hinted but not said (because I haven’t tested), Priest seems to be the most versatile with a good mix of every strategy available. It should handle changing up the plan if needed midgame very well.
Shaman is great T1, but transforming to higher mana cards doesn’t guarantee higher damage/value minions. If things don’t go your way in the early game, the late game is going to be a struggle.
Also in testing, Silence on individual gifts, or just your board, is not great. Having that vanilla 0/4 on your board means you’re down a spot to play a better minion, and/or need to burn a second card to pump it/them. But, if you dispense with the goal of getting the free legendaries from your opponent, silencing both sides of the board and following that up with pumps could be backbreaking for your opponent, who is now hampered with four 0/4 minions and likely nothing to do with them (unless they’re Shaman, of course). Priests could pull this off early with Purifying Power and Shard of the Naaru in their opening hand.
Demon Hunter is well equipped for the “just go face” plan.
I didn’t know there was a fourth wave of gifts before today, but Death Knight can drag the game out long enough to see it.
some thoughts after playing evolve shaman with about 75% win rate:
(the deck is fun, but you lose against control decks (priest, warrrior) and druid with global buffs is too fast for you)
shaman:
T1 evolve is by far your best play.
mulligan hard for it
priest:
topsy turvy, inner fire, bless, cathedral of atonement, serenity
paladin:
showdown – prismatic beam, deputization aura
druid:
global buffs from token druid.
probably the best deck in this tavern brawl
general:
scorp-o-matic, crazed alchemist, pelican diver, recombobulator, sea giant
Putting this here so I don’t have to come up with a deck idea next year. Dream is evolve on turn 1 and then either Thrall or Evolve again on turn 7. I’m sure there are a plethora of improvements that could be made.
### Brawl Deck
# Class: Shaman
# Format: Wild
#
# 2x (0) Lightning Bloom
# 2x (1) Evolve
# 2x (1) Lightning Bolt
# 2x (1) Novice Zapper
# 2x (1) Primordial Studies
# 1x (2) Bloodmage Thalnos
# 2x (2) Crazed Alchemist
# 2x (2) Diligent Notetaker
# 2x (2) Sleetbreaker
# 2x (3) Bogstrok Clacker
# 1x (3) Primal Dungeoneer
# 2x (3) Serpentshrine Portal
# 2x (3) Void Ripper
# 2x (4) Kooky Chemist
# 1x (4) Master of Evolution
# 2x (4) Multicaster
# 1x (5) Thrall, Deathseer
#
AAEBAZyrBATgsALrzwLj7gOXoAQN+qoC4boC/eoC27gD4bgD4cwDzc4D8NQD6ucDqIEElZIE+Z8EnaAEAA==
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone
i had no void rippers, so i used mutate from rise of the shadows instead
also lightning bloom lost a lot of its appeal after the nerf
When you destroy one of them ON YOUR TURN, you will receive a random Legendary minion that costs 3 less mana.
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???
Why the fuck do you write a guide if it’s WRONG!
The opponent gets the Legendary if the Gift on your turn.
That’s how it worked in the last week’s Brawl, I didn’t have time to test this one and I assumed that it works the same. Sorry, I already fixed it, but there’s no reason to get so worked up over something so irrelevant.
Please don’t let these weird people darken your mood. They are the exeception. Most people like me enjoy the work you put in this site but don’t post that enough. Merry everything & happy NY.
I just do not clear the opponent’s board they play 3 weak minions while clearing my side and with any sort of agro deck i have enough to just attack face while they have a 4 legendary minions in their hand they cannot play…Good times 😀
This is really the perfect time to put out a brawl that’s ideal for evolve shaman.
I was lucky my opponent concede in first round. I read the guide here and come up with deck of druid buffs. He is a mage and within first round I cast Mark of Lotus and he conceded.
Had he played on, Power of Wild is waiting in round 2. With RNG help Savage Roar in round 3 he is in deep trouble.
Not playing again I just want to 3 reward packs.
When you play mostly for the memes and play that juicy 0 mana MillHouse but your opponent is burn mage
:(.
This is just going to be yet another Tavern Brawl where 97% of the people run basically the same deck. This time it will be decks that eliminate the “presents” in some way to try to make the opponent instantly concede. So there will be no gameplay strategy, just a race to who gets the silence or evolve card first. If it were up to me, there would be no brawls where you build your own deck. Make people have to think and adapt based on what they get instead of just copying whatever decks are proving to be the strongest.
I would prefer this too. Just this last week, i would guess most were playing a warlock with similar cards by the end.
Sea giant is also pretty good
http://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/decks/protechshuns-evolve-brawl-shaman/
Evolve shaman for the lulz?
Thanks, added it to the post!
RNG for the win! 3 turns. PW:ShieldX2 on one of the gifts on turn 2, Divine Spirit and Inner Fire on turn 3. Opponent conceded one nanosecond later.
just use evolve, easy turn 1 concede lol
Good point, I’m going to add that to the tips section!
Managed to beat enemy’s turn 1 evolve with Competitive Spirit and Sea Giant
Twice in a row lol
### Brawl Deck
# Class: Priest
# Format: Wild
#
# 2x (0) Circle of Healing
# 2x (0) Silence
# 2x (1) Inner Fire
# 2x (1) Northshire Cleric
# 2x (1) Potion of Madness
# 2x (1) Power Word: Shield
# 2x (2) Divine Spirit
# 2x (2) Purify
# 2x (2) Radiant Elemental
# 2x (2) Shadow Ascendant
# 2x (2) Shadow Visions
# 2x (2) Shadow Word: Pain
# 2x (3) Acolyte of Pain
# 2x (3) Coldlight Oracle
# 2x (3) Kabal Talonpriest
#
AAEBAZ/HAgAP+ALlBPgHpQnRCtIK1wryDPsMrLQCtbsC8LsC0cEC2MECzswCAA==
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone
http://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/decks/tavern-brawl-priest/
Try this out instead, replaced Circle of Healing, Acolyte of Pain with Loot Hoarder and Shadow Word: Horror
I almost ran Horror as well, but it also destroys your own gifts.
This is pretty similar to what I ended up using. Inner Fire Priest strikes again!
I’m diggin the combo priest with crazed alchemist as well!
hey buddy great deck, just played a buch of game with it, pretty nice, thanks.