Looks like it’s confirmed TGT is August 24. Maybe everyone already knew that?
My experience after six games in the latest Tavern Brawl is play the mage and you win, play the hunter and you lose.
That’s kind of what I expected, but slightly disappointed they couldn’t get the balance better for this flagship tavern brawl. Mage is one of the best classes for the inspire mechanic, and both the joust mechanic and the new control hunter cards seem to have been met with much general skepticism.
I’m watching a streamer play the brawl. Despite there clearly being imbalance, the cards seem really fun on both sides.
Spock
2747
I had fun with the Tavern Brawl, and I went 1-1 as the Hunter. But yeah, I had an easier time as the Mage, going 3-1. I was surprised how much use I made of the Inspire mechanic. I suppose in Arena that won’t happen much. Maybe it will in constructed?
Speaking of Arena, are the TGT cards available for Arena today, or not until the release on Monday the 24th?
Squee
2748
Haven’t lost a game in the brawl yet, but I do have to agree the hunter/joust deck is worse. The problem is it’s so half-assed and slopped together, they threw some of the new control-hunter cards in there and some of the joust cards in there without focusing on making either a control hunter or a jousting deck, so you have a lot of “Well I guess I’ll play this” turns.
The inspire deck however has consistent synergy throughout. Even just dropping the 1/2 inspire +1 attack dude can take out a 3 or 4 drop in the opposing deck relatively easily, and if you start getting multiple hero power themed cards out you run away with the game.
They probably should’ve made the non-mage deck either entirely control hunter (More weapons, more removal, more defensive beasts, largely gut jousting entirely) or gone for a jousting control paladin, since I feel like that archetype will fit jousting better. You can get the walrus 5 drop, you can minimize your low mana minions by playing cards like the new argent lance and muster to improve your joust odds, and you can have a lot of sweepers for cleaning the board off so you can start dropping large minions.
Apart from the wonky balance of the decks the cards are pretty fun though. That new giant is fucking obscene.
Lock and Load is extremely fun in this deck if you play it once you have some mana.
Brakara
2750
My daily quests:
- Win with hunter or mage
- Win 5 tavern brawls
All right then.
And, no, arena does not have the TGT cards yet.
Boy, Mage seems much, much better than Hunter in the brawl.
It’s amusing to me that each forum I go to says one of them is much better, but which one isn’t consistent.
Whoever says Hunter is trolling you. The Mage is miles better.
TBF I played twice, once a demoralizing loss with hunter and a second absolute ass-kicking with mage.
After a bunch more matches chasing a hunter daily win quest for lulz…
HAHAHAHAHA holy shit mage is so much better. Wow.
kerzain
2756
RNG hell aside, they desperately need to speed up the joust card compare animation. Good god y’all. My version of hell of would include fighting against a new TGT Patron card that triggered a Joust after every split.
As for the Brawl, Mages are OP by a mile, but I’m not convinced it has anything to do with the class or joust vs inspire mechanics themselves, so much as the fact Hunters seem to have been given an ultra shitty deck this week regardless.
I don’t think the Hunter deck is totally outclassed, but is a bit clunky and tougher to play. The mage can get some serious inspire synergy going once they get a few minions on the board, but hero power takes a lot of mana to use and it is slow to develop that synergy. I think the hunter needs to make smarter plays and do everything it can to control the board. You will probably win as hunter if you can get to the late game with board advantage.
It is ridiculous how much I lose my jousts compared to how often other hunters I fight win jousts. I just played a game where I was 0/5 on jousts. That’s nuts! Somehow, I still won the game.
update: I have now lost my last 8 jousts
After much playing, I think these decks are pretty well balanced. I just won 9 games in a row… 5 hunter and 4 mage. Lost my win streak playing the mage. I really like this brawl a lot.
It’s a tight game of board control in this matchup. The hunter needs to do everything in its power to slow the mage down and keep it off the board until turn 4-6ish, when it can start getting some tempo going. The mage needs to make smart use of its low cost minions and extract as much value as possible using the hero power and inspire. Fallen Hero is an extremely valuable card for winning tempo in the early game. If the hunter can trade or snipe it early (arcane shot ftw), it will gain a crucial advantage. The hunter doesn’t have much to work with for controlling the board early, so the mage needs to make sure it can take advantage and get some minions on the board to get value out of inspire by the time the hunter starts getting on the board.
ducker
2759
I also liked this brawl a lot. I certainly prefer the mage over the hunter, as I dislike the RNG of “joust”.
I’m glad it’s working for you, but I don’t see how it’s in any way balanced. I agree with the assessment that the hunter has a chance if she can slow down the mage, but as you said, “hunter doesn’t have much to work with for controlling the board early” so that’s an incredibly tall order. I’ve won exactly one hunter game and lost at least 5 (didn’t keep exact count) while working on quests. Only that once did I get a great draw that kept me mostly on curve, didn’t get screwed by poor joust draws, and could actually kill the stuff that the mage was dropping. On the other hand, I’ve only lost one mage game and won all the others I’ve played, either by simply overwhelming the hunter with inspire-laden minions or by pulling out some combo like Maiden of the Lake + Coldarra Drake.
kerzain
2761
They’re balanced those 1 in 5 games when the Hunter gets lucky and the Mage gets unlucky with draws. Then they’re balanced. I actually prefer slower decks overall, but this week’s Hunter deck is just badly put together relative to the Mage one.
As for the cards themselves, I’m also unhappy with the 10 mana it takes to pull off the Acid Maw + Hounds combo. But while this is pretty shitty for this particular brawl, after TGT goes lives it should be less of an issue once we can construct our own decks to lower costs; and/or to trigger Acid Maw board wipes in other ways than relying on hounds.
As for Jousting, I don’t mind it so much. I actually enjoy building chaos decks and ramping up the unpredictability. From building decks with pretty much nothing but stuff like mad bombers + Ghaz’rilla + patrons + Gurubashis, to fielding Elite Tauren Chieftan (crafted nonetheless), Tinkmaster Overspark, and Millhouse, to loading up on Gnomish Experimenters and Recombobulators… Sometimes I just let go and let the RNG guide my way. It’s fun, and often funny. The thing is, I don’t really approach most of this stuff with serious business in mind, and my limited experience with joust has me thinking of it as closer to a fun mechanic than a strategic one. Really, it’s just a bonus for otherwise weak cards for the cost. There are a few standouts, and a couple must-haves that make it worth the risk, and personally I welcome all of them because I love off the wall stuff, but that’s just it, I love off the wall stuff. When I’m in serious business mode I don’t even like the unpredictability of Shredders vs yetis much less whether or not a below average card (for the cost) might win a joust and become a much needed taunt, versus me just playing a damn taunt. I look forward to exploiting the mechanic ten ways to Sunday, but this brawl has made it look pretty bad–at least when a third of a deck is built around it.
Either way, the 24th can’t come soon enough.
pyrhic
2762
No, acid maw sucks…will suck…does suck.
problem is that its two health, AND, the impact is across the board -meaning that any advantage that you get from him, is inversely inflicted on you next turn as pings wipe out your big minions. and your opponent sets the board again…
This isn’t saying that he cant totally neutralize a board…but that’s typically not the hunter problem, and so this solution isnt partiularly necessary…
