HearthStone’s Tavern Brawl mode is a weekly event that begins every Wednesday. Tavern Brawls always use special rules and customised decks. Sometimes players are able to craft their own decks and other times they’re given a pre-made one to use. The HearthStone Tavern Brawl: Spellbook Duel is this week’s event and we’ve found the best deck to use.
We say best, but there are always going to be decks that can counter others. There’s not really a flawless way to build a HearthStone deck for all occasions, but so far the deck we’ve built for Spellbook Duel has performed really well. Of the eight matches played, it’s won six. Not bad stats.
Spellbook Duel
Spellbook Duel requires players to choose 10 cards and 10 cards only. Each time they draw a card they’ll be able to choose 1 of 3 cards from the deck. If they play a card that allows them to draw another, they’ll be given a Peruse. Peruse is a spell that allows the player the Discover a card from the Deck.
With that in mind, we’ve built our deck using the Mage hero. The cards used are as follows;
- Arcane Missiles
- Babbling Book
- Ice Lance
- Mana Wyrm
- Mirror Image
- Arcane Explosion
- Frostbolt
- Sorcerer’s Apprentice
- Arcane Intellect
- Flamewaker
There are some exceptional synergies in this deck. The combination of Mana Wyrm and Flamewaker can be especially deadly. In fact, I’ve had at least half my matches end when the other player concedes.
Playing the deck
This deck works best if you’re able to go second, but it is still fine if you’re first. You should try and play Mirror Image or Sorcerer’s Apprentice first. If you do get to go second, you’ll be able to play Sorcerer’s Apprentice with help from the Coin. If you have Mirror Image in your hand you’ll also be able to play it as the cost will be reduced from Sorcerer’s Apprentice’s passive.
Early on most decks won’t be able to remove your Sorcerer’s Apprentice, especially if you have two 0/2 Defenders in the way. Priests can potentially destroy Sorcerer’s Apprentice, but that’s always a risk with Priests. Once you have your Sorcerer’s Apprentice on the board your spells all cost one less and a lot of them will cost 0 mana. If you have a Mana Wyrm in your hand you should play it next. And then whatever 0 cost spells you have as needed. You could also play Babbling Book to get another, different Mage spell.
When you have 3 Mana you should play either Arcane Intellect or Flamewaker. If you have Arcane Intellect, it’s preferable at this point, though Flamewaker can be useful if you have 0 cost spells in hand. Playing Arcane Intellect will give you two Peruse cards. With Sorcerer’s Apprentice’s passive, they’ll cost 0 mana and casting them will give Mana Wyrm +1 attack. You’ll also get to select 1 of 3 cards from your deck, twice.
Make sure you maintain board control and remove any enemy minions as they appear. Jade Golems can be nasty as can Gnomeferatu. The latter is especially a pain in this Tavern Brawl.
On your next turn, if things are still going well, play Flamewaker and keep using spells. You may want to hang onto the Peruse cards you got from Arcane Intellect, unless you have more than one, as each Peruse will cause Flamewaker to do 1 damage to two random enemies. Once you have a Flamewaker and a Mana Wyrm on the board you should start going heavy on the offensive in order to clear the board and damage the enemy hero.
If you can get multiple Mana Wyrms or Flamewakers in play, even better.
While I don’t expect this deck to be flawless it has worked well for me. I have been heavily wrecked but a Priest and a Warlock deck, but both times I made mistakes and had bad draws. This deck works really well in this week’s Tavern Brawl and hopefully it can help you get some wins and some gold.
HearthStone is available now.
