You can be the best around in Hearthstone Tavern Brawl of Champions Grand Finals

To end the Year of Dragon, we’re taking a look back at Rastkahan’s Rumble in this week’s Hearthstone Tavern Brawl with Brawl of Champions: Grand Final. In this Brawl, you take on the role of one of eight Troll champions and battle it out to see who will be the victor.

Will you be the best around?

Tavern Brawl basics

• Name: Brawl of Champions: Grand Final
• Description: It all ends here, which Champion shall stand victorious!? Choose a Troll champion and you’ll get the strongest shrine yet!!!
• Fun level: 8/10
• Difficulty: 6/10
• Replayability: 9/10
• Format: Wild
• Type: PvP
• Deck: Provided
• Rewards: 1 Classic pack

In the Rumble Run — the single-player adventure in Rastkahan’s Rumble — each Hero has three possible Shrines, but the Brawl version they only have  one.  The first time we saw this Brawl (February 27, 2019), some of the Shrines chosen weren’t great, but in the Brawl’s latest incarnation, Heroes have the best Shrines available.

The decks are fun. All of them can pull off insane plays like a 22 attack Midnight Drake on turn 4 from Zentimo to 16 damage Fireball from Malacress. Jeklik can OTK (one turn kill) with Unlicensed Apothecary. Some decks play faster than others, and some (like Hooktusk) are annoying to play against.

Each deck has a unique style and gameplay driven by their Shrine, which keeps the Brawl interesting.

How to win Brawl of Champions: Grand Finals

The decks are built with the Shine in mind. Your key to victory is taking out the opposing Shrine as often as possible while taking advantage of your own. Being ahead on the board is key: you want to be able to answer big threats your opponent puts down and still deal with his Shrine.

Here’s a quick look at the strategy for each Hero and Shrine. I’ve ranked them from strongest to weakest.

 High Priestess Jeklik

• Class: Warlock
• Shrine: Hir’eek’s Hunger: Whenever your hero takes damage on your turn, the enemy hero takes it instead.

You have lots of self-damage cards in your deck, but the Unlicensed Apothecary is the star. Even though he costs 5 mana, I’d think about trying to get him in your mulligan. No Hero can turn a game around faster than Jeklik: he has great early game minions with card draw and Taunt. In the mid game he has solid stats and a Vile Necrodoctor for AOE and Lifesteal. His one weakness is dealing with the opposing shrine.

Zul’jin

• Class: Hunter
• Shrine: Halazzi’s Trap: After you cast a spell, put a random Hunter Secret into the battlefield.

As you might imagine, his deck is loaded with spells and traps. Mulligan hard for Secret Plan. Zul’jin doesn’t have much in the way of reach, so you want to control the tempo from the jump. Custom card Streetsmuggler is your key. Make sure you’ve got several secrets up when you play him and watch the fireworks.

Captain Hooktusk

• Class: Rogue
• Shrine: Treasure from Below: At the start of your turn, steal a card from your opponent’s deck. It costs (2) less.

I had no idea where to rank Hooktusk, because her power level depends on what Treasure from Below steals for you. She’s the Hero with the widest range of outcomes. Hooktusk has a Pirate heavy deck with all the normal shenanigans for that tribe. It can be a little hard to come back as Hooktusk if you fall behind, but again, it’s dependent on what cards you’ve stolen.

Zentimo

• Class: Shaman
• Shrine: Tribute from the Tides: Your Battlecries trigger two additional times.

Your deck is chock full of good Battlecry cards. With your Shrine, Lifedrinker does 9 damage. Rattling Rascal puts three 5/5s on board. And some of your cards will be good even if your Shrine is down. Stampeding Kodo is a great way to take out even those high health Shrines. Leap Frog is great AOE especially against decks when fighting smaller minions, like the ones Hooktusk has. Your deck is set up to have Prince Keleseth’s effect go off, so try to get him out quickly, but also mulligan hard for your Witch’s Apprentice.

Hex Lord Malacress

• Class: Mage
• Shrine: Jan’alai’s Mantle: Has Spell Damage +1 for each spell in your hand.

Use your AOE spells to keep your opponent’s board clear. Don’t cast Deck of Wonders if you can avoid it. You have two Highlander cards (Inkmaster Solia and Kazakus) and Deck of Wonders will deactivate them. Save some cheap spells for Archmage Antonidas. Yogg Saron gives you a last Hail Mary play.

Princess Talanji

• Class: Priest
• Shrine: Bwonsamdi’s Sanctum: Your Deathrattles trigger two additional times.

You start with Weaponized Zombie in your hand, which is a great turn 1 play to start contesting the enemy Shrine. Talanji does better with the coin. You only have one 2 drop but plenty of good 3 drops, so the extra mana from coin really helps. If you can survive to the late a game, your powerhouses of Feugan/Stallag, Sylvanas, Obsidian Statue, and Da Undatakah take over the game. Hope your N’Zoth brings back your higher mana minions.

High Priest Thekal

• Class: Paladin
• Shrine: Shirvallah’s Protection: After a friendly minion survives damage, give it Divine Shield.

Thekel’s deck is built around Divine Shield. You can build a huge Blood Knight or just outlast your opponent with Ragnaros Lightlord. This can be a frustrating Hero to play against, because you have to kill everything multiple times. The Walking Fort and Snapjaw Shellfighter can protect you for a long time. Sunkeeper Tarim is as close to an AOE as you have.

War Master Voone

• Class: Warrior
• Shrine: Akali’s Champion: This minion’s Attack is always equal to your Armor.

Mulligan hard for Crystalizer. Be mindful of your Shrine’s health as you use it to attack. Your best use for it to kill the enemy Shrine so you don’t take any damage. You have some burst potential if you can build up armor. If you can survive the early game, hope for some high rolls off your Geosculptor Yip and Heavy Metal.

Wardruid Loti

• Class: Druid
• Shrine: Gonk’s Armament: Whenever you gain Armor, refresh your Mana Crystals.

You want to spend your mana on minions and spells first, and save any armor generating effects (even your Hero Power) for your last move. This refreshes your mana and lets you play more cards. Loti can take a little while to get going, but once he does, he can build some insane boards.

Good Brawl fun

You can also challenge a friend to compete in this Brawl, and as always, this will count towards some Quest completion like “Play three games as [class]”. This will the last time we’ll see this Brawl as Hearthstone is about to add its 10th class next week.

It was so nice not to have to type word “random” once for this week’s Brawl. It’s the most fun I had with Tavern Brawl in a while, and I’ve played long after I’ve gotten my pack.

What do you think of my ranking here? Someone too high? Too low?  Let me know in the comments.