HearthstoneAug 14, 2024 5:20 pm CT

The decks you need to win the Pick a Hand, Any Hand Hearthstone Tavern Brawl

By Ted Atchley

Step right on up there, partner, for the Hearthstone Pick a Hand, Any Hand Tavern Brawl. We’ve gathered some of the best card sharks around for a winner-take-all tournament. That sweet little southern belle over there is Annabelle. The tough looking guy we call Angel. Marshal Zane Cooper makes sure everyone is on their best behavior. But the guy you need to really keep on eye on is the wisecracking gambler, Bret Maverick. He’s so slick, he’ll clean you out and have you smiling about it. You’ll need to avoid a good run of bad luck, and bring your best seven cards because the only prize for second place in this tournament is a one-way trip to the Shadowlands.

Here’s what you need to know about the Pick a Hand, Any Hand Tavern Brawl.

Tavern Brawl basics

Name: Pick a Hand, Any Hand
Description: Pick the first seven cards of your deck, and we’ll fill the rest with Unstable Portals. You get your portals AFTER your mulligan.
Fun level: 5/10
Difficulty: 6/10
Replayability: 4/10
Format: Wild
Type: PVP
Deck: Constructed
Rewards: 1 Standard pack (can contain any card from any set in the current Standard rotation)

This Brawl might remind you of other Brawls where you build a partial deck like Shadow Reflection, Half and Half, Top 3, or Gone Fishin’. With Pick a Hand, Any Hand, you choose seven cards to make up your deck. It’s seven cards total. If you use two of the same card, you’ll have five cards left. The other 23 cards of your deck are Unstable Portals.

You can choose any class and include any combination of class cards and neutral cards. This Brawl is using Wild rules so the size of your overall card collection will make a big difference in what decks you can build.

How to win the Pick a Hand, Any Hand Tavern Brawl

Unlike other Brawls of this type, the Unstable Portal cards are added after the Mulligan phase. This means you’ll start with three of your seven cards in hand and not have to wait all game for them to show up. This allows you to build more synergy into your first seven cards than you would be able to otherwise.

Unstable Portal can only give minions, so this becomes a minion heavy Brawl. Make good trades and maintain board presence. Don’t be too afraid to go wide. The only AOE will be whatever you or your opponent pack into your seven card deck.

As with almost every Constructed Brawl, there are two components to winning: your deck and how you pilot that deck. In Constructed Brawls, players usually discover the most powerful lists very quickly, which leads to the Brawl falling into a meta structure like we see on the Ladder — and that means you’ll usually find plenty of strong decks you can use. But you also have to be able to pilot the deck, making the right turn-to-turn decisions in order to win — which is essential even if you’re using the best deck available.

August 2024 Pick a Hand, Any Hand Tavern Brawl Decks

Let’s look at some new and updated decks using cards introduced since the last time we had this Brawl. Since this Brawl is Wild format deck-building rules, all the decks from the 2023 version of the Brawl can also still be used.

Plague Death Knight

Deck: Staff of the Primus, Cold Feet, Down with the Ship, Frozen Over x2, Helya, Steamcleaner
Credit: thugger300
This deck will really “plague” your opponent. You want to wait until after you and/or your opponent play your Steamcleaners before you start loading up Plagues because Steamcleaner will destroy those as well. It reminds me a little of the old Bomb Warriors I used to enjoy so much. /pauseforwistfulnostalgia

Steamcleaner Druid

Deck: Jade Idol x2, Naturalize x2, Wild Growth x2, Steamcleaner, Gadgetzan Auctioneer
Credit: AxKing
This deck uses Wild Growth to get Steamcleaner out as soon as possible. Naturalize helps to deal with whatever threats your opponent can get on the board. All that’s left in your deck is play Gadgetzan Auctioneer and Jade Idol. Aucitoneer keeps you drawing Jade Idols. I do worry how this deck will fare with all Irondeep Troggs in this Brawl.

Irondeep Trogg Mage

Deck: Irondeep Trogg x2, Mana Wyrm x2, Magister’s Apprentice x2, Flamewaker x2
Credit: Ben Hearthstone
This is an update on Ben’s fantastic deck from the 2023 iteration of the Brawl.
You get your seven cards before you get your Unstable Portals. If I’m dong my math right, there’s about a 72% chance of getting an Irondeep Trogg in your opening hand if you go first, and about 85% chance if you go second. Having an Irondeep Trogg down will make it very difficult on your opponent to cast their Unstable Portals, limiting their options.

Alternative Irondeep Trogg Mage

Deck: Irondeep Trogg, Magister’s Apprentice x2, Rewind x2, Stargazing x2
Credit: Elbardo
Elbardo goes with only a single Irondeep Trogg. This changes the math. You’re now going to see the Trogg in your opening hand less than half the time if you’re playing first. That increases just over 50/50 (58%) if you go second. The tradeoff nets you Rewind and Stargazing which will give you amazing resource generation from all the extra Unstable Portals. I don’t know how useful that will be with all the Troggs running loose.

High Priest Thekal Paladin

Deck: Adaptation x2, Celestial Projectionist x2, High Priest Thekal, Molten Giant x2
Credit: WhiskeyGuardian
Mulligan hard for your High Priest Thekal and your Molten Giants. Copy your Molten Giants with Celestial Projectionist and get them on the board. Protect your Molten Giants with Adaptation. Your opponent has Troggs down? Who cares. Your strategy doesn’t rely on spells. Steamcleaner? No problem. That just means you get your own combo pieces faster.

Automaton Priest

Deck: Raise Dead x2, Animate Dead, Astral Automaton x2, Creation Protocol x2
Credit: Inhiszton, binary_search_tree
This deck is trying to build huge Astral Automatons. Every other card in your seven card deck is a way to summon another, even bigger Astral Automaton. This deck should be fairly resistant to Steamcleaner, but you’ll have to get ahead of the Trogg army since all the ways you bring back more Astral Automatons are spells.

Steamcleaner Warlock

Deck: Dark Pact, Galvanizer x2, Steamcleaner x2, Mecha’thun, Fanottem
Credit: Ben Hearthstone
You’re looking to draw Galvanizer and Steamcleaner in your mulligan. Play one Galvanizer, and you can play Steamcleaner on 4. If you can play both, you get Steamcleaner out on 3. When you play Steamcleaner, all those Unstable Portals are gone. This will make your Fanottem cost almost nothing and even if your opponent can somehow deal with that, you’ve got Mecha’thun to end the game.

Alternative Steamcleaner Warlock

Deck: Irondeep Trogg, Galvanizer x2, Steamcleaner, Fanottem, Forge of Wills x2.
Credit: Antamania and Honorshammer
Antamania gave me the first four cards: Steamcleaner, Fanottem, and Forge of Wills times two. I filled in the last three with Galvanizer times two to get the Steamcleaner out faster, and an Irondeep Trogg of my own to slow down my opponent. The goal here is to play Steamcleaner for a cheap Fanottem, and then copy Fanottem with Forge of Wills.

Pick a Hand, Any Hand Tavern Brawl Decks

r/pootispootus Mecha’Thun Druid

Deck list: Innervate, Biology Project x2, Naturalize x1, Overgrowth, Steamcleaner, Mecha’thun
Steamcleaner will remove all the Unstable Portals so cast as many as you can before you play it. After that, it’s just a matter of emptying your hand and destroying your Mecha’Thun.

r/Tesser Marsh Queen Hunter

Deck list: Springpaw x2, Sunscale Raptor x2, The Marsh Queen, Timber Wolf, Steamcleaner
Steamcleaner does its work again. You’ve got just enough minions to finish The Marsh Queen quest. Just don’t play Queen Carnassa until AFTER you played Steamcleaner.

Ben Hearthstone Flamewaker Mage

Deck list: Mana Wyrm x2, Infinitize the Maxitude, Magister’s Apprentice x2, Flamewaker x2
This deck is all about your Unstable Portals unleashing damage from Flamewaker. Mana Wyrm can grow to huge power, while Magister’s Apprentice discounts your Unstable Portals. You should be able to activate the Finale effect on Infinitze the Maxitude almost every time.

r/FardHast Boar Priest

Deck list: Topsy Turvy, Stonetusk Boar, Divine Spirit, Shadow Visions, Switcheroo x2, The Darkness
This is a combo deck. You want to buff your Stonetusk Board with Divine Spirit and hit it with Topsy Turvy. The Darkness is your backup plan. Switcheroo is just to ensure you draw you Boar and The Darkness. This deck works against Steamcleaner decks because you get your combo pieces faster after they play Steamcleaner.

Honor’s Hammer Trogg Shaman

Deck list: Irondeep Trogg, Tunnel Trogg x2, Stonesplitter Trogg, Burly Rockjaw Trogg, Lightning Storm x2
You get a new Irondeep Trogg every time your opponent casts one of their Unstable Portals. It also buffs your Stonesplitter Troggs and Burly Rockjaw Troggs. Use Tunnel Trogg after you cleared their board with Lightning Storm.

r/FardHast Blood Treant Warlock

Deck list: Sacrificial Summoner x2, Injured Marauder, Blood Treant x2, Damaged Stegotron x2
This is a combo deck. Play Blood Treant for no mana, just health. Then target Blood Treant with Sacrificial Summoner. That will cause Damaged Stegotron to pull from your deck and not activate its Battlecry, presenting a difficult board for your opponent to deal with. Another Steamcleaner resistant list.

More Pick a Hand, Any Hand Tavern Brawl deck lists

One of these decks should see you through to a victory. Keep checking Hearthstone Top Decks, because there are more Tavern Brawl decks being added by the hour. If you find another great list, share it with us in the comments.

Overall, this was an interesting Brawl. I would strongly recommend the developers consider banning Steamcleaner and Irondeep Trogg next time. Those two dominate the deck lists and limit the design space for other possible decks.

How did you like this Brawl? Let me know in the comments.

Good luck getting this week’s pack!

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