Are you worthy to wield the ban hammer in Hearthstone’s Battle of the Bans Tavern Brawl?

The power of the ban hammer is in your hands in this week’s Hearthstone Tavern Brawl: Battle of the Bans. There’s no random element this week. It’s all about deck-building, card synergy, and crazy combos. Are you worthy?

“Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power… of banning.”

Tavern Brawl basics

• Name: Battle of the Bans
• Description: Pick four cards. Your opponent will BAN one of them, then we’ll make you a deck full of the cards remaining.
• Fun level: 6/10
• Difficulty: 6/10
• Replayability: 5/10
• Format: Wild with restrictions
• Type: PVP
• Deck: Constructed
• Rewards: 1 Standard Pack (can contain any card from any set in the current Standard rotation.)

This week you’re building to your own deck, though calling it a deck might be a little generous. You’re more building a team. A team of four stalwart cards to bring you to victory.

When you start the match, your opponent is shown three of your four cards, with the fourth hidden behind a “mystery choice” overlay. They will ban one of those cards, even the “mystery choice” should they so choose. All copies of that card are removed from your deck, then your deck is reshuffled to give you 10 copies of the three remaining cards. If you had any copies of the banned card in your hand, they, too, are removed. You proceed to you draw as many cards as needed to get back to the same number of cards in hand as you started with.

We’ve seen this Tavern Brawl a few times before, and though there are some new cards this time around, the format is unchanged. It’s a Wild Brawl, but Blizzard wanted to share in the fun of wielding the ban hammer, so you’ll find a few cards unavailable. Ice Block and Time Out! are… out. Jade Idol, Patches the Pirate, Prince Malchezaar, Zayle, Shadow Cloak, and Whizbang the Wonderful are also unavailable for play. New for February 2024 Prince Renathal has joined the list of banned cards.

How to win the Battle of the Bans Tavern Brawl

The key to victory is picking the right four cards. You need to set up your deck so your opponent can’t ban away you win condition. It’s like a game of tic-tac-toe where you want to have to two ways to win. This is a Wild Brawl, so check out the previous decks, plus some new highlights for this go around. With only four cards, it should be easy to remember if you see a winning hand. Copy what just beat you and get the win.

Without further ado, let’s get into the lists! Here are some good card combos to try:

New Battle of the Bans card combos

These are the latest decks for February 2024.

• Excavate Death Knight
  • Pile of Bones, Kobold Miner, Reap What You Sow, Skeleton Crew
• Relic Demon Hunter
  • Relic of Extinction, Runic Adornment, Relic of Phantasms, Relic of Dimensions
• Meme Mage
  • Trick Totem, Deck of Wonders, Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron, Chaotic Tendril
  • Hearthstone is a game. Just have fun.
• Excavate Paladin
  • Kobold Miner, Shroomscavate, Fossilized Kaleidosaur, Drilly the Kid
• Sinstone Pogo Rogue
  • Counterfeit Coin, Pogohopper, Sinstone Graveyard, Secret Passage
• Excavate Shaman
  • Kobold Miner, Shroomscavate, Digging Straight Down, Drilly the Kid
• Discard Warlock
  • Soulfire, The Soularium, Silverware Golem, Soul Barrage
• Mining Warlock
  • Smokestack, Defile, Kobold Miner, Mo’arg Drillfist
• Excavate Warrior
  • Bash, Kobold Miner, Reinforced Plating. Drilly the Kid
• Taunt Warrior
  • Unlucky Powderman, Frightened Flunky, Last Stand, Detonation Juggernaut

Old (but still good) card combos

• Budget Face Death Knight (December 2022)
  • Bone Breaker, Icy Touch, Noxious Cadaver, Glacial Advance
• Corpse Death Knight (December 2022)
  • Heartstrike, Plagued Grain, Battlefield Necromancer, Chillfallen Baron
• Ben’s Aggro Death Knight (December 2022)
  • From friend of the blog Ben Hearthstone: Body Bagger, Skeletal Sidekick, Battlefield Necromancer, Bonedigger Geist

• Mana burn Demon Hunter
  • Battlefiend, Crimson Sigil Runner, Mana Burn, Chaos Nova. Your opponent never casts a spell.
• Face Demon Hunter
  • Twin Slice, Spectral Sight, Crimson Sigil Runner, Aldrachi Warblades
• Face Demon Hunter (Oct 2021)
  • Fury, Chaos Strike, Peasant, Shadowhoof Slayer
• Mill Druid
  • Doomsayer, Naturalize, Coldlight Oracle, Branching Paths

• Mech Hunter
  • Metaltooth Leaper, Galvanizer, Mechwarper, Micro Machine
• Beast Mastery Hunter
  • Timber Wolf, Crackling Razormaw, Scavenging Hyena, Master’s Call
• Face Hunter (October 2021)
  • Arcane Shot, Webspinner, Demon Companion, and Freezing Trap
• Flamewaker Mage
  • Arcane Missiles, Research Project, Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Flamewaker
• Feint Mage
  • Mirror Image, Sorcerers Apprentice, Raid leader, Archmage Antonidas. Put down a bunch of Mirror Images, and buff them with Raid Leader. Free Mirror Images can give you lots of Fireballs with Antonidas.
• Spell Damage Mage (Oct 2021)
  • Primordial Studies, Astromancer Solarian, Evocation, Primordial Glyph
• Spell Priest
  • Mind Blast, Shadow Visions, Grave Horror, Radiant Elemental. If they ban Mind Blast, use Radiant cost reduction on Shadow Visions to get your Grave Horror down to 0 mana and build a wall of huge Taunts.
• Shadow Priest
  • Leper Gnome, Shadowbomber or Kobold Sandtrooper, Mind Blast, Shadowed Spirits. Ban any kind of healing spell your opponent has.

• Dancing Rogue (December 2022)
  • Shadowstep, Mailbox Dancer, Sinstone Graveyard, Necrolord Draka
• Pogo Rogue
  • Pogo-Hopper, Mechwarper, Galvanizer, Sn1P-Sn4p. Huge Pogos or huge Sn1p-Sn4p. Either way, you’re set.
• Pogo Vancleef Rogue (October 2021)
  • Counterfeit Coin, Pogohopper, Edwin VanCleef, Secret Passage
• Tess Rogue
  • Hallucination, Tess Greymane, Blink Fox, Doomsayer or Flik seems to work the best.
• Evolve Shaman
  • Evolve, Unstable Evolution, Snowflipper Penguin, Wisp or Tinyfin. They can’t ban both of your minions or both of your Evolve effects.
• Bomb Warrior
  • Bomb Wrangler, Clockwork Goblin, Kargath Bladefist, Wrenchcablier. You knew I was making a Bomb Warrior, right? This can be a little slow compared to some of the other decks. Most of the time they go for the weapon. If you never get to turn 8, Kargath can’t heal you.
• Dragon Warrior
  • Alexstrasza’s Champion, Dragon Roar, Firetree Witchdoctor or Upgrade!, Emberscale Drake
• Discard Warlock
  • Soulfire, The Soularium, Silverware Golem, Fist of Jaraxxus. Two Discard cards, two Discard activated cards.
• Discard Warlock (December 2022)
  • Silverware Golem, Tome Tampering, Soul Barrage, Fist of Jaraxxus.
• Mech Warlock (October 2021)
  • Mechwarper, Galvanizer, Fel Cannon, Sn1p-Sn4p

More Battle of the Bans lists

I love all the great options for this Brawl. With only four cards, it’s easy enough to copy of list you’ve played against. One of these decks should see you through. If you find another great list, share it with us in the comments.

Keep checking Hearthstone Top Decks. There are more Tavern Brawl decks being added by the hour.

Overall, this is an enjoyable Brawl. The games can be quick and some of the combos are nuts. Good luck getting this week’s pack!

Originally published May 13, 2020; last updated February 21, 2024