How to win the Whizbang Recipe Tavern Brawl

This is Gus Ferrari, and I need you riding shotgun as we head to Tasty Town for the Hearthstone A Whizbang Recipe Tavern Brawl. You know, sometimes people ask me, Gus, how do you get your hair so perfect? It’s a family secret, but the other thing they ask me is: Gus, you remember that one place you visited in that one zone three expansions ago? How are they doing? You know, I don’t know — but this seems like a great time to find out.

So we’re putting the C.A.M.A.R.O into flying mode and heading back to the floating oasis of Dalaran. We’re here to see the greatest toymaker in all of Azeroth, Jepetto Joybuzz, and check in on one of my very best friends, Nomi! Last time, we learned the secrets of  Fighter Chow, and his signature Faronaar Fizz. This time, he’s going to teach us how he makes the dish that’s the talk of Silvermoon: The Hungry Magister. It’s got Leybeque Ribs that have been smoked for fourteen hours using coals from Blackrock Mountain. And those Dalapeño Peppers will set your mouth on fire. You’ll think you inhaled Molten Core!

This week’s Tavern Brawl is an introduction to Whizbang’s Workshop where we get to try out some of the expansion’s most interesting cards and deck recipes — and win a card pack in the process. Though oddly absent from Fractured in Alterac Valley, this type of Brawl has become a regular addition when we get a new expansion. Most recently, we had a TITANS recipe for TITANs, and a Badlands Recipe for Showdown in the Badlands.

If you were on the fence about what cards are worth crafting or how much of your hard-earned gold to plunk down on packs, this Brawl type is designed to essentially let you give the new expansion a trial run.

Tavern Brawl basics

Name: A Whizbang Recipe Tavern Brawl
Description: Whizbang came to play! Choose a class and enjoy the latest deck recipes!
Fun level: 5/10
Difficulty: 9/10 to 4/10 depending on your class, deck, and opponent
Replayability: 5/10
Format: Standard
Type: PVP
Deck: Provided
Rewards: 1 Standard card pack (this can include any card from any set in the current Standard rotation)

For this Brawl, you choose your class and you’re assigned its deck recipe. These are premade decks, and the same decks you’ll find on the deck creation screen, but there is one big differences for the Brawl. You get the deck with all the cards regardless of whether you own them or not. You’ll have every Legendary and Epic card you need for the deck.

Each class has a recipe meant to give players a good introduction to how the class will play in Whizbang’s Workshop. These recipe-type Brawls appear close to release of the expansion, though some appear closer than others. The Brawl is generally more fun when we get it closer to the release like this one.

How to win A Badlands Recipe Tavern Brawl

Let’s look at each deck and a quick tip for playing it. You can only choose the class: the deck will be assigned. Each class received a new recipe with the expansion. While you might still see a TITANS! or Showdown in the Badlands recipe on the collection screen when you make a new deck, only the Whizbang Workshop-themed decks are available in this Brawl. To get started, pick the class you’re most comfortable with, and don’t be afraid to concede the match if the game isn’t going your way.

Death Knight

• Headless Handbuff
• Command an army of massive Undead. Get even more after you find the Horseman’s Head!
• Handbuff has had an uneven performance as a deck building strategy. Sometimes it works better than others. The star in this iteration is the aforementioned Horseman’s Head, the first ever Death Knight Hero card. When you play him, he will destroy the enemy minion with the most attack and shuffle his head into your deck. The Headless Horseman Hero Power deals 3 damage. After Horseman’s Head is drawn, the Hero Power is upgraded to deal 3 damage and Discovers an Undead.

Demon Hunter

• Dormant Demons
• Demons lie in wait, ready to strike. Use Dormant to your advantage with Magtheridon.
• This deck packs a punch if you get the right pieces. While you are waiting for Magtheridon to awaken, get Crimson Expanse down. Once he awakens, damage him, and use Crimson Expanse. You’ve now got two Magtheridons (Magtheridi?), one of which is dormant. Between the Dormant minions and the Locations, you’ve got a board that is very hard to remove, and with Illidari Inquisitor as a great finisher.

Druid

• Spell Damage
• You’ll have no problem spelling D-A-M-A-G-E with this deck of damaging spells and Spell Damage minions.
• So it’s not the most creatively named deck in the list, but it certainly communicates the theme. Living Roots, plus potentially four Swipes (two from Malfurion’s Gift), and Sparkling Phial are your main damaging spells. Make each one of them count. Getting Owlonius down will enhance any other spell damage minion on your board.

Hunter

• Plush Krush
• There’s a clearance sale on dinosaur toys from the workshop. Play massive (but cute) beasts for cheap.
• I think the idea is to hit Mystery Egg with Yelling Yodeler, but it feels slow and good luck getting the Egg to survive long enough to actually play Yodeler on it. You’ve also got Cattle Rustler to discount your Beasts. The other friction is you need those big Beasts to stay in your deck. If you draw them, you can’t get the discount on them. This feels like it will be an inconsistent deck, but really fun when it hits.

Mage

• Galaxy of Spells
• No minions? No problem. Channel the spells of increasing power then blast your opponent to space with The Galactic Projection Orb.
• This deck relies on Cosmic Keyboard, Spot the Difference,  Firelands Portal, and Sunset Volley to provide minions. Yogg in the Box provides some major power, as does The Galactic Projection Orb. One thing you’ll notice on many of these cards is the pesky word “random”. This deck looks like it could be fun and provide some truly amazing moments, but it will be maddeningly inconsistent.

Paladin

• Divine Auras
• Bless your hero with a variety of Auras and keep them going with Cardboard Golem.
• This deck highlights the new Aura effects the Paladin class received in Whizbang’s Workshop. Plus, it has a ton of Divine Shield minions. Deputization Aura and Crusader Aura buff your minions, so you’ll need to have initiative on the board for either Aura to help much, but Divine Shield can help with that. Crafter’s Aura asks you spend 7 mana and doesn’t impact the board until after your turn is over. Playing your Cardboard Golems to extend the Auras is a great idea. The Divine Shield minions keep you in the game until the Auras can kick in.

Priest

• Dragon Time
• Assemble your flight of dragons, then control time itself as you take an extra turn with Zarimi!
• There are plenty of dragons in this deck, plus you’ve got Time-Lost Protodrake to give you more. With all these dragons, you can easily meet Zarimi’s condition for an extra turn. Be sure to set up some amazing combos and never let your opponent get tempo back.

Rogue

• Toy Raiders
• YARRR!!! Team up with Goldbeard and his band of rowdy pirates to out-swashbuckle the opponent.
• This is an aggressive deck with lots of low-cost minions. Southsea Captain is critical to buff all those pirates. Use the discounts from Sandbox Scoundrel to get Shoplifter Goldbeard out even earlier. Stick Up and Kaja’mite Creation are great resource generators. Finish the game with a well timed yell from Leeroy Jenkins.
• How much fun will you have playing this deck? A-vast amount of fun!

Shaman

• Shudderblock Chaos
• The jaws bite, the claws catch, the tendrils lash. Shudderblock and Yogg-Saron team up to create some CHAOS!
• Battlecry is the theme of this deck. You generate Chaotic Tendrils and use Shudderblock to get lots of spells from them. There’s a lot of randomness to this deck. Sometimes, the chaos works in your favor, other times, not so much.

Warlock

• Malevolent Madhouse
• Overwhelm your opponent with a never-ending supply of huge demons!
• Imposing Anubisath doesn’t look that threatening until you use Forge of Wills on it to create a 7/7 Giant. You’ve got several ways to pull demons from your deck and hand so you should be able to avoid Doomguard’s Battlecry. You want to be sure you’re not paying the mana cost for any of your big hitters like Wretched Queen or Enhanced Dreadlord. Let Game Master Nemsy do the work for you. Doomguard plus Endgame can deal a ton of damage.

Warrior

• Automotaunt
• WARNING! Mech may explode. Just kidding–they’ll DEFINITELY explode.
• The theme of this deck is Taunt with a side course of handbuff. Unlucky Powderman is a key minion to get early. You want buffs on your Blast Tortoise, Stonehill Defense and Annoy-o-Tron. There’s a nice little Boom Bot package, and Botface will fill your hand with interesting effects. Factory Assemblybot is a great finisher, especially if you can resurrect it with Inventor Boom.

I love this Brawl

As a casual, free to play player, this Brawl is great. It gives me a taste of what these decks play like and lets me target those cards I need to craft. These decks will continue to get refined as players get more experience with them, and other decks may arise that aren’t part of these recipes. I’ve been burned too many times to go spending big on dust to craft cards. So for now, enjoy the Brawl and let the meta work itself out.