The decks you need to win Hearthstone’s Yellow-Brick Tavern Brawl

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to this evening’s presentation, the Yellow-Brick Hearthstone Tavern Brawl! Tonight we plumb the depths of our Hearthstone collections as we join a lost, lonely girl trying desperately — with the help of your loyal minions — to find her way home! But she is pursued… by a wicked, malevolent crone, and you are targeted by the opposing player who wants to smash your face! Will she survive? Will you prevail? Only time will tell. And now… on with the show!

Ha hahahaha! Flee, my pretties!

Tavern Brawl basics

• Name: Yellow-Brick Tavern Brawl
• Description: Each player is given Dorothee, which grants Charge to minions on one side and Taunt to the other. Build a 10 card deck and we’ll give you three copies of each!
• Fun level: 4/10 (YMMV)
• Difficulty: 6/10 (depending on the size of your collection.)
• Replayability: 6/10
• Format: Wild
• Type: PVP
• Deck: Constructed
• Rewards: 1 Standard Pack (can contain any card from the current Standard rotation)

This Brawl is a recreation of The Crone boss fight from the One Night in Karazhan Adventure. In case you’re new to Hearthstone, and not familiar with the concept of Adventures, these were single-player expansions that came with a set of new cards. You can still access Adventures by clicking on Modes from the main menu, and then selecting Solo Adventures.

The Brawl revolves around Dorothee from the boss fight. She occupies the center of the board. If you place a minion to her left, it gets Charge, but if you put a minion to her right, it gets Taunt. The Taunt/Charge is coming from Dorothee, and not the minion itself, so you can’t silence it off. Even if you transform the minion with Hex or Sheep, it will still have Charge/Taunt. Beware the Charging Sheep!

Dorothee is a permanent minion card, something between a Location and a Dormant card. She can’t be targeted by you or your opponent, and she can’t attack. She doesn’t count as a minion for effects that need a certain number of minions on the board like Mind Control Tech, but she still takes up a space, limiting you to a maximum of six minions on the board.

Update for April 2024: I don’t know if it is a bug or working as intended, but players have discovered Reno Lone Ranger from Showdown in the Badlands will, in fact, remove Dorothee. You just have to get rid of all the duplicates in your deck, including the other two copies of Reno.

For this Brawl, you’ll need to construct of deck of 10 cards (no duplicates!). The format is Wild so the overall size of your card collection will have a large impact on the decks you can play. Players with a smaller collection may find this week challenging.

Once your deck is made, you enter into the battle. Your 10 cards become 30 as you get 3 copies of each card. In addition to the normal 30 Health, you’ll also receive 10 Armor. I wish I could say this helps.

How to win Yellow-Brick Hearthstone Tavern Brawl

As with almost every Constructed Brawl, there are two components to winning: your deck and your piloting. The deck you’ll either make or copy one from a site like ours prior to the game. In Constructed Brawls, players discover the most powerful lists very quickly. This leads to the Brawl falling into a meta structure like we see on the Ladder. In the case of a repeated Brawl using the Wild ruleset, you may see players bring back powerful lists from the last time. Piloting refers to making the right turn-to-turn decisions, which is essential to winning even if you’re using the best deck available.

Since Dorothee will be granting Charge and Taunt to your minions, minions that already have those keywords are less useful. When designing a minion, the developers typically adjust the mana cost, health or power to account for a powerful keyword like Taunt or Charge. Using those minions in this Brawl, you’re paying that price and not getting anything out of it. Conversely, using minions with no card text gives you Taunt and Charge for free.

New for April 2024: Death Knight players should note that, as pointed out by AintEverLucky on r/Hearthstone, your “minions who summon another minion” will do so directly to the first minion’s right. Corpse Bride, for example, if played on the left to get Charge, will still summon the Risen Groom on the right. Risen Groom gets Taunt and not Charge.

If you’re struggling to win, I’ve got decks from around the community that you can try.

The decks you need to win Yellow-Brick Hearthstone Tavern Brawl

Andrasuk’s Kayn Demon Hunter

Deck code:

 AAEBAbn5AwqcyQOH1AOz3gOR5AOv7wO4tAS6tAScxwTn9QWongYAAAA=

Andrasuk may have solved the riddle of this Brawl with 3 copies of Kayn. Who cares if Dorothee gives your opponent’s minions Taunt when your minions ignore Taunt?

Roll4Danitiative’s Big Demon Hunter

Deck code:

 AAEBAdD8BQr3wwOAhQS0oATsoAT+vwS+ygSf4gSSkgWQpQWy9QUAAAA=

This is more of an experimental deck, but leans into Demon Hunter’s key strength of card draw and has some huge minions.

KruczoCzarny’s Vicious Fledgling Druid

Deck code:

 AAECAZICCl/dBLS7Asu8As+8ApS9Ap/CApvNAo7QAvvhAgAA

If you play Necro Geist on the left (Charge), any spawned ghoul has also charge. Meanwhile Viscous Fledging just keeps adapting and adapting.

Ben Hearthstone’s Hyena Hunter

Deck code:

AAEBAda+BQrZCYEK6rsCjsMCjq0Do7kDos4Dv9MEwO0E6soFAAAA

Buzzard combined with your minions having Charge powers up your card draw. You’ll looking to get Scavenging Hyena, and make him huge. Mukla is your fallback.

New for April 2024: Ten Gallon Hat Hunter

Deck code:

AAEBAR8K3gTZCf+6A6LOA8uOBs2OBt+OBr6cBvGlBoTmBgAAAA==

Keep generating Ten Gallon Hats until your Beasts are big enough to take down your opponent.

Ohdrin’s Kangor, Dancing King Paladin

Deck code:

 AAEBAdK+BQr1Bfy4A8mgBIiyBN65BIGWBcHEBcrEBcDGBbrHBQAAAA==

New for April 2024: honganh32’s updated Kangor, Dancing King Paladin

Deck code:

AAEBAczJBgq4xwK0mwOWtgOnywOezQOPzgOLjQTL7QTAxgWZjgYAAAA=

Place Kangor on the Charge side. If you’re lucky, you can have Kangor deathrattle swap with another of your Kangors. If you don’t have Kangor, Disco Maul is a viable replacement.

New for April 2024: Holyn’s Yellow-Brick Brawl Big Paladin

Deck code:

AAEBAZ8FCufhAs+GA7SbA4etA/O7A9eSBO+kBMDGBcTHBfajBgAAAA==

I love a deck that finds a way to play Nozdormu. You want to get him out as fast as you can, and Call to Adventure is here to help. Time Out keeps you alive while you wait for your combo pieces. This deck also uses Kangor as its win condition.

New for April 2024: Mikey5296’s Astral Priest

Deck code:

AAEBAaCsAwqspQP02wOH9wP52wSZ9QSkkQXgpAWm8QXt9wXVmAYAAAA=

Good ole Astral Automaton up to his old tricks.

Tarious’s Deathrattle Priest

Deck code:

 AAEBAa0GCqniAoKUA9fOA6HoA4yBBOiLBIWjBPKkBNasBPnbBAAAAA==

Your minions are going to die, but that’s a sacrifice you’re willing to make since you get something out of each Deathrattle.

Brian de Brain’s Edwin Rogue

Deck code:

AAEBAd75AwqzAbds9bsCz9ED7YAE9p8E958E0aMF38MFi+wFAAAA

Mulligan hard for Edwin, Defias Kingpin. Make him absolutely huge with all your cheap spells and minions.

New for April 2024: Shadowsdelight’s Pogohopper Shenanigans

Deck code: AAEBAZurBAr4vQLX+gLHmwOK0APn3QP2nwScoATfwwW/9wXvmwYAAAA=

This is a classic strategy that works in several Brawls. You want to play and recycle your Pogohoppers as many times you can. With Charge, it won’t be long before you go BOING and smash your opponent’s face.

raphaelmarcelino’s Evolve Shaman

Deck code:

AAEBAaoICvqqAt/pArSXA6beA8b5A9ySBOC1BKLUBLXZBOaeBgAAAA==

This deck concentrates on playing minions on the left to get Charge and then evolving them into a huge threats. There’s a little RNG in what they evolve into, especially with the Wild ruleset in play.

New for April 2024: Ben Hearthstone’s Muckmorpher Shaman

Deck code:

AAEBAdH6AwrOD4+UA+C1BOm2BL/OBIahBemjBcOPBuqYBsamBgAAAA==

Muckmorpher lets you cheat our your huge minions. Dorothee gives them charge. Your opponent will never know what hit them.

Ozzytu’s Warlock

Deck code:

AAEBAdX8BQqxCNS6A4D7A7LBBOnQBKLvBMCSBcKSBbiYBaCZBQAAAA==

Knife Juggler early. Sire Denathrius late.

Mattison1482’s Bleed Warrior

Deck code:

 AAEBAQcKhe0Cm/MC5PcCq7YDn58Ei6AE4KAEj9QEmusFtPgFAAAA

Your minion’s power up with pain whether inflicted by your opponent or yourself.

New for April 2024: Softcorps_dn’s Taunt Warrior

Deck code:

AAEBAbKRBQqixwLQ0AXejQa5kQaQlwa/ogaSqAaTqAaUqAab8gYAAAA=

You know that advice I gave about not using Taunt minions. Softcorps_dn says they don’t care. This Brawl has Charge minions all over the place. This deck stop them with some big Taunts.

More Yellow-Brick Hearthstone Tavern Brawl deck lists

One of these decks should see you through. If none of these decks work for you, check for more community decks on Hearthstone Top Decks. New Brawl decks keep being added all the time. If you find another great deck, share it with us in the comments.

No! I’ll get you! I’ll get…

Originally published May 4, 2023; updated April 3, 2023