How to win The Emerald Dream Hearthstone Tavern Brawl

Hi, it’s Gus Ferrari back again, and we’re rolling out! We’re taking the C.A.M.A.R.O. beyond the veil and to the Emerald Dream for the Hearthstone Emerald Dream Recipe Tavern Brawl. I hear there’s a chef who not only runs a funky little joint but cooks up some mean food. Saelienne at the Central Encampment makes sure adventurers are well cared for, but her culinary skills are a well-kept secret.

This ain’t your typical greasy spoon. Saelienne’s cooking in this Emerald Dream joint is primal — we’re talking flavors that have been evolving for millennia! First up, we’re diving into some of her Fyrakk’s Fiery Wings. These spicy, crispy wings marinated in a fiery sauce inspired by Fyrakk, are the real deal. I’ve been stricken by chicken!

Be sure you wash that down with an Emerald Elixir, a refreshing beverage infused with the essence of the Emerald Dream, perfect for adventurers seeking a taste of nature’s magic. It’s off the chain! And before you leave on your adventures to farm up some Renown, definitely check out her Amirdrassil Ambrosia. This decadent dessert is made with layers of rich chocolate, creamy filling, and a touch of Dream Dust for a magical sparkle.

This week’s Tavern Brawl continues our introduction to Into the Emerald Dream, after last week’s Pre-Release Brawl where we got 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 the Paradise Recipe Brawl for Perils in Paradise, and Great Dark Beyond Recipe Brawl for The Great Dark Beyond. 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 is designed to let you give the new expansion a trial run.

Tavern Brawl basics

Name: Emerald Dream Recipe Tavern Brawl
Description: Journey through The Emerald Dream! 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 Into the Emerald Dream card pack

If you’re familiar with the other recipe-style Brawls, this one works the same way. 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 Into the Emerald Dream. Blizzard has nailed the timing once again, releasing this Brawl the day after the expansion released.

This ain’t your grandma’s Sunday potluck, folks. Saelienne’s whipped up some seriously flavorful decks, each showcasing the wild, untamed spirit of the Emerald Dream. We’re talking new keywords, powerful synergies, and combos that’ll make your opponent’s heart beat faster than a ride on the Darkmoon Rollercoaster.

Each deck highlights some of the key strategies and new cards from Into the Emerald Dream. You get a taste of everything, from ramp druids summoning colossal Wild Gods to aggressive demon hunter decks fueled by dark pacts and Imbued Hero Powers. It’s a culinary tour of the expansion, and every match is a new flavor explosion.

How to win Emerald Dream 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 Perils in Paradise or The Great Dark Beyond recipe on the collection screen when you make a new deck, only Into the Emerald Dream-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.

If you’re just looking to nab your card pack for your first win, my playtesting seemed to indicate the classes with Imbued Hero Powers like Druid, Mage, and Shaman are strong choices. But any of the classes can get the win.

Death Knight

• Leech and Breach
• Steal health from your opponent with leeches, then overwhelm them in the late game with powerful minions.
• This deck reminds me a little of the old Bomb Warrior, except instead of putting Bombs into the opponent’s deck to explode, you put Leeches on the field and have them drain their life away. Ursoc is a great finisher since he can kill several Leeches and resurrect them, but I do wonder if games will last long enough for a 9-mana play once the decks get more refined.

Demon Hunter

• Bad Omen
• Cheat out big Demons and Deathrattle minions, then resummon them with Ferocious Felbat.
• Spirit Peddler can get the ball rolling even before you play Ferocious Felbat. The goal is to get a huge discount on your Illidari Inquisitors, Magtheridon, and Omen. It’s a slower strategy than I’m used to seeing from Demon Hunter. We’ll see if that’s a “bad omen” for their place in the meta.

Druid

• Imbu-id
• Use Nature spells to Imbue your Hero Power and summon larger and larger Plant Golems.
• While Death Knight reminded me of an old Bomb Warrior deck, this one reminds me of the tyranny of the Jade Druid. The deck is loaded with Nature spells and the summoned Plant Golems just keep growing. Anybody got any Roundup?

Hunter

• Solid Goldrinn
• Imbue your Hero Power to flood the board with massive beasts.
• Ooo, shiny! Goldrinn needs you to be ahead on the board for him to have a real impact. That shouldn’t be too hard, at least in the Brawl. The Hunter list has one of the better early games that I’ve seen.

Mage

• Make a Wisp!
• Imbue your Hero Power to summon an army of wisps for Aessina.
• This deck had a little bit of a Death Knight feel to it. You want to summon Wisps with your Hero Power and have them die in order to activate your “win” card in Aessina. You also have some synergy cards that help you kill your own Wisps, and give you a benefit like card draw. I found the Mage Imbued Hero Power quite powerful. Not only do you summon a number of tokens, but you also do damage to your opponent and their minions.

Paladin

• Emerald Portal Party
• Imbue your Hero Power to shuffle powerful dragon-summoning portals into your deck.
• I wanted to like this one, but as I’ll discuss with Rogue, there’s just too much RNG. The portals are great, but you’ve got to draw them, and draw has never been Paladin’s strong suit. I’d prefer this mechanic more in Demon Hunter or Rogue.

Priest

• To the Moon
• Play lots of spells, Imbue your Hero Power, and control the game with Tyrande.
• I have a feeling giving resource generation and heavily discounted cards to Priest will not be a popular decision, but this felt like a powerful deck and I had a great time playing it. I can only hope it will be as fun once the decks are more refined.

Rogue

• Tricks with Treats
• Disrupt your opponent by creating copies of their own cards.
• I really wanted to like this deck. Stealing and copying cards is a fun mechanic that I explored in the earlier expansions more as a Priest main (/duck) than a Rogue. In this Brawl, the mechanic is less helpful. First, you’re at the mercy of the RNG of what cards you steal, copy, or generate. Second, many of the popular picks in this Brawl are classes with decks built around the new Imbue keyword. Rogue is not an Imbue class and so it doesn’t get any benefit from those cards.

Shaman

• Merithra’s Army
• Evolve an army of 8+ cost minions for Merithra to resummon.
• So continuing the theme of decks that remind me of classics, here we have Shaman dressed up as a Resurrect Priest. The biggest challenge this deck has is that to make the best use of its Imbued Hero Power, it has to be ahead on the board. It has a decent early game with Bitterbloom Knight and Plucky Podling, but this deck lacks any way to really swing the board.

Warlock

• Wretched Gifts
• Discover an army of Dark Gift minions to power up Wallow the Wretched.
• Wallow is an interesting card. His big drawback is that he’s fairly useless if you draw him after turn five or six. There just won’t be that many Dark Gifts left to copy. The other issue I see is that, at least in my limited testing, Dark Gifts lag behind Imbued Hero Powers in impact and power.

Warrior

• Ysondre’s Clutch
• Ysondre brings an army of Dragons with her, while The Curator brings along an army of everything else.
• Warrior is my favorite class in Hearthstone, but if this list is indicative of what it will be like to play Warrior in Into the Emerald Dream, I might need to switch back to Priest. There’s exactly one Beast, and zero Murlocs for Curator to draw, meaning if you’ve already drawn King Mukla, all he will draw you is another dragon. I wanted to like this deck, but it just felt glacially slow, especially against an Imbued class. Perhaps when the decks are refined, it will improve.

I adore this Brawl

As a casual, free to play player, this Brawl is fantastic. It gives me a taste of what these decks play like and lets me target those cards I need to craft. Even so, 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 this early. So for now, enjoy the Brawl and let the meta work itself out.

Saelienne, you’ve truly outdone yourself! The Emerald Dream Recipe Brawl is a blast for veteran players and newbies alike. It’s a great way to get a feel for the new cards, discover some killer combos, and maybe even find your new favorite deck. So, fire up Hearthstone, strap in, and get ready to take your taste buds (and your card collection) on a wild ride through the Emerald Dream. This one’s going on the map!