Make your own great pair in the Hearthstone Top 2 Tavern Brawl

This week’s Hearthstone Top 2 Tavern Brawl challenges you to create the most iconic pairing of cards possible. Some things just go together naturally: Turkey and dressing, R2-D2 and C-3PO, socks and shoes, Mario and Luigi, peanut butter and chocolate, a hammer and a nail, Kermit and Miss Piggy, Phineas and Ferb, Rossi and Ashkandi.

Now, it’s up to you find those kind of perfect mates in Hearthstone for this week’s Tavern Brawl.

Top 2 Tavern Brawl basics

• Name: Top 2
• Description:
• Fun level: -10/10
• Difficulty: 2-10/10
• Replayability: 2/10
• Format: Wild
• Type: PVP
• Deck: Constructed
• Rewards: a TED pack. It’s technically an Into the Emerald Dream pack, but I saw someone online call it a TED pack and I will never call it anything else.

This week is another Wild Constructed Brawl, but here you’re not so much building a deck as you are choosing a pair of cards. These cards combine in a way greater than the sum of their parts to create some incredible plays. As long as you’ve got the two cards you need, the size of your collection shouldn’t hold you back as much as if you were building a full deck. Unlike other Brawls, no cards are off limits.

How to win the Top 2 Tavern Brawl

But which two cards should you use? Let’s look at some card combos that will help you win this week’s Brawl.

Updated for 2025: The central question for this Brawl is whether you have Hamuul Runetotem in your collection or not. I’d never recommend crafting a card just for a Brawl, but if you were ever going to do that, this Brawl would be the opportune moment, because Hamuul is an almost guaranteed win.

New card combos from May 2025

Druid

• Hamuul Runetotem Shenanigans
  • Hamuul Runetotem + Tour Guide
    • Your Hero Power summons a 15/15 Plant Golem on turn one.
  • Hamuul Runetotem + Innervate
    • …or how about about a 45/45 Plant Golem on turn one, or 60/60 if you have The Coin?

Rogue

• Pogo Hopper + Gear Shift
  • So many Pogos, but is this deck too slow in a Runtotem meta? [Ed’s note: yes.]

Shaman

• Evolve + Wisp
  • Instant board, just add water!

Old (but still good) card combos for the Top 2 Tavern Brawl

These card combos from previous iterations of this Brawl still work well, and if your collection is a little out of date one of these may be easier to put together.

Any class

• Firemancer Flurgl + Toxfin
  • Toxfin makes your Flurgl or other Toxfin poisonous, which is transferred to Flurgl’s AOE to clear your opponent’s board. You do need the Legendary Firemancer Flurgl card so this won’t be an option for all players.

Death Knight

• Horn of Winter + Frozen Over
  • Completely lock out your opponent from playing cards.
• Horn of Winter + Glacial Advance
  • Live long enough for an OTK.

Druid

• Pounce + Spread the Word
  • Natural counter to all the Counterfiet Coin + Flick Skyshiv.
• Embiggen + Patches
  • Make yourself a huge pirate.
• Sigil of Silence + Micro Machine
  • Maybe not as powerful as some other combos, but still fun. Your Sigil takes care of the buffed Pogos and Patches while your little army of bots keeps getting stronger and stronger.
• Sigil of Silence + Unleash Fel
  • This is the same idea of silencign off the Pogos and Patches, but now Unleash Fel destroys them and eventually starts healing you.
• Aquatic Form + Vicious Slitherspear
  • Instant board of powered up Nagas.

Hunter

• Annoying Fan + Metaltooth Leaper
  • Annoying Fan can slow down your opponents big minions while Leaper scales your own minion’s attack.
• Play Dead + Devilsaur Egg
  • Get your Eggs down and use Play Dead to turn them into 5/5 Devilsaurs. It’s a solid strategy, but might be a little slow against some of the more powerful pairs.

Mage

• Font of Power + Frost Nova
  • This one is a little bit of a gamble. You’re hoping for some great minions from Font of Power, and that Ice Nova can give you the initiative you need to stay ahead of your opponent.
• Bloodmage Thalnos + Babbling Book
  • This is another RNG pair. Thalnos gives you card draw and a little spell damage, but you’re hoping for answers to come from Babbling Book’s Battlecry.

Paladin

• Time Out! + Hammer of Wrath
  • They can’t kill you and you’ll eventually Hammer of Wrath them down. This does need some good/fortunate draw.

Priest

• Astral Automaton + Power Chord: Synchronize
  • Grow a giant Astral Automaton.
• Shard of Naaru + Spirit Lash
  • This is hard counter for Pogos and Patches. Silence off those buffs, and destroy them with Sprit Lash while healing yourself.
• Shard of the Naaru + Encumbered Pack Mule
  • This has the same idea of Silencing off buffs. Then you use your army of Pack Mules to rule the board.
• Golakka Crawler + Shadow Word: Ruin
  • This is a specific anti-Patches pair. Crawlers cost more more than Patches, but you only need to survive to 5 mana when you can start wiping the board every turn with Ruin. Ruin should also help with any Pogo decks you encounter.
• Palm Reading + Renew
  • I call this a wing and prayer. This is a more RNG heavy deck that might be fun in a less oppresive meta. You’re praying that your Palm Reading gives you not only the answers you need to handle your opponent’s board, but also some minions of your own to close out the game.
• Gluttonous Ooze + Mass Dispel
  • Another counter deck. Mass Dispel to handle the Pogos and Boars, Ooze to handle the weapons.

Rogue

• Pogo-Hopper and Shadowstep
  • This is a classic combination for this type of Brawl. Pogo thrives in an environment where you can put a bunch of them in your deck.
• Chaotic Tendril + Shadowstep
  • This might not be super competitive, but it’s the kind of chaotic fun I think Tavern Brawls are made for.
• Counterfeit Coin + Flik Skyshiv
  • “You got to ask yourself one question. ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do you, punk?” This combo is a high risk, high reward. You need enough Counterfeit Coins in your hand to play Flik, but once you do, it’s usually “Game over, man, game over!”

Shaman

• Desert Hare and Revolve
  • This is another anti-Pogo, anti-Patches, anti-Boar deck. Revolve transforms them into fairly usesless minions while your own Desert Hares take over the board.

Warlock

• Soulfire + Hand of Gul’dan
  • Soulfire does the damage. Hand of Gul’dan keeps drawing your Soulfires.
  • Some players are abusing a bug where they are getting 0 mana Soulfire cards. I’m not going to tell you how. Just don’t do this.
• Expired Merchant + Soul Barrage
  • This is an update the Soul Barrage lists from previous Brawls.
• Soul Barrage + Solariaum or Soul Barrage + Expired Merchant
  • The Expired Merchant version gives you a little more staying power since you keep getting more Soul Barrages, but it’s slower and slower is  fatal in this Brawl.
• Wicked Shipment + Ritual of Doom
  • This is a budget version of the Embiggen / Patches combo.
• Grimoire of Sacrifice + Elwynn Boar
  • Drop your Boars and kill them with Grimoire. Use your Hero Power for draw. Once you’ve killed 7, use your 15/3 Sword of a Thousand Truths to kill your opponent. Everyone should have Elwynn Boar from the Rewards track and Grimoire is a Basic card.
• Gluttonous Ooze + Hellfire
  • Another specific anti-Boar deck. You destroy the Sword of a Thousand Truths with your Ooze and use Hellfire to kill your opponent. The armor from your Ooze should easily give you enough life to win.

Warrior

• Upgrade + Heroic Strike
  • Build a giant weapon and buff yourself with Heroic Strike. Just hope you’re fast enough to defeat the other popular decks.

Demon Hunter

More Top 2 deck lists

One of these pairs should see you through. With only two cards, it’s easy enough to copy the pair you’ve played against that may have been particularly effective.  If you find another great pair, share it with us in the comments.

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

Overall, I personally didn’t find this one enjoyable. You’re basically seeing which one of you prepared the better answer ahead of time, and there’s little to no decision-making to do after the game starts. On the upside, the games can be quick.

When Blizzard repeats this Brawl in the future, I would suggest banning certain cards like Elwynn Boar, Pogo-Hopper, and Patches. Perhaps that would open room for some fun and less predictable pairs to be played. Update for 2025: And Hamuul!

Narrator’s voice: They did not ban these cards.

Good luck getting this week’s pack!

Originally published on November 24, 2021. Last updated May 7, 2025.