Hearthstone’s Burndown Rekindled Tavern Brawl is an evolutionary concept plagued by huge balance issues

This week’s Hearthstone Tavern Brawl, Burndown Rekindled, is not a well-balanced one. This is a variation on the Brawl first seen in July of 2019 from the Midsummer Fire Fest-E.V.I.L. The burndown name comes from the backstory that Ragnaros was pitching decks against one another to find the greatest of them all.

I’d expect to see some of the common mechanisms seen in the study of evolution in play here. The driving mechanism is the same as the original: two species (decks) vie for survival with the stronger one winning. The difference is rather than mutate by changing a card or two, the winning deck takes over the losing deck.

Tavern Brawl basics

• Name: The Burndown Rekindled
• Description: The Burndown returns and is better than ever! Take control of a random deck, if you lose you’ll get a copy of your opponent’s deck! How long can your deck survive THE BURNDOWN!?
• Fun level: 2/10
• Difficulty: 6/10
• Replayability: 4/10
• Format: Wild
• Type: PvP
• Deck: Provided
• Rewards: 1 Cataclysm pack

Decks are again randomly-generated, but as during the first iteration of this Brawl, they are based on the dungeon run bucket system, giving them some degree of overall strategy and card synergy. You don’t pick your class in this Brawl. The best you can hope for is you receive a class you’re familiar with.

Depending on your client, you may see the name of your deck and your opponent’s deck on the left-hand side of the screen. This time around, the Druid decks with 0-cost hero powers that deal 3 damage to any enemy target (or restore 3 health to any friendly target) AND can be used twice per turn are destroying the opposition. That’s one ridiculously overpowered hero power.

After the match, you’re shown a screen with how many times you’ve won with your deck and how many times your opponent has won with his.

How to win The Burndown Rekindled Brawl

Keep queuing up! Your initial deck might not be all that great, but once you lose, you’ll receive the deck from your opponent. The longer the Brawl goes, the more likely you’ll get a powerful deck and start winning.

This is not a fun brawl for me, personally. The discrepancy in the power between decks is too high for this to be any fun. You’ll keep playing until you get the OP deck, and only then you’ll have a real chance to win.

Last published March 5, 2020. Updated April 22, 2026 with contributions by Phil Xavier.