The deckbuilding tips you need to win Hearthstone’s Escape From Violet Hold Pre-Release Tavern Brawl

Hearthstone‘s next expansion, Escape From Violet Hold launches July 7, and we’re getting a pre-release Tavern Brawl where, as usual, we can open the new expansion packs in advance! If you already have Violet Hold packs you might have gotten from bundles, events, or drops, you can open them and use any new cards you get in this Brawl only. But you can’t actually purchase individual Escape From Violet Hold packs yet; you can only use those that you obtained from other sources.

However… this time they made a big rules change that made the experience considerably different from the previous times, and for the worse. Read on to find out what you might need to do to win this time.

Tavern Brawl basics

• Name: Escape Brawliseum!
• Description: Build a deck using valid cards from your collection, including cards from the upcoming expansion, and earn more new cards!
• Fun level: 2/10
• Difficulty: 8/10
• Replayability: 2/10
• Format: Special (see below)
• Type: PVP
• Deck: Constructed
• Rewards: Varies based upon how much you win

You likely already have at least a few Violet Hold packs that you obtained from drops, in-game events, or a bigger chunk if you got one of the pre-orders. You can open those packs, and use any new cards you get from them. But remember the rules regarding packs for this Brawl:

• You can’t buy individual Escape From Violet Hold packs yet.
• You can’t craft Escape From Violet hold cards yet.
• Standard packs won’t have any Escape From Violet Hold cards in them yet.

How exactly does this Tavern Brawl work?

First of all, you should open any Escape From Violet Hold packs you have. Once you do, enter the actual Tavern Brawl, and you’ll be greeted by a familiar Brawliseum screen. Remember that your first run is free. Build your deck, including any new cards if you want, and keep playing until you reach either six wins or three losses, whatever comes first.

Since this Brawl involves a run consisting of multiple games, keep in mind that you can interrupt your run at any point and pick it up later. You should be queued against players that have a similar win-loss ratio to what you have at the moment — so if you win games, you’ll likely face tougher opponents; but if you’re losing, you’ll probably be pitted other players who aren’t doing so well either.

Finally, if you want to keep playing after that free first run, the cost is either two Tavern Tickets, 300 Gold, or 400 Runestones. But in all honesty? We don’t recommend playing any more after your free run.

What cards can I use to build Escape From Violet Hold Pre-Release Tavern Brawl decks?

This time they really changed things up, and… opinions are not so great. The official rules this time are that everyone gets temporary access to all the common Escape From Violet Hold cards, and there are no class restrictions. That’s right: your class choice only determines your hero power, pretty much, because you can fill your decks with cards from any class.

While this may sound cool, what it means in practice is that all the decks from players who didn’t open many packs — that’s the majority of players — are the same. Everyone is playing the same cards: filling their decks with cheap common cards from every class, and playing the Vanessa the Ringleader legendary that everyone got for free.

What decks do I need to win the Escape From Violet Hold Pre-Release Tavern Brawl?

The truth is that your deck will most like contain almost nothing but the common cards from every class in the game, plus Vanessa, and maybe one or two other specific cards you might have opened — but that’s a big “maybe.”

There’s almost zero board control, healing, or armor gain, and the vast majority of the available minions are cheap, often costing two mana. What this means is that, in practice, both players will likely be playing a lot of the exact same minions turn after turn, until they get their big Vanessa turn. (You probably want to Prepare your Vanessa in advance so that she costs zero mana when you play her, of course.)

Here is the basic framework for you to get started with:

Escape Brawliseum Basic Deck: Demon Hunter

• Deck code:

  AAECAZICArDJB/bJBw7b1wek2Aed2Qfk2QeN2ge12gfX2gfb2gfW2we83Qew3wey3we85wfK5wcAAA==

This deck includes the following cards:

# ⬜ 2x (0) Secret Ingredient
# ⬜ 2x (1) Black Market Overseer
# ⬜ 2x (1) Spiderling
# ⬜ 2x (2) Bone Flurry
# ⬜ 2x (2) Contraband Wands
# ⬜ 2x (2) Demonic Confinement
# ⬜ 2x (2) Guard Dog
# ⬜ 2x (2) Holy Bola!
# ⬜ 2x (2) Holy Embrace
# ⬜ 2x (2) Lotus Bookie
# ⬜ 2x (2) Specter of Despair
# ⬜ 2x (2) Underbelly Network
# ⬜ 2x (2) Widow’s Bite
# ⬜ 2x (3) Blackpaw’s Whip
# ⬜ 1x (5) Hold Them Off!
# 🟨 1x (6) Vanessa the Ringleader

That’s a lot of common cards, and a lot of 2-cost cards. The only Legendary is Vanessa, which was given for free to all players — and which is your main way to win the game.

You want to play a lot of minions on the board, and trying to be aggressive in controlling the enemy board. Perform good trades, where you kill the enemy minions while keeping yours alive. Try to get some damage in their face early if you can.

When you draw Vanessa, make sure to Prepare her to reduce her mana cost. This is crucial. You want to reduce Vanessa to 0 mana, ideally, though 1 can also work.

Then, on your Vanessa turn, you want to play as many cards as you can, to keep generating more cards. If you went second and got The Coin, try to hold it until your Vanessa turn. That’s an extra card to play.

You want to play your cards that draw other cards, like Holy Bola! and the Underbelly Network location, as soon as you can. Drawing faster than your opponent will increase your chances a lot, since you’re more likely to get Vanessa before them, and since you’ll fill up your hand.

To control the board, a neat little combo is Black Market Overseer and Guard Dog. Also, playing Specter of Despair early on can really give you some breathing room.

That’s the basic framework for this Brawl. If you opened a lot of packs and got other powerful cards, you might consider including them, but make sure they work along with this general game plan. The truth is that you’ll most likely be unable to build a “coherent” deck based around your other cards, so you’ll probably have better odds of winning by sticking to a singular game plan instead of trying to do two different things at once.

The rule changes made this brawl kind of a fluke, but the free rewards are still worth your time

Rewards for this Pre-Release Tavern Brawl include Cataclysm packs, and Escape from Violet Hold packs, common cards, and rare cards. The number of rewards increases with each win, up to the maximum of six wins.

If you absolutely crash and burn and end the event with zero wins, you’ll still walk away with a very nice consolation prize: one Cataclysm pack and one Escape From Violet Hold pack. So even if you’re not super serious about the event, it’s still a good idea to try the brawl anyway, since the minimum reward is well worth it!

We really hope Blizzard reconsiders this format for the next time. Having everyone playing the same anemic deck is not a fun experience at all.