How to win the Violet Hold Recipe Hearthstone Tavern Brawl

A new Hearthstone expansion, Escape from Violet Hold, has just been released, and as is tradition, it’s time for a new Tavern Brawl offering players a taste of the new deck recipes. It’s business as usual: pick one of the game’s classes, and you’ll be offered the latest recipe that showcases the latest mechanics or playstyle for that class.

Some decks are clearly stronger than others, though, and this time the difference is noticeable. So read on to find out all about this Recipe Brawl!

Tavern Brawl basics

Name: Violet Hold Recipe!
Description: Time to Escape from Violet Hold! Choose a class and enjoy the latest deck recipes!
Fun level: 7/10
Difficulty: 3/10 to 7/10 depending on your class, deck, and opponent
Replayability: 8/10
Format: Standard
Type: PVP
Deck: Provided (one for each class)
Rewards: 1 Escape from Violet Hold card pack

Recipe Brawls are probably the most basic kind of Brawl out there, so there really isn’t much to explain. The game already has deck recipes that any player can browse when building a deck, so you can easily find out your full deck list in advance if you want. Once you get into the Brawl itself, it’s just a matter of choosing a class. The game will provide you with that class’s deck recipe, and you play the game.

Make sure to pick a class you’re familiar with, but keep reading our strategy session for more tips — and also, because some deck recipes are just considerably better than others this time.

How to win the Violet Hold Recipe Tavern Brawl

The in-game deck recipes rarely provide decks that are strong enough for you to take on ladder, but here they’re only confronting each other, so it all comes down to which class has the strongest standalone recipe. This time, we feel like Paladin, Shaman, and Hunter are ahead of the pack, while Priest, Demon Hunter, Death Knight, and Warlock are struggling a bit.

• The Paladin deck has many copies of the same 2-cost Paladin minion which gives you discounted Paladin cards when it dies. It features some ways to buff your minions, and tricks we’re already used to like the strong Flight Maneuvers, and tried-and-true legendaries like Toreth.
• The Shaman deck gives you strong discounted minions (your first minion each turn costs 2 less) that you generate from spells, and lots of ways to deal damage and control the board. If you get a decent start, you can quickly steamroll your opponent.
• The Hunter deck is a bit slow to get started, but you’ll soon start summoning strong Beasts and Animal Companions for free every turn. If you can just survive a little bit until you get there, you’ll soon overtake your opponent.
  • Other than those, the Mage deck with Leylines is decent and might be worth a try. And the Rogue deck buffs your coins — while making sure you always go second — and uses the old Garona + Kingslayers package, which is a lot of fun (even if not that strong). Those might be worth a try.

At the same time, we you recommend you avoid decks like:

• Priest, which relies on the underwhelming Azalina Soulsever, meaning you start with a deck made up of only 20 cards you picked, and 20 cards you steal from your opponent, resulting in an ineffective mess of a mishmash.
• Demon Hunter, which works around a Void Soul mechanic that is just slow and ineffective — before it really does anything for you, your opponent is already far ahead most of the time.
• Warlock, which relies on filling your hand and summoning big minions, but is simply too inconsistent to really work — many classes have ways to deal with those big minions, and then you’re left with nothing.
• The Death Knight also deserves a mention among the “likely ineffective” decks to avoid — it has fun mechanics, but, much like the Warlock deck, it’s inconsistent and often fizzles.

So pick your class wisely, good luck, and may your pack come swiftly!