Are we about to see Auras in the next Hearthstone (Free) expansion? The answer to that is maybe, since today’s Tavern Brawl, Deal Your Fate, is all about Auras. Why does that matter, you may ask? Well, this is the second Brawl we get in the last two months that uses an Aura-like mechanic (the previous one was Battles of the Builds). And, if you remember, Blizzard tried to give us a taste of the Discover mechanic prior to the release of League of Explorers with Captain’s Blackheart’s Treasure, so this might be a similar tease. Okay, let’s take one thing at a time. What are Auras? An Aura (called ‘Fates’ in this Brawl) is an effect that remains in play for more than a single turn, sometimes until the end of the game, and cannot be silenced.
In the case of Deal Your Fate, at the beginning of the game you choose one of 4 random Fates that will affect both players. Those fates can give you things like 2 armor for each player at the start of their turn, shuffle 10 Unstable Portals into each player’s deck, swap attack and health of all minions at the end of each turn, give you a coin if one of your minion dies, reduce spell cost by 1, and give the owner of a minion that dies a 1-mana Banana. When a player drops below 20 health, he or she gets to choose four of the Dire Fate cards (which, again, apply to both) as a way to catch up to the other player. The Dire Fates can give minions a deathrattle where a random card in the owner’s hand costs 0, add 3 Unstable Portals in each player’s hand, let you draw a card if a minion dies, give all minions Taunt and Charge, give minions windfury, and turn each minion in play into a 1/1 Murloc.
As you can tell, these fates can really change the game around and make the deck you so carefully put together totally useless. You can try and build a deck that is flexible enough to deal with most of those Fates, but let’s face it, that’s really hard to do. The Unstable Portal one is usually very tempting, so expect to see that in play, and if you do, Flamewaker is a great card to have in your deck (or any other card that takes advantage of spells).
This Brawl is mostly a way to have fun, so don’t bother too much with strategies and just go have fun. The most interesting part of Deal Your Fate is, of course, the possibility that Blizzard is doing the teasing game again and trying to point to what the next expansion will add to the game. In case you weren’t aware, on March 9th, Blizzard will announce what’s coming to the game next, so we should know more about the expansion in a week. Auras are an interesting idea, but they can really change the feel of a match, for better or worse. If we are getting Auras, I wonder how the developers will go about adding them and whether there will be a way to silence them. Well, not long to go until we (hopefully) find out more. We will, of course, let you know more the moment we have any new information. Until then, go test your Fate.
