I like it that Totemic Evidence gives your opponent a totem, but he will never be able to infuse it. Still the danger is real, I just lost a game against weapon rogue where he played 2 Totemic Reflection during the first 2 turns of the game (both for Healing Totem), then proceeded to buff them.

Interestingly, if you stick to your hero power as your only source of totems, you will not generate very many totems. This is okay, because your opponent gets no totems at all, but you cannot expect a totem rush like it was common some years ago on the ladder in wild.
If you are desperate to create more totems, you can add Sing-Along Buddy, but be aware that this card is probably useful for your opponent too. It just does not turn on his totem-related cards.

The only other totem payoff cards besides the ones that you already have in your deck are Windshear Stormcaller (summons Al’akir if you have all 4? basic totems) and Totemic Reflection (which is not useless for your opponent, just less effective) . It could be argued that Gigantotem is so expensive that a player with no access to totems will probably not be able to cast it before the game is over while the shaman player could maybe play it around turn 7 if he focuses on using the hero power often, but that would be a losing strategy.

well, there are some classes that can attack with their hero even without weapon cads in the deck: next to demon hunter, namely druid and rogue.
I even think that Rogue would benefit from the hero attack payoff cards more than Demon Hunter itself, because Rogue can set up 0 mana attacks by equipping her dagger before. Much of Demon Hunter’s initial power back in Ashes of Outland came from 0 mana twin slice, so e.g. Glaivebond Adept+trigger could be played at 5 mana, while now it has essentially become a 6 mana card unless you equip a weapon before.
I still wanted to give the deck a try, and I liked the concept, but some cards had to be changed:
Sock Puppet, Blur and Blade Dance, while almost complete blanks for most opponents, also do almost nothing for you if your hero power is the only way to increase your attack value, so the advantage they give you is too small.
Always keep in mind that you can do many attacks with your hero, but not big attacks.
I added former arena monster Glaiveshark, and also tried Silithid Swarmer and Felsaber. Sure the latter 2 on this list are truly atrocious cards, but all that matters is how much the difference is between the value they have for you and your hero power (medium to low) versus the value they have for your opponent and their hero power (probably zero).

### Brawl Deck
# Class: Demon Hunter
# Format: Wild
#
# 2x (1) Battlefiend
# 2x (2) Battleworn Vanguard
# 1x (2) Lesser Opal Spellstone
# 2x (3) Satyr Overseer
# 2x (3) Silithid Swarmer
# 2x (4) Felsaber
# 2x (4) Glaiveshark
# 2x (5) Glaivebound Adept
#
AAEBAea5AwHGsAYHoKsC+cgD/sgD9OMDyZ8E0p8E77EEAAA=
#
# To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone

Obviously we get to see a lot of Zerg and Protoss decks, but it makes no sense: Both players have exactly the same deck, only the hero power sets you apart from your opponent.
So we are at totem shaman and silver hand paladin again. just make sure you only add the payoff cards, not the token generators themselves. You might add cards that support your hero power directly (like Sing-Along Buddy), because you will need to activate that hero power a lot if you want to benefit from your one-sided cards. Adding any cards to your opponent’s deck that create totems or silver hands would completely undermine your strategy.

The rogue foreign class deck does not work, because your opponent also has a lot of cards that are from a foreign class. Moreover, the payoff cards are not really spectacular to begin with: Bazaar Burglary, Underbelly Fence and Vendetta have all been obsoleted by power creep, Contraband Stash and Tess Greymane never made it past meme level and Velarok is a strong card, but it cannot carry that strategy all by itself – especially not if your opponent gets a functional Velarok in his deck too.

Lor’themar bug is still active.

Druid now has a legit first turn kill on the play by Alexstrasza-Innervate-Carrier

Thank you for this guide!
I just completed the first three secrets, and it worked perfectly.
This time I think I can even contribute something myself:
For every player that tries to work through the maze by attacking the right and middle door, you might wonder sometimes if you missed a click. Therefore I added the remaining health of the doors after every line, so you can be sure you are still on the right track (and restart immediately if the numbers do not fit instead of going on clicking only to find out in the end that you had a mistake somewhere).
Have fun!

RRRMMRM (96/995)
MRMRRRM (93/991)
RRRMMRM (90/987)
MRRRMMR (87/983)
MRRRMMM (83/980)
MRRRMMM (79/977)
RMMRM (76/975)
MRMRRRM (73/971)
MMMMR (69/970)
MMMRM (65/969)
RRRMMRRRM (62/963)
MRMMR (59/961)
MRRRMRM (56/957)
RRRMRRRMR (54/950)
MMMMRRR (50/947)
MMMRRRM (46/944)
RMRRRMR (44/939)
MMRRRMR (41/935)
MRRRMRRRM (38/929)
RMRMRRR (36/924)
MM (34/924)

it is hard to find scenarios where slumbering sprite is actually good.
if you do not play it on turn one, i can hardly see any upgrade even to bloodfen raptor or river crocolisk.

some mediocre options:
T1 sprite + coin + hero power + kill your opponent’s x/1 one drop as demon hunter on the draw
T1 sprite, T2 felfire deadeye + hero power as demon hunter on the play
T1 sprite, T2 popular pixie + hero power as druid on the play
T1 sprite, T2 amplified snowflurry + hero power as mage on the play
T1 sprite, T2 papercraft angel + hero power as shadowform priest on the play
T1 sprite + coin + idols adoration + hero power as shadowform priest on the draw
T1 sprite + coin + yoink + hero power as rogue on the draw

T1 sprite + coin + tour guide + hero power on the draw
T1 sprite, T2 waterboy + hero power on the play (we are scraping the bottom of the barrel here)

and finally the ultimate game-breaking combo:
T1 sprite, T2 coin + fencing coach + hero power on the draw

slumbering sprite is not even paticularly big as a one drop, compared to the likes of catch of the day, brain masseuse, overzealous healer, novice zapper, flame imp, bubbler, gravelsnout knight, injured kvaldir, saronite taskmaster, zombie chow.
i only named cards that do not start dormant, of those there are even bigge one drops (that are harder to wake up, admittedly)

thank you, power creep!

i appreciate that old cards get buffs to make them playable again, but at the end of the day this only adds to the underlying problem which is power creep.
to fight power creep there are two ways: creating less powerful cards for new sets (as we experienced it with the beyond set which struggled to get its cards played in an enviromnent of already overpowered cards) or existing cards can be nerfed. I think it takes a little bit of both to combat power creep effectively without alienating the player base.
As for nerfs, the pivotal question is: when is the best moment to hit a card with the nerf-hammer.
If people get tired of losing to the same card times and again, nerfing that card is a win-win, making players happy and reduciing power creep. However, is is not always that easy: People like the cards tthat help them win, and getting your favourite toys nerfed can be frustrating. The refund policy softens the blow, but I understand that nerfing always bears the risk of upsetting a certain share of the player base. Moreover, refunds put arcane dust on players’ acconts, and dust can substitute money, and less money for Blizzard is not what the company wants, ultimately putting the survival of the game at stake.
imho the best moment to nerf cards would be like 3 weeks before a new expansion starts. This way there is less pressure for the new set to have a high power level to get its cards played, so power creep could be reduced while still keepin the new cards playable competitively. 3 weeks is also enough time to shape a new meta, which is always changed more by nerfs than by buffs.
I would even go so far to say that any card that gets played too much should be nerfed immediately. Refunds should consolate all who crafted the card, and players who want a high win rate would need additional effort to adapt to the shifting meta instead of ginding up the ladder with the same overpowered cards week after week.

i just discovered the offer of 2 legendary cards for 8,00 €, but they are both form the great dark beyond set.

for a collector who tries to get the last missing legendaries of a set, this is a very good deal.

unfortunately the offer comes late, and I have already spent gold and money to complete the set.

it seems that giving away cheap legendaries and epics from sets that have already been online for some months is a new policy of blizzard. now that i know that i will put much less effort in completing the new sets, because i will get the missing cards cheaply after some time anyways.

wow, i can spend 20 bucks to get 20 packs for standard PLUS 2 LEGENDS,
or
i can spend 20 bucks to get 20 packs for twist PLUS NO LEGENDS

and those dorks at blizzard wonder why nobody wants to get invested in twist.
that’s ridiculous

“It’s still early, but Infestor is probably on Blizzard’s watchlist right now”

The whole deck is focussed on finding Infestor (or creating Larvae that may eventually turn into Infestor), then trying to trigger its deathrattle as often as possible. Giving it reborn by Viper or Brittlebone, Death Growl (placed between two zerglings) or Yelling Yodeler, all is geared towards this one card.

The effect is super powerful, because it applies _after_ the 1 health set by reborn, and also _after_ effects like Horn of the Windlord, so even just two triggers make your minions very hard to kill.

I can imagine that the effect will be nerfed like the one of Zilliax’s Pylon Module, so +1/+0 instead of +1/+1. This would seriously weaken the deck, so other decks would also need to be nerfed slightly, just to keep the balance.

I do not understand the “tavern special” bundle:

all players who spend money for the game have their GD beyond set almost completed, so the 20 packs are nearly useless.

all F2P players who do not spend money for the game might benefit from the bundle, but will by definition not buy it (else they would not be F2P players).

only the “bob’s bargain” special can be made beneficial by completing the GD beyond collection with the legends and saving the standard packs for the next expansion. (I am strongly considering doing this if the bundle is still available after I completed the event and got all packs from it)

If Blizzard really wants our money they should put more thought into their special offers

Looking back at 2024, I think I liked the Tourist mechanic best.
Honorable mention: Repairing the broken achievements at the end of 2024 was a good service for all achievement hunters

The worst part was probably the badly executed attempts at monetarization.
There is nothing wrong with a company wanting to earn money, but it has to be done in a way that is acceptable to the player base. Besides the obvious weekly quest fiasco I think that the Twist format failed mostly because the Caverns of Time set was designed with the main intent to earn money with it. It throws you back to the time before duplicate protection: to get to the new epics and legends, you have to buy packs that give you epics and legends that you already have, or you have to spend dust on them just like it was before duplicate protection.

opponent silencing my gift boxes – that’s where Sea Giant, Mogu Fleshshaper (+transform) and ticking/haywire Zilliax are best 🙂

it’s true that hardcore control decks can let the shaman transform deck struggle, but the deck can also win from early Sea Giants and from surprise Thrall’s Gift discovering Blood Lust, so it’s not an auto loss against control as long as your deck can do something more than just transform minions

Customs Enforcer could work here, as it makes both – the gift cards and the discovered cards – more expensive for your opponent

shadow hunter vol’jin does not work that way.
– either you swap one of the gifts on your side with a minion in your hand. that denies your opponent a legend, but you also probably miss out on an important battlecry (like crazed alchemist), unless you get lucky and hit your sea giant or one of the legends you got from destroying a gift.
– or you swap one of the gifts on their side with a minion in their hand. that denies a legend to yourself, which is bad, and it probably summons one of the legends they are holding from destroying a gift on your side.

either way, shadow hunter vol’jin is not a good card in this tavern brawl I think.

Thank you for all the work you put in.
You said it yourself – mana cost is a deciding factor.
Also, i think you underestimate transform effects in this brawl. The serve several functions:
1.) transforming your gifts denies your opponent the legends. And the legends are good, because they come at reduced mana cost.
2.) sometimes you get a legend with relatively weak stats compared to its cost, but transform gives you another chance to get fair value for your mana.
3.) lots of big creatures run around in this brawl. transform allows you to “heal” a damaged minion by replacing it with one at full health.

Finally, one important aspect of this tavern brawl is that the game starts with 8 minions on the board, which makes Sea Giant, , Mogu Fleshshaper, and very cheap – ready to be transformed into something gigantic. (To some extent this also works with Eredar Brute and Rabble Bouncer, but those only count your opponent’s minions, and ticking module Zilliax only counts your own minions. Still works fine with ticking/haywire, just transform it when the haywire damage gets annoying).

All that being said I agree to you that Priest has a imbalanced card in Purifying Power to silence all their own gifts with profit and a vast arsenal of spells that mass kill the opponent’s gifts (which both come in handy when new gifts arrive at T7 and T9)

well, I consider the interaction between Velen and Saronite Chain Gang a bug, but apparently blizzard had the intention to create a neutral 2-card combo that completely shuts down creature combat (barring a very specific subset of cards that silences, transforms or exiles)

[Progression] Fixed a bug where multiple older Achievements didn’t progress correctly if you used Core Set versions of the relevant cards instead of the originals.

I waited for this so long and posted it so many times. I hope it works!

imho the introduction of the “caverns of time” set was also a failed attempt at monetarization, specifically targeting players that try to complete a collection. These collectors now have to get all those “reprinted” cards that they already own a second time – because owning the “cavern of times”-version of a card does not count as owning the original version.

they just took this tavern brawl to show how the new order in the court works.

coin-order-front lines is definitely one of the stronger openings.

beindes that, druid has the upper hand against mage, and all other heros are not to be seen