by Jeremy Waxman on Jun 18, 2015
Tavern Brawl is a fantastic addition to Hearthstone, as it gives us our first truly “casual” game mode. The Nefarian vs Ragnaros battle is a fun concept to start with, but as anyone who has played has noticed, there’s one critical issue: Nefarian seems to have a significant advantage in this matchup. So, when playing as Ragnaros, what can you do to even the odds?
Here’s the thing that must be understood: As Ragnaros, you are at a significant disadvantage in the early game. Nefarian starting with 5 mana, plus the Hero Power that allows him to create free spells, means he has the ability to overrun the board. You are not looking to win the board in the early game, as that’s just not going to happen. What you are able to do is use your weapon to help remove threats, and your 6/6 Taunt can buy you a turn or two. Make sure not to waste your removal here, either. You do have some decent removal options, so you want to save it for the biggest threats, not the 7/7 with no effect.
Getting into more specifics regarding the last point: Lucifron is an excellent, excellent card. For 4 mana, you corrupt all of your enemy’s minions, meaning if they’re still on the board at the beginning of your next turn, they’re destroyed. There’s also the spell Living Bomb, which has a similar effect for 3 mana, infecting one minion, and if it’s still alive on your next turn, deal 5 damage to all enemies. When using this, just make sure your board is empty, or at least offers no easy way for your opponent to sacrifice the targeted minion. If Nefarian floods the board early, either of these cards can be quite deadly. They don’t win you the game outright, but can help stall long enough for you to begin to be able to fight back.
Now that we’ve covered some of your most important cards, it’s imperative that you look for them in your starting hand. Your 6/6 Taunter is your biggest priority, but you also have a 6/3 with 6 damage on Battlecry, as well as the aforementioned Lucifron and Living Bomb. Grabbing one or two of these in your opening hand can go a long way towards setting up a victory.
While the goal is, of course, to get rid of your weapon to unlock your true Hero Power, summoning Magma Rager isn’t entirely useless here. Given that Nefarian summons a lot of minions with no more than 7 Health, the Rager plus your weapon can often be enough to remove a threat from the board.
If you’ve successfully made it to the late game, you’re now in excellent shape. With extremely cost-efficient minions and card draw, you’ll actually start to have an advantage the later things go. Molten Giants are free, and you have the monstrous 20/20 Golemagg that should be pretty cheap to play at this point. With Nefarion’s lack of board clear (unless they get lucky off of Wild Magic), you can now start laying down the hurt.
This is essentially just going back to the original point, but it’s worth repeating. Play a slow, controlled early-mid game, using your removal wisely. You may not have constructed the deck you’re using, but you still need to play according to its strengths and weaknesses. If you try to play aggro from the beginning, a loss is all but guaranteed. With the right strategy, and some luck, you can survive the rough early goings to become a late game beast.
Above all, make sure to enjoy yourself. Even if you understand how to play the matchup perfectly, the fact is, Nefarian does have a significant edge here. Don’t be upset if you lose as Ragnaros, it really is the expected outcome. Enjoy yourself even if you lose, and celebrate wildly if you manage to win!