A Friendly Game of Chess

The subject of this article is only available in Tavern Brawls.

"Challenge an opponent to a game of chess! Most of your pieces will automatically attack the minion (or minions) in front of them!"

A Friendly Game of Chess is a Tavern Brawl. It debuted on October 5, 2016.

Based on the Black King encounter from One Night in Karazhan, all matches in the Brawl are played on the Karazhan battlefield.

History

Tavern Brawl	Start	End
69	October 5, 2016	October 10, 2016

Overview

This Brawl sees players recreating the Black King encounter from One Night in Karazhan. At the start of each Brawl the players are randomly assigned to play either the White or Black King heroes, each with only 10 Health. Both use identical premade decks of 15 special cards, as well as the Castle Hero Power, matching the encounter's Heroic mode version. With most minions unable to attack directly - instead dealing damage automatically - players will have to think carefully in order to triumph in this Brawl.

Heroes

Hero Powers

Special cards

White King

Black King

Decks

Both decks are identical (colours aside), and are composed of only 15 cards, matching the number of pieces in an actual game of chess (heroes included).

Class	Card	Quantity
Boss	White Pawn/Black Pawn	8
Boss	White Bishop/Black Bishop	2
Boss	White Rook/Black Rook	2
Boss	White Knight/Black Knight	2
Boss	White Queen/Black Queen	1

Notes

• With the exception of the White Knight and Black Knight, the pieces in this fight do not attack as normal. Rather, they Auto-Attack at the end of the owner's turn against the opponent's minions across from them.
  • If both players have an uneven number of pieces on the board, Auto-Attack minions except those on the edges will attack both minions across from them.
  • If an Auto-Attack minion has no minions directly or diagonally across from it, it will deal damage to the enemy hero.
  • As with all end-of-turn effects, minions which have taken fatal damage will not be removed until all pieces have completed their auto-attacks.
  • Despite the ability's name, White Bishop/Black Bishop do not attack at all, but instead restore Health. They do not follow the usual Auto-Attack rules for targeting, instead healing minions to their immediate left and right.
• Unlike other Hero Powers Castle can be used as many times as the player likes, as long as they have the mana to spare.

Strategy

"Proper positioning is key to victory. Get those double attacks!" - Moroes

The small deck size in this Brawl is matched by the heroes' low Health, making for short but strategically intense matches. Be aware of your limited card pool and try to outlast the opponent through good use of the Bishops, and cunning positioning to eliminate of the opponent's pieces, especially the Queens, as well as the other special pieces.

Adding 2 or more pieces beyond the opponent's current board size can allow you to sneak in some damage directly to the enemy hero, but focusing on getting in those "double attacks" usually yields better results. Try to maximise diagonals and focus hard on damaged and high priority targets.

The Hero Power can be very useful for focusing fire and redistributing healing - ideally bear it in mind when summoning minions. It can be used repeatedly, allowing for complex repositioning, which is particularly useful in the later rounds as the deck and hand empty.

Emotes

Both heroes' emotes match those from the original Black King encounter.

White King

Type	Emote
Thanks	How very kind.
Well played	Checkmate.
Greetings	Care for a game?
Wow	Ah, exceptional.
Oops	Oh, a blunder.
Threaten	I see a mate in 4.
Concede	Checkmate...
Opening remark	En garde!
Thinking [1]	Rook to A3...
Thinking [2]	Knight to F6...
Thinking [3]	Queen to E5... No, no...

Black King

Due to his original role as the enemy boss, many of the Black King's emotes are written as if in direct response to the matching emotes of the White King. The Black King also lacks Thinking and Concede emotes, for the same reason.

Type	Emote
Thanks	Any time.
Well played	Not yet.
Greetings	Always.
Wow	Naturally.
Oops	Or a trap?
Threaten	I see one in 3.
Concede	<No emote>
Opening remark	None shall pass!

Unused

White King

Type	Emote
Sorry	A necessary sacrifice.

Black King

Type	Emote
Sorry	An unfortunate development.

Trivia

• For an extensive discussion of the original Chess encounter's design process and various discarded iterations, see Hearthside Chat: Designing Karazhan's Chess Event with Peter Whalen.
• For analysis of the chances of winning based on starting cards and optimal plays, see Hearthhead's Analyzing A Game Of Friendly Chess.