Brand w does not trigger spell thief gold and aeri either in specific situation (red side)
This occurs at the very beginning of the game on red side. I always proceed to go to the dragon pit and cast w on the blue side river entrance bush closest to the red buff. I know the w cast hits because aeri goes off and the spell thief icon drops to one, but no gold gets generated. Not super game changing but that is 22 gold.
I have a replay as proof if required.
PS: this occurred enough times for me to waste time posting about it.