Hearthpwn

Hey Folks, Ness here.


I've been playing hearthstone for quite a while, but mostly arena.

I'm also a Magic The Gatheric Player.

I managed to reach top 100 Legend last season playing Control Warrior, Freeze Mage, Midrange Druid and Rogue.

Proof:

http://postimg.org/image/c5vdwgxch/


I decided to share this deck that I've been using this season and experiencing really good results.

The deck is pretty efficient against all classes and it's a very interesting way to learn about a lot of the things that aren't quite obvious in hearthstone. For Ex: tempo vs value, racing the opponent (hunters and other aggros), when to overextend and when not to, etc.


Notice that this is an all around deck for ladder playing and you can make some adjustments to counter specific metas without capping it down.

Okay, so lets get down to business:

I will write more about this deck on the other parts of this guide (TBA).

First, allow me to share my thoughts on every card on this deck:

Innervate: from my experience this card is even better them Wild Growth against decks that try to rush you down. It's tremendously good against face hunter (careful with freezing traps tho) and eboladin.
Warning: when you have innervates/coin you should avoid ramping into a big creature, for ex: Ragnaros on turn 3... yeah I know it's tempting but this kind of "all in" play is mostly inconsistent and very punishable, specially if you don't have a follow up (the one general exception to this is Dr. Boom, but this card is broken, so ramping into boom is probably a good play).Normally you should split the ramp into good threats, to maximize the pressure over turns. This will increase your chances of winning by significant amount.

Wild Growth: The bread and butter of modern druid decks (yes, wild growth was considered bad and inconsistent even among pro players at the beginning). All those hard mulligans for wild growth... so much frustration when you don't get it on those pesky mirror matches and your opponent plays it on turn 2...
If you have this card on turn 2 you are probably playing the strongest deck available. It has an amazing potential and should never be overlooked.
Warning: never keep double wild growths in your starting hand, you will be way too passive on the early stages and its more likely that you will end up running out of fuel way too quickly, specially when you don't have Ancient of Lores.
The biggest question about this card is: "Should I cast WD if I Draw it after turn 3?" Well this question can only be answered correctly when you consider the type of deck you are facing and the other cards in your hand.
If you have a good curve already, you should not go out of your way to cast it.
Most of the time you will have only minions in your hand and that makes the druid decks much less reactive them the other decks with tons of answers like tempo mage, rogue or control warrior.
Considering that, your goal is to present the hardest threats for you opponent to deal with.
This usually means playing on curve, but try to take in consideration the turn they are going into and other resources like cards in hand, armor (shield slam), life total (against handlock), charges on dagger (blade flurry can be significantly stronger if they can also hit you in the face), the number of recruits in the board, etc.

Wrath: I know a lot of players consider replacing this card, because sometimes its not so efficient. I can understand those people, considering that most of the time playing a big minion on curve is probably a better play (on the long run) them casting wrath and hero powering.
You have to avoid casting wrath and hero power instead of playing a big minion.
Also, I always notice people being really greedy cycling this card... specially against hunters or tempo mage. Cycling Wrath is actually quite tricky, but the general rule is that you cycle if you need more threats to play or you are running out of fuel, otherwise it might be a good idea to use it like a Dark Bomb.
I avoid cycling wrath against some aggroish decks because of its imoportant role in removing some major threats.
Basically, try to use wrath when you don't have a major threat to contest the board or to remove important minions (ex: mana wrym, jugglers, apprentices, etc).

Savage Roar: Insane finisher, good board flipper. This card alone makes a lot of opponents play very inefficient because they are afraid of OTK from combo.
It can and sometimes should be use as a removal.
Not much to say about this one. Strong card and you should run 2 copies, even when you run only one Force of Nature like in this deck. (the exception is the taunt druid, a different kind of druid that i personally find pretty boring)

Swipe: One of the best removals in the game. Never waste it against decks that can build a big board out of nowhere (zoo, pally, shaman, etc). One good swipe can turn the table in your favour.
The key here is "preparing" for a good swipe, as you might consider holding it to play on the next turn, after their minions fight yours and you can get very favorable trades.

Keeper of the Grove: this is one of my favourite cards in the game. Its effective against aggro AND control. I cant remember how many times I wild growthed into keeper to remove their 2 drop (like juggler or apprentice) and the match is basically won by that time.
Its that strong.
KotG against hunter is INSANE!
You can silence their scientist to avoid freezing trap, kill their minions (very effetive against huffers) and still have a solid minion to kill one, possibly 2 or even 3 minions after.

Druid of the Claw: Good minion, can usually hold aggro pretty well on its on and also be a charger to finish with Savage Roar. Keep in mind that you should charge into some important minions (sometimes I just charge into a knife juggler, specially when I know the opponent has something like imp-plosion) But i still prefer belcher, specially with so many classes wielding weapons (belcher is a lot more annoying for control warriors, for example).

Force of Nature: Can be used as a finisher or a pretty good board clear, but this should be avoided, since druids are not like other classes and there's only one copy of it. I usually don't like when I can clear the enemy board but I pass the turn with an empty board (unless they are out of cards ofc).
I just love FoN against freezing traps. Sometimes I manage to return a freezing trap and keep the tree in my hand to proc the 2nd freezing. GG hunters.


Ancient of Lore: One of the best minions in the game. Very powerful against control.

It has a not so popular advantage of baiting removals, since most of the players will try to clear your board as hard as they can.

Ancient of Lore can not only bait removals and give you a lot of options on your next turns, it can also heal you for a considerable amount.
Trust me, when you are playing a hunter you know that EVERY damage counts. Needless to say, gaining 5 heal can make all the difference in a lot of matches.

Cenarius: one of the best cards in the mirror match. Pretty good against aggro, very effective against Freeze Mages (Buffing your minions out of flamestrike range) and avoids BGH. It can also be a strong finisher.

Big Game Hunter: Meta call, huge tempo swing, you should consider running 2, but never 0.

Mind Control Tech: This one is pretty debatable, and its usefullness might depend on your playstyle.
Some people trade too much, they can't pass one turn without trading minions. If you are one of these people, you should consider running a 2nd shade instead.
Otherwise, this card is good against both warlocks (yes, handlock will have a lot of minions because they will put taunt givers and sometimes they have ancient watchers that are inactive).
It really helps with the bad matchups like zoo, paladin, shaman and sometimes even tempo mage with those mirror images.
Its a meta call, but if you find it inefficient try Kezan/Shade/2nd BGH.

Shade: very strong choice and it brings a new flavour to the deck, since its not really obvious when you should reveal it.
Unfortunately, tempo mage ruins this card with flame cannon and makes it's actually a liability in this match. (trust me, they always keep flame cannon against druids).

Piloted Shredder: Strong attack to apply pressure on the face, Sticky and usually trades very well against most midgame cards. Sometimes you just want any minion to stay on the board to combo on the next turn, another plus for this fellow.
It's a LOT better them the good old Yeti. Perfect substitute.

Harrison Jones: Meta call, Harrison is a huge help against pallys, hunters and warriors (mostly patron warriors, since deaths bite is a key card for them). Can be replaced by Azure drake or a second Druid of the Claw if you are facing a lot of mages or other non weapon wielder classes.

Loatheb: Loatheb is a different kind of "sticky" minion. It's likely that he is going to survive most of the time you play him . Its really good against belcher and can win you the game against freeze mage, tempo rogue or tempo mage. It also stops combos from other druids.
Against heavy spell classes, try to save him if you can.

Sludge Belcher: Its not so clear if belchers are better them Druid of the Claw, but I prefer Belcher. It might be because I play a lot of Control Warrior, but who knows? It's a very close call and you might even consider running 2 belchers and 2 DotC... 5 drops are that important in druid decks.

Emperor Thaurissan: If your opponent can't deal with him, chances are they already lost. He fits the "ramp" theme like a boss.

You can play thaurissan on turn 6 and combo off on turn 7.

I could write a lot about this card, but everyone knows he is really strong and even broken in some decks like this one.
Things you should know: don't hold him to play only on an empty board. Just play it. It doesn't really matter if they remove it right on the next turn (this will actually happen most of the cases). The opponent will most likely go out of his way to kill it, so you benefit from their inefficient turn and the discounts.
If you don't have blackrock mountain, you should start considering purchasing the first wing just because of Emperor.

Sylvanas: Huge Threat, also makes the next turn really awkward for the opponent.

Sylvanas is the 2nd most played legendary, right after Dr.Balance.
Numbers don't lie.

Dr. Boom: Two Words: Boom Bots.

Ragnaros: I like ragnaros because he affects the board state the same turn you play him. sometimes its a very good 50/50, when you either kill their huge threat for free, or they get in the combo range - or even die.
It's also really good against Hunters, since they can't deal with him and he never triggers any trap (Snipe does not exist!).



This is the first part, and It's more of an introduction and general thoughts about this deck.
I will update it with the part 2 as soon as possible.

Remember that Druids should never be passive like rogue/control warrior, so try to change your playstyle if you are having some difficults.

Don't be too afraid of playing a big minion when the opponent has a good trade on the board next turn.

Druids have a lot of strong minions and you should avoid holding important threats to capitalize too much on them.

 

 

 

EDIT -

I just reached Legend #43 with a few adjustments I made recently.

Double Kezan is just insane on high legend.

The Amount of Mages is obscene - even Mech mages are back.

Getting a mirror image with kezan usually seals the deal.

Also, the matchup against hunters is even better.

I tested this version a lot and I really like it.

 

Now this is a true all around deck:

Counters Freeze mages - Loatheb/Cenarius/Kezans.

Counters Warriors (patron and control) - Harrison/Sylvanas/Lore/Combo

Counters Handlock - BGH/Keeper/Combo

Counters Tempo and Mech Mages - Double Kezan ftw

Counters Rogue - Ragnaros/Boom

Counters both Hunters (midrange and face) - Double Kezan/Swipe/Keeper/Taunts

And so on...

Ps: Really strong against all the classes that got new portaits! - another plus for it!






Hope you enjoy.