Hearthpwn

"We can never have enough of nature." - Henry David Thoreau, Walden

 

My Greetings

I am Neil (Kakamaemae) and this is my current druid deck. This deck got me to rank 4 (1 win to 3...) in just 4 days in Season 4. It may seem kind of fast but it is possible. I am now currently using this deck again and I am about to hit rank 5 in just about a week!

Strategy

The strategy to the deck is to WIN! Right?? Obviously but how? It's simple. You want to keep the board clear and take control of the game forcing them to hit your taunts. That doesn't mean you should to keep hitting their face if they have cards on the field. It is always better to make sure the board is clear before you ever go for the face unless you are going for the kill. There will be times when they have control over you early so you want to get rid of those with your spells such as Wrath/Swipe and taunts like Ancient Watcher + Sunfury Protector and Innervate + Druid of the Claw combos. The deck like most druid decks has the Awesome Finisher: Force of Nature + Savage Roar Combo. Not only that, but if you have control you can just use Savage Roar to finish them off!

* Note *- Ramp Druid decks can be hard to play if you are a new player, but if you are an experienced player you should be able to win lots of games with the deck. 

Card Explanations

Innervate

I shouldn't have to sugar coat this one. It's Mandatory! for every druid deck!

Mark of the Wild

Great card. It can be used on Ancient Watcher early game against those aggro decks.

Wild Growth

Mandatory in every ramp druid deck to get ahead of the game and put those bigger minions out there.

Wrath

Helps remove early game threats and can even recycle itself while killing a minion with 1 hp! Great Value!

Ancient Watcher

The early game threat for every deck including those aggros. Combo Taunt or Silence with this guy you got a turn 2 yeti! The only thing that counters this guy when he is taunted is Black Knight. Therefor, they are forced to kill it wasting cards early game for your advantage.

Bloodmage Thalnos

One of the top legendaries used today. Combo this card with Swipe and Wrath for more value! He can also recycle himself for another card after he dies! (Can be replaced with Kobold Geomancer or Loot Hoarder if you prefer the draw power.)

Sunfury Protector

To help taunt those Ancient Watchers! Decent early game card too! Do not be afraid to play this early even if u don't have anything to taunt up because it is always better to play something than nothing. Take out 1 if you feel you need more stronger minions, preferably a Chillwind Yeti.

Savage Roar

A finisher card to increase those attacks if you have control and, of course, the famous combo with Force of Nature!

Blood Knight

This card gets its value pretty often. The meta right now has lots of divine shields so stealing that Argent Squire and becoming a 6/6 on turn 3 is devastating (Can be replaced with Big Game Hunter if you run into lots of Handlocks.)

Swipe

Mandatory for druid because of one of our weaknesses (removals). But do not forget, Wrath helps!

Keeper of the Grove

Combo with that Ancient Watcher! Or use it to deal 2 dmg and silence something else that's giving you too much of a threat. Play it with care because there will be times when you need to decide if you want to silence your watcher or silence / 2 dmg their minion. The deck has many other combos with the watcher so it is okay to skip the combo. Keeping this card in hand can be great for aggro decks early.

Spellbreaker

I find this card very important because the extra silence to combo with Ancient Watcher comes in a lot! (It can be replaced with a Chillwind Yeti but Imo it's a must have.)

Nourish

This is an interesting one. You can replace this card with any other cards of your choice. I use this card for late game to have extra draws and it really helps sometimes. It can also be a bad draw early game unless u innervate combo or coin for the extra mana crystals on turn 5. (Recommended replacements would be Faceless Manipulator, Azure Drake, Chillwind Yeti, or a Sunwalker.)

Azure Drake

I feel like 1 Azure is enough. Feel free to add another but sometimes after turn 5 it feels too weak even though it does give you that draw value, but the deck has many other draw power and if you play correctly, you shouldn't have problems keeping your hands with options.

Druid of the Claw

One of those must have card in all druid decks. This card can even be another finisher late game combo with the Savage Roar if you use it with charge!

Force of Nature

This is pretty much the main finisher combo with Savage Roar. Sometimes you will have to use it to clear the board. There are lots of ways to beat your opponent so use it that way if you have no other option.

The Black Knight

I have not been able to use this card much this season and am considering replacing it. But I'd still keep it since it can combo with Mark of the Wild to kill off one of their minions. Excellent in a mirror match up. (Can be replaced with Chillwind Yeti, Azure Drake, Sunwalker, and Cairne Bloodhoof.)

Ancient of Lore

The option to heal or draw cards makes this card very good. Using this card for heals will most likely happen against aggro decks. I would recommend using this card for heal when you are around 10 hp unless you really need cards or if you have a few taunts protecting you.

Ancient of War

This is the best late game taunt card imo. It is safe from Big Game Hunters and has 10 hp, which is really hard to deal with. Some people fear that it will be Hexed early by shams or Polymorphed by mages but I recommend you to just play it unless you think you can to bait those cheap hexamorphs first.

Cenarius

Savage Roar can combo well with this card, but Cenarius may be replaced with a Ysera without the combo. This card can also be used like a high mana Savage Roar to finish the job.

The Forces of Nature are Watching...

Mulligans and Explanations

• Most of the time you want to mulligan for the lower cost cards like Wrath, Wild Growth, Sunfury Protectors, and Ancient Watchers.
• For the Blood Knight if you are playing a deck that you know uses Divine Shields, keep this card if you draw it. You can also keep it if you want a safe 3 drop.
• You can also keep Innervate if you draw it in the opening hand, which I decide to keep around 50% of the time.
• If you have replaced some cards with the Chillwind Yeti, you can do the turn 1 yeti (The Coin + Innervate if going 2nd or Innervate on turn 2 for going 1st), which is very annoying to deal with. The deck has a large variety of strong decisions.
• Be careful on how you use Wrath. If you have a bad hand, try to get its draw power out of it. Do not forget to use your hero ability.
• My favorite start is turn 2 Ancient Watcher and turn 3 The Coin + a silence card like Keeper of the Grove or Spellbreaker to get that value of the turn 2 Yeti.
• If you are playing against a Zoolock deck, I highly recommend to try and taunt that Ancient Watcher early and save the Keeper of the Grove to deal dmg and clear the board with its effect.
• As for the absolute best hand Imo, it would be 1 Ancient Watcher, 1 Sunfury Protector, 1 Wrath, and 1 silence of some sort.  *

**Important**

• Sometimes the deck can be inconsistent if your luck is bad. When you don't draw your Ancient Watchers and value it, it can be a dead card.
• My 2nd version of this deck is also just as good, which runs 2 Chillwind Yetis and 1 Harvest Golem instead of Nourish, [card]The Black Knight[/card], and 1 Sunfury Protector for more consistency with the curve.

Matchups & Difficulty

Please leave a comment below if you want more information about a particular matchup :).

Miracle Rogue (Medium-Hard)

Zoolocks (Easy)

Handlocks (Medium-Hard)

Shaman (Medium)

Control Warriors (Medium-Hard)

Priests (Hard)

Druids (Easy-Medium)

Paladins (Easy) 

Hunters (Easy)

Freeze Mages (??)

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Very strong start if you get the Ancient Watchers silenced on turn 4 or below
• Has good draw power
• Very versatile
• Strong late game
• Fun to play

Cons

• Ancient Watchers can sometimes become a dead card
• A little bit slower than other decks if draws are not great
• Only 2 cards that cost 3 mana

Thank You! 

Thank you so much for reading my guide! I hope that this deck was fun to play and that you've learned a lot! Feel free to ask me any questions or leave me any comments below! Let me know if there is anything I can do to improve this guide :). I will be making changes when needed.

**Note** (Deck Change Up Coming Soon and will be a faster version so we can silence those watchers quicker!)

Change Log

6/13/2014 1:04AM - Added Matchups & Difficulty. Added Pros & Cons.