[Un’Goro Legend] Aggro-Druid (refined for ladder)
- Last updated Aug 11, 2020 (Scholomance Academy)
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Wild
- 17 Minions
- 13 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Token Druid
- Crafting Cost: 4980
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 4/17/2017 (Un'Goro Launch)
- Sirius_A
- Registered User
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Total Deck Rating
231
Hi!
This is the best you can get from Aggro-Druid these days – according to my opinion. This deck is my final conclusion on how to optimize the Aggro-Druid-Archetype, currently being quite competitive in meta, ranging between tier 1 and 2 (according to the latest Meta-Reports).
I played more than 200 games with this archetype since Un’Goro-launch, while experimenting on how to optimize the Aggro-Druid-Deck. I finally found this version and reached legend with it. To my view, it represents the best compromise to shape out the strengths and reduce the weaknesses of the archetype.
General comments on the Aggro-Druid-Archetype:
- To my view, Aggro-Druid is one of the best (if not the best) aggro-decks in meta right now.
- Nevertheless, it of course has serious weaknesses – especially in the context of all the anti-aggro-cards that have been added with Un’Goro launch. So, for instance, you will probably not win many games against Quest-Taunt-Warriors or Control-Paladins.
- On the other hand, you will beat most of the Pirate-Warriors, Quest-Rogues or Miracle-Rogues (which all are still very popular right now).
- As always, using a certain deck-type in the ladder is like playing rock-paper-scissors. If the number of rocks increases, the win-rate of this scissors-deck will certainly drop. And if you have the feeling that there is an excessive number of rock-decks out there, you should definitely change to a more paper-like deck. Nevertheless, according to my view, this Aggro-Druid-deck is still a very fine pair of scissors being sharp enough to even cut some mighty rocks.
- So, if played well, you will currently be able to reach average winrates around 58-60% (rank 5 to legend). Accordingly I think, although being a little bit neglected in ongoing deck discussions, Aggro-Druid quite rightly ranks among the top decks of the current meta.
Some short remarks to the specific tech decisions I made in this version of the deck:
- After careful consideration the deck refrains from using Bittertide Hydra. Even if this card definitely wins some games for you, I made the experience that, in summary, those situations are more frequent, in which the card affects your play style in a very negative way, even indirectly causing defeats (especially with that many Midrange-Hunters lurking around right now and threatening to kill you by using their Unleash the Hounds on the Hydra).
- In contrast to that, Living Mana is definitely the most important card for the current Aggro-Token-Druid-Archetype. Since I have seen many variants that use only one copy of it, I have to be very clear on that: 2 copies of Living Mana are absolutely mandatory.
- I experimented a lot with possible cards to make the archetype more steady and resilient. I used Soul of the Forest, Evolving Spores, Tortollan Forager, Addled Grizzly, Ironbeak Owl, Eater of Secrets and many other, but finally stuck with Swipe, Keeper of the Grove and Leeroy Jenkins. These cards give you a viable chance to deal a final blow to your opponents, even if you have already lost board control in mid-game.
- Besides dealing lethal damage to your opponent, Swipe helps you to maintain your board control for another 1 or 2 turns – which is a decisive winning-condition for the play-style of the Un’Goro-Aggro-Druid-Archetype.
- I included one Keeper of the Grove in the deck as well, not because it is a good card as such, but because in practice it turned out that just this card gives your performance a slight (and sometimes decisive) increase in flexibility. Sometimes you need a silence, sometimes just two more (spell) damage, to tip the scale in your direction ...
- Self-evidently, the same applies to Leeroy Jenkins – especially against Freeze-Mages, when a sudden (and non-frozen) Charge-Minion will sometimes save you the day.
Why not using the water-package with Finja, the Flying Star? [Update 2017/04/18]
- Although giving the deck more tempo in some situations, the water-package doesn’t make the deck more resilient in general. According to my experience, including the water package helps you to win those games faster and more clearly, which you probably would have won anyway. In the crucial and contested games, however, in which your opponent, for instance, is able to apply powerful AoE-effects in the first turns, to clean your minions or to build up a solid board as well, the 5-mana-card Finja, the Flying Star and his friends will not help you very much.
- Moreover, the 5 murlocs you have to include in your deck when using the water-package are rather weaker than the minions they replace, since the murlocs display their strength only, if they get the chance to combo together.
- Especially the 3-mana Pantry Spider is a incredibly crucial card for your play style, giving you 2/6 stats for 3 mana in the form of two minions that can’t be removed easily and that furthermore synergize with Mark of Y'Shaarj. To a lesser extent the same is true for Eggnapper. Replacing these with Murloc Warleader is not a good idea.
- So, consequently, according to my experience, the Aggro-Zoo-Druid performs better without the water-package. It allows you to concentrate on the core zoo-buff play style of the archetype, to compose a more effective minion-board and to include a few additional tech-cards like Keeper of the Grove.
Mulligan and first turns [Update 2017/04/19]
Your primary objective is to build up a good board as fast as possible. Referring to this devise you should make your mulligan decisions:
- Consequently, you should always keep the 1-mana-minions you get like Enchanted Raven, Fire Fly, Argent Squire or Bloodsail Corsair
- If you get one or two 1-mana Mark of the Lotus in your hand, keep them as well.
- Keep Innervate, but only one copy of it. Keep two of them only in exceptional circumstances, because it could bring you in the negative situation of having too much "mana-power" but too less minions in your opening hand.
- Always keep Golakka Crawler when you expect your opponent to play an early pirate, especially when facing Pirate-Warriors or Rogues with Swashburglar.
Furthermore, it is important to roughly plan your first three turns when deciding on mulligan.
- Therefore, it can still be a good idea to keep a Pantry Spider in your starting hand, especially if you have a The Coin and/or an Innervate at hand. Besides that, you should normally mulligan every 3-5 mana card.
- Also, keep a Power of the Wild if it fits into your early game plan.
- I usually mulligan Ravasaur Runt and Mark of Y'Shaarj, because these cards have turned out to be very "situational" during the first turns, having rather negative effects on your tempo. When you (contrary to your plan) are not able to trigger their effects, they might implicitly tempt you to play ineffectively.
- So, if you cannot guarantee that you can get or still have 2 minions on your board, then Ravasaur Runt is not a good choice for turn two or three. Otherwise, by playing it together with a Bloodsail Corsair which comes with Patches the Pirate, you could ensure to make Ravasaur Runt work.
- The same is true for Mark of Y'Shaarj: only keep it, if you are sure, that it will be able to trigger its card-draw-effect when played during the first turns. Otherwise or if you are not sure, mulligan it. There's a high change that you will draw a card that fits better in your plan to establish a strong board as fast as possible.
- Remember, that if you have an Innervate (and/or a The Coin) in your starting hand, the possibilities of your first and second-turn combos are increased even more due to being able to spent up to 4 or even 5 mana on your first or second turn.
- This means, for instance, that by playing Fire Fly, Flame Elemental, Bloodsail Corsair (which comes with Patches the Pirate) and a Mark of the Lotus, in your first turn you are able to establish a board with 4 buffed minions with 8/11 stats - which is absolutely crazy (and shocking for your opponent). If he/she doesn't have a good starting hand, you will probably win the game.
Your mulligan- and first-round's game-strategy should always consider, which class your opponent is playing, which kind of deck you might face and which possibilities he/she has, to play combos, to buff minions or to cast spells during the first rounds.
- So, for instance, when facing a Hunter, you should always try to remove his early minions like Alleycat as fast as possible, in order not to run into an insanely buffed Scavenging Hyena.
- When facing a priest, a clever move would be to keep your 1-mana Enchanted Raven during the first turn and playing it in the second turn instead together with The Coin and Mark of Y'Shaarj to get a 4/4 minion which cannot be removed either by Shadow Word: Pain or by Shadow Word: Death.
- These are only two illustrations of how you should adapt your playstyle to the opponent you face. There are many other examples of such an early "micromanagement" that helps you a lot with successfully building up a powerful minion-zoo during the first turns.
- Such small early game subtlety is (besides lucky card draws) also often decisive for winning mirror matches against other Aggro-Druids.
More remarks on playing the Aggro-Druid [Update 2017/04/19]
- Remember, in some situations it may be necessary to use Power of the Wild for creating another 3/2 beast-minion.
- There are plenty of good synergies that you should keep in mind. For instance, it is a very strong combo to play Bloodsail Corsair together with Mark of the Lotus, since you'll also get a buffed 2/2 Patches the Pirate with charge out of it.
- Be careful with Living Mana:
- This spell will only transform your actual mana crystals into Minions. So if you use Innervate on turn 3 for casting the 5-mana-spell Living Mana, you will only get 3 2/2 Mana Treants.
- Sometimes it is better to stall Living Mana a little bit, using it together with a buff-spell one or two turns later. Casting Living Mana + Innervate + Power of the Wild or Living Mana + The Coin +Mark of the Lotus) could be decisive, especially when playing against opponents who are expected to run 2-damage AoE-Spells like Consecration, Blizzard or Explosive Trap. In such cases it can be crucial to summon 3/3 Mana Treants that can't be removed in one sweep.
- Trying to do face damage as much as possible doesn't mean to ignore the enemy board. Instead try to think very carefully, if an enemy minion has to be removed or not. The benchmark for your decisions here is not the concern about your own health but, if an enemy poses an acute threat for your board and your future board-control.
- Don't hesitate to even use a Savage Roar if necessary to remove a potentially dangerous enemy minion such as Frothing Berserker, Sorcerer's Apprentice or Scavenging Hyena, before your opponent can benefit from its synergies.
Why not using more card draw effects? [Update 2017/04/21]
As in most aggro-rush-decks, card draw is a severe problem. If you run out of steam (which will definitely happen at the latest by turn 6 or 7) and your enemy is not dead or almost dead, you basically have lost the game. Consequently, I experimented a lot with different alternatives. However, I soon realized, that although more card draw can make your aggro-engine run a little bit longer, including cards like Runic Egg, Loot Hoarder, Novice Engineer, Acolyte of Pain, Coldlight Oracle or even Cult Master or Nourish in your deck doesn't come without major downsides.
First of all, most of these minions are far less effective during your early game, than the one's they would substitute, so your early game performance will definitely diminish. Furthermore, with cards like Nourish or Cult Master you severely increase the risk of having a dead card in your hand during the decisive first rounds of the game. The same is true for Runic Egg, if it can't be buffed quickly. Most of the cards, on the other hand, are also too slow for your early-game playstyle. When using a Acolyte of Pain, for instance, you have to wait for him getting hit before drawing any cards (apart from bringing only half the stats of a Pantry Spider to the board). Similarly, Cult Master doesn't really fit in your playstyle, for the last thing you want on turn 4 or later is to sacrifice your minions just to get more (yet unplayed) cards. Moreover, this type of minion will always be a primary target for your enemy's attacks, before you can even draw any cards from it. Furthermore, in general, it turned out that in the midgame, when you basically have run out of steam, usually even a Nourish is not able to get you back on the winning track (unless you happen to draw a Living Mana to which your opponent has no answer to).
So, from an overall perspective, according to my experience, including more card draw minions or spells into the deck will not increase but rather decrease its winrates. For, if you construct your aggro-engine running a little bit longer, you will have to take it with less horsepower. In an aggro-zoo-deck like this, however, it is better to start the race with the most powerful motor you can get, rather than with a bigger tank ...
Here is a short video made by KiwiiNbacon about the deck (Many thanks to him!) [Update 2017/04/22]
I hope you enjoy going aggro with Malfurions new Un’Goro zoo.
If you like the deck, give it a +1vote and leave your thoughts and comments below!
Thanks to DoctorMuscle you can find a Russian translation of this guide under http://hearthdecks.ru/?p=118 [Update 2017/04/22]
replacement for leeroy?
I simply had to post a comment, because this deck is one of the weirdest HS decks I've ever played. It is one of the few decks I can play and feel like I'm losing the entire time and still end up winning. Consistently. Maybe that's just because Living Mana is busted, but who knows. The deck is so insanely inconsistent also, to the point that I almost want to cut the Keeper of the Grove and the swipe. I may just be getting unlucky draws, but the amount of times I've had just spells and 3+ cost minions in hand is way too high. On the flip side though, you can also get the nut draw and high roll the fuck out of literally any deck if you hit the perfect curve with just the right amount of buffs. I'm going to keep playing it for a while to see if I've just been unlucky for the past 4-5 days that I've tried it out, but I still think it is one of the weirder aggro decks out there. Both with PIrate Warrior and Quest Rogue, I can very accurately tell if I'm favored or not in the current situation. With Aggro Druid, I honestly have no fucking clue.
Could The Curator and maybe two Faerie Dragons be any good in this deck? It's a big card that could be dead in your hand in the beginning of the game, but the big taunt along with 2 - 3 cards could be pretty helpful right around turn 7.
Ranks 15-10 in the last day, not bad! 3 Win Streaks took me up within 20 games. Of the games played on PC, I went 11-2.
I play with Druid of the claw instead of Leeroy (because I dont have dust).
I cant say "better", because Leeroy Jenkins is the finisher of the deck and have a better curve than Druid of the Claw to this. (Druid 5* 4 dmg, Leroy 5* 6 dmg)
Most times I use the druid as 4/6 Taunt, sometimes to protect my little minions, or just to prove for the mages what Flamestrike it is not enough.
I can say that it is quite consistent, and better than Reckless Rocketeer in my experience, almost times I used her to deal against taunt and died because of the ridiculous body and cost, and for burst, druid enters earlier at the cost of -1 damage, but +2 hp, and get survive against Words of priest and a lot of AoE.
another deck
I don't see how people are winning with this. I must just be super unlucky. Literally 1-9. Hanging it up. Oh well.
Nice deck. Was using RDU's version (http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/821452-67-rdus-aggro-druid-top-20-leg) that brought me to rank 3. But today i went on a losing streak and dropped to rank 4 with 0 stars. Went here and noticed your deck and tried it. Working good! Instantly got on a winning streak. Feels great man! Indeed well balanced list.
I miss Vicious Fledgling that was in RDU's deck but its ok all in all. I also teched in 1x Hungry Crab instead of 1x Argent Squire for countering murlocs.
Thank you mate for your deck! Cheers!
I've played this for the last week and I've gone from 16 to 4 very quickly, I would guess 65% win rate or better. I subbed two hungry crabs for argent squires because the crabs are almost auto-win vs. murclocs and the crab gets synergy with mark of yserrj that argent does not.
The games go very quickly and there are some very favorable and some very unfavorable matchups. Pirate, murloc pally, and any kind of rogue are very favorable. Taunt warrior and control priest are almost auto-losses (although you can hard mullgan for high risk early game to squeeze out a win). You might as well concede if you get cleared and you can't recover.
It's a very strong deck that can snowball out of control and doesn't require too much deep thought. Perfect for climbing because how fast the games are.
It's critical to get synergies and think of the cards to keep in mulligan. An important one that you may overlook is hungry crab --> mark on turn 1-2 against non-murloc decks. Not many classes will clear the crab turn 1 because it's not threatening.
Ive got it mostly figured out but only having one Living Mana. Ive subbed in a Starfall since it has comparable board clear and SOME face damage if needed. Is that most optimal?
So what about the owl instead of the keeper?
pirate is better for sure
This deck is insane. Of course it loses to early removal/AOE but you are more likely to draw buffs and damage than your opponent is likely to draw those things.
10 - 10 with this deck ...
insta lose to priest control.....
"Pantry Spider is a incredibly crucial card for your play style, giving you 2/6 stats for 3 mana"
It's very misleading to count like that, it's closer to 2/3 than 2/6 the way I see it. Still great card in this deck no doubt.
In most decks, yes, it would be misleading, because the low breakpoints means seriously sub-optimal play. If your opponent plays a 2/3 and you attack into it, you have two 1/1's and he has a 2/1. Not great, since he can use that 2/1 to attack into any two health minion you play.
But in a buff deck like this where you are often playing it and buffing it on the same turn, you change the breakpoints and really leverage those health stats that normally would have gone to waste. With just a +1/+1 buff in stats , the trade allows you to kill his 2/3 and still be left with 2 2/2's. A huge tempo swing.
Even without a same turn buff, PS answered by single-target removal leaves you with a 1/3, which is itself a tempo swing. Valuing it like a 2/3 is disingenuous.
Any consideration to using Genzo, the Shark?
EDIT: Played this deck with +1 Genzo, the Shark -1 Golakka Crawler (Was running into more quest warrior than pirate) and hit Rank 3 which is the highest I've been. Wish there was more time this season. Great deck!