Welcome to another one of my deck threads, I've decided to shift into a more standard spellpower deck that showcases a few specific differences in card choice which end up shifting the play-style of the class into a more burn-centric role. Druids have the strongest combination of board control, direct damage, and card draw you can find in a single deck, they're absolutely amazing at a multitude of things and they have among the strongest late games of any class. With such versatility in mind, here is a deck that highlights all of the class's strongpoints. - A high amount of control that a Druid can put out mid-game through spells such as Swipe, Starfall, Druid of the Claw, Keeper of the Grove with beefy minions such as Twilight Drake and Ogre Magi. - A presence early game to early mid game through a Druid's excellent hero power and cards such as Spell Damage Wrath, Claw, Shattered Sun Cleric, Defender of Argus. - Cards with high value, the draw power in this deck is incredible between Wrath, Azure Drake, Starfire, and Ancient of the Lore. Each card has another purpose aside from being a decent minion.
Now, the unique aspect of this deck deals with the card, Alexstrasza. Alex's health slash opens the way to burn from spells late game. Alex sets a player's health to 15, this means, regardless of the current state of the game, the enemy is within burnable health range once you draw Alexstrasza. There is a combined 38 "direct" damage in the deck, two Swipes, two Starfalls, Druid of the Claw, Claw, and Force of Nature. With all this at your disposal as well as Alex on the field once you play it, you very easily end games. Not to mention she doubles as a heal in sticky situations.
What happens if you don't draw her soon enough, or the opponent is below 15 health? Well, the deck operates fine without Alex's health slash, you have a plethora of control spells, strong minions, card draw, and direct damage.
Cards I've considered Malygos - Mofoken Spell Damage Faceless Manipulator - Double Spell damage, double fun Moonfires - No mana, no hassle. Recommended with Malygos. Starfall - The board clear on this card is decent without SD+1. I'll see if I actually need another Force of Nature - Gets past secrets, burns vaporize, burns Divine Shield, burns Redemption, burns Ancestral Spirit. Buffed by Argus. I may add another, but it's restricted by taunts. Ancient Mage - Works in decks with many minions and cheap spells, this isn't the right deck for him Bite - The armor is nice, the damage is nice, but the issue is that it also takes up my attack for the turn. Twilight Drake - My hand count is naturally high due to my draw spells, I think that this card will do me well. Bloodmage Thalnos - I need more cheap 2 drop spell power as well as draw power. I've added it, and decided to keep it. Naturalize - Added it to excellent results Ironbark Protector - Justifiably replaced with Alexstrasza.
Change Log - 1 Ironbark Protector / +1 Alexstrasza Ironbark was the only big minion in my deck, it was used less as a taunt and more of a finisher, the addition of Alex changed the dynamic of this deck or essentially gives you another heal. For more information, read below.
- 2 Faerie Dragon / + 2 Acidic Swamp Ooze There's no particularly wrong way to approach this scenario, but I've decided that weapons piss me the hell off and I can live with my own minions dying a bit earlier on. You can have one of each, two Faerie Dragons, or two Oozes. Your call, but really hate weapons against this deck.
- 1 Ysera / + 1 Naturalize - Holds no real time to play Ysera where I could play two or three other cards to keep a safer amount of minions on the board, I removed it for Naturalize as I'm finding a tough time against without direct removal (no Big Games). I'll reintroduce it into my deck if it gets to the point where I need a strong late game, but it doesn't seem like I will with Alex and my selection of spells. Naturalize was the natural (>_>) choice, it's a great card I've been meaning to add for a while.
-1 Claw / +1 Bite - I tried out Bite, it was... decent. Nothing too special, I attacked into some cards that I wouldn't have otherwise, but it has two major drawbacks: 4 health isn't something that is necessarily scary, I had to hero power as well so that put the effect use of it up to 6 mana or I could just burn another spell to rid the board of whatever was troubling me. The also wasted my attack I could have split up into another minion - it was an overglorified removal card where Starfall or something could have done just as well. The results of the card itself did not change the course of a game in any way that Claw couldn't have. Claw was traded out of the deck for one Twilight Drake I believe, then Argus before the full transitions below.
- 2 Chillwind Yeti / + 2 Twilight Drake I trade the consistency of Yeti for the potential of Twilight Drake, my hand very rarely drops below enough to create a situation where Drake trades poorly. More often than not I end up with equal or better Yeti stats, the times I do end up with 6~7 health, the trades are amazing and set me up to win the game. Often it may force removal that would have decapitated Yeti (Hex, Fireball, Lavaburst), so there's no real difference. It's weak against Shamans and their pesky Earth Shock, but that's far and few between.
- 1 Druid of the Claw - 1 Cult Master / + 2 Defender of Argus While playing the deck, I felt too often this loop of playing creatures and trading them to removal. This trade-off often happens for a class that lacks weapons to carry the durability into the next turn and has to actively spend a portion of mana each turn to removal. This is also my reasoning for Alex because she changes the tempo of the match completely. Argus is akin to this shift in momentum, he provides enough board presence to prevent a match full of trades or protect your weaker minions. The reasoning behind removing Cult Master is that it ends up a dead card in my hand more often than not and waiting for a turn 10 combo with Cult + Force of Nature isn’t all too impressive unless I’m top-decking. I experimented with two Cult Masters, but I honestly don’t need the draw.
Videos
Any questions and suggestions, feel free to ask. My tag is Aishi#1473 My stream is at http://www.twitch.tv/aishi_ Live at times during @ 7:30pm EST My channel is http://www.youtube.com/user/vtxaishi - All my videos are there and I pump out quite a bit of content
I've faced a spell damage control druid yesterday with my warrior deck, and I was quite amazed by what the druid can actually accomplish with this archetype. Very solid, will try something similar later (since I don't have Alex or Ysera or even Lore).
I've faced a spell damage control druid yesterday with my warrior deck, and I was quite amazed by what the druid can actually accomplish with this archetype. Very solid, will try something similar later (since I don't have Alex or Ysera or even Lore).
Yeah, it's one of my heavier dust decks, Ysera isn't necessary, Alex is incredible for the deck and warps the play-style when necessary, Lore is staple.
Druids are practically made for spell power. There's just endless amounts of spells with card draw to support it. Suddenly Wrath is 2 damage, draw a card, Starfall becomes a 3 damage AoE that clears pretty much anything, Starfire/fall hits the elusive 6 damage mark, Swipe is an explosive shot on steroids.
The druid probably has the best board clear/slash control between spells, flexible minions and tokens than can buff each other.
I think you should take full advantage of your spell power and go for the second star fall. Maybe also think about finding room for savage roar for basically a blood lust being a 4 cost it can work well for a giant burst damage (and even more amazing if you can mix it with force of nature).
Force of nature has its place here, sometimes starfall isn't needed as an aoe, but you have two minions to be killed with 2 health left, so just use force, and use the third treant on your opponent.
I usually play force of nature in every druid deck, because I always have to think about Zoidberg (whoop whoop whoop) ... don't ask me why ;)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Please report toxic behaviour and unwanted threads, so the moderators can deal with them.
Did I mention how much I've grown to love Naturalize? It's such an amazing card, 1 mana removal, when used correctly, just shuts down the opponent so hard.
Updates: Added Bloodmage Thalnos to amazing results.
Is the deck too legendary heavy to run for some forumers? What did you guys substitute or what concepts did you take from the deck if not actually use it? Also, any opinions on Bite vs Claw for extra armor or the need stronger early game vs mid game?
Alright, considering my druid decks tend to be garbage, I'll give it a try to see if I can get it work with some replacements.
Straight off, the differences in the decks are these.
1x Force of nature -> 1x Starfall 1x Bite -> 1x Jungle Panther 1x Druid of the Claw -> 1x Abomination 1x Alexstraza -> 1x Ironbark Protector 1x Bloodmage Thalnos -> 1x Naturalize 1x Ancient of Lore -> 1x Coldlight Oracle 2x Azure Drake -> 1x Wolfrider, 1x Abusive Sergeant
Well, it's clearly an abomination of the original version, but ill give it a shot. A lot of debatable changes here, but I tried to find replacements for the cards that I did not have. It might have lost too many vital parts along the way though, for example it lost 3 of its 7 spell damage cards. Not sure if the oracle is the right move, but I lost out on a lot of other card draw from other sources, I'm hoping that the decks strong control can deal with the extra cards, but it might just be better to add another strong control card instead.
Rag in general can make his place in just about any deck , so could certainly work if you have access to him. Other than that he mentioned that he replaced his Ironbark Protector with Alexstraza, so just sticking to the Ironbark is a possibility if you don't have a better replacement.
I've only had the time for a few games with my "abomination" version, so can't really make an accurate statement yet on how well the replacements works out. I really like how it plays out, but I certainly notice the lack of spell damage minions. So many times that spell damage would have made a lot of difference. Going to try out some more games with it and try to find some better replacements.
This kind of deck is very powerful, and I love to play druid on Hearthstone, although without spending any money, i am a bit starved on card / dust gain. And for this deck I would be missing:
Force of nature, alex, thalnos, and ancient or lore.. and a couple rares ( starfall, bite). Any suggestions on good replacement? I could see myself getting by without a bite if i just put it say an argent commander or something, and alexstraza I can probably deal without. The ancient of lore is a very strong card draw + minion advantage.. not quite sure here. Force of nature I have no clue what to replace with.
Yeah, removed an Ironbark for Alexstrazsa, which changed the entire dynamic of the deck. It can't hurt to try an older version of the deck if you don't have her. It puts the deck into a more standard control perspective, you actually have to hurt the opponent where possible instead of surprising them with a massive damage spike by turn 9.
Force of Nature is simply an amazing card, I actually run two in my Murloc deck to astounding results. Lore was really for mill and an emergency heal, you can chuck in a Nourish instead for earlier support, but I dunno how well that'll work due to all my mid-game. I do get stuck with Alex, Naturalize, Cult Master and other cards I can't get value out of at the time where a Nourish would be perfect. It effectively serves a similar-but-less-versatile role. A second claw is fine in place of bite, it's what I replaced and I don't notice a heavy difference in losing a bite if I have claw. Force of Nature can be replaced with another Starfall or... I think that's all the similar cards. Removing Starfall Force of Nature renders Cult Master quite a bit more useless as well, you'd need more draw power and direct damage somehow. I'll put more ideas as they come.
Got some more time with the deck and it actually keeps a decent winrate despite being demolished due to the lack of cards.
I can certainly see why Alexstraza earned a place in this deck. The times I don't gain control over the board early I tend to dip down around 15 health until things start to stabilize while your opponent is barely damaged. Those said games tend to dig deep into my deck, often extending the game into fatigue. A 15 damage nuke with an 8/8 as follow up certainly makes catching up a lot of easier. I'm not sure if it just because of how I play the deck or if it's because of the missing cards, but the deck tends to often end up in a control situation more often than a burn situation. This is especially true the times I get behind and have to catch up. Wrong style or not, the deck does not do bad in any regards and it preforms much better than my old druid decks, despite the lack of cards.
I did some additional changes to the deck as some things did not turn out as planned. * The Jungle Panther I replaced Bite with ended up being too slow and often got removed by AoE. I ditched it for another Wolfrider. * Most of the times I was too afraid to play the Coldlight Oracle due to the possible advantage your opponent can get. It was only used in times of desperation, otherwise it was a dead card. I exchanged it in favor of another Claw to get hold of that early game control so I don't fall too far behind. * Cult master is quite "meh" without Force of Nature. It only really drew me one card at times when I'm ahead and when behind it was too easily removed. It still remains in the deck for now, but I've considered removing it in favour of an Ancient of War that I recieved some days ago. * With the increased early game control the fewer spell damage minions gets to do more work as they stay alive into the lategame. The Azure Drake is still missed and would be a welcome addition to the deck.
As a question, considering you were praising Naturalize earlier, do you still use it in the current version of the build? The card has certainly got me out of some sticky situations but often I tend to not be in these "favorable conditions" whenever I use it. I believe it does quite great while in a "burn" position, but often it has to be used more or less for control purposes. While I often have the lead, it rarely seems big enough that 2 cards ain't enough to turn the tides. I've considered letting it go, but the real issue might just be that the deck ain't solid enough as I am lacking some of the vital cards.
Regardless, I've had a really good time with the deck. It's given me a lot of clutch duels and provides a lot of interesting decision making. Do you have any other suggestions what you possibly could replace the cards I missed with? (The list is in my first post)
Naturalize is great in some cases, not so good in others. Use it to clear off anything super large ( rag, dragons, or if it is a token type of deck, sometimes just their stormwind champions) . One of the BEST uses for it if you are getting to the super late game with fatigue, is to mill the opponents deck. With two of these, and possibly that coldlight oracle you mentioned, you could force draw 2 to 6 cards on them easily. Not to mention, if they are at or near 10 in hand, that is cards you are denying them that could be vital to a combo ( unleash the hounds!)
I like it best for the super cheap removal though. Not as good as polymorph, but cheaper. remember, 2 extra cards in their hands means nothing if they do not have the board presence or mana to use them well. For example, lay out an 8/8 ironbark, and naturalize their ragnaros. They likely ( unless a priest, then they might steal it) either have to use a hard removal that many waste on mid-game things in their way, or sacrifice a lot to kill it or die trying.
*edit note* I have decided to put in a 4/3 spellbreaker in place of my missing keeper of the grove, similar cost, and a silence... no option for the 2 damage hit though.
Naturalize is an amazing card, there's no card like it. Direct removal for 1 mana? I think it's one of the hardest cards to use since it's an innate 3 for 1. There's two general situations where I would use naturalize:
- If the card wins you the game; no brainer, it burns through any single card. The only situation where it may not is with Redemption or Ancestral, but that's a very cheap step towards your opponent's throat. - If the card trades even; a rare situation, but your opponent may have dumped one too many cards into a creature and a quick removal is okay to keep you even - If the remainder of your mana pushes the board to a state where the opponent cannot recover from; this is the hardest situation to judge, but if you understand this concept, you start to notice so many opportunities to control the board with a lower hand count. It ranges from simply Naturalizing a Yeti to play your own Yeti to keep two on the field. Maybe you play Nourish after a Naturalize, there are many possibilities that push the game into later phases.
Testing Nourish in place of Yeti as I write this. I don't think it works all too well unless I have another Starfall for extra board clear, or maybe even Twilight Drakes! My hand in this deck is always healthy. I also forgot to mention, Oracle seems horrible in this deck, you may give your opponent enough cards with Naturalize. Claws and Bites are always welcome.
I swapped out Cult Master and a Bite for two Defender of Argus. A Yeti went missing somewhere, but it seems like that gave me the edge defending myself mid-game and keeping my minions out a little longer. I died a majority of the time to rush tactics and at some point in time, I got tired of it. There seems to be a problem in this deck where I have too many cards in my hand, and no strong plays. As such, I think it's time for my minion structure to go over some major changes. I think these are going to be some major ones:
- Addition of Oozes - Addition Twilight Drakes - Addition of Defender of Argus OR Sunfury Protector
Nourish was lackluster, I have enough draw power. I'm going to try my best to make this deck incredibly defensive and as "rush-proof" as a defensive-built Priest deck can be. A combination of offensive cards and a late-game focus really put this deck at odds after climbing my MMR. My current question to you guys: Starfall vs Force of Nature - Any personal experiences? Preferences?
It's a bit hard to judge whenever you can't compare the cards by experience but ill give you my thoughts on the subject.
It comes down to if you rather want to focus on controlling your opponent or burn his face. Personally I feel that Starfall would in most cases be the better choice, other than me prefering control, due to the lower mana cost, it's synergy with spell damage and the fact that it does not need a target (Pesky blood imps gets me everytime). Force of Nature still has it's advantages though, It can be used as a burn, can divert it's damage if overkill (like for Silver Hand Knight) and brings 6 damage even without spell damage.
IMO, it comes down to preference of and minor differences in the deck. For example with an Alexstraza there will be more opportunity to burn your opponent which will make some preference towards Force of Nature.
Force of Nature: Single Target (4,6+ hp), Burn Starfall: AoE, Spell Damage synergy, -1 mana
Still messing around with the deck. I finally got hold of an Azure drake and it has been doing great work in the deck (ditched Cult Master for him). I also got hold of a Bite but I'm not sure yet what to replace it with yet. Could we get a full update on the decklist so we can see all the changes made since earlier?
You can also use a Force of Nature + Soul of the Forest combo 6 dmg + 3x 2/2 minions and ofc it benefits minions already on the board if you have some.
My deck lists are always up to date! (Seems to be a cache problem, it'll fix up soon). But I'm forgetful when it comes to changelogs. The simple changes to the current list once it updates are: - 2 Faerie + 2 Ooze - 1 Druid + 1 Naturalize
All done, enjoy. I'm completely happy with the deck in its current state and it functions as an incredibly solid deck. Now with 200% more Argus! I'm still working on the whole "anti-rush" bit, but I think 2 Argus is plenty for all the beefy minions I have in this deck. Naturalize stops swarm and rush decks cold with its removal and it forces them into a more defensive position while you maintain board presence. I think I removed Harvest Golems as well, they were lost somewhere in the testing phase for Argus. The new video perfectly shows the value of Argus, Naturalize and Twilight!
My Deck Threads Index
[Pre GVG] Druid Slash & Burn
Unknown Deck
by Aishi_ - Nov 2, 2013
Export to BBCode
Export to Cockatrice
Export to MarkDown
Export to Html
Clone this deck
Minion (20)
- 1x Alexstrasza
- 1x Bloodmage Thalnos
- 1x Ancient of Lore
- 2x Acidic Swamp Ooze
- 2x Azure Drake
- 2x Defender of Argus
- 2x Keeper of the Grove
- 2x Twilight Drake
- 1x Druid of the Claw
- 2x Kobold Geomancer
- 2x Ogre Magi
- 2x Shattered Sun Cleric
Ability (10)
- 1x Force of Nature
- 1x Starfall
- 1x Naturalize
- 2x Wrath
- 1x Claw
- 2x Starfire
- 2x Swipe
Loading Collection
Warlock Low Mana Rush
Warlock Suicide Jaraxxus Control
Warlock Zergrush
Warrior Beatdown
Warrior Molten Giant OTK
Paladin Slowroll
Paladin Kodo & Friends
Druid Slash & Burn
Druid Force of Murloc
Druid Midrange *new!*
Rogue Knives & Magic
Not an OTK Hunter Deck
Template Decks
Warlock Aggro Template Deck
Rogue Template Deck
Paladin Template Deck
Druid Template Deck
Shaman Template Deck
Welcome to another one of my deck threads, I've decided to shift into a more standard spellpower deck that showcases a few specific differences in card choice which end up shifting the play-style of the class into a more burn-centric role. Druids have the strongest combination of board control, direct damage, and card draw you can find in a single deck, they're absolutely amazing at a multitude of things and they have among the strongest late games of any class. With such versatility in mind, here is a deck that highlights all of the class's strongpoints.
- A high amount of control that a Druid can put out mid-game through spells such as Swipe, Starfall, Druid of the Claw, Keeper of the Grove with beefy minions such as Twilight Drake and Ogre Magi.
- A presence early game to early mid game through a Druid's excellent hero power and cards such as Spell Damage Wrath, Claw, Shattered Sun Cleric, Defender of Argus.
- Cards with high value, the draw power in this deck is incredible between Wrath, Azure Drake, Starfire, and Ancient of the Lore. Each card has another purpose aside from being a decent minion.
Now, the unique aspect of this deck deals with the card, Alexstrasza. Alex's health slash opens the way to burn from spells late game. Alex sets a player's health to 15, this means, regardless of the current state of the game, the enemy is within burnable health range once you draw Alexstrasza. There is a combined 38 "direct" damage in the deck, two Swipes, two Starfalls, Druid of the Claw, Claw, and Force of Nature. With all this at your disposal as well as Alex on the field once you play it, you very easily end games. Not to mention she doubles as a heal in sticky situations.
What happens if you don't draw her soon enough, or the opponent is below 15 health? Well, the deck operates fine without Alex's health slash, you have a plethora of control spells, strong minions, card draw, and direct damage.
Cards I've considered
Malygos - Mofoken Spell Damage
Faceless Manipulator - Double Spell damage, double fun
Moonfires - No mana, no hassle. Recommended with Malygos.
Starfall - The board clear on this card is decent without SD+1. I'll see if I actually need another
Force of Nature - Gets past secrets, burns vaporize, burns Divine Shield, burns Redemption, burns Ancestral Spirit. Buffed by Argus. I may add another, but it's restricted by taunts.
Ancient Mage- Works in decks with many minions and cheap spells, this isn't the right deck for himBite- The armor is nice, the damage is nice, but the issue is that it also takes up my attack for the turn.Twilight Drake- My hand count is naturally high due to my draw spells, I think that this card will do me well.Bloodmage Thalnos- I need more cheap 2 drop spell power as well as draw power. I've added it, and decided to keep it.- Added it to excellent resultsNaturalize
Ironbark Protector- Justifiably replaced with Alexstrasza.Change Log
- 1 Ironbark Protector / +1 Alexstrasza
Ironbark was the only big minion in my deck, it was used less as a taunt and more of a finisher, the addition of Alex changed the dynamic of this deck or essentially gives you another heal. For more information, read below.
- 2 Faerie Dragon / + 2 Acidic Swamp Ooze
There's no particularly wrong way to approach this scenario, but I've decided that weapons piss me the hell off and I can live with my own minions dying a bit earlier on. You can have one of each, two Faerie Dragons, or two Oozes. Your call, but really hate weapons against this deck.
- 1 Ysera / + 1 Naturalize - Holds no real time to play Ysera where I could play two or three other cards to keep a safer amount of minions on the board, I removed it for Naturalize as I'm finding a tough time against without direct removal (no Big Games). I'll reintroduce it into my deck if it gets to the point where I need a strong late game, but it doesn't seem like I will with Alex and my selection of spells. Naturalize was the natural (>_>) choice, it's a great card I've been meaning to add for a while.
-1 Claw / +1 Bite - I tried out Bite, it was... decent. Nothing too special, I attacked into some cards that I wouldn't have otherwise, but it has two major drawbacks: 4 health isn't something that is necessarily scary, I had to hero power as well so that put the effect use of it up to 6 mana or I could just burn another spell to rid the board of whatever was troubling me. The also wasted my attack I could have split up into another minion - it was an overglorified removal card where Starfall or something could have done just as well. The results of the card itself did not change the course of a game in any way that Claw couldn't have. Claw was traded out of the deck for one Twilight Drake I believe, then Argus before the full transitions below.
- 2 Chillwind Yeti / + 2 Twilight Drake
I trade the consistency of Yeti for the potential of Twilight Drake, my hand very rarely drops below enough to create a situation where Drake trades poorly. More often than not I end up with equal or better Yeti stats, the times I do end up with 6~7 health, the trades are amazing and set me up to win the game. Often it may force removal that would have decapitated Yeti (Hex, Fireball, Lavaburst), so there's no real difference. It's weak against Shamans and their pesky Earth Shock, but that's far and few between.
- 1 Druid of the Claw - 1 Cult Master / + 2 Defender of Argus
While playing the deck, I felt too often this loop of playing creatures and trading them to removal. This trade-off often happens for a class that lacks weapons to carry the durability into the next turn and has to actively spend a portion of mana each turn to removal. This is also my reasoning for Alex because she changes the tempo of the match completely. Argus is akin to this shift in momentum, he provides enough board presence to prevent a match full of trades or protect your weaker minions.
The reasoning behind removing Cult Master is that it ends up a dead card in my hand more often than not and waiting for a turn 10 combo with Cult + Force of Nature isn’t all too impressive unless I’m top-decking. I experimented with two Cult Masters, but I honestly don’t need the draw.
Videos
Any questions and suggestions, feel free to ask. My tag is Aishi#1473
My stream is at http://www.twitch.tv/aishi_ Live at times during @ 7:30pm EST
My channel is http://www.youtube.com/user/vtxaishi - All my videos are there and I pump out quite a bit of content
http://www.youtube.com/user/vtxaishi
You're not going crazy, I edit 2~3 times each post
I've faced a spell damage control druid yesterday with my warrior deck, and I was quite amazed by what the druid can actually accomplish with this archetype. Very solid, will try something similar later (since I don't have Alex or Ysera or even Lore).
Yeah, it's one of my heavier dust decks, Ysera isn't necessary, Alex is incredible for the deck and warps the play-style when necessary, Lore is staple.
Druids are practically made for spell power. There's just endless amounts of spells with card draw to support it. Suddenly Wrath is 2 damage, draw a card, Starfall becomes a 3 damage AoE that clears pretty much anything, Starfire/fall hits the elusive 6 damage mark, Swipe is an explosive shot on steroids.
http://www.youtube.com/user/vtxaishi
You're not going crazy, I edit 2~3 times each post
The druid probably has the best board clear/slash control between spells, flexible minions and tokens than can buff each other.
I think you should take full advantage of your spell power and go for the second star fall. Maybe also think about finding room for savage roar for basically a blood lust being a 4 cost it can work well for a giant burst damage (and even more amazing if you can mix it with force of nature).
Force of nature has its place here, sometimes starfall isn't needed as an aoe, but you have two minions to be killed with 2 health left, so just use force, and use the third treant on your opponent.
I usually play force of nature in every druid deck, because I always have to think about Zoidberg (whoop whoop whoop) ... don't ask me why ;)
Please report toxic behaviour and unwanted threads, so the moderators can deal with them.
Mother nature gonna kill you!
Naturally with Naturalize.
Did I mention how much I've grown to love Naturalize? It's such an amazing card, 1 mana removal, when used correctly, just shuts down the opponent so hard.
http://www.youtube.com/user/vtxaishi
You're not going crazy, I edit 2~3 times each post
Updates: Added Bloodmage Thalnos to amazing results.
Is the deck too legendary heavy to run for some forumers? What did you guys substitute or what concepts did you take from the deck if not actually use it? Also, any opinions on Bite vs Claw for extra armor or the need stronger early game vs mid game?
http://www.youtube.com/user/vtxaishi
You're not going crazy, I edit 2~3 times each post
Alright, considering my druid decks tend to be garbage, I'll give it a try to see if I can get it work with some replacements.
Straight off, the differences in the decks are these.
1x Force of nature -> 1x Starfall
1x Bite -> 1x Jungle Panther
1x Druid of the Claw -> 1x Abomination
1x Alexstraza -> 1x Ironbark Protector
1x Bloodmage Thalnos -> 1x Naturalize
1x Ancient of Lore -> 1x Coldlight Oracle
2x Azure Drake -> 1x Wolfrider, 1x Abusive Sergeant
Well, it's clearly an abomination of the original version, but ill give it a shot. A lot of debatable changes here, but I tried to find replacements for the cards that I did not have. It might have lost too many vital parts along the way though, for example it lost 3 of its 7 spell damage cards. Not sure if the oracle is the right move, but I lost out on a lot of other card draw from other sources, I'm hoping that the decks strong control can deal with the extra cards, but it might just be better to add another strong control card instead.
Any cards you recommend replacing Alexstraza with? Ragnaros seem like an OK option to go with.
Rag in general can make his place in just about any deck , so could certainly work if you have access to him. Other than that he mentioned that he replaced his Ironbark Protector with Alexstraza, so just sticking to the Ironbark is a possibility if you don't have a better replacement.
I've only had the time for a few games with my "abomination" version, so can't really make an accurate statement yet on how well the replacements works out. I really like how it plays out, but I certainly notice the lack of spell damage minions. So many times that spell damage would have made a lot of difference. Going to try out some more games with it and try to find some better replacements.
This kind of deck is very powerful, and I love to play druid on Hearthstone, although without spending any money, i am a bit starved on card / dust gain. And for this deck I would be missing:
Force of nature, alex, thalnos, and ancient or lore.. and a couple rares ( starfall, bite). Any suggestions on good replacement? I could see myself getting by without a bite if i just put it say an argent commander or something, and alexstraza I can probably deal without. The ancient of lore is a very strong card draw + minion advantage.. not quite sure here. Force of nature I have no clue what to replace with.
Yeah, removed an Ironbark for Alexstrazsa, which changed the entire dynamic of the deck. It can't hurt to try an older version of the deck if you don't have her. It puts the deck into a more standard control perspective, you actually have to hurt the opponent where possible instead of surprising them with a massive damage spike by turn 9.
Force of Nature is simply an amazing card, I actually run two in my Murloc deck to astounding results. Lore was really for mill and an emergency heal, you can chuck in a Nourish instead for earlier support, but I dunno how well that'll work due to all my mid-game. I do get stuck with Alex, Naturalize, Cult Master and other cards I can't get value out of at the time where a Nourish would be perfect. It effectively serves a similar-but-less-versatile role. A second claw is fine in place of bite, it's what I replaced and I don't notice a heavy difference in losing a bite if I have claw. Force of Nature can be replaced with another Starfall or... I think that's all the similar cards. Removing
StarfallForce of Nature renders Cult Master quite a bit more useless as well, you'd need more draw power and direct damage somehow. I'll put more ideas as they come.http://www.youtube.com/user/vtxaishi
You're not going crazy, I edit 2~3 times each post
Got some more time with the deck and it actually keeps a decent winrate despite being demolished due to the lack of cards.
I can certainly see why Alexstraza earned a place in this deck. The times I don't gain control over the board early I tend to dip down around 15 health until things start to stabilize while your opponent is barely damaged. Those said games tend to dig deep into my deck, often extending the game into fatigue. A 15 damage nuke with an 8/8 as follow up certainly makes catching up a lot of easier. I'm not sure if it just because of how I play the deck or if it's because of the missing cards, but the deck tends to often end up in a control situation more often than a burn situation. This is especially true the times I get behind and have to catch up. Wrong style or not, the deck does not do bad in any regards and it preforms much better than my old druid decks, despite the lack of cards.
I did some additional changes to the deck as some things did not turn out as planned.
* The Jungle Panther I replaced Bite with ended up being too slow and often got removed by AoE. I ditched it for another Wolfrider.
* Most of the times I was too afraid to play the Coldlight Oracle due to the possible advantage your opponent can get. It was only used in times of desperation, otherwise it was a dead card. I exchanged it in favor of another Claw to get hold of that early game control so I don't fall too far behind.
* Cult master is quite "meh" without Force of Nature. It only really drew me one card at times when I'm ahead and when behind it was too easily removed. It still remains in the deck for now, but I've considered removing it in favour of an Ancient of War that I recieved some days ago.
* With the increased early game control the fewer spell damage minions gets to do more work as they stay alive into the lategame. The Azure Drake is still missed and would be a welcome addition to the deck.
As a question, considering you were praising Naturalize earlier, do you still use it in the current version of the build? The card has certainly got me out of some sticky situations but often I tend to not be in these "favorable conditions" whenever I use it. I believe it does quite great while in a "burn" position, but often it has to be used more or less for control purposes. While I often have the lead, it rarely seems big enough that 2 cards ain't enough to turn the tides. I've considered letting it go, but the real issue might just be that the deck ain't solid enough as I am lacking some of the vital cards.
Regardless, I've had a really good time with the deck. It's given me a lot of clutch duels and provides a lot of interesting decision making. Do you have any other suggestions what you possibly could replace the cards I missed with? (The list is in my first post)
Naturalize is great in some cases, not so good in others. Use it to clear off anything super large ( rag, dragons, or if it is a token type of deck, sometimes just their stormwind champions) . One of the BEST uses for it if you are getting to the super late game with fatigue, is to mill the opponents deck. With two of these, and possibly that coldlight oracle you mentioned, you could force draw 2 to 6 cards on them easily. Not to mention, if they are at or near 10 in hand, that is cards you are denying them that could be vital to a combo ( unleash the hounds!)
I like it best for the super cheap removal though. Not as good as polymorph, but cheaper. remember, 2 extra cards in their hands means nothing if they do not have the board presence or mana to use them well. For example, lay out an 8/8 ironbark, and naturalize their ragnaros. They likely ( unless a priest, then they might steal it) either have to use a hard removal that many waste on mid-game things in their way, or sacrifice a lot to kill it or die trying.
*edit note* I have decided to put in a 4/3 spellbreaker in place of my missing keeper of the grove, similar cost, and a silence... no option for the 2 damage hit though.
Naturalize is an amazing card, there's no card like it. Direct removal for 1 mana? I think it's one of the hardest cards to use since it's an innate 3 for 1. There's two general situations where I would use naturalize:
- If the card wins you the game; no brainer, it burns through any single card. The only situation where it may not is with Redemption or Ancestral, but that's a very cheap step towards your opponent's throat.
- If the card trades even; a rare situation, but your opponent may have dumped one too many cards into a creature and a quick removal is okay to keep you even
- If the remainder of your mana pushes the board to a state where the opponent cannot recover from; this is the hardest situation to judge, but if you understand this concept, you start to notice so many opportunities to control the board with a lower hand count. It ranges from simply Naturalizing a Yeti to play your own Yeti to keep two on the field. Maybe you play Nourish after a Naturalize, there are many possibilities that push the game into later phases.
Testing Nourish in place of Yeti as I write this. I don't think it works all too well unless I have another Starfall for extra board clear, or maybe even Twilight Drakes! My hand in this deck is always healthy. I also forgot to mention, Oracle seems horrible in this deck, you may give your opponent enough cards with Naturalize. Claws and Bites are always welcome.
http://www.youtube.com/user/vtxaishi
You're not going crazy, I edit 2~3 times each post
I swapped out Cult Master and a Bite for two Defender of Argus. A Yeti went missing somewhere, but it seems like that gave me the edge defending myself mid-game and keeping my minions out a little longer. I died a majority of the time to rush tactics and at some point in time, I got tired of it. There seems to be a problem in this deck where I have too many cards in my hand, and no strong plays. As such, I think it's time for my minion structure to go over some major changes. I think these are going to be some major ones:
- Addition of Oozes
- Addition Twilight Drakes
- Addition of Defender of Argus OR Sunfury Protector
Nourish was lackluster, I have enough draw power. I'm going to try my best to make this deck incredibly defensive and as "rush-proof" as a defensive-built Priest deck can be. A combination of offensive cards and a late-game focus really put this deck at odds after climbing my MMR. My current question to you guys: Starfall vs Force of Nature - Any personal experiences? Preferences?
ps. Clean up opening post a bit.
http://www.youtube.com/user/vtxaishi
You're not going crazy, I edit 2~3 times each post
It's a bit hard to judge whenever you can't compare the cards by experience but ill give you my thoughts on the subject.
It comes down to if you rather want to focus on controlling your opponent or burn his face. Personally I feel that Starfall would in most cases be the better choice, other than me prefering control, due to the lower mana cost, it's synergy with spell damage and the fact that it does not need a target (Pesky blood imps gets me everytime). Force of Nature still has it's advantages though, It can be used as a burn, can divert it's damage if overkill (like for Silver Hand Knight) and brings 6 damage even without spell damage.
IMO, it comes down to preference of and minor differences in the deck. For example with an Alexstraza there will be more opportunity to burn your opponent which will make some preference towards Force of Nature.
Force of Nature: Single Target (4,6+ hp), Burn
Starfall: AoE, Spell Damage synergy, -1 mana
Still messing around with the deck. I finally got hold of an Azure drake and it has been doing great work in the deck (ditched Cult Master for him). I also got hold of a Bite but I'm not sure yet what to replace it with yet. Could we get a full update on the decklist so we can see all the changes made since earlier?
You can also use a Force of Nature + Soul of the Forest combo 6 dmg + 3x 2/2 minions and ofc it benefits minions already on the board if you have some.
My deck lists are always up to date! (Seems to be a cache problem, it'll fix up soon). But I'm forgetful when it comes to changelogs.
The simple changes to the current list once it updates are:
- 2 Faerie + 2 Ooze
- 1 Druid + 1 Naturalize
All done, enjoy. I'm completely happy with the deck in its current state and it functions as an incredibly solid deck. Now with 200% more Argus! I'm still working on the whole "anti-rush" bit, but I think 2 Argus is plenty for all the beefy minions I have in this deck. Naturalize stops swarm and rush decks cold with its removal and it forces them into a more defensive position while you maintain board presence. I think I removed Harvest Golems as well, they were lost somewhere in the testing phase for Argus. The new video perfectly shows the value of Argus, Naturalize and Twilight!
http://www.youtube.com/user/vtxaishi
You're not going crazy, I edit 2~3 times each post