[LEGEND] Malygos Druid list that actually works...
- Last updated May 26, 2018 (Spiteful Nerf)
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Wild
- 8 Minions
- 20 Spells
- 1 Weapon
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Malygos Druid
- Crafting Cost: 13180
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 3/7/2018 (Patches Nerf)
- a3b2c1
- Registered User
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- 8
- 22
- 31
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Battle Tag:
freeman#23981
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Region:
EU
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Total Deck Rating
230
Edit 02.05.: I posted the new version of the deck, fully adapted to the Witchwood meta, here: https://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1106758-malytog-druid-that-actually-still-works-full-guide
Edit 01.04.: Peaked at #857 with the deck last season.
Edit 16.03.: Little update to the meta situation: IF you're in a meta with a lot of cubelocks AND a lot of control decks, there is the problem, that many decks, vs which you would need Twig/Maly combo will run weapon removal. In a meta like that, the deck is no good pick, since 1.) Cube Lock is the hardest matchup anyway and 2.) many of the heavy control matchups need Twig to be winnable. If it gets destroyed preemptively there is only slim chance to win. In those matchups try to bait out weapon removal via Medivh. I already added those notes to the matchup strategy section.
Edit 13.03.: Added more videos to the bottom of the guide. Also here's TheJiminator's Legend Proof Tweet: https://twitter.com/JiminatorHS/status/972544016137863168
Edit 11.03.: I hit Legend (Proof) today with the deck with a winrate of around 70% throughout the last push from 2 to Legend.
Edit 10.03.: Updated the Matchup/Mulligan section so Matchup specific mulligan should be more obvious now.
Edit 08.03.: Added some words to ALL common matchups, not only the ones we're unfavored in, and also went through all cards and explained each pick.
Hello, folks.
I'm a regular Legend player and always on the lookout for cool and original decks that actually work.
Here i want to present you the deck i had the most fun with since a long time: A Malygos Druid that actually works well in the current meta. The impulse for creating the list came from my disappointment with the Malygos Druid lists i've seen so far on pro players' twitter: None of them worked consistently for me. This season i hit Legend by exclusively playing this list, climbing from rank 5 on while meeting all current top tier decks on my way.
Since i already played and tinkered with the deck last season, the amount of games was enough to be almost certain, that this is the most optimal list. There's only 1 flex slot left and i will go into that in the next section.
Flex Slot
29 cards of the list are optimized. The only flex slot is filled by either Fatespinner/Taldaram/Doomsayer. I am still testing.
Fatespinner: Great synergy with Ixlid, Faceless Manipulator, Innervate and our four 1 mana removals for reliable instantaneous triggering. The board clear part is great overall, 3 dmg is so much better than 2, especially vs paladin, vs Void Walkers to get board burst in, vs Secret Mage's Explosive Runes, Hunter's Spellstone and a lot of other stuff. Also, the buff is a poor man's Branching Paths. This card has staggering synergy with our deck, helps us in weaker matchups and is overall very good vs a variety of decks.
Taldaram: This is a very good card in a vacuum, not much to say. Also, the fact that he does not concur with another 3 mana card for the same slot makes it very tempting to just include him anyway, cause we can. However, the only matchup where he clearly outshines Fatespinner is Cube Lock, which is one of the hardest matchups for the deck. There he will provide a huge win % boost when drawn. A copied Cube or Void Lord will prolly not win you the game, but definitely stall the game till the very late game, where you'll win. Vs the other tough matchup, Paladin, it is good too, when used on the DS taunt 1/1 for example, to stall a bit. One thing that i don't like about him is that he is useless on giants alone, if you don't combine them with Ixlid. But besides that the advantages of running him prevail, even more since with him one can also use the Faceless on something else in matchups where you wanna combo Ixlid/Maly.
Doomsayer: Simply good to stall, not much to say. Also good synergy with Ixlid vs aggro and with Spreading Plague/DK. Another thing i like about him is that even if he gets silenced he provides another buff body for Branching Paths.
Honorable mentions: Wild Pyro (only really good vs Dude Pally), Thalnos, Evolved Kobold (combo abundance, additional SMOrc reach but also empowered board clear, Fatespinner does it better), Druid of the Claw (Neat combo with Ixlid/Faceless for kinda mini Pyro and also good vs aggro). Further candidates can be found in this list: https://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1045943-malydruid-tech-card-slot-30. Even tho all of them have their benefits in the deck, none of them made the cut.
Explanation to card choices
Innervate: Implementing those resulted in the biggest performance boost so far. Getting UI, Plague, DK, Ramp, etc. 1 turn earlier can be the difference between win and loss. Also, being able to UI one threat AND remove another threat with Innervate + Naturalize/Spellstone is huge. Last but not least it prevents you from overdrawing if you draw into it with a handfilling UI, without having to waste a Moonfire that you might want to keep for Maly.
Moonfire: Bread and butter. Special role in the Secret Mage matchup, where they let you safely cast UI on 10, Nourish on 5, Plague on 6 and so on. Also, free pings and 6 dmg for free vs aggro/midrange are always good. 0 mana spells in particular got great synergy with Giants, cause they let you play a Giant in a turn you normally would not be able to do so.
Jasper Spellstone: Just a very good removal. So much better than Wrath. Great synergy with Fatespinner, Innervate and also Branching Paths/UI.
Naturalize: MVPs right there. The only deck they can get problematic against is both aggro Pally variants. But then again, they got Divine Favor anyway, so its bearable. In all other MUs it nearly doesn't hurt at all to let your opponent draw, even if you don't mill him cards. This is due to the vast power of our combos into which we just have to draw with our manyfold drawing tools while stalling and our deck's high amount of answers to the questions the opponent is putting. Vs Cubelock this card is straight S-Tier, improving our weakest MU by a LOT. Furthermore it got great synergy with Innervate and also Fatespinner.
Taldaram/Fatespinner/Doomsayer: See in the section above.
Branching Paths: Clearly a 2 of. Love this card, offers so much versatility. Suits different roles depending on MU. Vs control mostly draw or additional burst dmg, vs aggro mostly heal. Great synergy with unupgraded Spellstones.
Mire Keeper: Ramp that fits our curves perfectly and also offers 2 bodies for sneaking in Branching Paths board burst combo at 10 mana. Also contests enemy's Sunkeeper Tarim turn.
Twig of the World Tree: In a vacuum one of the weaker cards in the deck, cause it provides nearly no tempo in the turn played nor the following turn out of itself. But since our deck got a lot of stalling tools and also Medivh it is part of a good portion of the power combos the deck offers and the enabler to a true OTK. Handle it differently, depending on MU! Work towards breaking it by just repeatedly hitting face or the lowest attack taunt, even if that doesn't kill it. If you want to combo the breaking point with other specific cards, plan ahead accordingly.
Faceless Manipulator: A catalyst for all power combos the deck offers, but also a stalling tool by copying opponents threats in matches where you don't necessarily need to combo.
Ixlid: Needed for the true OTK and crazy tempo combos. Vs aggro you can tempo him out, if you don't see possibilities to combo anything in the near future.
Spreading Plague: Singlehandedly wins games vs flood decks. Stalls till combo vs control.
Malfurion the Pestilent: Serious chip damage, removal and survivability. Not much to say, top notch card.
Medivh: A lot of swing potential when combined with Spreading Plague. In general insane tempo combos possible, best one being playing him into an equipped Twig followed by UI.
Malygos: Eponym of a plethora of different decks since the beginning of Hearthstone. However, in this deck he is the core card only in a handful of matchups.
Ultimate Infestation: $$$ You have not lived, if you haven't yet UI'd your opponent's face, followed by attacking with a 1 charge Twig, followed by UIing your opponent's face again for 36 mana worth of actions in 1 turn. ;)
Arcane Giant: Part of one of the most practical power combos the deck offers. Even if removed he prevents enemy from developing and therefore buys time without costing mana. Just a very crucial and good card in this deck.
Matchup strategy + Mulligan
- Always keep Wild Growth, Innervate, Mire Keeper.
- Keep UI only if you got at least 2 other ramp cards, but never vs very fast decks.
- Vs slower decks, that are NOT Control Lock, Big Spell Mage, Control Priest, Big Priest (Vs those 4 decks board centric powerplay will likely not win you the game and you have to draw into full or partial Maly combo) you can keep Twig and Medivh, IF you happen to get them both.
- Matchup-specific Mulligan (in addition to what is written above) was added right after the matchup's name in Italic in the section below!
Cube Lock (very unfavored): Naturalize, Taldaram/Manipulator, Nourish - The only deck that unites high tempo pressure, sustain and value, so it is our obvious Nemesis, cause we got a hard time handling all of it at once. Don't use your manipulator on anything less juicy than a loaded Cube with Giants/Doomguards, if you got other means to stall the game. Copying a Voidlord is also fine if the pressure is too high, especially if you also run Taldaram and therefore still have the possibility to Maly combo. Cube Lock is most dangerous between turn 4 and 6. If you make it further than this mark while being able to stabilize and stall, then you can play vs them like you would vs Control Lock, namely draw into your Maly combo. Even tho some lists run 1 Nether, going for board-creating Tempo combos can be the right play situationally. If he pulls a Voidlord and you got Plague on hand this likely is enough to stall for some time. If he gets early giants and Doomguards its a different story and you definitely need Naturalizes and upgraded Spellstones asap. Taldaram improves the MU a lot.
Dude/Murloc Paladin (even): Fatespinner/Doomsayer/Taldaram, Swipe, Spreading Plague, Spellstone - This matchup is so damn swingy, that it is very hard to assess its difficulty level. Those 2 decks have so many synergies that you can't even really talk about highroll, when they pull some hilarious shit. Anyway, Murlocs are easier than Dude Pally in the way that they got less ability to refill the board and also less possible power combos in their deck, but on the other hand they produce bigger threats and a tad smaller boards, which is exactly the situation Spreading Plague does not like. Both are capable of winning even if you got all defensive tools on hand, due to just practically being the more consistent deck overall in this matchup with no real weakness. Dude Pally in particular is the only aggro deck that i can remember, which unites board flood, refill, draw and hard removal in one list without drawbacks. Just wait for the right moment to use swipe/Plague, don't use them prematurely, they got more ways to refill than you got to remove/contest. Beware of their board buffs at 6, 5 (dude) and 4 (murloc and dude) and possible board buffs at 3 by the weapon (both). It's mostly about who highrolls more. If you run Fatespinner it will improve this matchup, cause 3 hp is the magic number vs both. Taldaram on an early Argent Squire, Righteous Protector and Knife Juggler (right before Plague in best case) will buy some time as well. Besides by the attrition route, a very common way to win is to just burst him down with Branching Paths after a Plague turn, when he doesnt have Tarim/Equality to remove.
Secret Mage (even): Doomsayer/Fatespinner, Spellstone, Malfurion the Pestilent - Swingy matchup. Use your plethora of cheap spells to check for CS, especially before UI and stabilize by armoring up via Paths and DK and using Plague to potentially absorb some burn. After he played Aluneth you can even Naturalize him into a quick fatigue death within some turns. This MU like any other Aggro MU is about surviving, not killing him. Use Giants, Maly, Fatespinner to soak Explosive Runes. If you can afford it, wait until you can react on the occassional Mirror Entity via one of your many removals.
Big Priest (even): Nourish - Stall the game till full Maly combo. If he highrolls a lot it's hard ofc. Also spread in some board creating tempo turns without sacrificing tempo pieces to force him removing instead of summoning/reviving. If he goes full ham on his board, then you can pull full board combo, if stalling for Maly will take too long. This way there is no way for him to remove without damaging himself. Often the game is won midgame/early late game, after he leaves 3+ minions on board by Branching Paths burst. DK is rly good card here too to get that chip dmg in. Only trade if you have to, Ysera for example can be ignored, she mostly even helps you, if he plays her AoE spell. If you run Taldaram, use either him or Manipulator on one of his juicy drops to buy some time and possible find more win conditions.
Aggro Druid (even): Fatespinner/Doomsayer, Spreading Plague, Spellstone - You draw Plague, you win.
Big Druid (even): Nourish, Naturalize - Both decks can pull off crazy tempo turns without setup, so pretty even. You win by tempo play, so Giants are the way to go.
Spiteful Priest (even): Nourish, Doomsayer, Naturalize, Spellstone - Can get out of hand if he curves out perfectly. But still, i had plenty comebacks even vs perfect curve with Plague. Board centric combos win the game, since this MU is all about tempo and he doesn't have removal for multiple giants. If he is low hp and you got at least 1 threat on board, just throw a second and 3rd one, if you can. He cannot deal with multiple threats, since MC takes his whole turn, so he is in a dilemma of having to remove, but not being able to afford removing. Also watch out for Grand Archivist, which is one of his best cards vs our deck.
Exodia Paladin (slightly favored): Nourish, Doomsayer - You both draw pretty fast towards your combo, but he is even faster than you! Very hard to directly push by board due to Equality, so keep Maly Combo pieces or make sure to SMOrc him down a bit, so you just need partial combo. The matchup plays a lot like the one vs Quest Mage and Mill Rogue. Get as much face damage in as possible, so you force him to remove instead of drawing into his combo! Make him do awkward plays. Like any combo/ctrl deck he is in trouble if he got to use his removal inefficiently and is left with a small hand.
Big Spell Mage (slightly favored): Nourish, Medivh - This MU is a lot like vs Control Lock, with the difference, that many Big Spell Lists can create tremendous tempo with Medivh, Alanna and DK and therefore chip away your life total quite effectively. Dirty Rats are another threat vs our deck. If you manage to draw UI in the 1st half of your deck you should be good, tho. Biggest problem is an early Jaina, cause that means that going for full Maly combo is mandatory. Only go for board centric combos, if his hand is small and you tested for board clears already. Also get that chip dmg in, either by DK or Branching Paths on a 2+ sized board. He cannot deal with few medium threats in an economical way in terms of resource management. Take care not to get chain-frozen by his Water Elementals with an equipped Twig! Also take care of weapon removal! For this reason it is useful to play Medivh before Twig, to bait his removal. Twig is more important in this MU than the tempo provided by Medivh.
Kingsbane Rogue (slightly favored): Nourish, Spellstone, Malfurion the Pestilent - Same as vs Quest Mage. Get as much face dmg in as possible. Upgrading his stuff takes quite some time for him and sometimes its no problem to ignore his minions. Just force him to use his clears early on, instead of letting him cycle like crazy. DK is MVP since he provides bodies for Branching Paths burst and also unavoidable heavy chip damage each turn. Watch out for hand space vs Vanish. Also note, that if you mill him he most likely cannot mill you.
Inner Fire Combo Priest (slightly favored): Naturalize, Spellstone, Doomsayer - Naturalize and Spellstones fuck them up badly. Just remove the board all the time. No need for Maly. Board centric combos win the game. If you can, bring chip dmg in on their high hp drops to minimize burst potential. Take care for Acolyte on your Manipulatored big threats of his or your giants. Cause he can flip that for an OTK, so take care, that if his hand is big and he didn't use many combo pieces yet, at least your health total is really high AND your threats are as low hp as possible while still being high enough to be AoE'd away. One problem of our deck vs them is one of our advantages of other MUs: Our almost exclusively high life minions. Giants, Medivh and a naked Malygos might be, what gets you killed in the end. You gotta play smart and really take care.
Shaman (slightly favored): Fatespinner/Doomsayer, Spellstone, Spreading Plague, Nourish - Any type of shaman falls under that difficulty. They cant do anything vs Giants, so if you pull that combo theyre done. Also Maly into breaking Twig into Swipe will end him, since he heavily relies on keeping a board.
Zoo Lock (slightly favored): Spellstone, Naturalize, Doomsayer/Fatespinner - Due to Naturalizes and Spellstones both versions of Zoo (the one that buffs demons and the more common one) are fairly easy. Just stall and pull tempo combos.
Jade Druid (favored): Nourish - Jade Druid got problems with big mid game threats, so any of our board centric combos, not even full ones needed, will be too much for him and he will be forced to Plague all the time instead of increasing Jade counter or drawing. Medivh, Giants and Paths are MVPs and also Plague+Paths following the Spreading Plague Ping-Pong is often a winner.
Control Priest (favored): Nourish, Medivh - Wait for Maly combo. They got ways to deal with any board you create, if his hand is small you can go for it tho. Just don't sacrifice combo pieces lightly. Also take care of weapon removal! For this reason it is useful to play Medivh before Twig, to bait his removal. Twig is more important in this MU than the tempo provided by Medivh.
Control/Mill Warrior (favored): Nourish, Medivh - Slow warrior decks don't have the luxury of Control Locks to be able to Make strong boards right after they used their board clears. And most of them run only 1 Brawl. So, just pull board combos, after the second one he's in the shit. Maly is an alternative finisher. Vs Mill watch hand size. Also take care of weapon removal! For this reason it is useful to play Medivh before Twig, to bait his removal. Twig is more important in this MU than the tempo provided by Medivh.
Exodia Mage (favored): Malfurion the Pestilent, Nourish - Just face. One would think our deck is slow, since it's combo, but i never lost vs an Exodia Mage with it. Just build a board, force him to spend turns on stall instead of draw/Quest completion and chip his face away with your manyfold non-board-based dmg sources. DK is MVP, so is an early Maly (no combo needed) and also a ninja Branching Paths board burst, when he let his guard down. Naturalize in the right moment to mill combo pieces.
Spiteful Druid (favored): Nourish, Doomsayer, Spellstone - He's less dangerous than Spiteful Priest.
Control Lock (highly favored): Nourish - Applies no pressure. Just draw into full Maly combo. His only way out is burning/Rat-ting your combo pieces or destroying Twig on his turn. Even Rin is useless, cause you cycle through your deck faster than he can develop her seals. Watch out for Geist. It is good for you, if he burns some or all of your 1 mana spells in the deck, but bad, if he burns them from your hand. If it enables you some turns of stall via Plague you can play them right away on his Void Lords. Take care of weapon removal! For this reason it is useful to play Medivh before Twig, to bait his removal. Twig is more important in this MU than the tempo provided by Medivh.
Miracle Rogue (highly favored): Nourish, Spellstone, Doomsayer, Naturalize - Just remove his stuff and use board centric combos. He can't deal with that. If you're at stable life, wait with Plague till spiders hit the board. Naturalize for Van Cleef. It might be cause i know miracle rogue by heart, but i never lost a game vs one.
Hunter (highly favored): Nourish, Spellstone, Doomsayer/Fatespinner, Malfurion the Pestilent, Naturalize - Any hunter deck is easy to beat, cause they are less explosive than Secret Mage and also got less draw. Just stabilize via taunts and armor up. Even for the occassional turn 3 or 4 Barnes we got maximized consistency by 2 Naturalizes.
List of some combos:
Important note: Even tho you HAVE tons of combos in the deck, in several matchups and several situations even outside those matchups it is TOTALLY FINE and potentially game-winning to just not combo at all, but play e.g. 1 or 2 giants or a naked Malygos (possibly followed by some Moonfire/Spellstone to remove/setup lethal, depending on situation; but just naked without anything will do the job as well, often) on board just like that! You have to know what your opponent plays, how many ressource he got left (most important: cards in hand, but also cards in deck) and then decide. Do-or-die holding on to combo pieces often makes you lose the game, especially vs tempo oriented low-value decks without real power combos. Just know the decks out there, be aware of the tools your opponent's deck has and act accordingly! There is only a handful of decks where you neccessarily have to hold on to combo pieces to win (To see which decks these are, please read in the section above!) and where bad turns while doing so are OK. Vs higher pressure decks this is not possible!
The Twig into Medivh and Board of Giants combos are the most practical ones vs most decks, where you simply win by dropping tempo/value bombs. However, vs Control Lock and to some extent Control Priest, Big Priest and Big Spell Mage it is safer to utilize a Maly Combo most of the time. In addition, games vs those regularly get won mid game from board burst while utilizing other spells to remove taunts for example when he doesn't expect it (that's why i love Paths so much btw, it punishes opponents that are stingy with their AoE or just unattentive) or has no powerplay ready yet. Just make sure to always get that chip dmg in and just trade what is necessary. An advice which applies to all combo decks that are not an exodia version. In matches where you want to combo something specific with Twig, be aware not to equip it before you've not gathered at least 60% of all combo pieces in hand.
- Full Maly combo: Faceless on Ixlid -> break Twig -> Maly -> Moonfire x 2 = 42 damage
- Board reset: Malygos -> break Twig -> Faceless on Maly -> Swipe -> X
- Plethora of other combos utilizing all or some of the above cards, not much to write up there, you can figure the possible combinations out.
- Giants combo on empty board: Faceless on Ixlid -> Arcane Giant
- Giants combo on board with at least 1 minion: Ixlid -> Arcane Giant -> Faceless on Giant
- Tempo swing without an own threat in hand: Ixlid -> Faceless on enemy's threat -> Innervate -> Naturalize
- Most massive tempo swing possible mid game: equipped Twig -> Medivh -> UI
- Building board into sneaking in burst lethal with Branching Paths or Fatespinner + 1 mana removal
- Humongous board clear: Ixlid/Faceless on Fatespinner + Innervate + 1 mana removal
Additionally, a breaking Twig scenario obviously makes for a crazy turn, nearly no matter what you got on hand. There's almost certainty to swing the game in your direction, even with the shittiest of 20 mana turns.
Those are just a handful of combos. Too tired right now to list more, but as a player who exclusively tends to play combo decks i have to say that i haven't played a deck with more possible combos and win conditions since loooong time, if ever. Please ask anything you want to know in the comments and also let me know your thoughts about possible improvements after you tried it for some games.
Have fun!
I would make some showcase videos myself, but i don't have the equipment/connection to do it, so here are some showcase videos of the deck:
TheJiminatorHS playing the deck in Legend ranks:
Kristophesaurus made a thorough showcase video:
Kiwiinbacon made a little showcase video:
Hey man, thanks for your feedback, glad you're having a blast.
Arcane Tyrant is one of the cards that are in my extended pool of possible choices for the 1 flex slot (https://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1045943-malydruid-tech-card-slot-30). However, while being similar it doesn't quite do as much as giants and is only of good use in aggro matchups to bypass tempo loss midgame. Thing is, giants are online only a little later already and just combo a lot better for bigger swings. The fact that you have to spend 5 mana to milk Tyrants effect takes a lot of combo potential of this particular deck. I liked Tyrant in Jade Druid, cause there the plan is a long distance run with the opponent and you need the midgame presence to slow down the enemy, while my deck can rather be seen like a highly finetuned sprinter. Tyrant i think is good as a tempo buffer in a deck without other means of cheating out crazy tempo combos, which Jade Druid, basically a midrange deck, was for example. Long story short: Its effect is not unique enough and doesnt help me in the matchups where i need help too much. Taldaram does a better job in most cases. But try it out and let me know how you found it. Cheers!
Not much to say, Good original build that actually works and doesn't feels unfair as the Malygos Druid in Wild mode, nice detailed guide , perfect videos showcasing (KiwiinBacon, TheJiminatorHS and Kristophesaurus love these guys <3).
Well deserved +1.
Thanks for your feedback, glad you like it. Gl,hf with the list!
autolose versus control mill warrior, gg bro, the least impressive class beats this..
most of the time when someone says that a particular deck does not work, I watch their games and they allow a lot of mistakes because of which they lose, but its easier to blame the deck than yourself.
kurwa matj
Sorry, i forgot to mention i suck at this deck :)
Was looking for a deck to get my last 15 wins to golden druid - and came across this one.
Got to say - I'm enjoying it so far, although still getting used to it - got destroyed by a miracle rogue, but equally, I won comfortably against a cubelock.
Definately suits my style of playing "off-meta" fun decks - got bored of jade and spiteful (where I would draw UI every time).
No, this deck doesn't need additional value and Zola doesn't support our game plan well. If you want to replace Taldaram, fill the slot with a card that makes either Cube Lock, Secret Mage or Paladin matchup easier. The 2 best alternatives i filtered out are mentioned in the "flex slot" section. Anyway, if those don't fit your taste, then you can look up additional options for that slot here: https://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1045943-malydruid-tech-card-slot-30
Hands down one of the most fun decks I've played in a while. I'm having a heck of a time trying to make it work, climbing the ladder, though. I fell from rank 17 to 20 this evening. Just feels like setting the combo up is ridiculously difficult. Clearly, I'm the common denominator here but my god it's frustrating when the deck is so much fun when it works.
Is the deck optimized for higher tier play where decks are more consistent? Is anyone else having similar issues with the difficulty curve?
Hey man. Glad you enjoy it mostly ;). The deck is optimized vs anything that is played right now. It has only 1 unfavored matchup within all decks that are a thing right now, which makes it a meta breaker. Learning curve is very high (only Fatigue Warrior is in the same area in terms of difficulty) and making bad plays without noticing, missing lethal and so on, is very likely for inexperienced players. However, reading the whole guide and watching the videos will help you improve. Cheers.
I think you should update the mulligan guides because they contain cards that aren't in your deckles anymore ^^
Hey man. The guide is up to date. Those cards (namely Fatespinner/Doomsayer) are in there purposely, cause they are the other 2 options for if someone doesn't want to run Taldaram, so i included them as well in the mulligan guide. You just got to ignore the mentioning of the 2 options you did not pick, while you read the Mulligan section. Read the Flex Slot paragraph for more clarity. Cheers.
Really wonderful guide and deck thank you very much for sharing with all of us :D ! I am pleasantly surprised with this deck FeelsGoodMan Clap !
Hey, man. Thanks a lot for making a showcase video, great work!
To clarify some questions coming up in the video (to the reader: all of them are answered in the guide as well).
1. Vs Tempo Mage you never go for Maly combo. It is a matchup where you mostly win by the attrition play style: Removing and sustaining until he is out of cards. Rarely you win by killing him, but those are the games where he just didn't concede 2 turns earlier already as he could've/should've.
2. Control Mage is a matchup where you are favored, even if you got a dead hand in the first couple turns. His only out are an early Jaina (cause then you almost mandatorily have to go for full Maly) or tempo by either Alanna or Medivh. If you don't draw UI too late then you still are favored, even if he plays one of the cards above on curve. Key is to make them empty their hands in an awkward and inefficient way (by applying pressure), cause their deck type trades away draw for high average card value. Afterwards he is fair game. Note: Ice Block is rarely a problem, since our combos rarely include singular threats on board. He cannot do everything he would've to do to stabilize after that popped block within his 10 mana turn.
3. In your game vs the control mage it was perfectly fine to empty your hand of all the useless stuff (swipe face and so on to get some additional chip dmg in, you dont need in this mu, besides for a desperate twigbreak/maly turn after Alanna/Medivh while you're under pressure. But in this case, 1 swipe is enough, so burning face with one, playing the other crap and drawing with UI is the play) asap and power draw with UI. Also i like keeping Branching Paths for board burst vs control, if i also have other means to draw in hand.
4. The play with the giant was no misplay by you. His hand is too full and he didnt use any Dragons Fire yet and also only 1 blizzard yet, so if you go for 4 giants combo in this turn you lose. Also your decision to Faceless the single giant without using ixlid was correct. For full maly you just need Taldaram and adding one more 88 to the board making him waste his turn on removal or accepting additional face dmg, if he develops instead is the correct play.
5. In that one turn, where you first swiped/spellstoned and afterwards had the choice between single giant or weapon, the giant was better to play, cause it is harder for him to deal with it the following turn, in case he pulls a doomguard. He cannot clear it AND cube (neither by the occassional Siphon, nor by his board), without being left with max. 1 doomguard on board afterwards. Afterwards, copying and killing that cube was absolutely correct. Even IF he runs nether, which is rare for cube, it costs him 1,5 turns and additional face dmg to deal with it completely, which is huge for us. Also, whenever a warlock cubes a void lord, it is basically a free win, cause he kinda has to use cube on his offensive threats to stand a chance. If he clogs his board consecutively via voidlords, giving us all freedom to powerdraw, while being able to stall for ages he is doomed. Using that Branching Paths some turns later to buff your Plague was a misplay. This will not make you stall for longer, but make you having to wait for longer until you draw Ixlid and your second Moonfire. While this would not be as tragic, if you were at high life, in this case draw 1 and heal for 6 was the right play. The turn after, IF it wasn't lethal, naturalizing the Doomsayer was the right play, cause as you said yourself, keeping your wall buys you more turns, while an empty board leads to a full board on his side the next turn directly via nzoth/dk, so that only buys you 1 turn and leaves you vulnerable to lethal the next turn. But it was lethal that turn by trading the giant into the taunt -> play Malygos -> Naturalize one of your taunts->attack with twig ->Taldaram->Swipe+Moonfire.
Overall i am really impressed, you showcased it very well and made a lot less misplays than most people would make, would they touch a deck like this for the first time. Kudos. :)
Haha wow thanks for the reply! Finally got through it all XD ! Yeah I think that I definitely need to play this deck more it requires a lot more thinking than most decks! Not only because of the different combos you can do but also because you need to know your opponent's moves especially in the control match up because those decks usually do more impact plays! Well glad I at least had the right thoughts running through my head whether they were always the best or not! Thanks again :) !
I've been playing the malygos druid in wild for a few weeks now, it's one of my fav decks. I've been looking for a way to re-translate it into standard but haven't been able to figure out a good way to do it. This deck seems really great, I will definitely be giving it a shot.
Also your write up is superb. Excellent read, very detailed. Nice work.
Glad to hear that the guide is of avail to you. Thank you for your feedback and gl&hf with the deck. :) Cheers
What are your suggestions on teching this for aggro? I am running into way more paladins and mages than warlocks. I want to fit in the Oaken Summons package, but am not sure which 4 cards to cut.
I'm going to try -1 Prince Taldaram, -1 Naturalize, -1 Arcane Giant, -1 Innervate, -1 Mire Keeper, +1 Wrath, +2 Oaken Summons, +2 Ironwood Golem.
Thanks for your feedback. My suggestions are to let go from the idea that Oaken Summons/Golem is any good and taking the exact list above, cause it is optimized towards the meta. Me too i queued into paladins and mages A LOT and that's what i used. I tried around tons with Oaken Summons before but it is just a lot worse in Maly Druid than using the card slots for something actually good. Already in Jade Druid some months ago Summons+Golem seemed a bit like a trap to me and i had more success overall without using them but sticking to the Mire/Spirit route, even in phases where i faced mostly aggro. So, not a fan of Oaken Summons at the moment, but it might be the best thing available once a handful of cards rotate out of standard. Right now it's just bad and there is so much better stuff to do with the slots. Edit: Also, while vs secret mage the Oaken combo would have some merit (but ofc is not worth crippling the deck for the rest of the matchups) vs Pally it doesnt do much, due to Tarim, Equality, Poisonous and tons of 2 source combinations equaling 6 damage being a thing.
Vs secret mage i have to admit that Taldaram doesn't do much, since there your Ixlid/Giants and Maly combos are not important. Yet i'm pretty sure i got a slightly positive winrate vs them and if they do not highroll like crazy it is not a hard match. Vs Pally tho, a 3 mana 3/3 DS taunt or a Knife Juggler before playing Plague is something not too shabby in a techslot to have. Since 1 week i am using Taldaram exclusively and i don't want to miss him anymore, cause he adds a lot of abundance to the deck overall in a wide variety of situations and a vs a wide variety of decks. If i had to replace him, i would do so by replacing him as i suggested in the guide.
Naturalize is too good to be a 1 of. You need 2 for consistency.
Running only 1 Arcane Giant is something i thought about as well 1 month ago, when i started creating the list, cause i only thought about the full ixlid combo back then. But that's theorycrafting and no practical thinking and fact is that 2 cheap 88s are better than 1 and giants swing/stall the game just too reliably on their own over a wide amount of matchups not to implement 2 of them in a deck which reliably gets them for free. Also consistency.
Innervate is one of the most impactful cards in the deck. You need 2.
Mire Keeper curves out too well in this deck for early ramp and comes in handy for setting up Branching Paths/contesting Tarim later. He alone is already better than Oaken/Golem combo in most games.
Wrath is just a bad trap card right now.
Just try this exact optimized list over more than a handful of games and learn its ins and outs thoroughly to eliminate mistakes and there will only be 1 bad matchup left and foremost: It is a matchup where Oaken/Golem does absolutely nothing! I was still preserving that ~70% winrate in Legend over a couple hours of play and will see how high i can climb within the next 2 weeks. Also, if you wanna see some Legend gameplay of the deck to better be able to spot your misplays there is the VOD of a pretty long stream of TheJiminator at the bottom of the guide. Cheers and gl&hf.
Thanks a lot for your thorough comment, that's what i like to see in a discussion. First of all, i speak only from the Standard Mode perspective, cause that's the only mode i play. However, i basically only played Combo decks throughout my HS career and i saw the Wild Maly list, so i am able to present you my thoughts on that as well, later this post. I'll comment on your statements paragraph by paragraph.
I agree, that Tempo Mage is the one matchup, where Oaken/Golem brings the most merit, since each copy basically absorbs 2 Fireballs and can be read as 2 additional Branching Paths which also thin the deck by 1 each. Vs Paladin though, it is another story, since they got Tarim, Equality, Poisonous, Divine Shields and weapons, so the trades you will make are most likely not as favorable as in the former matchup. Hell, vs Pally even the giants in my list only play a subordinate role most of the time and are mainly just one more free minion to manipulate his Tarim turn to your favor. As you said, the wild version of Tempo Mage seems a tad more dangerous and that might be the reason why i really rarely get stomped by them and win more often than i lose with my list above, which is why i evaluated the matchup as even with a slight tendency to favored. Also consider that my list runs more cheap triggers for Counterspell, so the Scenario that my crucial heals fizzle is quite a bit rarer than in the wild list.
This is the strategy in standard as well. Once you've stabilized behind the first Plague and/or DK (in high pressure games) or just outright have removed all their stuff within the first 4-5 turns they are basically done and Aluneth is just a further nail to their coffin. Note, that in this scenario my version with 2 x Naturalizes got another edge over the wild version. Wrath really is not worth it in this meta. It's main merit is in a meta, where there are several decks with moderate tempo gain and mediumsize boards. So, vs Secret Mage i agree, that's again the only deck, where Wrath got some merit, cause it deals with quite some of their stuff. Vs Pally on the other hand, especially the dude version (vs murlocs it is better), it's a different story, cause here it doesn't do much. Same goes for most Priest matchups and also Warlock: The Spellstone covers all that better and you do not need more slots on low single target damage. Vs pally you got 4 spells that stall/reset forever and you will consistently have 1 of them in hand right before the crucial turns of them, while a single taunt for 4 is countered by 2 mana without a real drawback on their own board.
It is less about the question "Is a 3/6 taunt that thins by 1 for 4 mana good?", cause in a vacuum sure it is. It is about the question "Is it still good and better than the alternatives, when it means that it constraints me heavily in my card slots just for that 1 OK-ish benefit, while taking away the opportunity to more highly synergetic, practical, powerful combos for any situation?" And to this question my answer is clearly no..After many many games of testing both ofc. It was super underwhelming compared to what i experience with my deck in the last couple days. Today i went up nearly 2000 ranks in no time with maybe 2 losses in between, cause the synergy and wellroundedness of the deck is really astonishing. Besides miracle rogue i never played anything that smooth. Also note, that the wild version got basically just that one combo. The reason why it is tier 1 with only that up its sleeve is, that the wild combo is so much more powerful and easier to setup. Also, the fact that its combo is singular and therefore slimmer, it is less space restraint ofc and therefore can and WANTS add stuff like Oaken. It really is just about drawing the deck and its GG (Just like that OTK worgen warrior that was a thing once). No real setup or considering needed. Just one single X piece combo. My deck is very different from this, there is a lot more consideration to make here. I hope you give it a try. Maybe we can have another chat afterwards. Looking forward to your answer. Cheers.