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Stars Align! The Fiddler's Twig

  • Last updated Mar 30, 2019 (Level Up Nerf)
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Wild

  • 12 Minions
  • 16 Spells
  • 1 Weapon
  • Deck Type: Ranked Deck
  • Deck Archetype: Star Aligner Druid
  • Crafting Cost: 17540
  • Dust Needed: Loading Collection
  • Created: 10/16/2018 (Boomsday)
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  • Battle Tag:

    PowerOfCheez#1873

  • Region:

    US

  • Total Deck Rating

    224

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Updated 10/19 Notes:  

Now that Nerf is active, made the planned change to North Sea Kraken for the pre-nerf Alexstrasza and to the deck name, since its no longer 'prep' but live. 

 

Floop in. 

 

Edited out pre-nerf list version references;

 

Moving older update notes to spoilers near the end. 

 

Added spoilers for individual card choices (in and out) and tips.  

 

Improved use of white space with separator lines.

 

Lowering to +20 when I will add specific combo sequences for various options and damage totals available with the build. 

 

Adding Mulligan/Matchup guide at +30. 

 

Will add video if any of the site's streamers (Kiwi, Kris, or Tommy Wave for example) makes one available in the comments.)

Stars Align by Lindsey Stirling (She has a Lunara feel to her, minus the horns and hooves, lol.  On request, I added more info on her in Comment #13.  Lindsey Stirling herself gives permission to share Stars Align at the end of the video.)

Unusually, the nerf hammer fell softly, relatively speaking.  This may show you why.  The list is now fully post-nerf.  

COMBO ENABLER CARDS:

Emperor Thaurissan

Obviously this is intended to get Aviana back to 9, which gives you the most outs.  Because hands tend to be full with SA Druid, it can be very good in that way, even without Aviana in hand, especially if you need a body/soft taunt on the board.  Having The Coin or Twig of the World Tree or Flobbidinous Floop leaves you another way to combo, if you go that route.

Twig of the World Tree 

Twig of the World Tree, has a LOT of benefits in this deck (see Twig tech spoilers below) besides just ramping, but does give you a way to get 10 mana back without having Kun the Forgotten King at all, in case you do not pull him or the second Juicy Psychmelon.  Or so you can get the combo off several different ways, to accomodate various situations.

Twig Tech Notes: Twig of the World Tree has several versatile tech properties that give the deck a few extra wrinkles beyond a little more ramp.  

Enabling the combo is its primary purpose, so we'll start there, but I added spoilers on other ways it can be used to extend the reach or achieve the combo. 

For standard enabling, you either break it with a swing when its durability is 1 right after playing a full cost Aviana. 

Alternatively, you can break it by playing Medivh, the Guardian for 1 with The Coin (or without, if Aviana was discounted by Emperor Thaurissan or Flobbidinous Floop).  This enabler is most useful if you lacked Kun, the Forgotten King. 

Here are additional ways you can make the Twig work for you:

More Combo Options with Twig:

You can change the order of the combo with Twig in play!  Instead of starting with Aviana, you can start with Medivh, the Guardian, just as soon as you hit 8 mana (which can be very early with the other ramp)!  

 

Atiesh, Greatstaff of the Guardian breaks the Twig of the World Tree.  That jumps you to 10 full mana from 8, making Medivh, the Guardian part of a ramp combo.

 

To go this route does require The Coin or that Aviana be reduced by Emperor Thaurissan, unless you are trying to stick it for a turn (maybe due to Floop in hand).

 Twig is Anti-Explosive Runes:

It helps you get around the combo-breaking Explosive Runes! 

 

By playing Medivh, the Guardian first with the Twig in play, you trigger the secret without losing Aviana as  you start the combo, reset to 10 mana, and can start with a 9-cost Aviana (or 10w/The Coin} the same turn. 

 

You do have to Ancient Brewmaster-bounce Medivh, the Guardian back to hand and replay him to get Medivh back to 7 health (If you don't have North Sea Kraken and need both Star Aligners to proc), but it saves a win condition for you in a tough match-up.

 Extra Mana for Combo Card Fishing During the Combo Turn:

Another great extra wrinkle is that you can get a lot of extra mana during the combo turn... this can be critical if your opponent is one turn from lethal and you do not yet have all the cards you need. 

 

With Twig of the World Tree in play, drop a reduced 9 cost (or natural 10 w/The Coin) Aviana, then Kun the Forgotten King to reset mana to max, use all but one of Kun's 10 mana to fish for combo pieces!

 

Play any cards to find what you need (Witchwood Piper if you are missing Brann Bronzebeard or Ancient Brewmaster, Juicy Psychmelon if you need that second Star Aligner, or Branching Paths/Nourish/Wild Growth for a Hail-Mary prayer to the RNG'zus of drawing. 

 

Just save one mana for Medivh, the Guardian to break the Twig (or the final Twig swing), and voila, reset after having gone fishing for the coup de grace! 

 

You have to be on it, though, as this adds a lot of actions/animations to the turn.  Don't try this on your mother's old computer!

Extra Mana for Greater OTK Max Damage Reach:

Similarly, you can use the extra mana before the reset to double Swipe first, then go off, which extends the max damage range of the OTK.  

These open a vast range of strategic options you do not have without the Twig of the World Tree  in the deck.  

Flobbidinous Floop

Flobbidinous Floop was not native in this list because it is a highly situational combo enabler, much more than the others.  

Flobbidinous Floop's main use is to give you a second crack at Aviana (cheap enough to combo on its own), if the first full cost one fails to stick.   

 

It has a few other uses beyond flooping the Star Aligners (mostly w/Loatheb, Emperor Thaurissan, and Kun the Forgotten King), but, unless you need to play in on curve to slow down opposing aggro/tempo plays, you are going to hold it, usually.

The Coin

Although obvious why its on here, as a combo enabler, the fact that The Coin is the one card you are more likely to start any game with than any card in your deck, makes it worth inclusion in the list of key cards.  See below for why Innervate did not make the cut, but add to that, the frequency of having this card as one more reason.

OTHER CARD CHOICES:

Removing Blingtron 3000 (and its status as a top substitute)

With Aviana at 10 now, using Blingtron 3000 with Twig takes away an Aviana enabler (swinging with Twig at 1 Durability to reset mana to 10; using Blingtron 3000 to break it for ramp earlier removes Twig from its availability for a mana reset after playing a 10 cost Aviana).  As the ramp to 10 alone doesn't do as much for you without some other Aviana enabler in hand, I felt Blingtron 3000 had to be replaced with a more direct enabler in Flobbidinous Floop.

 

If you do not have (or like) Floop, I would suggest reverting back to Blingtron 3000 as a sub.  You do still have the other enablers, and it is good tech.  Its old shenanigans still work if you have The Coin or get Aviana discounted with Emperor Thaurissan.  

 

I will miss it against Aluneth, Skull of the Man'ari, Kingsbane and Warrior, which are all difficult and the weapon removal helped.  I still go back and forth on this slot, depending on the meta on any given day.

 No Biology Projects

I played slightly different versions of SA Druid for about six weeks prior to this, almost all without any Biology Projects (nor Innervates), and had no trouble.  Having no Biology Projects does slow down the game (much fewer five minute wins) but did not greatly drop my win rate.  

 No Innervates

I tried this list with Innervates when the nerf was announced, and switched them for other options that work to enable the combo with Aviana's new cost.

 

The reason is unlike its early ramp potential in other decks, you generally have to hold the first Innervate, which makes it completely dead (except for the combo assist). 

 

Other combo assist options (Twig of the World Tree/Emperor Thaurissan) do a better job contributing to board development or offense. 

Naturalize vs. Lesser Jasper Spellstone  

You can run Lesser Jasper Spellstone instead of Naturalize, but I prefer the latter.  It never has to be boosted and is overall less limited removal.  More importantly, Naturalize can often be used to burn opponent draws, which is a huge boon in many match ups, including the mirror.  Lesser Jasper Spellstone is better against aggro, though, no doubt, so, your preference, or, split the difference. 

Loatheb

You could use the Loatheb slot to sub in something else.  Although fairly standard in SA lists, it is basically tech.  However, Loatheb is nearly invaluable for those occasions when you can only get halfway there with the combo and need to protect your board from AoE (or Spreading Plague in the mirror) for one turn... with Brann Bronzebeard in play, Loatheb makes spell casting impossible.  Its the single best way to protect your board for a turn when you will need it.

North Sea Kraken

For me, the biggest thing about the nerf is not making the combo harder by needing help for Aviana to get going, but because of the increased possibility of delaying Kun the Forgotten King, less for his mana reset (in this build) as much as because you need his 7 Health body. 

 

For this reason, we use North Sea Kraken (post nerf) in place of Alexstrasza (pre-nerf).  This gives you a pull on the 9 slot post-nerf for Juicy Psychmelon in place of Aviana, one that adds a 7 health minion to the list and that adds at least some additional battlecry damage.  This increases the decks reach when you can play it AND both Star Aligners, and is situationally useful in other ways with the partial combo.   

 

Alexstrasza (from the pre-nerf list) is more devastating than North Sea Kraken when the opponent is at full health (especially when they have armor, also), but North Sea Kraken gives you an extra 7 health minion in case you have to do the combo without Kun the Forgotten King via Twig of the World Tree (see that spoiler).  

CLOSING COMMENTS:

Lowering to +20 likes when I will add specific combo sequences for various options and damage totals available with the build.  Adding Mulligan/Matchup guide at +30. 

Will add video if any of the site's streamers (Kiwi 'n' Bacon, KrisLive, or Tommy Wave for example) make one available in the comments.

'Favorite it' (the heart) and have your settings set to get notified of updates on 'favorited' decks (if you want to know when updates happen).

Thanks for your +1s! 

10/17 Update Notes

(Updated 10/17: Cut one Innervate for Emperor Thaurissan, who can restore Aviana's cost to 9 and is pretty good with your generally full hand. 

 

Cut the other for Blingtron 3000 as a personal preference (both for ramp with Twig and as occasional anti-legendary weapon tech).

 

You could instead put Flobbidinous Floop in this slot if you prefer how it can play as Aviana a turn after her on the cheap, or just keep an Innervate if you don't have those. 

 

Leaving most references to Innervate in the article, as it still applies when you have The Coin or if you choose to keep one in your list).