Ultra Instinct Druid
- Last updated Nov 30, 2018 (Boomsday)
- Edit
- |
Wild
- 12 Minions
- 18 Spells
- Deck Type: Theorycraft
- Deck Archetype: Beast Druid
- Crafting Cost: 7460
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 11/24/2018 (Boomsday)

- Pizzacats
- Registered User
-
- 9
- 32
- 101
-
Battle Tag:
Pizzacats#1434
-
Region:
US
-
Total Deck Rating
367
Hello guys, thanks for helping this deck get to the front page! That's incredible. I have added a Mulligan section to this page to be a more complete guide as a thank you.
This deck is a Tempo Beast/Ramp/(Combo?) Druid, and I think it will be really fun to play and could potentially be a good deck as well!
With new cards like Oondasta and Stampeding Roar which can cheat out big beasts, and lots of ramp to use them quickly, this deck can make a lot of tempo plays and get a lot of value at 6+ mana, which Druid can almost always achieve by turn 4 or 5 to make it a viable archetype.
Card Choices:
Predatory Instincts seems like an odd pick over other draw options that Druid has, and it isn't really a good card if it is only being used to tutor Hadronox. However, when doubling the health of ANY of the beasts in this deck, it becomes really powerful. Huge taunts or rush minions with high attack and high health are very strong, and your minions will be very hard to trade into and will need hard removal or silence to deal with.
Ironhide Direhorn originally seemed like a mediocre card, but if you can Stampeding Roar into a Direhorn with Rush, kill something, and summon a 5/5, that is a huge tempo swing and can win you the game against other tempo decks.
Charged Devilsaur is the best card to cheat out if you are looking to do face damage. It can immediately attack for 7 to face when cheated out, and if it was buffed with Predatory Instincts, it can do 14 damage because of being able to flip the stats with Crazed Alchemist.
One of the funniest combos you can pull off with this deck explains the reference "Ultra Instinct". If you buff Ultrasaur with Predatory Instincts, you get a 7/28 minion. You can cheat it out before 10 mana, and the opponent will most likely ignore a 7/28 with no taunt. The next turn you flip it with Alchemist and it is 28 face damage. This isn't usually going to win the game for you, but the possibility is too fun to resist, and cheating out a 7/14 really isn't bad either. You can also flip Ultrasaur for an easy 15 or 29 armor with Earthen Scales if you are just trying to stay alive.
Witchwood Grizzly is another good card to cheat out because you get rid of the Battlecry drawback. Resurrecting it with Witching Hour will also make it start with 12 health. If you use Instincts and get this card, it is basically auto-win against aggro if they don't have silence.
Juicy Psychmelon is a natural fit for this deck as you will draw 3-4 consistently.
Witching Hour is extremely powerful no matter what target you hit. At the absolute minimum, you summon a Ironhide Runt and only save ~1 mana, but 95% of the time, the beast will be worth at least 7 mana and save you 4-7 mana for an extreme tempo play. The only downside is that it is a dead card for the first several turns.
Spellbreaker is likely going to be a very important card in the upcoming meta as there will be several deathrattle based decks and it can also allow you to push through a taunt to finish the game.
The other card picks just synergize really well for a Druid deck that wants to ramp quickly and stay alive long enough to get some really strong minions on the board
Cards to Consider:
Class cards:
This deck might be too greedy in a fast meta, but will be amazing in a average or slow meta where you can play all your threats as soon as possible. If the meta is fast, there are other options listed below, but a lot of these cards could slow you down and cause you to not get beasts on the board as quickly or consistently.
You could add another spellstone, an Oaken Summons package with Ironwood Golem and maybe another Greedy Sprite, Wrath, the new card Pounce, Innervate, or another Neutral card such as the ones below:
Neutral Cards:
Another Spellbreaker, Gluttonous Ooze or Harrison Jones, Chief Inspector, Mossy Horror, Void Ripper or another Crazed Alchemist, Crystallizer (if you add another spellstone), Arcane Tyrant, Untamed Beastmaster, Amani War Bear, or Giant Mastodon. Which cards heavily depends on what cards are defining the meta.
Possible cuts:
In a fast meta: Ultimate Infestation, 1 Juicy Psychmelon, 1 Nourish, 1 Wild Growth, Greedy Sprite, 1 Ironhide Direhorn, or Spellbreaker.
In a slow meta: Lesser Jasper Spellstone, Swipe, Earthen Scales
If you cut Ultrasaur, Crazed Alchemist, or basically anything else, you are playing this archetype very differently. I'm not sure if it will be worth trying to make this deck work in a super fast meta anyway, so don't try too hard to make this good against aggro.
Mulligans:
It is usually safest to mulligan like it is an aggro or midrange match-up, depending on how aggressive the class usually is. It is also useful to know exactly what cards each class has been most often playing in the early game and if your hand will be good enough to handle it.
This can be a lot to take in if you are a newer player, especially if you aren't sure how to play against certain meta decks. A good place to check is HSReplay, where you can see what decks are doing the best in the current meta and how you can counter them.
Primary keeps:
Always keep: Wild Growth, Greedy Sprite
Against Aggro: Swipe, Lesser Jasper Spellstone
Against Midrange: Juicy Psychmelon, Spellbreaker, Swipe, Lesser Jasper Spellstone
Against Control: Juicy Psychmelon, Nourish, Stampeding Roar, Predatory Instincts
Secondary keeps:
These cards shouldn't be kept unless you have at least 2 of the cards above.
Always keep: Juicy Psychmelon, Stampeding Roar, Spellbreaker
Against Aggro: Witchwood Grizzly, Earthen Scales
Against Midrange: Nourish, Predatory Instincts
Against Control: 2nd Wild Growth, Witching Hour, 2nd Stampeding Roar, Crazed Alchemist
Tertiary keeps (only applicable if going 2nd):
If the stars have aligned, you have the coin, a good curve, and all but one card in hand is listed above, then keep one of these cards:
Always keep: 2nd Stampeding Roar, Predatory Instincts, Lesser Jasper Spellstone, Nourish
Against Aggro: 2nd Swipe
Against Midrange: Witching Hour, 2nd Wild Growth, Earthen Scales, 2nd Wild Growth
Against Control: Ultimate Infestation. 2nd Juicy Psychmelon, 2nd Nourish
I really think this will be a fun deck to play and is a lot more interactive to play with than other Druid archetypes in standard and I am looking forward to trying out this deck! I hope you like it too!
Wdym Blademaster is always run alongside Oaken Summons and I feel this list does a better job at surving the early game. It's better against aggro but probaly worse against deathrattle decks and control. Yet I feel like the core of the deck will still be strong enough to make up for the lack of spellbreaker and spellstone.
Try adding Shieldbreaker?
The problem with that is that Spellbreaker isn’t just used for taunts. You will need spellbreaker to deal with Deathrattle hunter and other big minions like Edwin or buffed Paladin minions, or even in the upcoming meta, something crazy like gral the shark
Good point. Is there any point in running UI though? Double melon draws pretty much everything so there isn't a point to go that deep into the deck. Could cut that for shieldbreaker, biology, project, or another greedy sprite. I actually just finished an edited version of your deck if you want to check it out. It's the only druid deck I've made.
Yeah, as I posted in my possible cuts, Ultimate Infestation is one of them. It just depends on how greedy the meta is. If it's a slow meta, UI will be worth it to make sure you get to all your threats, if it's fast, then I think another greedy sprite or spellbreaker could work. I still don;t think shieldbreaker is really necessary for this deck over spellbreaker. I mean you could run 2 spellbreakers AND a shield breaker, but that seems overkill.
Does the quest work with stampeding roar and witching hour? I think adding quest is fine?
Waste of a card slot and takes up a spot in your starting hand, giving your opponent card advantage is why. Having one less card in your starting hand will leave you with a dead hand a lot more often. By the time you actually complete the quest and play it, youll have played most of your minions anyway and could have won the game by then.
Consider the absolute BEST situation to play the quest (a match where you would need as much value as possible). You are against a super slow deck like priest or control warrior. You play the quest, and still manage to get a good mulligan (which will be rare), you manage to play Wild Growth, Juicy psychmelon and stampeding roar on curve and get Oondasta (at best 1/4 chance) which then pulls Ultrasaur (at best 1/3 chance). Quest progress is now at 2/5. The next turn they spend killing oondasta with some miracle out like execute and shadow word: death. You witching hour and whatever else is in your hand that isn't psychmelon or Instincts, since you will want to draw beasts with barnabus. Oondasta pulls Direhorn from your hand (1/2 chance), and you just went face for 7 damage. You are now at quest progress 4/5. Warrior can clear 2 minions with brawl since hes at 6 mana, priest can only death one at best. leaving 2 minons on the board. Let's say against warrior he got the best rng possible and killed Ultrasaur and Oondasta. You will need exactly the 2nd witching hour to complete the quest and play Barnabus, otherwise you just play devilsaur from hand to complete the quest. Priest probably wouldve used 2nd death on Oondasta, so now you either use 2nd withching hour to get oondasta or play charged Devilsaur to complete the quest. If you have a target for oondasta and witching hour though, you can just put the opponent down to 2 health, which you probably will be able to finish with just continuing to play big minions so that would make the quest unnecessary. If you don't have witching hour and just play the devilsaur, you now finished the quest and priest is at 9 hp, meaning priests only out is to psychic scream, which, would potentially make the quest worth it, but now they have no more Shadow word Death to deal with any of the minions in your deck, so how is priest going to win? Well, they can't. SO that leaves us with warrior. After the warrior brawls you play 2nd witching hour and and then play barnabus to complete the quest. Hooray. you go face for 7 more. Next turn warrior plays a taunt, you use devilsaur and direhorn to kill it, meaning now the warrior has to brawl again or he just loses. Let's say he does have it (which would be a miracle since warrior doesn't usually keep brawl against druid), Next turn you can juicy psychmelon or ultimate infestation and you can play a bunch of big stuff for 0 mana and warrior probably cant answer it, OR He uses 3 mana armor gain and odd hero power to reckless flurry and kill all your stuff, and now you lose because you over committed to the board.
In summary, even in the most ideal situation for quest, this deck can't complete it until turn 6-7 at best (and that's with insane luck, more likely not until turn 8-10), and even when it does complete the quest, it doesn't help you win against either aggro or control. You don't need to put a million threats on the board all at once, if even 1 big minion can stick to the board each turn, you win. If you play a bunch for 0 mana and get reckless flurried or brawled, you just lose more easily.
Better to just play one each turn and wait until the opponent can't answer it.
If you want to make a quest druid, I think it can do fine in the meta, but you actually need a reason to play your minions for 0 mana. Quest druid is good if you are running some combo shenanigans with alextraza, malygos, star aligners and stuff which will otk the opponent. There is nothing to otk with in this deck so barnabus will just make you overcommit to the board
You forgot to post this with it.
YES. Once I actually get to play this deck, I am going to be making some Dragon Ball memes with Ultrasaur edited in.
You're doing Kami's (God's) work my friend.
This deck looks spicy! Love any deck with Tyrantus. Question tho: why not run 2 Void Ripper? Not only are they a good tech card against all the 0 attack (loa spirit) cards in the next meta but functions the same as Crazed Alchemist when you want to flip a minion for a win condition. I get that its 1 mana more but that should be pretty irrelevant, right? Considering you'll only spend 6 mana for Predatory Instincts or use 3 mana for a Witching Hour.
The reason is that the flips are greedy and a little bit unnecessary and if you draw them against decks that don't run the spirits, they will just dillute your good draws. If you are against a deck that runs spirits, you are already playing against a greedy deck. None of the spirits are usable in a fast deck. This deck is meant to punish greedy decks, so anything that the spirit accomplishes, your beasts will just out-value it.
I chose Alchemist over Void ripper just so you can fit it more easily in one turn. Maybe it wont matter a lot of the time, but I think against aggro, there might be emergency situations where you need to flip a beast with Predatory Insticts buff or flip Ultrasaur and use Earthen Scales on it for the armor to stay alive. If you have void ripper, that might not be possible.
The only spirits that are a little bit scary for this deck are Paladin Spirit and Rogue Spirit, but those both require them to do nothing on turn 4, which is already a huge tempo loss. Even if they can get a 5-6 mana in value out of it though, it was really only saving them maybe 4 mana over the course of 2 turns. This deck can save even more than 4 mana in 1 turn, let alone 2 turns. Druid/Shaman spirit: drawing cards is a slow play so those spirits won't help. Hunter/Warlock spirit: giving +1/1 to a couple minions will not do much to save them from your beast onslaught. Priest spirit: putting cards in your deck is crazy slow, even if you can get them out with Bwonsamdi. Warrior Spirit: giving rush minions immune is sorta cool, but again, they might save a 3/3 worth 3 mana. Mage spirit: omegalol, super trash against this deck.
If everyone is running greedy decks, then you could cut the Spellstone, Earthen Scales, or Swipe and add some Void rippers, another Crazed Alchemist, another Greedy sprite, another Spellbreaker, Untamed Beastmaster, Harrison Jones, The Black Knight, or Leeroy Jenkins. Those changes will most likely make this deck bad against aggro though. This deck is already supposed to be good against greedy decks, so I don't know if you really need to make these changes though.
In summary: The Spirits are slow, even if they get some value out of them, they will still be too slow to handle the minion onslaught from this deck, so there's no reason to tech for them. This deck's weakness will be aggro, so it's more important to include tech cards to beat those decks instead
Thanks for the reply! But yes, a lot of it really will depend on how fast or slow the meta is, I agree and also like your reasoning for just the 1 Crazed Alchemist. If the meta is a greedy one like you're suggesting it might, how do you feel about putting in Biology Project or Innervate (idk what to replace with, maybe Greedy Sprite and Earthen Scales? With 4 copies of your 4 mana tutor spells, there is a good chance you will have one in your opening hand and with Biology Project that will allow you to draw your beast by turn 2 and maybe even with an Innervate start playing your big bois as early as turn 3. Granted, that's the ideal scenario but in a greedy meta it wouldn't be uncommon to summon your big beasts by turn 4 or 5 with those ramp spells.
Biology Project was actually in my original draft for this deck, but it's pretty high-rolly and in some matches it could lose you the game. Innervate could work, but I think you will run out of cards. I'll have to test it myself since I've never actually played "tempo big druid" and never actually thought it would be a thing lol. The closest thing we have gotten in the past is Astral Communion Druid which is super high-rolly. If it turns out that you don't run out of cards even with innervates, I will for sure try the deck with them. I think you would want innervates instead of a spellstone and a swipe. Not positive. There are so many variables that are hard to predict that I will have to play the deck for a few days to really know what are the best changes.
At first I laughed when I saw Ultrasaur...
I ain't laughin' no more.
Thanks, glad you like it :) I think discard warlock will be better as a control deck. Cards like succubus, solarium, blood queen lanathel, sense demons, and doomguard kinda defeats the purpose of destroying your deck and make the quest less effective. Quest is good for games that go to fatigue because you have infinite minions. If you use solarium and sense demons you will just end up fatiguing yourself. Howlfiend and treachery is a little bit too memey for me and I don’t think it will be good and you will be weaker against aggro decks. Cataclysm by itself can complete the quest, so you really don’t need that many discard cards, mainly the ones that can target xavas and jekelik and the ones that consistently can keep you alive. Lanathel has very little board impact and will be a dead card a lot of the time, so it doesn’t really help with the control aspect. I know that’s 11 cards to replace, but I just don’t think discard warlock will be successful as a zoo deck without silverware golem, especially after watching people play the pre-release.
So that makes 11 cards you can replace... what I would choose: Gul’dan DK, 2 Void Lords, Skull of the Manari, 2 Despicable Dreadlords, 2 Gnomeferatus, Lord Godfrey, 1 Siphon Soul, 1 Spellbreaker. You could also consider a spell stone package with 2 Vulgar homunculus, 2 spellstones, and 2 hellfires instead of the Voidlord/dreadlord/skull package, but I think getting a better Guldan DK is better for this archetype.
I don't like ironhide direhorn because it kind of messes up your insticts draw, stampeding roar and witching hour its like the worst to get and the 5/5s also dilute the beast pool id rather play Amani war bear or a charged devilsaur. Something that will always be good.