Hearthpwn

 

Introducing a new tier 1 deck: RENOZOTH DRUID!

Well met!
As you probably don't know me, I'd like to quickly introduce myself; as a long time Hearthstone player, my favorite class has always been Druid. Whether it be Token, Jade, Mid-range, Combo, I've always loved how POWERFUL you feel when playing this class. I find that the ability to adapt to many different situations is awesome, and Druid does just that! Swipe can be used for either one larger target, or many small targets, Branching Paths can be used to either tank 2 Fireballs, give you lethal, or draw you cards, and Power of the Wild can either be used to develop, or buff. These cards are all very different, but they have one thing in common: they are flexible!

Now, with the help of Druid's other flexible cards, Druid has finally launched itself back into the meta. Today, I'll be featuring Renozoth Druid, which is a deck that shows great potential in a meta of Reno decks and Secret Mages. With this deck, you get the best of both worlds; great early game survivability, AND unbeatable late-game! With this deck, infinite N'Zoth, the Corrupters are now within your reach, and all the pesky Secret Mages shall bow before your double (triple with Zola the Gorgon!) Reno Jacksons, only possible with the help of Elise the Enlightened.

If enough people show interest in this spectacular deck, and wish to see Druid return to its former glory I will be releasing a more in-depth guide:

Mulligan:

Due to the positive reception of this deck, I'll now be sharing my mulligan choices based on match-ups. 

Against everything:

These cards are all very good, as they either cycle, ramp or give you an answer. Twig of the World Tree is the most questionable keep, but if you can manage to break it against an aggressive deck, you just win. However, I would like to mention that if you're going against a Hunter, which is most likely Mech, then don't keep it, as having another answer would be much stronger.

Against aggro:

These are the cards that I keep only when going against an aggro deck (Secret Mage, Odd Paladin, Mech Hunter, Pirate Warrior, Murloc Shaman, etc.) 
Sometimes, if you get Swipe in your opening hand, but no other cheap cards on this list, I would most likely toss it depending on the match-up. Against decks such as Murloc Shaman or Odd Paladin, it is still a good keep, but against Secret Mage or Mech Hunter, this card begins to suck. This also brings me to another card, which is Spreading Plague. You should ONLY keep this card if you're against an Odd Paladin and you have other good cards in hand. Against every other deck, this is something you just hope to draw into if you should need it. Same also goes for Starfall, which is only good against Odd Paladin with Wild Growth or when going second.

A cool combo to keep in mind is Elise the Enlightened and Reno Jackson, which will win you the game against any super  aggro deck.

Also, if you're unsure whether or not your opponent is playing control or aggro, always mulligan as if they're playing the latter. 

Against control:

The mulligan against a control deck is very flexible, so keeping cards such as Rotten Applebaum or Sludge Belcher is fully acceptable. In this match-up, you're really just looking for cycle and playable Deathrattles.

Match-up guide:

Since the upvote goal has been crushed, I'll be sharing my match-up guide.

Secret Mage:

This is a very simple match-up. Hard mulligan for cheap removal spells to deal with their early game minion aggression (Lesser Emerald Spellstone, Living Roots, Wrath, etc.), but obviously don't throw away other key cards such as Wild Growth or Reno Jackson (still follow the mulligan guide). The key to winning this match-up is clearing EVERY MINION! The only way they can beat you is by getting lots of chip damage through their Kabal Crystal Runners, Kirin Tor Mages, and Cloud Princes.
Remember that the maximum amount of burn they can do in one turn is 15 (Fireball x2 + Frostbolt/Medivh's Valet).
This is one of the best match-ups with the deck, as there's absolutely no way you can get burned out by spells. 

Odd Rogue:

Follow the mulligan guide and play on curve. Remember to play around cards such as Vilespine Slayer, so don't be too greedy and just slam a Khartut Defender when you can play a Spreading Plague for 3 Scarabs instead (depends on your life total, of course). Their Henchclan Thug is very dangerous, so having Lesser Emerald Spellstone + Ferocious Howl can be crucial if they play it on curve. Odd Rogues tend to have very strong early game turns, but if you make it past turn 6 you're probably going to win. 
Like Secret Mage, this match-up is pretty decent. It can get a bit hard if you don't have answers to their initial tempo, but if you do, this match-up is a cakewalk.

Murloc Shaman:

Murloc Shaman is mainly focused around spamming enough Murlocs to play a cheap Everyfin is Awesome and win the game. If they don't run Unite the Murlocs, this match-up is honestly much easier as long as you can deal with any Murloc Warleaders or Underbelly Anglers. Again, just follow the mulligan guide, and potentially keep Spreading Plague if your hand is cheap enough to afford it. Just run them out of gas, or win by slamming Malfurion the Pestilent or a decently big N'Zoth, the Corruptor (can even follow it up with a Flobbidinous Floop copy).

Even Shaman:

This deck is scary to play against. Zephrys the Great, Poison Seeds and Naturalize are all crucial cards in this match-up, and depending on whether or not you draw them is often the difference between winning and losing. Your Spreading Plague is strong since they spam so many Totems, but it's also unreliable as they can just use Devolve and go face. Try to stay above 10 hp as well, or they might just burn you out with Crackles and Jade Lightnings. Overall, this match-up is pretty tough, but I've only faced two so far and I won one and lost one (won the one where I drew Zephrys the Great, lost the one where I didn't). This deck is probably 50-50 against Even Shaman.

Odd Paladin:

This is probably one of the easiest match-ups. The only thing that can really screw you is double Quartermaster, so as long as you draw either Swipe, Starfall, or Spreading Plague, you're gonna win 8 times out of 10.

Mech Hunter:

If there's a bad match-up, this might be it. Get lucky, draw Spreading Plague and Reno Jackson, hope they don't get their most busted opener and try to kill every single Mech they make (a 1/1 Mech is infinitely scarier than Cogmaster). I have a 66% win-rate against this deck, but I've gotten quite lucky duplicating my Reno Jackson on turn 5 with Elise the Enlightened, or them not having an insane opener.

Renolock:

This match-up is EASY unless you get VERY unlucky (like me, lol). An early Mal'Ganis is probably the way you lose, or if they get lucky and pull your Elise the Enlightened with a Dirty Rat or a Deathlord (which many don't run) you can just spam either Naturalizes or N'Zoth, the Corruptors to win the game. Getting to fatigue and making just 4 or so Naturalizes is actually surprisingly effective, and just kills them super quickly. I've played against Renolock about 7 times, and I've only lost once where they pulled my Elise the Enlightened with a Deathlord from N'Zoth, the Corruptor.

Reno Mage:

Hmm, in all of my games I've actually not faced a single Reno Mage (guess they're almost non-existent on EU?), but my educated guess would be that you're actually more favored against this deck than against Renolock. Renolock has tools of pressure, while Renomage has nothing. Play a few N'Zoth, the Corruptors, Naturalize them to death in fatigue. JUST WIN 

That's it for the guide! I haven't faced many other popular decks, but I'll make sure to add more to the list should I face them. Please let me know what you think, and also remember to come with suggestions and feedback. Make Druid great again!

Shoutout to DaneHS for the deck idea, he deserves all the recognition but since he hasn't updated his list to accommodate for the balance changes and overall meta switch, I've decided to post it here and have also made sure to update it with new cards. Here is his video, featuring a slightly outdated list: 

 

Edit: Check out the comments for current statistics! I will be playing a lot more games with this deck, but I can assure you that this looks EXTREMELY promising! As a Druid, you are almost naturally favored against the most popular deck, Secret Mage, and with Reno Jackson, it's very hard to lose. I'm interested to see how others will perform with the deck, so make sure to post your results in the comments. I am also very open to suggestions on cards that you might wanna swap out in the deck.

Edit 2: Mulligan guide is currently WIP, and will be done within the next 10 hours. Please remember to share your experiences with the deck in the comments, and come with suggestions on cards that you think would fit right in!

Edit 3: Mulligan guide is done, I will begin working on the match-up guide as soon as the goal gets reached. So if you're interested, make sure to smash the upvote button!

Edit 4: Match-up guide is currently WIP, and will be done within the next 4-5 hours. I'll be playing some more games before writing it to make sure I have a clear image in my head of the match-ups. I've also made a change to the deck, inspired by @ManThighs, which is by removing Archmage Vargoth, we can fit in Anubisath Defender. This card helps empty your hands after casting Overflow or Nourish, and can also combo with Starfall and Spreading Plague to completely stop aggro decks in their tracks.

Edit 5: Match-up guide is finished! I will still be making changes to the list based on feedback and my own personal experience, and I'll also add more decks to the match-up guide section based on what I'll be facing. Also, removed Archmage Vargoth from the mulligan list, as he is no longer featured in the deck.

Edit 6: Mulch has been added to the list in the place of Overflow, and since we're no longer running Overflow, Anubisath Defender has been taken out and replaced by Deathlord. Because of this, the mulligan guide has also received an update.

Edit 7: In the upcoming days I'll be experimenting with a full-on combo-focused build, and also a completely anti-aggro build with minimal late-game. I think that this archetype is very flexible, and will therefore suit both of these styles quite nicely. Thanks again for all the support :)