RENOZOTH DRUID [METABREAKER!]
- Last updated Sep 12, 2019 (Saviors of Uldum)
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Wild
- 14 Minions
- 14 Spells
- 1 Weapon
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Highlander Druid
- Crafting Cost: 13640
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 9/5/2019 (Saviors of Uldum)
- EzWin_HS
- Registered User
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- 6
- 34
- 31
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Battle Tag:
N/A
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Region:
N/A
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Total Deck Rating
43
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 :)
I have played now for a while with the deck and also experimented with various cards. I took it to rank 5 so it's not like I met the creme de la creme of wild players, but I am unwilling to go much further than that, I had the experience of climbing to legend once and it was enough.
Here are some observations:
Starfall looks great on paper because it is one of the very few AOE spells that druid has. In addition it synergizes nicely with poison seeds. But overall the card seems rather lackluster in many situations. Removing something with 5 health for 5 mana is not helpful and if the AOE effect doesn't kill all threatening minions in one go, then it is very inferior, too. And most of the time this is unfortunately the case.
I decided to cut it and I am not missing it.
I don't have Mulch, which is a pity because I bet the card is really strong. It's a bit like a 2nd naturalize for 3 mana. Instead I did put Dane's choice for a 3-drop, Mind Control Tech, and I have to say this is a *good* card. Most players don't play around MCT so this is a free destroy effect with 2 bodies attached. MCT can steal games that you are not even supposed to win, like e.g. against hand buff paladin (which is a hard matchup). I would definitely recommend MCT - in the worst case, a 3/3 body for 3 mana is something strong in this deck - against a mill rogue (another even harder matchup), MCT once provided 6 damage to face plus removal from my opponent, enough to actually kill him with sheer minion presence which happens almost never with this deck.
I agree with others that Overflow is usually too much. I tried a lot, mainly because Dane is also running it. But often you risk burning cards, which is sometimes a risk needed and *fair* to be taken, but the worst is if this card gets stuck on the left and you are forced to copy it with Elise - you will never get rid of it anymore even if you stabilize the game later. So ..... since Dane's deck is even heavier on high cost cards I assume I am doing something wrong, but then skill is required to balance this out. I don't have the skill, so I put Nourish in, despite it being a lame duck card in comparison.
Dane's Jepetto Joybuzz looks like an awesome addition that I can recommend. Unfortunately I don't have him nor am I willing to craft him. But since all this deck cares about are battlecries and deathrattles, the stat change is irrelevant. copying 1 mana minions with Elise sounds awesome though usually your hand will be half full so the 1 cost minions might never end up on the left side of the hand. who cares, 1 mana khartut, ET or nzoth are great
Some people were asking about the need of some legendaries and with certainty I can say that only two can be replaced:
a) Twig. Is not necessary at all - it might even be a liability, but a burst turn of up to 20 mana is awesome. And the infinite naturalize combo is also awesome if you can pull it off (I only did and needed it once). But it's soooooo slow and almost useless against aggro. I will not replace it for coolness factor but I assume that there are indeed stronger options. Even just a lame Vargoth that has almost no synergies with the deck: people are afraid of him :D (but there are surely much better choices than Vargoth, actually - maybe 4 mana 3/6 taunt? i cannot recommend hecklebot though)
b) Thaurissan. He is not needed, but unlike Twig he is often quite valuable since Elise copies reduced mana costs. N'Zoth for 9 and baleful for 1 is often quite useful. But then, ET is a card that is needed in a million of wild decks, so just craft him already!
Zola would come third, but she is really quite vital in providing a 2nd Reno, 2nd Khartut, 2nd Elise, ...
Of the epics only Dirty Rat can be replaced. But DR is a strong card against other N'Zoth decks.
Coldlight Oracle. I disagree with the author to always keep CO for mulligan. Many of the front running aggro decks will be very happy, e.g. secret mage, handbuff paladin and snipsnaplock. your carddraw gain will be inferior to their card draw gain.
I know that Dane played him as well, but I was never sure when to play CO and often it felt wrong. So I even decided to cut him, because CO could often not be played safely. Against control decks you have usually enough time to develop your own game plan anyway. And even combo decks are happy to see a CO played (though you have good chances in burning a vital combo piece).
Now, CO gone and overflow gone makes this deck very weak on card draw. I tried multiple things:
a) Loot hoarder. Can be great, but if you need to go for infinite N'Zoth: ouch. => nope
b) Acolyte: gives your opponent sometimes a way to make you burn a card, even though he is quite often giving you 2 cards. Can have synergies with BEES: 6 mana 1/1 minion that discards 1 card and draws 3 new ones. Usually not worth it, but I used it once for great success, so .... it is an interesting choice.
c) surprise find: Crystal Merchant. This card is not what I expected. I thought it is a 3 mana 1/4 soft taunt that draws a card (so a better statted noviceengineer) with the chance to draw more cards and soaking up damage because most opponents will try to kill it.
But no. You *usually* don't have the liberty to float a mana, so your opponent can really ignore it. Which is FINE! This card is rather a choose one card: choice one: play a 1/4 for 2 mana with an upside. choice two: play a 1/4 for 3 mana that draws a card. Most of the time this card can be played on turn 2 and with 4 health it CAN contest the board! You usually have a 3 mana play (that you should make), but that early played even 1 attack is a nuisance to your aggro opponent. Secret Mage is a favored matchup, but it's not at all an auto win - if they manage to get 3-4 minions on the board they'll still rush you down with chip damage. a 1/4 as a response to a 2/1 is great - in the worst case it turns their explosion secret into something harmless, plus it screws up a mediv's valet follow-up.
This deck has almost no 2-drops so a 1/4 for 2 mana is pretty good in many situations (other 2drops: zephrys, which you want to play as a 2drop only against aggressive decks and even then not always; banker: sometimes a 2/2 is just what is needed; dirty rat: nope, you rarely want to play this as a 2-drop - only if your opponent kept his whole hand for mulligan or you *know* that his deck has nothing big at all). So many decks with 1/1 minions out there, too. For those who dislike CO in the deck I suggest to try Crystal Merchant if you have him. Against aggression a 1/4 on turn 2 is great, in the worst case it's always a 3 mana 1/4 draw a card (at the end of your turn). Don't expect to draw more than one card, because if your opponent chooses to ignore the merchant then you probably really need to *not* float mana.
No overflow and no CO makes me sometimes wish for extra card draw. I would not know what to cut right now, though and what to put in instead. Most of the time it's ok, though, there's quite a bit of card draw left in the deck.
Deathlord: great card. I don't know why Dane is not running him. Only midrange decks are happy to see him. And if you manage to get N'Zoth out there, having another DR fat taunt in the pool is just great. At that point *no* deck (aggro, midrange, control, combo) is happy about this card. (well, unless they can steal your deathlord, like priest, and trying to ruin your elise combo - had it in one game, and it's funny how scary a 10 mana mind control on a 2/8 minion can become). Do *not* cut him. Cannot stress the value of this card enough, won me countless games.
@EzWin: love what you did here, would be great to see some more guide content, so many matchups that aren't covered. And seriously try to change the advice on CO in the mulligan. CO might be great in the deck, but for me he was also often a liability *especially* in the early game and I can't agree to keep him for mulligan - almost any aggro deck is very happy about you playing him as they might just find lethal.
Lastly: while maybe a meta breaker, this is *never* a tier 1 deck. Too weak AOE options and single target removal options.
How essential is twig of thw world tree? Can I play without it or do I have to craft it? It's the only card I'm missing
It's not essential whatsoever, however, it makes comboing your opponent a lot more smooth and can also provide huge tempo boosts if you get to play it on curve. I'm not too sure on a replacement, but I would think that Archmage Vargoth could be a decent fit, as the deck has used that card before.
hey ezWin:
awesome guide. I saw reno druid first in a dane video, that got me all intrigued. I lack a few powerhouses like N'Zoth, Zola and dirty rat, but i always saw myself missing too many cards to craft them. But well, I am too careful with my dust, so today I finally will spend some of my 60.000 dust to craft that deck, inspired by your awesome guide. Because I really am not very experienced to play these types of decks, i.e., your guide should be able to help me out a bit making this work.
Despite me always wanting to play reno mage and reno warlock (i played highlander priest when it was still in standard), i never crafted the cards and this should now help me, too.
reno decks got such a boost with uldum - not just talking the 5 reno cards, but OMG is Khartut Defender actually a powerhouse of a defensive tool.....
This is a rank 15 deck at best. I’ve played about 30 games with it at rank 7 to 10 (lost 3 ranks) and have a win rate of maybe 10%. It’s too greedy and not consistent enough on the draw. Combo and big decks hose this one, and aggro can usually just eek out a win. When you do win, it’s usually marvelous though.
Even my meme Mill Rogue deck outperforms it.
This deck is about 80% of the way to really working. You can see the promise, but it’s just not enough in the current meta.
I'm sorry that is hasn't been working out for you, but as you can tell there are many other people who've also had great success with the deck. If you suck at Druid, then maybe this deck just isn't for you, and I can guarantee you that your mill deck is much much worse, as this meta is almost entirely made up of aggro decks. This deck shits on most aggro decks, and with proper play can get an almost guaranteed win against control. From my own personal sample size, and based on replies and messages that I've been receiving, this deck has a strong win-rate when played properly, and is without a doubt much stronger than other Reno decks (except for Renolock when they high-roll).
Also, how can you say that this deck is too greedy and inconsistent?? This deck is made up almost entirely of defensive tools, even going so far as to running Living Roots which is usually not seen in this type of deck.
If you look at the mulligan guide, it is extremely consistent as there are lots of good tools you can draw, you don't have to rely on drawing one or two specific cards to win (which Renolock definitely does).
It is statistically impossible for you to have a 10% win-rate if you play properly, only explanation I have is that you've run into only Mech Hunters and have gotten extremely unlucky in the mulligan.
I’ve got over 600 ranked wins on Druid. Been playing on and off for 4 years. I’ll admit I haven’t played Druid as much recently, though.
In a meta where you easily lose the game by turn 3 or 4 to aggro, you must have a near perfect mulligan and draw with this deck to survive. Perhaps my matchups were just bad luck, but the only decks this deck could 100% beat were mid-range or tempo (which aren’t common in the current meta). Most other controls can outlast you and all combos will win. Mill decks wreck this deck too.
Thank you for sharing the deck. I’ll probably try some modifications to make it more draw heavy.
Your comment makes no sense. You say that it lacks removal, and now you want to give it more draw? Which one is it?
Your sample-size is absolutely minuscule and can therefore not be taken into consideration, just keep that in mind.
note that Dane got a slight variation of this deck into legend. not sure how far into legend. But it's clearly not a rank 15 deck....
I've been playing with the deck and in my experience Nourish is too slow, because against control you usually win anyway milling them, and against agro is useless.
Also i quit sludge belcher because i felt that it was enough deathrattle minions.
Lastly i taked out baleful banker for same reason that nourish: against control you dont need him and against agro is just a 2/2.
In replace of these cards i add Spellbreaker, for mech hunter and paladin, eater of secrets for obvious reasons and doomsayer because its an awesome card overall.
when there is no that much secret mage i add zilliax instead.
Great deck. I’m loving it. I finally broke down and crafted it. 1700 gold for packs and then dusted a bunch of useless legendaries that I’ve been holding onto.
Thanks again!!
Could the new druid quest fit into this deck or would that be too slow?
Edit: nvm, it's because it lets you draw a card at turn 10
The new quest has almost no use in this deck, as we don't run that many Choose One cards. It would also be way too slow in Wild, with aggro decks killing you turn 5.
Reason for Wild Growth of Jade Blossom is that Wild Growth draws you a card at 10 mana, while Jade Blossom only gives you a worthless 1/1.
In theory one could go for infinite Jade golems with Jade blossom though.... ;)
hi there, any replacements for Flobbidinous Floop ???
No, sorry, that card is one of the absolute most important cards in the entire deck. If you want to play Druid, I would craft that card ASAP as it's completely busted and is the key to all infinite combos (it's also good in standard).
A little tip for the mirror match-up: Burn, burn, burn.... As soon as the opponent casts Nourish or Elise the Enlightened or just has 8+ cards in the hand then play Coldlight Oracle and Naturalize. You'll most likely burn important cards.
Btw. great deck. Used it from rank 8 to 4 with a win percentage of 65+.
Great deck buddy, truly one of those that you have to think carefully every move, because it has the resources to beat any deck played carefully. Having a blast so far!
Funny deck. Since I don't have Twig, I've added Malorne for more punch from Nzoth. :)
Hmm, Malorne is certainly a very interesting choice, but I don't really think he fits well in the deck. Fatigue isn't really an issue, and he seems to have terrible synergy with Elise the Enlightened. Sadly, I don't have the card so I can't try him out for myself, but if you think he fits in well, please show us a replay, I would love to see him in action :)