Hybrid Druid is new meta (Combo/Taunt)
- Last updated Jul 2, 2015 (Blackrock Launch)
- Edit
- |
Wild
- 18 Minions
- 12 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Unknown
- Crafting Cost: 6060
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 6/11/2015 (Blackrock Launch)
- dimonenka
- Registered User
-
- 4
- 9
- 17
-
Battle Tag:
dimonenka#2339
-
Region:
EU
-
Total Deck Rating
135
This actually works!
Hello and welcome. I introduce you my hybrid Druid! It is a combination of 2 decks: combo druid and taunt druid. The purpose of the deck is to take the best of both decks and overcome weaknesses they have on their own.
Combo druids have been empowered since BR release with one great card, which is Emperor, so you could use your combos and win games even earlier, considering you have your ramp and your pressure. Still, druids could have been considerably easy killed by aggresive decks with much early pressure, which are very, very popular right now.
Taunt decks of Malfurion, on the other side, are usually pretty good vs agro, as that is their purpose in the first place - to have an unbrekable wall of endless creatures. But the weakness of the deck as i see it is that while they can stop face damage, they dont have much ways to seal the game, they have to trade and release creatures and thats about it. Win condition is only tempo, and often it isn't quite enough as it's too slow, and being slow means giving yout opponent a chance to find burst to end the game before you. And versus control decks it can suck arse as well.
And here comes a Hybrid deck. While having dos combos to seal a deal when needed and ramp to accelerate the process, it has many taunts to prevent you from dying while gathering your combo, and even plan B with winning just by succecfully trading minions with KT and getting a big board. This sounds good in theory and works versus most popular decks nowadays in practice.
Lets get into the cards.
Note, that this is only my opinion. If you get the idea of this deck, adjust it for your own. Innovate!
Innervate x2, Wild Growth x2 - your mana manipulation, as well as Emperor. Must have.
Wrath x2- card draw/removal. Must have.
Savage roar x2 - Must have. Card is very strong as a part of a combo, and as a card itself.
Three mana drops - you might not need a BGH against hunter, but i doubt you can play ladder without it, as now almost every deck has a target; MCTech can be replaced to the second shade, for example, but i personally love the card, it is either an okay 3 drop or a massive tempo swing.
Swipe x2- One of few actual removals. You might take only one, but i strongly prefer both.
Keeper of the Grove x2 - strong card, i consider it as a must have.
Sen'jin Shieldmasta x2 - you actually can replace em with Piloted Shredders or replace one with one Mystic, the choice is yours. I prefer more taunts.
5 mana taunts and Loatheb - you can vary them as well, put a Harrison Jones for example. You might go for Azure Drakes, but i don't like them in this druid, nor in any druid. This deck stil gotta have much taunts.
Force of Nature x2 - yes, you might take only one, but in most, not face-hunterous, matches you'd better have 2.
Doctor boom - still freaking OP, still wonderful with combo.
Ancient of war - taunt. Very, very strong one. Love it. Might have had 2, but have no place.
Ancient of lore x2 - must have. Heal and carddraw and a strong creature, come on.
KT - yes, this is a must have too.
Cards you might wanna add:
Zombie Chow x1 (If you want first drop to control the early board), Robo Cub x1 (Same purpose and a taunt. Yes noone uses it, but still might work. Right? Idk.), second BGH (If that's your fetish), Kezan Mystic (same and same for the following), Piloted Shredder x1 or x2, Harrison Jones, Azure Drake (Please don't), Sylvanas, Black Knight, second Ancient of War, Healbot, Cenarius (You might wonder, why it isn't ong the list. First, i don't really like this card. Second, i don't have it.), Ragnaros? (i doubt it).
Mulligan:
The rule i use for most games is simple: you go for early removal (Wrath), and turn 3-4 drops. If you already have ramp, you should not discard 5 drops as well. If you have all the ramp, doctor boom might be fine too. I hope you get the idea. You should have something to play in early turns. Plus, you need BGH vs Handlocks, you probably need swipe vs Hunters, and so on - common sense is your helper.
Conclusion:
Screw it, i am already tired. Thanks for your attention, try this deck out as it works very well, have fun with this deck, have fun with all the decks, have a good day, have a good life.
Upd about card switches.
Just so you know. Many people suggested to put Kezan Mystic - you can switch MCTech or one of sen'jins or shade for him. Some says that Deathlord is better than shade - so put him in if you lack taunts. It's okay to switch Loatheb for Harrison. But don't replace Kel Thuzad, he is essential.
Ok, you won.
Cenarius seems to be more reliable, so i replace KT for him. And temo mages and hunters are popular, so kezan works, thou MCtech is still good.
Matchups.
So, here is a quick matchup overview by JohnBellHood, who took legend with this deck:
"For the record, these were my stats over the final 3-4 days of the season:
Hunter 9-4
Paladin 12-4
Warrior 13-5
Warlock 5-5
Rogue 4-3
Shaman 1-0
Priest 2-3
Mage 2-6
Druid 1-5
I think that gives a pretty representative sense of what the deck does and does not do well. It has all the tools to dismantle aggro and weapon classes. It beats up on Patron and Control Warriors with the wonderful 31 point combos (double savage + Force + 1 5-attack minion). It has some of the same problems Druids have always had against HandLock. It can struggle against decks that snowball sticky minions, hence Zoo can be tricky, but not unwinnable. Druid mirrors against Combo-Oriented decks are weak. When a Druid gets double Shade or starts playing Shredders against your Sen'jins, it's a bad matchup. Most of the Combo Druids just have more efficient burst than this deck does. Finally, Mage is a bad matchup in both Mech and Flamewaker incarnations. The MechMage has Mirror Entity and BlastMage, which are a pain to face. The Flamewaker snowballs minions that Swipe doesn't really clear. 1 of my Mage wins was against a Freeze Mage; the other matchups are really quite bad. Basically, I would say that if you see a meta without many Mages or Druids, this deck is superb."
You miss the point. This deck is very strong against aggro, consistently beating Hunters and the new Paladin Cancer, while still retaining combo reach against Warlocks and Warriors. It fills a very clever niche in the current meta, and is very well balanced.
Thanks, mate, i'm glad i helped. =)
And btw, i thank you all who left comments, feedback is very much appreciated.
I like sneeds, but he isn't the best choice in this deck. Though i still advice you not to replace KT - he is very important as a second win condition - you might put Cenarius or second Ancient of War if you don't have KT.
Anyone got an idea for a replacement for Emperor? (Haven't gotten around to buying BRM yet :( ) At the mo I'm running sylv as a replacement.
Sylvanas and Harrison are fine
Same deck was posted many times,Its classic variaton of druid deck I dont see why people upvote it that much.
I answered that already. It's not new, but it's new version. And it's not popular, so i'm popularizing it.
Why are face hunters still on top - that's the question.
emperor and dr boom, wow such new cards
A lot? There is litterally one gvg and one BLM card.
Great to see Hybrid Druid doing well for other players out there! I run a similar build, with double combos, and ancient of wars :)
Differences in my deck include -Senjin +Shredder, and -MC Tech +Kezan. I also switch up KT/Cenarius and Loatheb/Sylvanas depending on what I mostly face.
Yea, your decklist gotta be effective as well. =)
Bro, I suggest Harrisson if you want more cards draw..
it saves your minion from the weapon and help you to draw more than one card very often.
5 of 9 class use weapon ;)
Just my personal preference not to run azure.
It's not like i played combo druid to legend, though, may be you are right about azure in pure combo deck.
And yes, Harrison is a good option, i think.
Nice work. I'm not very comfortable with Kel'Thuzad, seems to gimmicky, but I didn't cut him yet. Thanks.
Quite interesting deck, but only for VS conrol/hand/heavy decks.
I cant see the easy way to counter fast agro decks. Ebola-Dru or Mech-Dru fits better, in my opinion.
Vise versa, i almost never lose to hunters or zoo locks. Taunts counter face damage! If you feel like you need more anti-agro stuff, you can replace MCTech and shade for deathlord and kezan, for example, or put in zombie chow.
Thanks for reply. Of curse i understand, that taunts counter face damage) but i meant, that by turn 4 - you will be on half hp.
Anyway, as there is nothing to do else, i will test it and report on the experience received.
I used to feel the same way about Druid vs. Hunter and other aggro decks. Then I spent some time watching LifeCoach and some of the other top players in the matchup. Druid actually has a very decent matchup against Hunter, and this deck is especially good. It just takes a lot of really precise early game play and thoughtful mulligans. When is it right to turn 2 Wild Growth vs. Turn 2 Hero Power the Leper Gnome? When is it actually decent to turn 2 punch the Mad Scientist for 1 damage? Do you turn 1 Innervate Shade? Or do you save Innervate for Turn 3 Innervate Belcher into turn 4 Sen'jin? The first 2-5 turns have to be really carefully choreographed from the moment you see your hand or you will lose to aggro. If it's done right, they are good matchups for you.
is AoW realy better than Cennarius?
Cenarius can fit this deck, though AoW is great in case your opponent doesnt have a silence, which he probably would waste already. I personally like AoW more. Cenarius might be better than boom in some cases, cose Boom can be BGH'ed.