Hearthpwn

UPDATED V2 - 29/05/2014

(Updated, see update log at the end of the post for details)

Welcome to my Spell Power Druid Deck V2, this is an updated deck/guide of my BoomkinV1. In this guide I will discuss the early, mid and late game plays as well as discuss the general tactics along with possible improvements and additions. I’ve only recently started playing this deck in combination with my mid range Druid deck so this is a trial and error period, but I feel this deck can compete in the current meta with solid choices and practice. 

I thoroughly enjoyed playing the BoomkinV1 and hope that I can make this deck as enjoyable if not more so with the cards I have managed to obtain as improvements.

Here’s a quick list of the Pro’s and Con’s of this deck:

Pros

• High damage output through Spell Power minions/strong minion drops
• Great card draw through cheap card draw minions/spells and mid/late game Gadgetzan Auctioneer
• Options! This deck like a number of other Druid decks, gives you a number of options that makes it a diverse deck that can play against a number of class’s/decks pretty well.
• Strong removal. Aoe and single target removal is strong in this deck.
• Solid minions, in addition to the high output of removal/spells this deck has a number of beefy drops to help maintain board presence throughout the game (as you cant always rely on spells for removal)

Cons

• Mid/Late cost aoe removal makes it suspect to early rush decks. (however it still can win)
• Sometimes too many options turn 5+ (requires thought and understanding to play correctly)
• Not many early game drops (can find yourself hitting that hero power a lot)
• Can be tempting to drop minions to get board presence, don't! The best shot you have of winning with this deck is turn 5+, play reactive and not too aggressive in the early stages. 

Early Game:

The early game with this deck is relatively passive, the early game cards like Earthen Ring Farseers, Claw, Wrath, Bloodmage Thalnos, Kobold Geomancer and Moonfires are all reactive, they should be used to regain health, clear large threats or coupled with other spells for a bigger pay-off. There is a number of strong trade of minions/spells that can get you to that mid/late game where this deck really shines. But if your struggling for early plays you always have your hero power to trade with weak minions, just make sure you Mulligan correctly depending on the match ups to give yourself the best chance you have. 

Mid Game:

If you where fortunate enough to draw some early card draw (Bloodmage Thalnos & Wrath you should have a number of options to play now. Mid game is where you play strong minions that your opponent HAS to deal with swiftly, strong mid game drops are Sen'jin Shieldmastas, Druid of the Claws, Azure Drakes and Gadgetzan Auctioneers. All of these cards can help stall the game or be used in co-ordination with spells and combos to deal devastating damage to your opponent.

• Dropping a Sen'jin Shieldmasta around turn 4 should bait out a good trade, be it from multiple minions or a large removal spell.If it does this Profit!... If not, you can start chunking away at the face or clearing early game pesky minions for 3.Whilst we throw down one of our many turn 5 options. 
• Druid of the Claw offers you options, in this deck I almost always use the +2 Health and Taunt effect. It’s a strong taunt with great stall, which helps a lot when waiting that extra turn to use your Spell combos.
• Keeper of the Grove A great choice card, if your getting overwhelmed on the board by turn 4 its silence or +2 damage can help keep you from falling way behind. However, try to learn the most valuable silence minions of each class and save one of your Keepers for it. Tirion Fording for example or Savannah Highmanes. 
• Azure Drake and Gadgetzan Auctioneers are the main damage output for this deck, bar late game Malygos if you can play either on turn 5+ followed by an Innervate + Spells can result in a strong AOE/Card Draw combo. Always try to hold onto your Moonfire for part of this combo or Malygos combo as it can be free bonus damage/removal or a free card draw triggered off the Gadgetzan Auctioneer. Almost every time I play this deck turn 5-7 tends to be the game changing turns, if you where behind before but have a strong turn 5-7 chances are your going to do well! High draw or SP combos are great as well as the seudo taunt on the Azure Drakes and Gadgetzan Auctioneers due to their game changing effects with this deck.

 

Late Game

Late game tends to be a continuation of Mid game, using the strong Azure Drake and Gadgetzan Auctioneer combos with your brilliant spells (aoe/single target) can quickly put your opponent on the back foot. One thing I find nice about this deck is all the cards are helpful, even the low mana cards, if drawn late game they can result in extra card draw or bonus damage, a nice cheap silence etc. And this works vice versa, if I draw a higher mana card early but pick up an Innervate early on I can quickly spin the game on its head with some early pressure. 

• Ragnaros the Firelord is one of the best late game card I have in this deck he’s a great drop and usually by the time I get around to dropping him the opponent is already very low and/or the board is cleared and I’ve ate a lot of his hard removal. Raggy is a great 8 drop as he offers a high threat and a guaranteed 8 damage (just make sure you think about when to use him best!).
• Malygos the second strong late game threat, really here to provide that extra killing blow if needed, if you manage to hold onto some Moonfires or an Innervate from early on now is the perfect time to profit. Another Seudo Taunt and if he manages to live 1 turn you can reap massive rewards from a Moonfire, Starfire or even a Swipe to the face. 
• Ancient of Lore a solid option come turn 5-7 however I would rather hold onto an Innervate for the use of an additional spell with Malygos or Gadgetzan Auctioneer, this card on turn 7 can be a great filler between a busy turn 5-6 and a winning turn 8-10, provides a great choice of heal or card draw and a solid 5/5 minion on the board. 

Big Plays

There are a number of great plays with this deck here I just want to show a couple examples for players who are un-familiar with these cards, these are some of my favourites….

Combo Plays (just a few…):

• Turn 1-3: 1 or 2 xInnervate->Azure Drake or Gadgetzan Auctioneer -> Moonfire Spam..
• Turn 5: Azure Drake -> 2x Moonfire (4 0 cost damage + card draw)
• Turn 6: Bloodmage Thalnos or Kobold Geomancer -> Swipe (6 mana: 5 damage + 2 damage aoe)
•  Turn 5: Gadgetzan Auctioneer -> 2x Moonfire  -> 1 or 2 xInnervate -> (Any combo of spells you like) Swipe -> Claw (5 mana: 9 damage + more with SP on board + 6 card draw)
• Turn 7-9: Innervate -> Malygos -> 1/2xMoonfire (9 mana 6/12 damage +)
  
• Turn 9+: Malygos +Innervate x2 -> Swipe or Malygos next turn Starfire -> Moonfire (Easily 15+ Damage if he lives 1 turn, and you have managed to hold onto some spells[/card])
• Turn 8 - 10: Starfire -> Innervate -> Starfire (With 1 or 2 Innervates) 10+ Spell damage + 2 Card draw

All of the above combos are subject to specific scenarios, however it is most likely turn 5+ you can have 1 + SP minions on the board or a Gadgetzan to get crazy draw from.

Changes and Possible Additions:

There are a couple of possible changes, and a few different ways you can play this deck, if you prefer to add a couple of taunts I suggest Sunwalkers in place of Ancient of Lores  (However! This will effect the defensive heals/choices you can make from the ancient and may require more spells to fuel your Gadgetzan).You can also take out some of the higher cost spells for strong minions however the fun factor of this deck for me is the spells and combos you can play. 

Cards I'm playing around with in this deck and other strong additions that I would like:

• Faceless Manipulator can be a solid 5 drop in this deck, I use him in most my decks and he would be a solid addition in my opinion.

 Cards that can be swapped out:

• Earthen Ring Farseers (There for a safety 3 Drop to stall your early game out to mid/late, could be swapped for a more solid drop Harvest Golem for example)
• Sen'jin Shieldmastas solid 4 drop imo, good vs the meta of aggro and rush, however could be swapped for something else if you wanted to play differently, Violet Teacher could work well for example.
  
• Ragnaros the Firelord If you don’t have him don’t worry, I just have him as a late game threat with guaranteed damage, if you have any other late game cards such as Argent Commanders or Sunwalkers or any other legendaries they will probably fill this late game strong drop slot. However with the strong amount of spell power and spells in this deck the opponent can regularly be down to 8-16 HP by turn 10 which is in perfect firing line for Ragnaros the Firelord to win the game for you.

 UPDATE LOG:

So a number of updates made to the guide and the deck here are the card changes i've made recently:

Changes made on the 29/05/2014:

• +1 Bloodmage Thalnos    -1 Kobold Geomancer
• +2 Sen'jin Shieldmastas   -2 Twilight Drakes
• +1 Big Game Hunter        -1 Ironbeak Owl
• +1 Earthen Ring Farseer  -1 Loot Hoarder
• +1 Ancient of Lore           -1 Loot Hoarder
• +1 Malygos                    -1 Azure Drake

The changes above where made due to my obtaining the two Legendaries and also the shift in the meta, granted a spell based Druid deck may not be as strong as Token or Ramp in the current meta, however with practice it can be as viable. As always this is a basis for a deck, I enjoy playing it and will look to make improvements to this deck along with my newest more consistent druid deck: Force of Skook

This is a NEW deck, an update on my old  BoomkinV1 and this is a work in progress guide and will be updated and amended regularly. There are a number of cards that can be replaced and I'm always testing. Any questions, queries, recommendations or comments please feel free to comment.

For more Hearthstone content, guides and discussion you can visit my blog @

Afreshcupofgeek.co.uk

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Thanks!