Hearthpwn

1. Introduction

Greetings to all Hearthstone players. I'm here to share my semi-original creation and a deck I've been playing a lot, the Reno Druid. Right now (January season), I'm playing it at Rank 5 and I'm also a legend player from past seasons.

The deck plays very similarly to most midrange Druid decks, hence why I classified it midrange, but it has good potential to fend off aggro and make huge comebacks thanks to Reno Jackson.

2. Why play Reno Druid?

 

 In a meta full of aggro, normal midrange druid or combo druid as most call it seems a bit weak and without resources to fend off Aggro Shaman or Face Hunter. Even Mech Mage is often a problem, this deck has solutions to all of those in the form of Reno Jackson and it runs many cards that usually can't make it into a normal druid list to help with those matchups.

NEW STATS (02/26)

Old stats:

These are the stats for this deck and my climb from rank 14 to 5. First thing I want to point out is that I have a 100% winrate vs Hunter so far. This is exactly the point of the deck. If you want a solid deck to fend off Aggro, this is the deck for you. It also has a very good winrate vs Warlock and other Druids and tends to be neutral vs Warrior and Paladin. Refer to section 5 for more information on the different matchups.

It also has solutions to many control decks that rely on getting a specific setup to win, like freeze mage. As long as you keep them pressured and have a Reno Jackson at the ready, you're almost guaranteed to win. Not to mention that this deck is usually more aggressive than the usual midrange Druid because it runs several 2 drops to improve the matchup versus aggro, so there's a lot you can do to pressure the opponent from early on.

3. The deck

The deck was designed to have only one of each card and the cards were carefully selected to have synergy in the deck. However, Swipe is often a gamechanger. It's way too good to have only one of and I had to include the second one.

Raven Idol is a card that I wanted to include from the beggining and it has won me countless games. Be it to fetch me a removal such as Naturalize to take out a huge minion in an early turn such as Mal'Ganis or to get me a solid minion to play later, I have since picked Feugen at least three times and it has led me to consolidate the board very well with that card. Basically, it allows you to get what you need and it has also netted me either Force of Nature or Savage Roar a couple times as well.

The Black Knight is a card that I've always included in my Druid decks and the reason is simple. Druid has no good removal and it gives you what you need. Usually, in order to win, you need to remove a taunt, and that's what The Black Knight is for, or you need to remove a very big minion, and for that you can use Big Game Hunter, which, naturally, is also included in this list. Furthermore, everyone seems to be running taunts nowadays, so it's a very valuable card. Replacements that are possible would be Sylvanas Windrunner or Piloted Sky Golem, although I don't recommend it. Bloodmage Thalnos can also be replaced by a second Wrath or second Darnassus Aspirant, but again, there's tons of uses for the Bloodmage Thalnos in this deck.

Savage Combatant joined the deck in my last iteration, v1.2, which is the one that I posted here. It's a pretty good card in the sense that it's actually a 7/4 in disguise, but it can't be target by Big Game Hunter. As a tempo card, it has everything you need, the possibility of using your hero power to take out an enemy minion that you otherwise wouldn't be able to kill. And it also is a very high priority kill, which you can often leverage to your advantage when you just need the game to slow down a bit, playing it to give you more time.

Innervate has its own section here because I see it misused more often than not. You never want to Innervate something out to just trade the minion you put on the board 1 for 1, as you've already used one card to put it on the board in the first place, so it's actually 1 for 2, which is bad for you. It's also a card that I don't usually keep on my starting hand unless I already have another card to go with it AND that's good in the particular matchup, like Keeper of the Grove versus Hunter or Piloted Shredder versus Warrior. It's really hard to use, it's definetly a card that will take you time to get used to and the best advice I can give is to not use it in the first oportunity you get unless you're sure that it will produce a good outcome. Turn 9s with Loatheb and Emperor Thaurissan or Druid of the Claw is how you win the game.

Reno Jackson, last but not least, is the key card in the deck. While it's not the most important card, it can help you a lot versus Aggro decks and even give you a couple more turns to draw into your combo when you haven't settled the game yet. It's definetly not a bad minion for the stats, but it holds more value when it can actually heal you for a significant amount. For that, you need to draw into at least one Swipe. Since this list runs two of those, you have to either have one in your hand or have already used one for Reno Jackson to work. I recommend using Deck Tracker, but it's not necessary. It's only 1 card that you need to keep track.

4. The Mulligan

I'll give a rundown on mulligans here in the general sense, it obviously depends on the matchup.

Cards you VERY MUCH WANT in your starting hand: Zombie Chow, Darnassus Aspirant

Cards you want in your starting hand: Above and Living Roots, Haunted Creeper, Knife Juggler, Wild Growth, Shade of Naxxramas

With that said, other cards like Raven Idol and Keeper of the Grove are sometimes good to keep. If you know you're going to be facing heavy aggression, you may want to hang on to your Keeper of the Grove so that you can counter it efficiently. Furthermore, Raven Idol can usually fix your curve if you're in a tempo matchup and it can provide you with just the right minion to go forward, or sometimes a good answer when you need it. I don't recommend always keeping either of those, though. Getting the Zombie Chow and/or Darnassus Aspirant is what you want, always.

5. Matchups

Here we'll explore some of the matchups and decks that I've faced during my playthrough of this deck. I won't be covering every other deck out there in detail because I simply didn't play against it enough to have a good plan with this deck to conquer it.

Tempo Mage: Tricky. Probably not a favorable matchup, but it's possible. Getting your early drops is essential, since it's all about getting in the board and denying the Mage from dealing too much damage. Silencing or using Swipe or Wrath on a Flamewaker is essential to reduce the damage the Mage can do, not to mention to keep your board state stable. Try to have an answer for Archmage Antonidas, though it's not always possible.

Mech Mage: Also tricky, but it's actually a favorable matchup as long as you can get in the board early and deny the Mech. Again, mulligan for early drops, get in the board as soon as you can and start aggressively trading, not letting the Mage take control of the game. When the opponent is low on cards (read: 1~2 cards left) and you have the majority on the board, that's when you start to go face and settle the game.

Freeze Mage: Never silence a Mad Scientist unless, for some weird reason, you got an extra silence from Raven Idol or you absolutely need to play on curve. You need the silence to remove the freeze from one of your big minions and pop the block or to negate his Doomsayer. It's a very favorable matchup, but weird things can happen, so play wisely. Get a lot of early pressure if possible, if not, just draw into your Reno Jackson to consolidate the game, as well as Loatheb, which is a very good card versus Freeze Mage, but should only be played in a crucial moment.

Warrior: As a Druid, playing versus Patron or Control usually is very similar, the only difference being how you use your removal spells. Get on the board consistently (read: You don't need to pump your minions onto the board inneficiently here), get a tempo advantage and nullify his key cards like Armorsmith and Acolyte of Pain (read: Silencing is NOT always the best option, though it can be). You probably won't win unless you get a good Savage Roar, but you'll have to have in mind that Warriors have lots of removals, specially Brawl (as Control), so don't overextend too much.

Hunter: Get on the board, play around his secrets, not attacking is usually a good strategy. Draw into Reno Jackson, use Ancient of Lore for healing if you need it, don't let the Hunter get on the board too much and use your removal efficiently. Sometimes playing a minion is better than removing a small minion. As long as you don't get tempoed out too much, you're good to go.

Zoo lock: The age old trick is to wait for the Warlock to mulligan before you, so that you get more info wheter he's Zoo or Handlock. There's Reno lock now as well and it's very prominent, so it's not as trustable anymore. It's still worth a shot. For Zoo, you want your early drops, you want your Swipe, you really really want it. Get on the board, sometimes pressuring the Warlock can be efficient and if you get him to trade into your stuff, it's always awesome. Here, you may have to use Force of Nature to clear, as with other Aggro decks, and specially since the Warlock usually taps a lot, you don't need the combo to kill him. How to beat Zoo lock: Have a gameplan. Don't just respond all the time, know what you want to achieve in the board and in the game before you do it.

Hand lock: This counts for Reno lock too, but it's a bit different. Hand lock is known for using very big minions, such as Giants, so have your Big Game Hunter at the ready. Keeper of the Grove is also a must, but unless you can actually kill the Twilight Drake or unless the Drake is going to trade very favorably unless you silence it, save it for a rainy day. The Warlock may want to taunt the Drake very soon and then you'll get a lot more value out of your Silence, so use your judgement to know when to use your Keeper. You also NEED your combo to win here, in very few situations will you ever use either Force of Nature or Savage Roar to trade into the board. And if you know it's Reno lock, try to kill it in one turn.

Priest: There's so many different Priest decks out there right now that it's hard to say exactly what you should do versus Priest. There's Dragon Priest, Reno Priest, Entomb Priest, Velen Priest... In short, get on the board with big minions and use combo to win. Removing their minions is usually good, but face damage is very valuable as you're not likely to win in the late game.

Aggro Druid: Against aggro druid, everything that I said versus Hunter counts here. Don't let them get a board, remove their minions aggressively and get on the board as soon as possible. Big Game Hunter is the key card here to take out Fel Reaver. DO NOT waste your time milling the Druid if you can't do that naturally by curving out. DO NOT play cards you wouldn't usually play just to mill. Get on the board. Just play normally. You need to be on the board to win, milling is never the solution.

Midrange/Combo Druid: This is a tempo matchup. Get on the board early with big minions, Innervate plays a big role here. Ramp out the best you can and try to get ahead by trading efficiently or sometimes going face when your board is clearly superior and there's no good trades to be made. The Black Knight shines here, it will always get a target if you have a board.

Anyfin Paladin: Oh Paladin... My nemesis. I should preface this by saying that Anyfin Paladin is unbeatable. You have to get very lucky with your draws and hope they draw into nothing for you to win. Loatheb is incredibly powerful here, but be aware that they can still play Wild Pyromancer and Equality at 9 mana. Silence their Doomsayers, don't let them get off if you can, keep pressuring them early on and try to consolidate a board that they can't clear (hopefully) with just a Consecration, but don't get your hopes up.

Secret Paladin: There's not a lot to say here, it's similar to other aggro decks, the difference being that you have to play around their secrets. Often manipulating the board state so that you can Silence or Big Game Hunter something that received Avenge is very benefitial, but there's many many targets for BGH in this deck. Tirion Fordring is your prime target for The Black Knight, but if he taunts something big enough, just go for it. It's very possible to win by not letting the Paladin consolidate the board and usually you can get a big enough board to combo and win outright. Reno Jackson is also awesome.

Shaman/Rogue: I've had very few games versus those two, so I'm not able to design a good strategy. What I can say is that, well, Reno Jackson is awesome, it's in this deck for a reason. It's the answer to most Face Shaman decks. Versus Rogue, try your best to deny their minions, pay attention to his weapon and mana so that you don't die to a Tinker's Sharpsword Oil combo. Innervate will likely be met with Sap so think twice before using it. Just stay calm, do your usual stuff and try to win with combo or just Savage Roar and lots of face damage.

6. FAQ

I'll reserve this section to answer questions posted in the comments below that are pertinent to this deck.

Q: Is Harrison Jones viable in this deck?

A: Yes, if you're struggling to beat Paladins, Rogues or Warriors or just seeing too many of those, Harrison Jones is a good answer. Consider including it and taking out Bloodmage Thalnos or The Black Knight.

Q: What about Mind Control Tech? Does it have a place here?

A: Mind Control Tech can be used instead of Mounted Raptor.

7. Conclusion

Thanks for reading! I know it's a long guide and I've tried to balance lots of text with good insight and simple tips to help those who want to try this awesome deck. Feel free to post comments and if this guide/deck gets a lot of views, I'll post more insight on other decks I use.