Hearthpwn

Sup yall, first and foremost, all the credits goes to Stonekeeper & Icy Veins & vS Data reaper report. I'm just spreading the informations that I do find useful and that can help a lot of players or I hope so :)
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Malygos Druid is a deck that takes the shell of Token Druid and adds in an additional win condition in the form of Malygos which can be used to burst the opponent out of the game.

Many players have been having success with the new Miracle Malygos list that cuts Bloodmage Thalnos for a Moonglade Portal. Xixo created the list, which TicTac used to hit top 10 legend on EU and Muzzy used to hit rank 1 legend on AM. Moonglade Portal was a card we felt many players underrated and is shown to be a powerful tool to either stabilize or have a play on turn 6, as the random pool of six drops is very strong on average.

Mulligans :

Always Keep

• Wild Growth – It’s your #1 mulligan priority. The deck needs mana to do stuff. It has almost no early game plays. You can say that the game really starts once you have 5 mana and it means that you want to get there as fast as you can. I wouldn’t keep double Wild Growth most of the time, though, because 2x WG can easily lead to those “I have ramp, but I don’t have stuff to do” kind of hands. You will probably want to follow up the first WG with something else anyway, and the second might turn out to be a dead card. 2x WG is okay only if you also have something like Nourish to guarantee not running out of cards in the mid game.
• Innervate – Innervate has lower priority than Wild Growth. It’s still a great card to keep (again, one copy), especially against faster decks. The immediate tempo might be more necessary than long run mana advantage if you face strong early game. It can also let you play t2 Mire Keeper for ramp, which is a very strong move, especially if you have some follow-up.

Situationally Keep

• Raven Idol – I tend to keep Raven Idol only when I already have my ramp. While it’s a cool t1 play, I prefer to play it later in the game for two reasons. First reason – on turn one I might not know what deck I’m exactly facing and what will I need (e.g. healing, taunt, removal, card draw). And second reason – it’s good to combo it with Fandral Staghelm (to discover a minion on top of a spell) or[card] Link Removed: http://hearthstoneplayers.com/cards/gadgetzan-auctioneer/[/card] (for a cheap card draw). But if I already get my ramp, I don’t mind keeping it to play on t1.
• Living Roots – I keep Living Roots in faster matchups, where I know that I will get some value out of the two 1/1’s on turn 1 or early 2 damage. E.g. it’s great against Hunter – it can trade with the 1-drops and 2-drops quite easily. Playing it on turn 1 might even stop enemy from playing a Fiery Bat, which is nice. It’s also good against Tempo Mage – 2 damage kills their 2-drops [card](Link Removed: http://hearthstoneplayers.com/cards/sorcerers-apprentice/[/card] and Cult Sorcerer). Against Shaman the 1/1’s can clear some Totems (if they have slow start), kill Link Removed: http://hearthstoneplayers.com/cards/tunnel-trogg/ with help of Hero Power or Link Removed: http://hearthstoneplayers.com/cards/totem-golem/ with help of Wrath etc. If I know that I won’t likely need 1/1’s OR 2 damage early, I mulligan it away.
• Link Removed: http://hearthstoneplayers.com/cards/wrath/ – Similarly to Living Roots. If I know that I might have some high priority targets to clear, I keep it. Turn 2 Wrath can save A LOT of health in the long run. Since it’s one of the only sources of the direct damage in the deck and it deals 3, it can save your skin against Shaman’s Flametongue Totem, Warrior’s [card]Link Removed: http://hearthstoneplayers.com/cards/alexstraszas-champion/ [/card]and few other similar cards.
• Link Removed: http://hearthstoneplayers.com/cards/mire-keeper/ – I keep it alongside Innervate or Wild Growth. With Innervate I can get it out on turn 2 and ramp up to 4 mana. With Wild Growth played on turn 2, I can drop it on turn 3 and either get more mana or summon a 2/2, depending on what I need.
• Link Removed: http://hearthstoneplayers.com/cards/azure-drake/orLink Removed: http://hearthstoneplayers.com/cards/nourish/ – If you are sure that you face a Control deck, you really need your cycle cards, so you can keep the 5 mana stuff that gets you further into your deck. In slow matchups you aren’t in a rush and don’t need the early game removals anyway. You really need to know the matchups, though, so if you e.g. face a Warrior and you aren’t sure if it’s Dragon or Control, don’t keep those.
  
  
  
  

  General strategy :
  
  

  Malygos Druid is a deck that can start slowly, but quickly explodes in the mid-game to create oppressive board states and huge amounts of burst damage. It builds to a potential finish with Malygos using combinations of Living Roots and Moonfire, although due to the number of other win conditions in the deck it can also use Malygos as a board control tool.

  As mentioned, your early game turns can quite often be somewhat passive. You should mulligan hard for Wild Growth and[card] Innervate[/card] in order to maximise your chances of getting the fastest possible starts, but if you miss these Mana acceleration cards you still have options to be able to control your opponent's early threats using Wrath, Living Roots, and Feral Rage. Raven Idol can also be used in these situations and usually should be if you have the spare Mana available, however keep in mind that the longer you wait to cast a Raven Idol the more information you gain about the state of the game and which option you should select. As a general rule with this deck however, you are always looking to Discover a Spell and should prioritise the Spells that are chosen to be included in the deck over others, especially those that can be combined easily with Malygos such as Living Roots and Moonfire. Having said this, you will of course encounter specific board states that require you to select a specific option like Mulch, Claw, Bite, or Starfall.

  Starting at turn 4 and beyond your deck starts to become a lot more powerful. You can use Mire Keeper to Ramp up your Mana even more, which in this deck is almost always the correct usage of the card. The 2/2 is almost never worth the exchange in Mana that you give up for it. For example, on turn 4 if you choose to generate a 2/2, you are essentially giving up as much as 5 Mana over the course of the game. As appealing as this may look in the short term, it is almost never the best long term investment. Nourish is a more difficult proposition and often comes down to evaluating the amount of Mana in your hand. If you have enough Mana in your hand to fill another 2 powerful turns, then Nourishing for Mana is usually right, otherwise take the card draw.

  Fandral Staghelm requires specific cards to become powerful, but is still capable of creating destructive turns. Although the most powerful things you can do with Fandral is Nourish, this usually requires Fandral to live for a turn. More commonly you will be using Fandral in combination with the cheaper spells in the deck such Fas Living Roots, [card]Raven Idol[/card], and Wrath. [card]Feral Rage[/card], and Mire Keeper are also extremely effective when used in combination with Fandral.

  Deciding when to use your Moonfire is key to a lot of matchups. In Control matchups, using Moonfire to control the board early is usually not going to have a huge impact on the board, but it can be more beneficial to use it for additional Tempo than saving it for Malygos. Much of this decision rests on how the game is going for you currently, and various matchup concerns. Against a Control Warrior for example, you will rarely be able to burst them down directly with Malygos damage, which means that often using the Moonfires to generate stronger board states can be more powerful. Against Aggro decks, you can feel free to use Moonfire for board Control if you are under serious pressure early.

  Arcane Giant can also be used as additional threats in Control matchups and drastically increases the total amount of board pressure you have in the deck. Against most Control decks you will win more often by consistently providing questions for them to answer and then capitalising when they are unable to provide the right response. It is important against decks that have powerful mass AoEs like Brawl and Twisting Nether however to ration out your threats 1 by 1 and not overcommit to a huge board unless you are confident that they cannot answer. For example, you can generate a huge board with a Fandral Staghelm, but do not commit a Fandral Staghelm or Arcane Giant alongside it unless you are confident they will not be able to answer.

  Using Malygos correctly is one of the hardest parts of the deck to master. In some matchups where they will struggle to remove Malygos it is often correct to simply play it out as a 9-drop late in the game. This will force your opponent to either send all of their minions into it in order to remove it, or just ignore it and try and rush you down. In the later scenario you can often punish your opponent with some combination of removal spells, burst damage, Moonglade Portal, and Feral Rage in order to stabilise your own life total.
  
  

  Alternate/Tech Cards :
  
  
  
  Mulch

   

  Mulch is pretty much the only “hard” removal available to Druid. You can say that it’s kinda similar to Sap, but if you’re Mulching something big, a random minion will most likely be small and pretty weak. Most likely, because the card can still screw you by giving enemy the single best minion he can get in that scenario. But hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

  The problem with this card right now is that it’s not very necessary. There aren’t really a lot of great targets for it in the meta. Most of the decks you face are high early game tempo ones. A lot of the Shamans have dropped [card]Link Removed: http://hearthstoneplayers.com/cards/flamewreathed-faceless/[/card]. Killing a 4-5 health minion with a Mulch might be okay, but not the most optimal, since enemy gets something back. And in order to fit the Mulch, you probably have to cut Feral Rage, which is way better in all those fast matchups.

  If you face a lot of good Mulch targets, by all means, play it. It fits the deck quite well.

  Violet Teacher + Power of the Wild

   

  Well, not running the Link Removed: http://hearthstoneplayers.com/cards/violet-teacher/ + Power of the Wild combo is the main difference between this list and the more token-oriented. If you want to run those, you should just find a list that does that. There are quite a lot of them, with Fr0zen’s one being probably the most popular.

  Which list is better? It’s very hard to say. I like this one more, but it’s probably just personal preference. I think that both have very similar power level. I think that Violet Teacher combos are kinda too hard to pull off in the current meta. Everything is FAST. And I mean it – really fast. Unless you get something like a perfect Violet Teacher + 2x Innervate + Power of the Wild + another spells or two (like Raven Idol and/or Living Roots) turn 4, the combos are late-game oriented. If you just drop t4 Violet Teacher, it dies 90% of time. And to get the full combos withoutInnervate, you need at least 7-8 mana.

  On the other hand, the combos are very powerful. You’re doing what the deck wants to do – spam a lot of spells, cycle etc. – and at the same time you flood the board again and again. In the long game, it gives you two more win conditions (assuming you don’t drop both Teachers or PotWs together) – maybe even more if you count random Raven Idol stuff. Yeah, that’s also a thing – Violet Teacher improves the average outcome of Raven Idol by quite a lot. [card]Link Removed: http://hearthstoneplayers.com/cards/power-of-the-wild/[/card], Savage Roar, Soul of the Forest or[card] Link Removed: http://hearthstoneplayers.com/cards/wisps-of-the-old-gods/[/card] are all quite mediocre in non-Teacher list, but if you combo them with lots of tokens, they are amazing.

  So it’s pretty much up to you if you like the Teacher or non-Teacher list more.

  Medivh, the Guardian

   

  I’ve seen [card]Link Removed: http://hearthstoneplayers.com/cards/medivh-the-guardian/[/card] in a few similar lists. But I don’t really think he’s that necessary. Because you need to cut something in order to fit it in. That something will most likely be either Gadgetzan Auctioneer or Emperor Thaurissan. But I feel like I like both of them more.

  I mean – the first reason why I don’t like Medivh very much is that this list isn’t very heavy on high cost spells. When it comes to 5+ mana ones, there is only 2x Nourish and 1x[card]Link Removed: http://hearthstoneplayers.com/cards/moonglade-portal/[/card] – 3 in total. Well, you can also add in two Swipe. But the biggest part of the list is 0-2 mana spells. Innervate,Link Removed: http://hearthstoneplayers.com/cards/moonfire/, Link Removed: http://hearthstoneplayers.com/cards/living-roots/[/card], [card]Raven Idol, Wild Growth,Link Removed: http://hearthstoneplayers.com/cards/wrath/… they all don’t really combo too well with Medivh. But you often HAVE to cast them, even with Atiesh equipped. Enemy has minions on the board that you have to clear – you can’t be like “oh, I will cast Nourish this turn to get Atiesh value”. No, you often have to cast Wrath, Living Roots etc.

  And thus, I feel like Medivh might work in the Token version better. Why? Because you can get much more value out of those small minions in Token version. Even if you cast 3 cheap spells, that’s 3 more minions for Power of the Wild, for Savage Roar, for Soul of the Forest etc.

  I’d probably cut one Feral Rage or maybe Mire Keeper for Medivh if I didn’t face high tempo decks all day long. Control are maybe 10% of my matchups right now. And I feel like those cards are stronger in high tempo matchups than Medivh is..