Hearthpwn

Aggressive Beast Druid I've been running on ladder this season. It's been refined quite a bit but there are still some cards I'm unsure about.

Basic concept

The aim of this deck is similar to Zoo Warlock and other such decks. Take the board early and maintain that control into the mid game and win either through chip damage to their hero or a big Savage Roar turn.

If you lose the board early on with this deck it's gonna be a rough game. In terms of bringing back the board into your favor. Just try to make as many valuable trades and tempo plays as possible. Swipe and Wrath are both very useful for taking back the board or solidifying your position on board if it's a back and forth trading with another aggressive deck.

Mulligan

You never want:

Druid of the Claw, Nourish, Virmen Sensei, Savage Roar or Savage Combatant.

You might want: 

Swipe, Wrath, Mounted Raptor, Dire Wolf Alpha, Fandral Staghelm, Mark of Y'Shaarj and Mire Keeper depending on the situation and match-up.

You almost always want:

Enchanted Raven, Innervate, Living Roots, Darnassus Aspirant and Druid of the Saber.

Reasoning for cards:

These are all cards that I would always include in the deck. For reasoning on any of the other cards that could be swapped, see next section 'Potential Card Swaps':

Enchanted Raven.

A 1 mana 2/2 is already great and contests a lot of 1 drops really well. Even goes toe to toe with the likes of Tunnel Trogg and Mana Wyrm sometimes. Add the fact that it's a beast and that just makes it an auto-include for me. If you can get off a Mark of Y'Shaarj on it turn 2 you've likely won the board for the early game.

Living Roots. 

This card has pretty much been a staple is 90% of Druid decks since release and I think it's fairly obvious why. 2 1/1s does really well at contesting early boards and deals with most 1 drops besides it's weakness to 1/3s like Northshire Cleric, Tunnel Trogg and Mana Wyrm. But we have that weakness somewhat covered by Enchanted Raven and Druid of the Saber. Add the flexibility of being able to remove something and the synergy with Fandral and you've got yourself a solid 1 drop.

Darnassus Aspirant. 

Another staple card in any aggro or midrange Druid deck. A 2 mana 2/3 is already decent and goes great coupled with Living Roots or Enchanted Raven on turn 1 or even a 2nd 2 drop with coin. And if it lives you're in a really good stop to drop something like Fandral, Savage Combatant or Mire Keeper. Or even two 2 drops and really swing the board in your favor.

Dire Wolf Alpha.

I was considering putting this card in the potential swaps section. But after I thought about it, this card is actually really strong in this type of deck. The bonus attack really helps make favourable trades and huge tempo swings. On top of that it's a beast for the Mark of Y'Shaarj synergy and it has some synergy with Druid of the Saber and Savage Roar for added finisher damage.

Druid of the Saber. 

This card is really great for this deck. Keeping board control is all about having the right answers at the right time and being flexible. This card does that really well. It can be dropped as a simple 3/2 stealth on turn 2 and can contest 1/3s really well due to it's stealth. You can leave it in stealth to ensure a favourable trade or push face damage. If you need an emergency removal you can charge form it, and charge form is useful for Savage Roar and Dire Wolf Alpha. And on top of all of that, it has Beast synergy and Fandral synergy. Just a great all round card and a must have in this kind of deck.

Mark of Y'Shaarj. 

This was one of the cards that made we want to try Beast Druid in the first place. It cycles itself if played on a beast which is already really strong for an Aggro deck. Plus the +2/+2 allows for some really favourable trades in the early game. With a majority of minions in this deck being beasts. This card works wonders for taking board control early on while not losing card advantage.

Wrath. 

Not too much to say here really. A solid removal tool with some flexibility and synergy with Fandral. Allows for good control of the board and keeps you on the board while not sacrificing your own minions in trades.

Mounted Raptor. 

A mini, slightly less overpowered Piloted Shredder? Sign me up. Nah but for real this card is just solid. It's a beast, it's really hard to remove and has good aggressive stat distribution. The one downside is the RNG on the random 1 drop. You could get an Enchanted Raven, Injured Kvaldir etc or you could get something that could really fuck you over. Other than that it's a solid and pretty consistent 3 drop.

Savage Roar. 

Another staple in aggressive or midrange druid decks. Quite a lot of the time this will be your win condition. I was originally running just 1 copy with a Mark of the Lotus instead. But I seemed to be struggling to find enough damage to close out games against control decks if I couldn't find Savage Roar in my deck. Having 2 makes it a bit more consistent in drawing at least one. And sometimes you'll get that godly double Savage Roar on 3 or 4 minions for the win. Doesn't happen often, but when it does it FeelsGoodMan.

Savage Combatant. 

A solid beast with an aggressive stat distribution is already fairly decent. But add on the ability and it becomes a must-have in this kind of deck. Being able to deal 3 damage for 2 mana every turn it is alive is really strong for keeping board control into turn 5, 6 and 7. Having control at this point in the game is really important as this is when you're looking to close out the game either by chipping them down or using Savage Roar. It does this really well while also pushing some good damage itself. The only drawback is the relatively weak health pool. It's quite easily cleared with the right spell so be careful when you use it.

Swipe. 

There's an argument for having 2 of these in the deck. But personally I haven't seen a need for it. This card is purely for dealing with other tempo or aggro decks to keep board control into the midgame or as a recovery mechanism to somewhat wipe their board. If you feel you're running into a lot aggro and are getting overrun then you could consider adding another one to the list.

Druid of the Claw. 

A 4/6 taunt for 5 mana is really strong already. Protects your other high priority minions like Fandral Staghelm and Savage Combatant from taking unnecessary damage while packing a decent punch itself. Add on the 'Beast' tag and the fact it can be flexed for 4 charge damage for removal or some extra finisher damage and you've got yourself a solid 5 drop beast.

Nourish. 

Your only card draw mechanic outside of Mark of Y'Shaarj. You should very rarely need to use this against Aggro or Midrange. It's mainly there for if you run out of steam against a control deck. I'd say never use this for the ramp. You are almost never gonna need the extra mana. 3 cards is always worth more to you. Only run 1 of these, if you feel you need more draw, add a different draw mechanic. Having 2 of these can really mess up your early game sometimes and lose you the game because of that. 

Potential Card Swaps

You could take out: 

Innervate. 

This card can often win you games on it's own in the right scenario. But I sometimes find it to be a dead draw after around turn 3 when I really needed a good draw to help close out the game. Try it yourself to see if it wins you enough games to justify it being a dead draw later on.

Fandral Staghelm. 

This card isn't really a necessity for the deck. He works great and even if you don't get any synergy off him. People often over react to seeing him and assume you have some crazy game winning combo in your hand and use a tonne of removal on him. But if you don't have him you might want to consider saving the dust. He can be replaced by something else. 

Mire Keeper.

The problem with this card is that you almost never want ramp with it since nothing in this deck costs more than 5 mana anyway. But a 5/5 for 4 mana is decent, plus it's across 2 bodies which helps with Savage Roar synergy. Plus has some limited synergy with Fandral if the ramp ends up being useful.

Virmen Sensei. 

When this card works, it really works. Curving it out onto a beast can really help solidify your position on board and help with trades. My main issue with it is that it's a bit slow. Yeah, it can help with a trade or something but other than that it doesn't do a whole lot to help you close out the game. And on turn 5 you need to be thinking about closing out the game in the next few turns or you risk losing. Try it out yourself and see if it works for you.

You could add in:

Lunar Visions. 

Honestly I think this will most of the time be a better Nourish. Considering you never use the ramp. 1 extra card vs the tempo of potentially getting a 4 mana discount on minions. This card would usually win that I would think. The reason it's not in the decklist right now is that I don't have this card yet. Once I can craft it and see how it fares I might update the list with this in place of Nourish. Even 2 copies of this could work since it is often a really good tempo card.

Keeper of the Grove. 

Even in it's nerfed state this card is still a decent pick. It's decent removal and can really help against minions with strong effects like a Tunnel Trogg / Mana Wyrm that got out of control or a Bloodsail Raider from pirate Warrior etc. But in my opinion it's just too slow and there's better options for removal than this.

Druid of the Flame. 

I see so many beast Druid decks running this card but I don't really see why. the 5/2 is 99% of the time too risky and easy to remove. And a 2/5 for 3 is really lackluster. It trades quite poorly with the likes of Tunnel Trogg, Totem Golem, Mana Wyrm, Bloodsail Raider, A lot of Dragon Priest's minions. The list goes on. 2 attack on a 3 drop just isn't enough to go even with other 3 drops and even some 2 drops thesedays. Yeah a 4/7 is great if you get a Mark of Y'Shaarj off on it. But that isn't gonna happen all that often, and I wouldn't include a card that's only good when paired with another card. There are better options than this in my opinion.

Mark of the Lotus. 

I had this in at one point and it is a good card for this deck. The main reason I took it out was to fit in another Savage Roar. This card isn't inherently bad for the deck. I just can't find anything to take out to fit this card in without crippling the deck a lot.

Addled Grizzly. 

Another card I see a lot of beast Druid decks running. Maybe in a more midrange archetype this could work. But a 2/2 for 3 is just complete trash and it will most likely get removed before your next turn. It's a kind of high risk but mediocre reward card. Even if it does live you probably at most will get +1/+1 on two 2 drops which really isn't anything crazy. It's too hard to get this card to work consistently so I wouldn't advise running it. But you can try if you want.

Power of the Wild. 

The 2 cost slot is highly contested in this deck and honestly this card just doesn't make the cut. A vanilla 3/2 for 2 is pretty bad, even if it is a beast. And if you're playing it for the +1/+1 then just run Mark of the Lotus instead. The flexibility and Fandral synergy are great and all. But honestly I don't see this card being more useful than any of the current 2 cost cards the deck is running.

Brann Bronzebeard. 

A fun card to add in, but honestly it's not that great. If you can land it with Virmen Sensei or Mire Keeper then great, even on Darnassus Aspirant it's okay. But other than that there's very little synergy with the deck and a lot of the time it's just a 3 mana 2/4 that might make the enemy shit their pants and over-spend on removing it.

Jungle Panther / Stranglethorn Tiger. 

I grouped these 2 because they're very similar in why they aren't good enough to make the list. The stealth is great for the synergy with savage roar and other buffs for making good trades But they both have a flaw. Jungle Panther simply is too easy to remove. If you ever unstealth it without trading into something, it's dead. If the enemy has pretty much any AoE board clear, It's dead. As for Stranglethorn Tiger, it's main issue is that it's too slow. Dropping 5 mana on a creature that does nothing for the board immediately is very risky in this kind of deck. If you feel you need to run one of these. Go for Stranglethorn, but honestly I think both of these aren't quite good enough.

Leeroy Jenkins. 

A great finisher card. But you already have a good win condition with Savage Roar / Swarming the board. Imo, this card isn't needed and can be replaced by something else to synergise with the deck better. But if you're feeling YOLO then go for it.

Menagerie Warden. 

This card can be really good if you hit it on a beast that's been buffed by Mark of Y'Shaarj or Virmen Sensei. Or on something like a Druid of the Claw or Savage Combatant. But with the decks I've been playing against, (Mostly Pirate Warrior, Aggro Shaman, Jade Druid, Jade Shaman and Midrange Shaman)  it's been a little too slow to keep up. If you're facing more dragon decks, RenoLock and Miracle Rogue etc. Maybe at higher ranks then you could put 1 or even 2 of these in for that extra bit of mid-lategame push.

If I haven't talked about a card in these 2 sections then I don't consider it to be ever worth running in the current metagame. If there's something you think I missed then let me know what and why it should be in the deck in the comments.

Conclusions.

This deck isn't some crazy OP top tier deck that'll get you to legend every season. It's more of a deck to use at the ranks leading up to rank 5 or even beyond if you're feeling it. If you get the hang of this deck it can really get you some quick wins. If you play a lot of Zoo Warlock you should be able to quickly pick this deck up. If all you're looking for is wins and quick rank-ups though, maybe try Aggro Shaman or Pirate Warrior.

Hope you like the deck, if there's anything else that needs explaining or other cards I could include, leave a comment. And don't forget to leave an upvote or a favourite on the deck if you're using it or are going to use it. Also let me know what rank you're playing at and how it's fairing for you. I haven't had a chance to try the deck above rank 5 so anyone up there or even at legend. It'd be nice to see how the deck preforms up there since it's a very different meta compared to ranks 10-5 that I've been playing at.

Enjoy the deck!

 1/10/17 Edits:

-1 Innervate

-1 Mire Keeper

+2 Menagerie Warden

These changes should give the deck that bit more mid-game push against Reno decks while not sacrificing too much on dealing with other aggressive decks like Pirate Warrior + Shaman.