Hearthpwn

I will write more detailed sections on specific match ups if you guys will ask for it in the comments and rate this guide up, thanks!

This is my first guide, I would appreciate if you guys would rate this guide and comment below with your thoughts, I will be happy modifying this guide with suggestions and i'm glad to offer help if you comment below and I can reply or even contact you personally if requested.

I have over 350 games played with Jade Druid in this expansion alone, and over 800 since the Jade mechanic came out, I've wanted to write a guide for a long time now but after the Evergreen Nerfs I've seen a decline in Jade Druid players and a general vibe from the community that Jade Druid isn't as good as Highlander Priest, Face Hunter or Aggro Rouge.

Win rate % after the nerfs -

Games after the nerfs -

Legend -


I've played around a 150 games since the Evergreen nerfs and the fact that I've played less mirror matches actually helped me climb from rank 5 to legend.
Jade Druid wasn't hit as hard as people might think by the Innervate and Spreading Plague Nerfs, and i'm here to write a comprehensive guide to help new Jade Druid players and current enthusiasts of the deck to improve their win rate by looking at match ups more than "ramp up to Ultimate Infestation".

Playing dynamically is the key to any hearthstone game in general, and what makes Jade Druid a top tier deck is the many answers it has to the current meta and almost every archetype in the game, a lot of people feel like if you don't get ramp cards and Ultimate Infestation you just lose every game but it has much more to do with the match ups than that especially in the current meta with so much diverse top tier decks.

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Let's start off with the Tech cards

Spellbreaker, 2 x Doomsayer, Primordial Drake, Medivh, the Guardian and Feral Rage

Spellbreaker - one of the most useful tech cards you can put in this deck, it is especially good in mirror matches vs Doomsayer and Aya Blackpaw.

It is also good vs other buffed minions from Bonemare that we see in the current meta, so in general it is a really solid Tech card and I don't recommend switching it for The Black Knight unless you do not encounter a lot of Doomsayer.

Doomsayer - One of the best tools vs Aggro match ups, dropping it on turn 2 derails every good start by an aggro deck. (Other than poisonous beast, but most hunters don't take the risk of rolling an adapt on that.)  

It's also great with Spreading Plague, even if it doesn't go off your enemy needs at best silence it (or Shadow Word: Pain it) or at best waste a lot of resources to remove it from the board.
  
Running 2 Doomsayer helps with the chances of getting it in the mulligan vs an Aggro match up, correlates with 2 Spreading Plague and helps vs a priest who wasted a silence\Shadow Word: Pain on the first one or a shaman that Devolve it.

There is honestly no reason to not run AT LEAST 1 Doomsayer in the current meta no matter which rank you are, but if you feel like 1 Tar Creeper or Golakka Crawler might help you more than you can drop 1 Doomsayer.

Primordial Drake - This is one of the Tech cards that isn't a must in this deck but more of a personal preference. 
It's a good taunt that works well vs Token Shaman, hard to remove by priests (4 Attack), and for 8 mana it offers a lot of value in a deck that ramps up fast.

If you feel that it's not of that much good use when you're playing this variation of the deck or it's not helpful vs Aggro\Midrange decks I would recommend switching it out for one of the following:

The Lich King or Kun the Forgotten King if you're having trouble vs control.

Tar Creeper or Mind Control Tech vs Aggro\Midrange decks.

Medivh, the Guardian - This is the one that can swing control match ups to your favor, Ultimate Infestation offers a lot of value for druid already, but what about getting a bonus 12/12 with it? or at worst a 5/7, 7/5.

But the real reason for Medivh in this deck are "dead spells".
Spreading Plague is pretty useless vs control decks such as Highlander Priest, Exodia Mage and Demon Warlock compared to Aggro decks that flood the board with small minions, but a 6 Mana minion can help swing the game to your direction.
Nourish gets more value in general, Swipe and Wrath get an actual purpose (or at least a much better one) VS heavy control decks with the added minion from the Atiesh.
With Medivh you get a bang for your buck, and it's the ultimate card vs control match ups.

If you feel like you need a more versatile card, you might be inclined to change Medivh for Kun the Forgotten King, but I feel like rolling a 10 Mana minion + a 6 Mana minion with Spreading Plague + a 5\4 Mana minion from Nourish/Swipe is more valuable than the usual Kun -> Ultimate Infestation.

If you don't have either one, you can put in The Lich King.

Feral Rage - I've seen a lot of players opt for something like Earthen Scales after the nerfs but now with the rise of the Skulking Geist there is no reason to include another 1 mana spell in the deck.

Feral Rage is a much more versatile card in the current meta, with Malfurion the Pestilent you can deal 7 damage with 5 mana which adds a lot to your burst potential even without jades on board, throw in a swipe and you have 11 damage for 9 mana to the face of an unsuspecting enemy that feels that he's safe because you have no jades on board.
It can clear out big taunts for board control, or you can gain enough armor for another turn to get other defensive cards.

VS Aggro match ups this is better than Earthen Scales because you can cast it much earlier in the game for 8 armor, but you can't get a 7/7 jade that fast to get 8 armor from.
VS Control match ups this is a really surprising burst to your enemy that is too busy fighting off your jades.

I would not recommend switching this out with Earthen Scales UNLESS you're facing a lot of mirror matches.

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Mulligan and Gameplay


This is the part that can decide the fate of a game if you don't look at your enemy first -

If you're fighting a Priest or anything else that may be considered as a heavy control deck you should aim for ramp:
Wild Growth, Jade Blossom, Nourish, Mire Keeper

If you haven't got at least one early ramp card (2\3 mana) i wouldn't recommend keeping Nourish, If you have the coin, you can coin out the Mire Keeper into Nourish.

If you didn't get any good early ramp cards, and you don't see any reason to ramp up your Nourish (no high cost cards in hand, no Ultimate Infestation) you might consider drawing cards instead of ramping up.

The last thing you want is to ramp up fast without having card draw, so if you get to Nourish with ramp you still need to look out for card draw and the state of the board.

If you're facing a Hunter, Shaman or a Rouge aim for defensive cards first:
Doomsayer, Spreading Plague

if you have one of these start searching for another and some ramp.
Having at least one early ramp card in your mulligan with Doomsayer and Spreading Plague is the key to victory.

If you get to turn 5 with Nourish in hand vs an Aggro deck, you might consider drawing to get your spreading plague, or you might consider ramping if you have Primordial Drake or the Death Knight in your hand.

Whatever you do, don't wait around for Ultimate Infestation and don't ramp up mindlessly to it if you don't have answers before it to a flooded enemy board.

 

Gameplay wise i'll start off with a crucial rule.

If you get a Jade Idol turn 1, summon it.

If you get your first Jade Idol in any turn without card draw in your hand + a high count of cards still left in your deck, summon it if you can.
if you have more than 15 cards in your deck and\or you haven't drawn\searching for a specific card, DON'T SHUFFLE THE JADE IDOLS.

Example: 2 Jade Idol in your hand at the early stages of the game, you summon one if you can, but don't summon the second UNLESS:

You're VS Aggro.
OR
You're VS a deck that runs Skulking Geist (Highlander Priest, Mill Warrior and so on)
Here's the catch of playing vs Skulking Geist, you never know when the opponent is going to play it or if he has it in his hand.
You need to expect him to play it after turn 6 so you gotta be wary about your 2nd Jade Idol.
If you're still at the stage of having a lot of cards left in your deck, there is no point of shuffling it unless you have Ultimate Infestation in your hand and you're not too far away from casting it, if that's the case you shuffle it before you use UI and hope for some Jade Idols back.
But you gotta think before you cast it, in the end if you're up against a deck that runs Skulking Geist you will lose your Jade Idols so you can't hold on to them forever, but giving it up too soon may lose you some precious Jade counts.

On to Fandral Staghelm.
This is a very good card that interacts with quite a few cards you have in your deck.
You gotta know your match ups before setting up a strong Fandral play.
Turn 4 Fandral -> Turn 5 Nourish is a really strong play but also risky vs virtually every match up, the only one that is good enough to risk it is vs Aggro because they will waste valuable damage to get rid of your Fandral if they decide to.

If you are able to set up a Fandral -> Malfurion the Pestilent play that's a big power play as well, but the best play is playing Fandral in the later stages of the game when your deck is below 10 cards - Fandral Staghelm -> Jade Idol -> Nourish and if you lucky enough you might get 2 Jade Idols back, but you will probably get atleast one for a combined play of 2 Jades + drawing 3 cards (and a 3/5 on a board).

The most important part of playing this game especially with this deck is anticipating your opponents plays and responses.

Should you flood the board with 5/5 and above Jades vs a Raza Priest that hasn't played his Death Knight yet?

Should you play Wild Growth turn 2 instead of a Doomsayer vs a hunter that just put an Alleycat turn 1?

Should I just Ultimate Infestation now or do I have time to put Medivh, the Guardian before that?

There is a fine balance between playing for value and playing too greedy, and you need to be wary of that line so you will get the grip of this deck faster.

Trial and Error is the best way to get a grab on any deck, and Jade Druid is no different.
People saying this is a brain dead deck ("Well this turn i'll summon a larger and larger man, which will allow me to later on summon an even larger and larger man!") are the exact people who are not squeezing enough juice from this deck and are stuck on a 55% win rate like I was at the start of the Jade mechanic.

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Match ups 

I will add more to this as people will ask for specific match ups

Highlander Priest:

Even though this is the deck you probably see the most currently in ladder, It doesn't out value Jade Druid unless it gets a perfect start.

This match up is control vs control where each deck tries to out value the other, but most Highlander Priests use Skulking Geist because otherwise we out value every single game. (READ ABOVE FOR GUIDE AGAINST Skulking Geist)
Keep that in mind, we out value them, that's your gameplan.

Highlander Priest has to Raza the Chained on 5 and Skulking Geist on 6 to have a chance at beating you.
 
Before you reach a 5/5 Jade, Priest has an easy time clearing your board but that is not an excuse to leave it empty, Jade Druid has more tempo than Highlander Priest if you aim for it, gain control of the board at the Mid Game and pressure the Priest to make him use his removal (Dragonfire Potion and Kazakus spell) on small Jades.

Baiting the Shadowreaper Anduin is one of the better tricks up your sleeve, if you have 4 Jade summoning cards in your hand and you're at a 5/5 count and above you can use 2 of them to make him use the DK, and then it'll be harder for him to deal with a 7/7 + 8/8 on board.

One way of dodging the removal of a priest is to play around it but you can also ask yourself if he just doesn't have it - this is something you need to think in every game with every deck but especially VS a high removal deck like Highlander Priest.
I personally find that thinking like him helps you beat him, if you have a board with a couple of semi-threatening minions (4/4 Jade, Mire Keeper, Jade Behemoth and more) and he scrambled around to remove like 1 or 2 minions he might not have a big clear, you can risk it and develop a bigger board.

Either way, the key to beating a Highlander Priest is not just pressuring him, you need to use smart pressure, if you throw out everything you have too soon he has a better way of clearing it, take it slow and think on your possibilities next turn according to what you want to do this turn.

Another tool is Medivh, the Guardian, this is just a value monster with Ultimate Infestation and it gives Spreading Plague and actual purpose vs Highlander Priest.

If you're still having trouble with Priest, you might consider including The Lich King to have more value in the deck and late game threats, but considering the meta has a hefty number of aggro decks I wouldn't recommend adding more value cards, this deck has more than enough to beat the Priest.

Hunter\Aggro Rouge\Token Shaman\Zoo Warlock\Murloc Paladain:

I would say all of these Aggro match ups are about the same so i'll just bundle them up.
If you're seeing a lot of these and finding it hard to win against them I would recommend already making these changes:

Against Aggro Rouge try adding in 2 x Golakka Crawler or 1 x Golakka Crawler and 1 x Tar Creeper\Mind Control Tech

Against Zoo Warlock try 1 x Tar Creeper\Mind Control Tech

Against Hunter, Paladin and Shaman you have enough tools to hold on, but you might consider 1 x Tar Creeper if you're having problems.


Lets start with the ground rules for every one of these match ups:

Keeping Doomsayer and Spreading Plague in the starting hand is crucial (also your removal cards or Tar Creeper of you've put him in your deck) but you also need to know when to play it, sometimes playing a Doomsayer on turn 2/3 is too late, so you might even consider coining it out if you see that your opponent has kept some cards from the mulligan, meaning he has a turn 2/3 play.

You need to be smart about when to play Spreading Plague, play it too soon and you might not get the best value from it, but it shuts down Hunter and Zoolock hard and does Aggro Rouge and Murloc Paladin really hard.
You need to be careful for Shaman though, because of Devolve so relying on Spreading Plague isn't the best vs a shaman, you need to play it NOT AS A LAST RESORT.

Keep tempo before ramp against any of these match ups (except maybe token shaman).
Having minions on board is more important than ramping if you can only choose one of them vs Aggro, but you need to be wary if you have something good to ramp to like Primordial Drake, Spreading Plague or Malfurion the Pestilent.

Now for more specific class tips:

Try and always remove beasts from hunters, murlocs from paladins.
a 5/4 murloc is more important than the 5/4 Gentle Megasaur
a 4/3 Bearshark is more important than a 4/3 Houndmaster

Always remove even small minions against a rouge or a paladin because of Bonemare for both classes and Spikeridged Steed for paladin.
If you can remove Prince Keleseth from the board against a Rouge do it before he Shadowstep or Shadowcaster it.
Be ready to deal with Aggro Rouge's pirates with any removal spells, at turn 2/3/4 they're the biggest threat.

Against Zoo Warlock always be ready for the flooding of minions on board after Darkshire Councilman is placed, he is your most important target.
Be ready for a Doomguard anytime after he has 5 mana, so clearing the board won't be enough but you need taunts on top of it, Spreading Plague being amazing vs Zoo.
Remember about Bloodreaver Gul'dan summoning all the demons again so don't waste your second Spreading Plague + Doomsayer if you can afford to save it until turn 10.

Try and not rely too heavily on Doomsayer and Spreading Plague against a Token Shaman, focus on putting on minions first and try and set up a good Primordial Drake that wipes the board clean.
If he has a full board that you can clear with swipe, even though it's just some 0/3's and 1/1's you have to clear to not die to Bloodlust and not letting him Evolve it with his DK or just the card, not letting Shaman have minions is the key to victory.



Tempo Secret Mage:

You need to match the tempo against a mage because of his many burn spells.
Keep tempo before ramp. (unless you have something to ramp for next turn, you cant afford to wait a lot of turns)

Because of Counterspell you have to check for it with a spell beforehand. 
You need to think what is a better secret for him to put in that given turn, Counterspell or Mirror Entity?
And then checking for secrets is the best way to play around it.

If you fear for Counterspell, use coin or another cheap spell (Wild Growth, Jade Blossom) before the spell you want, you have to plan your Mana usage when checking for a secret so you'll have a couple of ways to play your turn considering what the secret is. (Want to cast Swipe/Wrath? use a cheap spell before hand if you can.)

If you fear for Mirror Entity, place a smaller minion first if you can and be ready to deal with it.  (Putting down a 3 Health minion? be ready with a Wrath. )
Doomsayer is perfect against Mirror Entity, but if you don't have it you might consider a Jade Spirit or a Mire Keeper before a Jade Behemoth.

Overall, the match up isn't easy and one of those that can sway to either side.
If you're having trouble you might consider including Eater of Secrets instead of one of the other tech cards, you need to consider which tech card to remove and that depends on what you personally see on ladder more.

Quest Mage:

This is a really weird match up which requires you to play unnatural.
You need to pressure the Mage as fast as you can to pop both Ice Block.

Keep all ramp cards in your hand, get high on Mana and cards because this is a time race.
You're playing vs freeze effects so you need to flood the board with big minions and have Spellbreaker ready against Doomsayer, or just save a Swipe + Wrath.

If you flood the board with small jades you won't have a lot to do, you need to find a way to balance your early\mid game between ramp and putting jades on board, even consider summoning the 2nd Jade Idol for more pressure because you're not gonna get to fatigue and you don't need more than an 8/8 Jade to pressure the mage.

Most likely the board will be filled with your minions and will get frozen over and over again, don't get frustrated, just keep the board a high threat to make him burn his freeze cards.

A good way of getting the board filled with big threats quick is Medivh, the Guardian + Ultimate Infestation, this will help you pressure him even more than a Jade Behemoth + Jade Spirit (considering your jade count is still below 5/5)

Pressure is the name of the game, Aya Blackpaw is amazing at turn 6 here, Medivh, the Guardian turn 9 + Ultimate Infestation turn 10 is also amazing, this are your power plays.

Don't try and armor up, don't waste time on anything other than pure damage to the Mage and filling up the board with threats.

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This is an in-progress guide and I will add more stuff per your request if this guide will be visible enough to get some attention.
I will try to shed some more insight to decision making with this deck and match ups in the current meta.

Thanks for visiting my guide, I would be glad if you leave a rating and a comment, I welcome any requests, questions and criticisms.                                

                                   
Good Luck!