Hello one and all. I have been playing Hearthstone for about a month now and in that time I have mainly played 3 decks, midrange hunter, evolve shaman and jade druid (all budget versions). With the hunter and the shaman I seemed to understand the deck and the mechanics at play very quickly and start getting wins straight away. But with druid I seem to either completely dominate (through what feels like dumb luck) or get completely bodied and it feels like I am never drawing the cards when I need them. I get the concept of ramping up the mana and making late game plays earlier than your opponent and I understand the importance of the jade idols but it just feels like I'm playing it "wrong". For comparison my evolve shaman and midrange hunter shot from rank 25 to 20 and beyond in no time, but with Jade druid it is taking forever. I am aware I may just be making poor decisions and maybe this type of deck requires more skill/knowledge to play but I figured it was worth asking for some advice. With regards to the deck it is a budget jade druid I found on Hearthpwn with one swap, couldn't afford the second spreading plague just yet so there is a bog creeper taking it's place for the moment. In particular any advice on how to mulligan this deck and any changes you would suggest would be much appreciated. Have included an image of the decklist for reference.
I assume you mean you can't afford the second UI not the second Spreading Plague... unfortunately UI is maybe the most important card in the deck. Ramping up to 10 feels bad if there isn't a UI waiting there to refill your hand. The main improvement to the deck is going to be saving up for that UI IMO.
first of I currently don't play jade druid myself, but I played more than enough (more than 300 games on ranked this season with zoo only) against the deck to have my own opinion which is the following;
it is easy to say why the deck feels inconsistant, you need a second spreading plague and UI. these are key components of the deck right now. the deck overall is still pretty balanced as such, you will of course lose more games and have inconsistant draw without these. especially jade druid without drawing UI right at time can basically concede. same if you don't have spreading plague to stop a full aggro board since you don't have any aoe in the deck.
a second mc tech would be good, doom sayer can be included.
last but not least, I don't want you to take me wrong, but from rank 25 onward you don't even lose stars when you lose, as such you will climb fast and then till rank 5 you still get additional stars on winning streaks. this does not necessarily show that you understood the decks yet, especially as understanding the decks of your oponnents is a major part of it.
before UI auctioneer was played, and if you need an alternative it is the next best. but there is no replacement for two UIs. seems like you have already two spreading plagues included
I could have worded that bit better, those other decks got me from 25 to 20 in one play session with maybe 2-3 total losses on the way, this deck has performed considerably worse than that and getting just to rank 20 feels like a slog. But the difference is those other decks were complete and not missing any peices, from what I can see the main thing for me to focus on is getting that second UI (there are already 2 spreading plague in the deck). Coming from decks where you often rarely play the big mana cards I didn't see how much importance there could be in a 10 mana card, but I guess a lot of those situations where I feel like I have nothing to do with the excess mana I have built up would be negated by having another big mana cost card in the deck to use.
One option is to fall back on an earlier version of jade Druid and add two Gadgetzan Auctioneer and Earthen Scales . Maybe remove the two mire keeper and the bog creeper as well as the Golakka crawler, the spellbreaker or the mind control tech. Additionally you might also include Innervate . This card is now much worse, but with Gadgetzan it is a free carddraw (and additional mana to play something more like earthen scale) which is pretty nice.
As to the mulligan, usually you want Wild Growth and Jade Blossom . Generally you should never shuffle the first Jade Idol, but always play it as a jade Golem. The exception is that you are already in the endgame (8+ mana) and have a chance at drawing a lot of cards (like Jade Idol shuffle into Innervate + Ultimate Infestation or with a Gadgetzan on board and some cheap spells). But your win condition is to get big Jades and the first Jade Idol should contribute to this.
druid of the claw and bog creeper seem pretty bad inclusions to me, if you need anti-aggro I think a tar creeper or doom sayer or even dirty rat is better than that. if you exchange these 3 and add gadgetzan auctioneer the deck will be playable. but I don't think it will be good enough against aggro/tempo in current meta without the second UI.
about UI;
the main thing, is if you only draw one UI together with the nourishes and the second UI and wrath in your deck, you are basically already drawing your whole decks and get all the answers you need. if any cards in between are missing for the card cycle you break your whole deck. and the start of the card cycle will be much much less likely, also UI is an extremely strong card itself even without the card draw it is still a firelands portal, it clears a 5/5 and gives you a 5/5 at the same time.
here you can compare current high-legend druid decks, compilation from mitsuhide, if you type !druid in his chat at his twitch stream you will get that link;
compare the jade druid lists there to yours and think about what is different to learn more about the deck.
what I didn't see before AYA is missing in your deck, she gives basically +2/2 to all your jades, and helps making your jades even worth playing, making this mechanic faster. this is almost like a double prince keleseth.
aya is a major component of the deck, fandral and khun a minor components that also help.
second UI and AYA are the most important cards to the deck you are missing.
When playing Jade Druid you talked about "ramping up" in the early game, but you didn't mention defending yourself. You have to make sure you stay alive long enough to make your big plays in addition to ramping. Oftentimes, you have to prioritize one over the other on a given turn.
I remember playing a budget version of this deck when I began seriously playing this game during Mean Streets of Gadgetzan. Having played the budget and normal versions of the decks, I can say that not having access to Aya Blackpaw or Fandral Staghelm is a big deal for the deck (I cannot speak for cards that were added to the deck since then). I never won very much until I included those cards.
Yep, basically I tried playing a version w/o spreading plague, UI and Malfurion. The deck just doesn't work well without them, and I ended up having to craft them to make the deck successful. You can check out the video on my YT channel if you're interested, but I just told you the life lesson learned. :)
Hello one and all. I have been playing Hearthstone for about a month now and in that time I have mainly played 3 decks, midrange hunter, evolve shaman and jade druid (all budget versions). With the hunter and the shaman I seemed to understand the deck and the mechanics at play very quickly and start getting wins straight away. But with druid I seem to either completely dominate (through what feels like dumb luck) or get completely bodied and it feels like I am never drawing the cards when I need them. I get the concept of ramping up the mana and making late game plays earlier than your opponent and I understand the importance of the jade idols but it just feels like I'm playing it "wrong". For comparison my evolve shaman and midrange hunter shot from rank 25 to 20 and beyond in no time, but with Jade druid it is taking forever. I am aware I may just be making poor decisions and maybe this type of deck requires more skill/knowledge to play but I figured it was worth asking for some advice. With regards to the deck it is a budget jade druid I found on Hearthpwn with one swap, couldn't afford the second spreading plague just yet so there is a bog creeper taking it's place for the moment. In particular any advice on how to mulligan this deck and any changes you would suggest would be much appreciated. Have included an image of the decklist for reference.
just keep shuffling your Jade Idols...
I assume you mean you can't afford the second UI not the second Spreading Plague... unfortunately UI is maybe the most important card in the deck. Ramping up to 10 feels bad if there isn't a UI waiting there to refill your hand. The main improvement to the deck is going to be saving up for that UI IMO.
Catch me on YouTube and Twitch: https://www.youtube.com/c/Hindered https://www.twitch.tv/hindered_
My take on the Patches Raza Bonemare Creeper nerfs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wysTG125huM
first of I currently don't play jade druid myself, but I played more than enough (more than 300 games on ranked this season with zoo only) against the deck to have my own opinion which is the following;
it is easy to say why the deck feels inconsistant, you need a second spreading plague and UI. these are key components of the deck right now. the deck overall is still pretty balanced as such, you will of course lose more games and have inconsistant draw without these. especially jade druid without drawing UI right at time can basically concede. same if you don't have spreading plague to stop a full aggro board since you don't have any aoe in the deck.
a second mc tech would be good, doom sayer can be included.
last but not least, I don't want you to take me wrong, but from rank 25 onward you don't even lose stars when you lose, as such you will climb fast and then till rank 5 you still get additional stars on winning streaks. this does not necessarily show that you understood the decks yet, especially as understanding the decks of your oponnents is a major part of it.
before UI auctioneer was played, and if you need an alternative it is the next best. but there is no replacement for two UIs. seems like you have already two spreading plagues included
I could have worded that bit better, those other decks got me from 25 to 20 in one play session with maybe 2-3 total losses on the way, this deck has performed considerably worse than that and getting just to rank 20 feels like a slog. But the difference is those other decks were complete and not missing any peices, from what I can see the main thing for me to focus on is getting that second UI (there are already 2 spreading plague in the deck). Coming from decks where you often rarely play the big mana cards I didn't see how much importance there could be in a 10 mana card, but I guess a lot of those situations where I feel like I have nothing to do with the excess mana I have built up would be negated by having another big mana cost card in the deck to use.
Many thanks for the advice everyone!
One option is to fall back on an earlier version of jade Druid and add two Gadgetzan Auctioneer and Earthen Scales . Maybe remove the two mire keeper and the bog creeper as well as the Golakka crawler, the spellbreaker or the mind control tech. Additionally you might also include Innervate . This card is now much worse, but with Gadgetzan it is a free carddraw (and additional mana to play something more like earthen scale) which is pretty nice.
As to the mulligan, usually you want Wild Growth and Jade Blossom . Generally you should never shuffle the first Jade Idol, but always play it as a jade Golem. The exception is that you are already in the endgame (8+ mana) and have a chance at drawing a lot of cards (like Jade Idol shuffle into Innervate + Ultimate Infestation or with a Gadgetzan on board and some cheap spells). But your win condition is to get big Jades and the first Jade Idol should contribute to this.
druid of the claw and bog creeper seem pretty bad inclusions to me, if you need anti-aggro I think a tar creeper or doom sayer or even dirty rat is better than that. if you exchange these 3 and add gadgetzan auctioneer the deck will be playable. but I don't think it will be good enough against aggro/tempo in current meta without the second UI.
about UI;
the main thing, is if you only draw one UI together with the nourishes and the second UI and wrath in your deck, you are basically already drawing your whole decks and get all the answers you need. if any cards in between are missing for the card cycle you break your whole deck. and the start of the card cycle will be much much less likely, also UI is an extremely strong card itself even without the card draw it is still a firelands portal, it clears a 5/5 and gives you a 5/5 at the same time.
here you can compare current high-legend druid decks, compilation from mitsuhide, if you type !druid in his chat at his twitch stream you will get that link;
https://imgur.com/a/5sU77
compare the jade druid lists there to yours and think about what is different to learn more about the deck.
what I didn't see before AYA is missing in your deck, she gives basically +2/2 to all your jades, and helps making your jades even worth playing, making this mechanic faster. this is almost like a double prince keleseth.
aya is a major component of the deck, fandral and khun a minor components that also help.
second UI and AYA are the most important cards to the deck you are missing.
When playing Jade Druid you talked about "ramping up" in the early game, but you didn't mention defending yourself. You have to make sure you stay alive long enough to make your big plays in addition to ramping. Oftentimes, you have to prioritize one over the other on a given turn.
I remember playing a budget version of this deck when I began seriously playing this game during Mean Streets of Gadgetzan. Having played the budget and normal versions of the decks, I can say that not having access to Aya Blackpaw or Fandral Staghelm is a big deal for the deck (I cannot speak for cards that were added to the deck since then). I never won very much until I included those cards.
Yep, basically I tried playing a version w/o spreading plague, UI and Malfurion. The deck just doesn't work well without them, and I ended up having to craft them to make the deck successful. You can check out the video on my YT channel if you're interested, but I just told you the life lesson learned. :)
Catch me on YouTube and Twitch: https://www.youtube.com/c/Hindered https://www.twitch.tv/hindered_
My take on the Patches Raza Bonemare Creeper nerfs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wysTG125huM