So I have been tooling around post nerfs looking for a fun deck to take people by surprise on ladder. Most people know what to expect from Quest Druid by now: either Malygos burst, or big board buffs.
But I wanted to push the deck further and see if I could amplify the things that made the concept great, and maybe even shore the deck up versus some awkward matchups. As a bonus, I was able to squeeze in some Highlander cards to really throw off what your opponent THINKS you can do.
But how? Quest Druid relies so much on its high value CHOOSE BOTH effects, it should be impossible to play the deck effectively as a highlander deck. But therein lies the devil of your endgame. By amping up the DRAW effects in the deck, you get to the end of the deck much quicker psuedo-miracle style. Once you have drawn your whole deck (or at least one copy of all your duplicates), your Highlander cards activate and the real options open up.
Early game, we have a smidge more tempo to help us with aggressive decks, as well as ferocious howl as a draw effect to give us more padding to weather our low-tempo turns. Keeper Stalladris also lets us double up on key spells to help us draw more, heal more, and snipe more -- OR if he goes unused till late game, he can help us build a hand of BIG spells for King Phaoris to play with.
So what do we do with our Highlander options?
Well, as we know by now, Zephrys gives a deck extraordinary reach and utility, esepecially at full mana. He can net you a savage roar or better if your opponent stalls vs your full board - Mass Dispel vs lots of buffs/taunts or Twisting Nether in case of Emergency - or even sometimes a Gorehowl or Leeroy for the final punch to the face.
Elise the Enlightened hits the other side... offering double the value of anything in your hand when you play her. Setting up a hand with 2x Nomi, 2xFloop, 2xZephrys, 2xPhaoris... etc etc etc. You should have some healing to survive a few turns of fatigue - meanwhile your opponent should be hard pressed to costantly clear your Raw-Value boards... and once you are within striking distance, Zephyrs can seal the deal if you need that extra little tap.
Card Choices
Crystal Power -- A touch of extra healing, if you need to activate Stagg, small removal otherwise. Great to use with Stalladris -- be mindful though, you only get one target. If your quest is active, you will do 2 damage and then heal for 5, so don't use as CHOOSE BOTH removal unless the 2 damage will finish off the kill.
Untapped Potential -- The main plan: the myth, the man, the Quest. Worthy Expedition -- Lets you discover bonus options for some RNG goodness.
Crystal Merchant -- Low tempo bard presance that DOES actually help trading early vs aggro. The more cards he draws you, the closer you are to the end of the game.
Keeper Stalladris -- be very careful about playing this guy early. He is great versus aggro if you have a couple removals to pick off key targets, but he can flood your hand if you just use him to generate value for no purpose. Late game he can split your bigger spells for hits with Phaoris, or even just Mass Healing or duplication of Starfall if neccesary.
Wrath -- Easy creature removal, best if used to draw cards, but sometimes you just need to tap for 3. Best case, finishing the quest gets 4 AND a card.
Zephrys the Great -- If you REALLY need to tempo him out you can... especially vs aggro. But he is mostly here for the late game once we have cycled through most of our deck to activate him.
BEEEES!!! -- 4 damage for 3, leaves excess damage behind on the board.
Ferocious Howl -- Draw/Cycle, that turns cards in hand into Armor, giving us lota of padding to survive to the late game and even soak some fatigue.
Wardruid Loti -- Swiss army knife Creature, that you often want to play proactively for the stealth/spellboost if you can count on him not getting hit by AoE
Flobbidinous Floop -- A copy of anything you want. Best used late game as an extra Phaoris, Nomi, Zephrys, or, anything really. But you can use him on stagg, surger, or defender early if you need to extra help vs aggro
Swipe -- Multi-use AoE, if for some reason you have them left over at end game, you can also go face with them.
Anubisath Defender --"Free" ward for turns where we drop a big spell. Don't be afraid to hard cast him if you have no better options however.
Crystal Stag -- Basically Surger #3. You need to heal 5 to get the duplicate, but sometimes you-re okay with just playing him for 4. Having an extra wide option that is relatively inexpensive does help to recover the board after our low-tempo early game.
Elise the Enlightened -- Doubles your hand. simple as that. Once you are setting up to close the game, gives you a nice burst of VALUE for whatever you have left to worth with.
Oasis Surger -- Best when used after the quest is complete, he helps you retake boards that are overfulf with minions that have gotten fat from a free lunch.
Starfall -- usually used as a Giant SWIPE with the quest active. Helps to recover problem boards.
Hidden Oasis -- Heal or taunt, usually played for both with active quest. You might try to save or stockpile this (with Stalladris) for Phaoris however.
Nourish -- Cards and/or Draw. If I am getting handcloged with 2 of these early I will cast the first (sometimes with Coin) just to get my mana up and my hand size down.
Chef Nomi -- Post Fatigue BOMB. Better with Duplicates. How many Nomi can YOU kill in consecutive turns?
King Phaoris -- Kind of a Duplicate Nomi... I actually treat him more like a PRECURSOR to Nomi -- dropping big value and forcing responses before even bigger guns come down.
Honorable Mention:
Voodoo Doll -- If you are having issues with Tall/Single targets consider bringing in the Doll, maybe even with an extra Crystal Power. Just Set him up and pick him off with Wrath or Crystal Power (or a copy from Stalladris).
This modification can sub up to 3 cards:
Crytal Stagg for Voodoo Doll #1
Worthy Expedition for Voodoo Doll #2
Hidden Oasis for Crysal Power #2
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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So I have been tooling around post nerfs looking for a fun deck to take people by surprise on ladder. Most people know what to expect from Quest Druid by now: either Malygos burst, or big board buffs.
But I wanted to push the deck further and see if I could amplify the things that made the concept great, and maybe even shore the deck up versus some awkward matchups. As a bonus, I was able to squeeze in some Highlander cards to really throw off what your opponent THINKS you can do.
But how? Quest Druid relies so much on its high value CHOOSE BOTH effects, it should be impossible to play the deck effectively as a highlander deck. But therein lies the devil of your endgame. By amping up the DRAW effects in the deck, you get to the end of the deck much quicker psuedo-miracle style. Once you have drawn your whole deck (or at least one copy of all your duplicates), your Highlander cards activate and the real options open up.
Early game, we have a smidge more tempo to help us with aggressive decks, as well as ferocious howl as a draw effect to give us more padding to weather our low-tempo turns. Keeper Stalladris also lets us double up on key spells to help us draw more, heal more, and snipe more -- OR if he goes unused till late game, he can help us build a hand of BIG spells for King Phaoris to play with.
So what do we do with our Highlander options?
Well, as we know by now, Zephrys gives a deck extraordinary reach and utility, esepecially at full mana. He can net you a savage roar or better if your opponent stalls vs your full board - Mass Dispel vs lots of buffs/taunts or Twisting Nether in case of Emergency - or even sometimes a Gorehowl or Leeroy for the final punch to the face.
Elise the Enlightened hits the other side... offering double the value of anything in your hand when you play her. Setting up a hand with 2x Nomi, 2xFloop, 2xZephrys, 2xPhaoris... etc etc etc. You should have some healing to survive a few turns of fatigue - meanwhile your opponent should be hard pressed to costantly clear your Raw-Value boards... and once you are within striking distance, Zephyrs can seal the deal if you need that extra little tap.
Card Choices
Worthy Expedition -- Lets you discover bonus options for some RNG goodness.
Honorable Mention:
This modification can sub up to 3 cards: