Hearthpwn

We'll find out in just a few hours, but I hope it's something to really compensate for the harsh nerfs that Druid received. No AoL or Keeper is really going to affect the class moving forward. I like the idea of something that helps the Ramp or Beast archetype, since that's what Blizz seems to be pushing Druid to do. I honestly don't think Beast will be viable unless there's more synergistic cards that aren't just a pile of stats. One badass legendary that makes you really want to play a Beast druid deck would really do the trick.

In all honesty, between this and the Keeper of the Grove nerf, which were my two favorite cards, it really kind of flips my excitement for the expansion into just feeling like I want to quit the game.

Very sad. Both of my favorite cards, Ancient of Lore and Keeper of the Grove, are pretty much unplayable now. AoL is completely outclassed by Azure Drake now. 2-mana less for just -1/-1 in stats AND you get spellpower? Yes, please. Keeper is almost on par with Ironforge Rifleman, and definitely much worse than Spellbreaker. Sure, the flexibility is nice, but it's not worth it for the huge loss in tempo by playing a horrible 4-mana 2/2. Druid's best anti-aggro tool is now gone. What're we gonna do against Facehunter and their ilk now?

I know Druid will be fine and eventually come out from the bottom tier it now shares with Rogue (RIP Blade Flurry) but I agree that my excitement for the expansion has been completely flipped into feeling like quitting. I'll get over it eventually, but right now it sucks.

Also, I'm not getting my hopes up about Beast Druid. Maybe if another synergy card is released (Mark of Y'Shaarj is in the right direction), and not just another pile of stats like all the other "synergy" cards, then it might see some play, but for now I don't think it will. Druid of the Fang is even getting rotated out of standard.

This deck is really good. I like it a lot more than the slower Renolock variants that run Feugen and Stalagg, which to me, just don't do enough. Adding the Dread Infernal helps to make the Voidcallers a lot more consistent, and it helps the Paladin/Zoo matchup by killing off a lot of 1/1s or pinging off divine shields. That being said, I think the 2 Voidcallers definitely makes the Shaman matchup much harder. Pretty much the only times I’ve lost a match against Shaman were because I had Reno sitting in my hand, and even by turn 10 I still hadn’t drawn a Voidcaller. Overall, it’s worth it to run the pair of them because it makes every other match-up much better, but I just don’t know what to tech in to help against Shaman.

This deck is amazing. It allowed me to get to Legend for the very first time! More accurately, it allowed me to smash through to Legendary for the first time; I was surprised how dominant this deck is over the rest of the meta. The only troublesome match-ups are Dragon Priest and mid-range Hunter, but they can be dispatched with easily if you get good early draws. I was running a very similar list to this, but with two copies of Savage Combatant instead of Shade of Naxxramas, but after making the switch the difference was immediately noticeable. I think old habits die hard, and I was also still running BGH in my list. To be honest though, he's just not needed that much these days. Only a few Handlocks and seemingly no Control Warrior can be found, so he's just not necessary anymore. I've definitely noticed how much of a dead card it was all the time, but now there's pretty much no dead draws in this deck. Very optimal build!

Anyone had a chance to test this guy out yet? I feel like he would go really, really well in my Token Druid, but I'm trying to hold off on crafting anything until the meta slows down.

Wow, Beast Druid might actually become a thing. If it does, this will surely become a staple as it generates a lot of value if it's in your hand. Still not sure how great Beast Druid might be, but this is a pretty good card.

Wow, some hard removal. This is quite a surprise. It's a Druid removal, so naturally it's got some sort of drawback to it. How bad is the drawback? Well, it's a 2-more mana expensive Naturalize, but still draws your opponent a card. However, it's a random minion and not a card from your opponent's deck, so I think that makes it a lot better. A random minion probably isn't going to be that good, and it's not discounted as if they got it from Unstable Portal or something. Still, you could draw them another Dr. Boom and then you just lose right out, but I'd be willing to take that risk.

I'll take it, I guess.

Man, I knew we should have listened to Ben Brode! This is the exact kind of card that we were all saying would make Inspire viable. Looks like it's on, boys!

I think there's huge potential for lots of new Druid archetypes with TGT. Although we've still yet to see a few cards Druids are getting, I'm ecstatic at what has been released so far. I'm most excited to get out there and experiment with a bunch of them and try out some new archetypes. Just off the top of my head these are the Druid archetypes I want to try out once TGT hits. Some of these will probably have a lot of overlap in cards, but I think you can tech in different cards to make each type a little bit more specialized.

Ramp Druid: Even though it's one of the types that you mentioned already exist, I just think this is going to be sick. Aviana and Darnassus Aspirant are going to be huge staples. Darnassus Aspirant makes getting your ramp a lot more consistent, and there's going to be so many crazy things that are enabled with Aviana. Imagine dropping this and Kel'Thuzad on the same turn. It's pretty much GG. If the meta slows down enough (which I think it will because of many anti-aggro cards being released, such as Healing Wave). Ramp Druid might be the king of the meta.

Token Druid: I think we're going to finally see the return of Token Druid, and I'm very excited because it was my favorite deck to play when I first started playing Hearthstone. Living Roots and Druid of the Saber are going to be great additions to a more aggro/mid-rangey deck. The only question about the viability of this deck is if Patron Warrior is still around because having a lot of small attack tokens on the board is terrible against it.

Astral Druid: I think Astral Communion is the craziest card that's been announced for TGT thus far. It's such a polarizing card. Much like Wild Growth, you draw it early and win, or you never get your ramp and slowly die a painful defeat. This card is like that scenario, but on crack. You'll need to run a lot of card draw like Loot Hoarder and Acolyte of Pain, plus cards like Nourish, in order to get card draw once your hand is gone. But oh man, if you manage to get it off you can just plop down things like Cenarius or Dr. Boom or Ancient of War every turn as early as turn 3, while your opponent just reaches for the concede button, that'd be sick.

Wailing Soul Druid: This type of deck has already been around for a little bit, but I think that there's actually a little bit more viability to it now with Darnassus Aspirant. You can utilize a lot of cards like Ancient Watcher, Ogre Brute, and Dancing Swords, cards that have a lot of drawback in exchange for good value, and then silence all of them to just get the benefits. I dunno if this will be viable, but it will still be fun mid-range deck to try out, especially if you can get Darnassus Aspirant to survive a turn and then play Wailing Soulon turn 4.

Aggro Druid: I've experimented with Aggro Druid before, and it's decent. Again I think cards like Living Roots and Druid of the Saber will help a lot. This is a little different from a Token Druid because you would want to play more aggressive cards like Leper Gnome and have an overall lower mana curve.

Joust Control Druid: Tbh, I'm not sure how viable the joust mechanic will be. But it could be fun to play a Ramp-style Druid with cards like Master Jouster and always get the benefit. Ramp Druid plays a lot of big beefy minions, and if you run Living Roots as opposed to Zombie Chow for dealing with early game minions, chances are you'll win the joust most of the time since your lowest mana creature will be something like a Shade of Naxxramas. Depending on the other kinds of joust cards released, I think Druid might be one of the most viable classes in making them work.

Inspire Druid: Again, not sure how viable Inspire will be as a mechanic, but I'm really excited to try out Savage Combatant and Justicar Trueheart. I think if you can Innervate out a Savage Combatant on turn 2 and just hero power away all your opponent's early game minions while maintaining a 5/4 on the board, I think that will be pretty hard to beat. Depending on the viability of Inspire, there might be a lot of synergy and maybe even cards like Savagery and Bite might see some use.

Buff Druid: With the new additions of Eydis Darkbane and Fjola Lightbane, Druid is one of the three classes most well-equipped to buff and target them with spells to take full advantage. Although I don't think Druid will be as good as Paladin or certainly Priest in taking advantage of their effects, cards like Mark of the Wild and maybe even Mark of Nature could see some play here. Maybe run some spare part synergy cards in there, and this could become a deck that actually comes about.

Combo Druid: This thing will always be a staple. Again, Ramp might get more consistent with Darnassus Aspirant, but Force of Nature / Savage Roar will always be a mainstay.

Malygos Druid: Malygos, or Miracle, Druid also got a bit of a boost with Living Roots. Master of Ceremonies also has synergy with lots of spell power minions, so you could see a Druid archetype that runs a bunch of draw and spell power and tries to OTK you with Emperor Thaurissan, then use Malygos, Faceless Manipulator, Moonfire, and Living Roots.

Beast Druid: To be totally honest, I really hate the idea of this deck. I think it's totally unviable unless Blizzard releases more beast synergy cards. Hunter has 8 and they don't even run a beast-based deck. Druid has a measly 1 beast synergy card, Druid of the Fang, and it's not even a really good one. Savage Combatant and Druid of the Saber add more beasts to the Druid's repertoire to get a 7/7 DotF, but I just don't think it will be very good.

There's also Mill Druid and Mech Druid which I doubt will see very many additions in this expansion, so they're probably not worth bothering to talk about possibly improving. The only thing I can say is that if the meta becomes super slow, then Mill Druid might actually become useful.

Tl;dr: I think that Druid will have a lot of new archetypes to experiment with. Whether they become viable or not depends on the rest of the meta, but at least there will be a lot of fun new toys we're getting to play around with.

Wow, Druids getting even more love. This is probably the strongest 1-mana card in the game.

Look at me...I'm the Paladin now.

...Ben Brode did not lie. Aviana is absolutely amazing. I IMMEDIATELY bought the special pre-order after I saw it.

M-my Druid...my dear, sweet Druid. I might cry. This is amazing.

Quote from Sincere jump

Quote from Sahgos jump

Here's the latest one!!

Disappoint.

So much for Brode's quote. Also, still no removal. More disappoint.

Hush now. I think this is a really solid card that opens a lot of early game options that Druids struggle with. It also opens the door for an Aggro Druid (or if there's more beast synergy cards released, a beast deck). Also, we've only seen 3/8 cards released for Druid. If GvG is any indication, then we'll get at least 3 spells, and some of them might be some sort of AoE. I wouldn't count on Druids ever getting a superior removal though because it's what keeps the class balanced.