Hero Masterclass #2: Druid - with ThijsNL

This article was originally published on GameSpot's sister site onGamers.com, which was dedicated to esports coverage.

The Druid has been a class which has been at the top of the Hearthstone competitive scene for a long time now. Known for it's stable, multi-purpose cards, the Druid has a fighting shot against any class when it's built correctly. Today I'll be going over some of the different deck archetypes of the Druid class, it's trademark cards and it's best and worst match-ups with MYM's ThijsNL!

Archetypes

Midrange/Watcher

The midrange Druid deck, often called Watcher Druid, is a deck that was popularised by Cong "Strifecro" Shu some months ago. It relies on the Druid's efficient removal cards such as Wrath and Swipe as well as very valuable minions that can often trade upwards, such as the Chillwind Yeti. However, the midrange Druid deck packs a bit more punch than the ramp Druid deck as it contains the Force of Nature/Savage Roar combo for a burst of 14 damage for 9 mana; this gives the deck a scarier lategame and overall makes it one of the most solid and consistent decks in the entire game.

ThijsNL: Midrange Druid is the deck I have played the most and have the most experience with, playing it in all of the IHEARTHU King of the Hills I have played and more recently reverse all-killing Strifecro with it. It's an incredibly strong and consistent deck and it has the potential to beat every single deck in the game if built correctly. In this list, Strifecro is running two Force of Nature's not just to utilise it for the combo, but also as a board clearing mechanism, as well as double Argent Commander to give it a lot more aggressive potential. This list is extremely aggressive and Strifecro played it to great success in Deck Wars.

Featured Deck: Strifecro's Druidman from Deck Wars S1

Ramp

The ramp Druid deck is one that has been out of the metagame for a long time, up until recently. Heralded as one of the best counters to the midrange Hunter that we all knew and loved up until the Unleash nerf, the Ramp druid ran riot in the metagame around Dreamhack Bucharest as we saw Gaara absolutely destroy the competition there with it. The ability to steadily output massive, taunted creatures whilst not overflowing the board is one that gives many decks' issues post-Tinkmaster Overspark, and the ramp Druid is one of the best decks to do that with.

ThijsNL: Ramp Druid is the deck of these that I dislike the most currently; sometimes it can simply be too slow out of the blocks without your ramp cards (Innervate Wild Growth) and can simply lose to more minion-based aggro decks, such as zoo-lock and some of the more aggressive Mage builds out there at the minute. However, it does have its merits, and ramp Druid is exceptionally good against classes which lack big removal for a consistent output of large minions. It was popular during the Hunter era, but obviously now that is over I think that ramp Druid has fallen from grace somewhat; it's still good, just not as good as it used to be in the current metagame.

Featured Deck: Gaara's Ramp from Dreamhack Bucharest

Token

Token Druid is a deck that has been quite rarely seen on the ladder up until recently, and it is EXTREMELY rare in tournaments. Only two players I can remember has ran token Druid in a major tournament recently, and they were Realz in the most recent ESGN Fight Night, and Kolento in the final of Deck Wars. However, token Druid has it's merits as it can output an INSANE amount of damage in one turn, and can easily make an incredibly stable board with a Turn 4 - Violet Teacher, Innervate, Power of the Wild leaving a 4/6 and two 2/2's out. It's not as heavily utilised as the other two decks, but it's still very strong in it's own right.

ThijsNL: Token Druid is actually the deck I have the least experience with out of these three. Actually quite rarely seen in the tournament scene, the strength of token Druid is the ridiculously easy way it can build an insanely strong board and then put out a huge amount of damage with Savage Roar. Token Druid can be strong in the correct setting, however it's rarely seen for a reason, that a lot of the things it does well are often done better by other decks. It can be a good pick for a tournament scene if you know your opponent will be running something like control Warrior, which it performs well against, however decks with efficient board removal such as the Shaman tend to roll over the token Druid.

Featured Deck: Kolento's Token Druid from Deck Wars S1

Cards

The Druid has a number of notable cards which make it as powerful as it is. In this section, I'll go over some of the cards which make it one of the top classes consistently in the Hearthstone metagame, and why they are so good.

Swipe

Swipe is one of the best AoE board clears in the game, and yet again shows why Druid is favoured at the very highest levels of the game. An extremely efficient card, it can help to remove an onslaught of smaller minions whilst simultaneously dealing with a larger threat - fitting in with the common theme of utility throughout the Druid's class cards. A godsend against decks like zoo-lock, a spell damage swipe can completely turn the tides of the game in your favour, and it's no wonder many pros rate it as one of the best cards in the game.

Druid of the Claw

Again, another excellent Druid class card based around utility. It can be put up as a 4/6 taunt to stem aggression from your opponent, or it can be used extremely aggressively as a 4/4 charge to push for damage - it's widely regarded as the best 5-drop in the game. The curve of Chillwind Yeti-Druid of the Claw-Cairne Bloodhoof against a control deck is one the midrange Druid dreams of.

Force of Nature/Savage Roar

Now, this technically isn't one card, but this combo is definitely worthy of talking about. A guaranteed 14 damage for 9 mana is excellent, especially when you take into account the amount of card draw normally packed into the standard Druid deck - with two Ancients of Lore (another card I will be touching on) as well as Azure Drakes normally milling around, you can be sure that you will often draw into one or more parts of the combo quite early on. This combo can be devastating and your opponent almost always knows he is on a timer against the midrange Druid - this combo gives it the burst that a lot of other midrange decks lack, making it so good.

Ancient of Lore

There are plenty of Druid cards I could talk about for being excellent - the diversity of Keeper of the Grove and Wrath or even the ramping potential of Innervate and Wild Growth. However, I am going to talk about a card that is a staple in every good Druid deck - the Ancient of Lore. Regarded as one of, if not THE, best non-legendary 7 drop in the game, it gives you an incredibly strong board whilst either maintaining life against aggressive decks, or maintaining card advantage which is incredibly important against more controlling decks. This card gives you everything you could want out of it and more, and Ancient of Lore actually could be argued as the best non-legendary card in the game.

Closing Statements

As always, Druid is one of the top classes in the current metagame. I personally still feel it is one of the best and most consistent classes around, and judging by the amount of other top players consistently bringing a Druid deck to large tournaments, it's not just me who feels like that. Druid may even grow stronger with the Curse of Naxxramas expansion, as the Poison Seeds card is completely bonkers. We can only wait and see, however I think Druid is around to stay for the foreseeable future.

ThijsNL

You can follow ThijsNL on twitter at @ThijsHS, as well as his stream at www.twitch.tv/thijshs