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Midrange Druid deck list guide - September 2017

How to get started with the very new take on old Midrange Druid.

It's been more than a year now since Midrange Druid saw what might reasonably be called competitive play in Hearthstone, but with the release of the Frozen Throne expansion it looks as though this archetype might be about to make quite the comeback.

After such a lengthy absence, that means there's a lot of experimentation taking place in the early days of the new meta, and so the deck list we're highlight should definitely be considered a work in progress - careful what you spend your precious dust on is our evergreen advice.

Still, if you're keen to see what all of the fuss is about, we've highlighted a deck list by Kolent - one of the best deck creators we know of - and about as safe a pair of hands as you could hope for when it comes to picking the best cards for the format. We've got some Mulligan tips as well, followed by a collection of tips about how you can combo all the cards together.

Once the launch period has stabilised - and assuming this deck stays the distance - we'll be back with a huge amount of strategy advice for individual match-ups. We'll also expand on every other area of the guide as well, so it's the best resource it can be for the community. Do share your own tips in the comments too!

Our Frozen Throne: Best Decks and Guides hub contains everything you need to get stuck into the new meta!

Midrange Druid deck list and strategy

Here's Kolento's take on Midrange Druid, although do keep in mind that there are some quite different versions of this deck in circulation right now. Stay tuned for updates as we monitor how this one plays out in the meta...

DruidNeutral
2 x Innervate1 x Crazed Alchemist
2 x Mark of the Lotus1 x Tar Creeper
2 x Druid of the Swarm2 x Bonemare
2 x Power of the Wild
2 x Wild Growth
2 x Wrath
1 x Crypt Lord
1 x Fandral Staghelm
2 x Mire Keeper
2 x Strongshell Scavenger
1 x Living Mana
2 x Nourish
2 x Spreading Plague
1 x Malfurion the Pestilent
2 x Ultimate Infestation

Select and copy the long ID string below, then create a deck in Hearthstone to export this deck into your game.

Deck Import ID: AAECAZICBqEGrqsChsECysMCkdACmdMCDF/+AfcDxAbkCL6uAs27ApvNAqDNAofOAqbOAo7QAgA=

Card replacements

- 1 Tar Creeper, - 1 Crazed Alchemist / + 2 Swipe

If aggro decks are wiping you out too quickly, then running a Swipe or two can help hold off that early pressure.

- 1 Tar Creeper / + 1 The Lich King

Adding The Lich King can skew the deck more towards a stronger late-game and give you some extra options from the additional cards it generates.

- 1 Crazed Alchemist / + 1 Savage Roar

The space is tough to find but a Savage Roar makes up for the lack of aggressive options in the deck and synergises well with the multiple minion summoning cards.

- 1 Crazed Alchemist / + 1 The Black Knight

This gives the deck more consistent removal against taunt minions, so you can send damage directly to an opponent’s life total.

Strategies against each class:

Druid - While Midrange Druid is one of the less optimal decks when compared to the immense power of Jade, Aggro and Token Druid there’s still enough card quality within the deck to contest. Similar to the Hunter strategy, you can control Aggro Druid with taunt minions and the more powerful late game cards. You’ll want to speed things up against Jade, though, as there’s no way you’ll out-value that deck!

Hunter - With a reliance on minions and nothing in the way of board clears, there’s a chance you can get overwhelmed by a fast start from the Hunter. Ramping fast to reach late-game cards such as Living Mana and Spreading Plague will help you contest the board, though, while you delay with the deck’s cheap taunt minions in the early-game.

Mage - This match-up is tough for Midrange Druid as the deck lacks the surprise final punch of damage that can get through all the delays and freeze effects that Mage decks are running at the minute. You’ll also want to avoid over-committing into potential Doomsayer and Frost Nova combos that’ll wipe your stacked board off the planet. Ramp will help you get ahead, but you’ll also want a bit of luck to dodge the cards that can devastate you.

Paladin - With a near-perfect draw a Murloc Paladin risks being an unstoppable force for Midrange Druid to deal with - no matter how many taunts you put in the way! The control match-up isn’t particularly favourable either, so be careful how far you extend into Equality/Consecrate or Wild Pyromancer. If you can dodge these removal cards or start off faster than the Paladin, then you can sneak out a win.

Priest - Again, this could be a difficult match without some final burst damage. However, Priest doesn’t have as many options to delay as the Mage so a fast approach can be successful here. With the prevalence of Highlander Priest you can also more easily know when their board clears have been spent, and hold onto a big combo to generate a bunch of buffed minions.

Rogue - With all the defensive options in this deck, your taunt minions should devour everything the Rogue throws at you. Outside of a Vanish there’s very little they can do once you’ve established your presence on the board. Once you buff your row of minions and reach your late-game cards, the match will snowball in your favour.

Shaman - Shaman trying to overwhelm you with a board full of minions can actually work for you if you’re able to survive and pull off a huge Spreading Plague into Mark of the Lotus/Power of the Wild play. One thing to be especially careful of, though, is how much you commit into a Shaman who still may hold Devolve. Filling up your side of the board with buffed Living Mana may look impressive, but if they cast Devolve you can say goodbye to your Mana crystals!

Warlock - Druid really struggles against big minions, so coming up against the Control Warlock deck that’s popping up on ladder right now can be problematic. The deck does struggle from a lack of decent healing options so you’ll want to threaten their life total as much as possible. With their excessive board clears, you might also find it difficult to get some of your combos to stick. However, it’s not a particularly popular deck and you can mitigate some of the potential pitfalls with card tech options.

Warrior - With your extensive list of taunts, and handful of early-game control options, you should be in a decent position to exhaust Pirate Warrior of their resources and take over in the late-game. Against control, search for ramp cards early and try to get far ahead of the Warrior. You’ll want to get them down before they can build up too much armour. Be wary of Brawl if you go wide on the board, too.

More great Druid guides:

Midrange Druid Mulligan guide

It is obviously very tricky to provide hard and fast Mulligan advice at the start of a new meta. We don't know what your opponents are likely to be wielding, after all, and so we can only give the broadest overview of how you should plan your early turns.

Having said that, the classic advice still holds for Druid. Innervate and Wild Growth are crucial keeps, as they allow you to do more work, earlier on. The earlier you can pop Wild Growth in particular, the more you'll benefit from its resource-enhancement over the course of an entire match.

In terms of minions, Druid of the Swarm and Crypt Lord seem like natural keeps given the relatively scarce amount of early-game presence you have. Two minions can be more than enough to drop a buff on, so consider keeping one Mark of the Lotus if you're likely to have early board presence established quickly.

When things have stabilised, we'll revisit this section of our guide and update it considerably! We'll get a hero-by-hero snapshot together as well, so you can quickly refer to what you need to keep or toss back in any given encounter.

Midrange Druid tips, combos and synergies

Here's the meat of the first edition of our guide. In this section you'll find a teardown of all the combos you have to play with. This should represent enough strategy advice for you to get going at least!

- Casting Innervate for free will let you play a minion or spell that costs two Mana more than your current reserves on the same turn.

- Wild Growth provides you with a single Mana advantage for the remainder of the match. If you play it on Turn 10, you'll receive a card called Excess Mana which can be exchanged - for free - for another card from the top of your deck pile.

- The following cards can all be used to boost up the board presence you've established: Mark of the Lotus, Strongshell Scavenger and Power of the Wild.

- Crypt Lord gains an extra point of Armor for each minion subsequently summoned onto the board. That has an obvious synergy with Crazed Alchemist, which will swap around the target's Attack and Health stats!

- If Fandral Staghelm is out on the board, the following 'Choose One' cards will actually trigger both of their effects: Druid of the Swarm, Power of the Wild, Wrath, Mire Keeper, Nourish and Malfurion the Pestilent.

- Spreading Plague works as a way of equalising your presence with the opponent's on the board. If after casting it the enemy still has more minions, it'll be cast again. You can see how neatly this then plays into your various buffing options (see above).

- It's not a combo as such, but Bonemare has obvious power in this deck. You'll almost certainly have some kind of board presence when Turn 7 comes around, and you can then buff a target up give it Taunt as well!

Advanced Tips

- It’s often worth holding onto cards such as Living Mana and Spreading Plague until you can combo them with Mark of the Lotus and Strongshell Scavenger. Waiting for enough Mana to use them both on the same turn - or getting some help with an Innervate - can set up a mighty board presence that your opponent will struggle to make a dent in.

- Given the Druid’s limited options for dealing with big minions, it might be worth considering how you can use Crazed Alchemist defensively in the deck too. The combo with Crypt Lord is undeniably tempting, but you can also take out one of your opponent’s high health and low attack minions by swapping the numbers around. A Ysera is much less of an issue when it's only got four health!

- In the past, Nourish has almost exclusively been used for additional card draw. With the inclusion of Ultimate Infestation, however, those days are a thing of the past. It’s now almost always more beneficial to take the extra Mana crystals with Nourish so you can get to Ultimate Infestation quicker. Be careful not to overdraw, though!

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John Bedford avatar

John Bedford

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John is Metabomb's Editor in Chief and looks after the day to day running of the site when he's not writing about Hearthstone.

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