Weekly Legends: Combo C’Thun Druid

Introduction

What better way to kick off the nerf meta than with combo? While Secrets is coming (so, so excited) we still have a whole season before we get to that point. As a result, I thought I would finally take a look at the C’thun Combo Druid deck I had major success with two seasons ago. For those that don’t know, this list (which is one of my favorite decks in Hearthstone history) is a pure combo deck that seeks to buff up C’thun before playing him alongside Aviana, Brann Bronzebeard and Kun the Forgotten King for a massive OTK combo. That allows you to do thirty plus points of damage from your hand while also filling up the board. However, as strong as that play is, it is not easy to pull off. This is a very tricky deck to play that has a large slew of different strong interactions and difficult turns, but if you can see how everything comes together it is quite strong. I believe that most of this list’s struggles came from extreme aggro (which forced me to play some less-than-stellar cards) and now that Pirates have fallen back this could be its month to shine.

Key Cards

Doomsayer

I know. It seems like I talk about Doomsayer every time I cover a deck that runs the card, but honestly it is absolutely crucial to this list. Even without aggro being prevalent on ladder, this card is a key combo piece for both setting up tempo and enabling you to go off without a hitch. For instance, running this out on turn nine against a Jade deck to prevent them from clogging up the board before your big finish is one of the best ways to beat those decks. Nobody is going to play big minions or strong bodies into a sayer. You need to remember that because you are going to put the 0/7 onto an empty board more often than not in order to stop plays before they ever happen.

Knowing how and when to play Doomsayer is largely going to be the difference between winning and losing a lot of games. Every situation is going to be different, but it is important to understand how it works against the popular classes. When facing Shaman you need to use it early to stop any Tunnel Trogg nonsense, against Rogue it is great before an Gadgetzan Auctioneer or other key drop, and when facing Druid, Priest or Warlock you typically want to drop it during the later turns when the board is empty or they have no push. This exact method is going to change each game, but you want to have some idea of what’s going to happen. Also remember that the two drop is a great way to soak up damage. Eating seven life is significant and can often buy you an extra turn. Which is really all you need.

Brann Bronzebeard

Knowing how you win this deck is key to understanding how it plays. By that I mean you should always look at your hand and know if you’re simply going to be on the midrange plan or if you need the combo to win. That will decide how you play Brann Bronzebeard throughout a game. Of course, the 2/4 is an essential part of the combo, but it also has a ton of value potential in other areas as well. You are always going to be playing to the combo with this deck, but that is not the only way it can operate. Do everything you can to make your combo work, but don’t die trying to make the combo work. This is a fine line to walk, but you can just play to the regular C’thun plan if needed. Know how you’re going to survive at all times. Sometimes you need to stock up and play the full combo, but other times you just want to take the board with triple Twin Emperor Vek’lor.

It is also important to note that Brann Bronzebeard is an amazing tempo play. The 2/4 is one of the biggest threats in the game and he is instantly going to demand attention. This means you can make large swings with him alongside another big threat (Twin Emperor Vek’lor, Dark Arakkoa) to protect those cards. And, if your opponent doesn’t kill Brann you can just blow them out the following turn. Yes, this ruins your combo, but even when you don’t have the full combo at you can still play to your turn ten with swings like Kun the Forgotten King into C’thun. Look for these situations and don’t hold cards in your hand just because you think you should.

Mulch

Besides card draw (see below) all this deck cares about it staying alive. There is just about no deck in the game that is going to beat you once you assemble Exodia. As a result, you need to work hard to keep your opponent off the board and work to keep your health as high as possible. Mulch is a great way to make that happen. The nerfs are going to drive a big spike in Midrange Shaman, which also leads to a big spike in Flamewreathed Faceless. Not only that, but Jade and Reno decks are going to be on the rise. And that means a lot more big minions. You are going to be holding a lot of cards throughout your games and it is very easy for a five or six attack minion to quickly wear you down. Mulch is key for those situations, but you need to be sure that what you’re using it on is correct. Saving this card for the right time is very important, as is using it on the right threat. If you can kill a card with other spells in your hand you should always take that route before burning the three mana spell. This gives you more versatility and helps you conserve mana, which is very important during the later stages of the game.

Note: If you’re seeing a lot Shaman you could potentially run two of these.

The Draw

Draw. Draw, draw, draw, draw. This deck only cares about one thing, and that is more cards. I have played over a hundred games with this deck, and I have probably ramped with Nourish less than ten percent of the time. While you can go in trying to power to the combo, this list needs to tear through the deck as fast as humanly possible. Sitting back and trying to take things slow is almost always going to lead to a loss. As a result, you want to allocate all of your cards to drawing. For example, playing Bloodmage Thalnos on turn two when you have a bad hand, favoring Azure Drake over a more proactive play, or using Wrath to ping instead of dealing three. Those are the small plays that get you to your combo before your

One of the trickiest things about drawing is deciding between Lunar Visions and Nourish. Both of these cards are strong, but they are applicable at different times. Usually Nourish is better. Three cards is always more valuable than two, and you also run a lot of spells, which makes Visions ramp less applicable. However, the discount on Visions can be very important because if you hit a combo piece it enables you to go off a turn or two earlier than you normally would. That is a big swing. As such, you typically want to prioritize it for situations where it is critical that you find a combo piece a turn or two earlier. Otherwise, take the three cards.

C’thun

The big baddie himself. While C’thun is a very self-explanatory card, I need to mention him in order to explain a very important part of the overall combo. Usually, you are going to try and get this card up to around the mid-teens in power before doubling it up with the classic Brann/Avian/Kun combo and taking your opponent down in one hit. However, there are going to be many decks (such as Jade Druid or Dragon Priest) that are going to just throw out a ton of high-health minions and do everything they can to clog up the board to limit the damage they take. For those decks, you need to go for the super combo.

When you play Aviana and Kun you are going to get access to a bunch of one health minions alongside ten mana. That usually just means you are going to one powerful swing, but sometimes you need to use your resources. In games where you think your opponent is going to try and lock down the board with big threats you should try to conserve a couple C’thun cards (typically both Dark Arakkoas and one or two of the smaller buffs) to play. This allows you to double up on your C’thun buffs with Brann, enabling the Old God to get well past twenty attack. If you do this correctly you can usually do forty to fifty damage, giving you the range you need to clear a strong board.

Matchups

The five decks I have seen the most on the ladder post-nerfs.

Midrange Shaman

No surprise to anyone, Midrange Shaman seems to have grown since the Pirates left. Thrall still has the strong tools he as always had, just with a new spin on them. This is going to be one of the most difficult matchups for all of the usual reasons. You are mostly going to see a mix of both Jade versions and the classic Thing from Below/Devolve[/card] lists that also pack beefy things like Flamewreathed Faceless. No matter what you’re up against you need to work very hard to control the board. As always, Shaman is going to have a ton of resources at their disposal, and if you can’t keep up with their early drops you are going to get run over. Midrange has ways to do damage, but they generally start to slow around turns four or five before picking back up later on. If you move into the middle game and they don’t have a board you should be able to leverage card draw and get time to dig.

You win this game by controlling priority and using that to race to your opponent. Shaman is a very good deck at playing tempo, but they can only do that if they are staying one turn ahead. If you can start playing bodies before them, in any way or form, it will make them react. Most of the time they will take down your threats with lethal efficiency (Jade Lightning on an Azure Drake) but that also means they aren’t killing you. That extends the game and gives you more chances to combo. Note that Doomsayer is also very important in this match. Not only is it a great way to punish them for early overload, but it also is fantastic at slowing Shaman down for a turn. Your deck is all about stretching out the game in any way that you can, so don’t be afraid to push the 0/7 against a board of two totems.

Renolock

Well, that didn’t take long. After being all but gone from the ladder, Renolock appears to have some real steam in the early week post-nerfs. This was to be expected, and you should be glad because it is by far your best matchup. Control Warlock decks have always had trouble with combo because they are not very proactive and like to Lifetap a lot (a lot). Though Reno can have Mountain Giant and Twilight Drake on turn four, without those plays they are going to have no chance. However, if they do get something down early you should always try to get rid of it as quickly as possible. Reno does not have that much damage, so don’t be afraid to Feral Rage a giant or similar threat. Taking eight once is better than taking it three times.

Your goal here is to keep your opponent focused on you as much as you can. Unlike Shaman or Rogue, both of whom can turn up the heat or push once they know what you’re up to, Renolock has a natural tendency towards control. For that reason you should let them play to it as much as possible. Give them minions to Siphon Soul, boards to AOE, and don’t mind if they Twisting Nether Twin Emperor Vek’lor. That may seem like a big deal at the time, but those are all distractions that keep the game moving forward as you pull deeper and deeper into your deck. Then, once they start to gain control or leverage a few bodies, you go full combo and take them down. Even with a minion or two, you should have enough reach to hit them from the high teens or early twenties.

Jade Druid

I have played this matchup a lot and I am not sure who is favored. Honestly, I just think it comes down to who ramps more. You are going to have a lot of trouble trying to keep up with the jade package, and once your opponent hits Aya Blackpaw the game is going to start to slip away. For that reason, don’t try and win the middle game. Rather, go straight for your big threats. Just as you can’t deal with hefty bodies, your opponent won’t be able to as well. This makes plays like triple Twin Emperor Vek’lor, Kun the Forgotten King into Aviana or simply a large C’thun game-ending almost all of the time. It is important to recognize that. Always take the chance to put down a huge threat over drawing or removal because it doesn’t take long for this one to get out of control.

Doomsayer is one of your most important cards against Druid because, not only is it often going to be a pair for them do deal with, but they are never going to spend resources on it if they don’t have to. That means you want to always play these into weak boards (like how you do against Shaman) or the turn before you think they’re going to go off. The 0/7 is good at all different points of this match, but it is best around turns eight or nine to help you draw. Jade Druid is strong, but they are slow. That is, they need to play their minions on the board (which takes a turn) and then kill you with them the next. Understand that lapse and always dig hard two turns before you expect your opponent to go big.

Reno Mage

Reno Mage was good before, and my is it good now. This is going to be one of your toughest matchups simply because of Ice Block. The secret has always been tricky for combo decks, and if your opponent can survive a large hit, then heal and lock down the board you aren’t going to be able to come back. The way you subvert that is by playing the midrange game hard. This is the matchup where you need to focus on just being a C’thun midrange deck. Save the combo (and sometimes don’t even do that), but run out everything else and push for damage at every opportunity. Reno Mage is a nightmare to combat when they are comfortable or when they have time to breathe. You always want to make them nervous in some way, be it a Dark Arakkoa or just drawing three with Nourish, so that they have to use resources and play cards. Play your threats for bodies much more than value. You win this by either popping an Ice Block early and then comboing them down, or by killing them before they ever get a chance to draw the secret in the first place.

Dragon Priest

Another midrange deck on the rise, Dragon Priest is probably your toughest matchup that doesn’t run Ice Block. There are two reasons for this. One, you need hold most of your C’thun cards. Priest has the uncanny ability to fill up the board with health better than any other deck, and if you just do the normal combo it often won’t be enough to beat everything they have. They can then Shadow Word: Death your C’thun, trade the board and take over from there. As a result, you want to super-combo your opponent in this one. To do that, you need the usual four cards alongside two Dark Arakkoas and a 2/2 buff or a couple small 2/2 buffs and a Dark Arakkoa. With Brann Bronzebeard that play can give you over fifty points of damage easy, which no amount of on-board health is going to be able to stop.

The other big part of this matchup is that Dragon Priest has such a high density it is going to be very easy to fall behind. I would treat this game a lot like Shaman in that you need to keep their threats in check and make sure you don’t suddenly get run over by a board full of 3/10’s out of nowhere. However, unlike Shaman, you don’t need to be worried about burst in this one. Priests only way to do real damage is with Brann Bronzebeard/Blackwing Corruptor, and that only does six. As such, know when it is ok to take a couple of extra hits so you can draw cards. Racing to the combo is going to be vital once you hit your middle turns.

Mulligan Guide

Mulliganing with this deck is going to revolve around early ramp and early removal. Card draw and C’thun minions are also important, but you have to try and control the first turns if you want to have a chance in this one. The general rule of Druid applies here, meaning you want to keep all of your cheap cards and only look for midgame plays if they work well with your early ramp. Innervate, Wild Growth and Wrath are you must-keeps in this one. Doomsayer and Feral Rage are both very good against aggro, and Swipe should be kept against Shaman, Rogue or Warrior (especially with the coin). Rage is a good keep against Rogue as well.

Beyond that, only keep Bloodmage Thalnos if you have a very sketchy hand and need draw, or if you have some early spell you want to combo with it. Mulch is very strong against the current versions of Shaman, and you can also keep it against Rogue if you have a good opening to deal with Edwin Vancleef. Finally, Disciple of C’thun is good against aggro or with a strong curve, and C’thun’s Chosen should always be kept with a good curve or against Priest with the coin.

Conclusion

Secrets is on its way, and while I am soooo pumped about rotation, I am really going to be sad to see this one go. C’thun combo is probably in my top five favorite decks of all time. There are so many moving parts, so many interactions and turns you need to plan, and when it all comes together it has such a rewarding “gotcha!” type finish that is so, so satisfying. I could talk about this deck forever, and while I won’t, I encourage to go out and play it. The learning curve is steep, but practice makes perfect. Until next time, may you always OTK.

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