Hey guys, Sempok here. Today, I’ll be talking about a deck that I have been thinking about for a really long time now. Pre-Standard, I used to be a huge Druid enthusiast and Midrange Druid was one of the if not the favorite deck of mine. So much so that I tried to make Midrange Druid work in Standard with a very janky Leeroy Jenkins + Savage Roar combo. I have always hit legend with Beast Druid in Standard. It would be an understatement to say that I was beyond hyped when the new Beast Druid synergy cards were released in One Night in Karazhan. This build is the most satisfying build that I have been able to come up with and definitely the one that I will be laddering with.
The Deck
Beast Druid as an archetype has always been something that has gravitated towards a more aggressive playstyle. With cards like Druid of the Saber and Mounted Raptor, an Aggro line of play has always been pushed.
However, Menagerie Warden gives the deck a midgame push that it really lacked before. Knight of the Wild was always too weak since its cost did not get reduced while it was not present in your hand. The card does not exactly fit the Aggro archetype and really plays more into the strengths of Midrange. Hence, a more Midrange archetype is something that is actually viable now.
Aggro Druid has two primary builds. There is the regular build filled with beasts and then there is a more flood centric build that utilizes Violet Teachers and Power of the Wilds. This build is more similar to the first build. It focuses on trying to get the board early on using Innervate and beast synergy cards like Mark of Y’Shaarj and snowballing from there.
The Cards
This deck does feature some cards that are fairly unorthodox and not that popular in most lists. Here is a full rundown on some of the more interesting choices included in this list.
Wild Growth: As I said before, this deck is far more on the Midrange side of things and Wild Growth is amazing in that endeavor. While not a card that many people need to be sold on, this card is like having a coin for the rest of the game (well, technically till turn 10). It provides an advantage of Mana and Tempo throughout the game that is unparalleled, and while it does not work too well in an Aggro setting, it definitely fits well here.
King Mukla: To be extremely frank, I think any Beast Druid list that does not run King Mukla does not know what it’s trying to do. King Mukla is the best 3-drop for this deck and it is just silly to not play it in every Beast Druid build. It is a 5/5 for 3, a statline that helps gain early board control amazingly. Moreover, it is a beast! This card is everything that Druid of the Flame wants to be, and you don’t even need Fandral Staghelm on board! Not to mention, turn-1 Innervate into King Mukla can straight up win you games. Insanity!
Azure Drake: Most builds of Beast Druid have cut Azure Drake in favor of Druid of the Claw and Stranglethorn Tiger, and while that is justified, it is not enough. Since this deck runs 4 mana ramp cards, it tends to run of steam fairly quickly. It also has 5 spells that synergise well with spell damage, and while I don’t really like to give spoilers, the Dragon tag is very relevant…
The Curator: As soon as this card was released, I started brainstorming decks that this card could see play in, as it has one of the strongest effects in game. Compared to Nourish, when you get full value from this card, it is essentially a 2-mana 4/6 with taunt that only takes 1 slot of the deck! Even when it’s just an Arcane Intellect it is still absolutely bonkers. This card fits in amazingly well in this deck as you are guaranteed to draw a beast just when you are running out of steam as well as Azure Drake, that can in turn let you draw more cards and help get that final push you need against certain control decks.
Ancient of War: Since this deck is Midrange, it can encounter certain problems with Zoo and Aggro builds. While ramping up definitely is a solid counter, Ancient of War stop these sort of decks dead in their tracks and often is just a really solid body that numerous decks can have a problem dealing with. It also does have the surprise factor attached to it since it is not something that is generally seen in Beast Druid.
Omissions
The deck also clearly cuts out some of the more popular cards found in Beast Druid builds. Let’s talk about those as well.
Enchanted Raven: While at first glance this card looks solid, I actually think that this card is severely overrated. It does not manage to trade favorable against any popular statline present in the current metagame. It fails to have a good effect attached to it when played and in general is just an underwhelming card. While it does synergise well with Mark of Y’Shaarj, I absolutely do not think that is enough to warrant a spot in the list. Since this deck also has Innervate and Wild Growth, the card quality needs to be high to compensate. It also thins out the deck in terms of topdecks and getting pulled from The Curator.
Violet Teacher, Savage Roar, and Power of the Wild: As stated previously, this deck does not focus on flooding the board. Savage Roar is often a dead card and clogs up the hand if you don’t have the board. Since this deck snowballs on having a board, Savage Roar is not something that I’m too keen about. Perhaps a one-of inclusion is warranted as a tech choice but not more. Violet Teacher is only especially good when used in conjunction with other cards, something which is not really that consistent as a primarily minion-based deck. Power of the Wild is merely a 3/2 panther more often than not and in the games that it does go off it still doesn’t have as a big of an effect as it does in Token Druid for it to warrant a spot in this list.
Huge Toad: This card shares many of the same problems as Enchanted Raven insofar that it has negative synergies with Ramp associated with it and serves only to thin out the deck with a more than underwhelming effect.
Sir Finley Mrrgglton: Since this deck does not want to follow an Aggro Archetype, Finley is something of a luxury. If we could guarantee getting the Life Tap hero power every time this card was played, it would be amazing. However, that is not the case and hence Finley does not manage to make the cut.
Conclusion
After a painstaking amount of theorycrafting and brainstorming, this is the list that I have settled on for the Beast Druid tag. I will have to do an incredible amount of testing to see how it ends up performing but for now, I believe that this is the best Beast Druid list and definitely look forward to ruining people’s days with it.
If you have any questions regarding the deck or how it works, feel free to comment below and I will try my best to answer is adequately. Thanks and GLHF!
