Introduction
Greetings, dear readers, and welcome to the first installment of ”Top 10’s”, an article series where I walk you through my own top 10 ”something Hearthstone” list. We’re taking a much-needed break from the ”Running Wild” this month but next month I will have a lot to write about regarding the format because the next expansion is upon us! Until the next expansion drops I’ll be focusing solely on the ”Top 10’s” articles and the current goal for this month is to cover all wild class cards and neutral cards in a form of a Top 10 list 🙂 Please, keep in mind that the list is my own personal opinion and that it might differ from your own Top 10 list.
Sit back, relax, and let’s dive right into this! 🙂
Rules
First and foremost, we need to get some ground rules established.
The first rule is that only wild exclusive cards can be on this list. This excludes cards from the basic and classic sets. Both of those sets are sets are standard legal so if I were to one day make a standard top 10 list it would look a lot like the wild one. The second reason for this is, and we can all agree on this one, that the classic and basic cards are the most powerful cards in the entire game. If I’ve included them into my top 10 list than more than a half of the list would be cards from those sets and that is no fun.
The second rule is that only the current versions of cards can be on this list. There is no point in putting pre nerf versions on a top 10 list because those cards, in that form, no longer exist in the game and they would make more than half of the list because they were stupidly powerful and nerfed for a good reason. One day I might make a Top 10 pre nerfed cards list but until that day comes I will focus only on the current itteration of cards.
I don’t think that this needs to be said but, just in case, the list goes from the worst to best with 10 being the worst and 1 being the best.
With that out of the way, let’s dive right into the list 🙂
Number 10
grove-tender is my favorite wild druid card. It was introduced way back in Goblins vs Gnomes and although it never saw too much play it did manage to find a home, at least for a while, in various ramp and mill druid lists. I actually run two copies of it in my very own mill druid deck which can be found herel. The card may not look like much by today’s standards but back in the day it had quite good stats. A 2/4 for 3 mana that either draws a card or gives you a mana crystal was quite great for its time but it’s very clear drawback, giving your opponent a card or a mana crystal, is what always held this card back. Today it doesn’t see much play because it is simply outshined by some of the newer cards. However, I did put it on this list for three reasons. The first reason is that the card has a very unique design. We don’t have cards that grant both you and your opponent ”buffs”. The second is that although it is not the best wild druid card it is among the best wild cards that the druid has. Last but not the least, I try to be as objective as I can but this one is my personal favorite so I just had to put it onto the list 🙂
Number 9
aviana is one of those legendary minions that everyone was excited about when it was announced and everyone was, of course, wrong when judging the card to be meta defining. The card saw barely any play over its time in the standard format and had only risen to popularity somewhere around the release of Mean Streets of Gadgetzan. If it weren’t for grove-tender being number 10 than aviana would have taken its place. So, if the card is so bad then why is it on this list? The card is not a complete disaster, it is way better than something like malorne, and it has a very unique spot in ramp druid. While it offers little to no use in other druid decks it is still quite powerful in a super greedy ramp druid deck. In summary, it is not a bad card and it is a lot better than some other wild druid cards but I wouldn’t rush to craft it.
Number 8
astral-communion is an amazing card! This is the most extreme ramp card in the entire game and it can launch you to 10 mana at the extremely early stages of the game. When this card was previewed I wasn’t sure was it meant to be a joke card, like so many other cards, or did the developers really decided to push the ramp druid in the most extreme way possible. astral-communion was a fun card to experiment with back before the first standard rotation and, honestly, I didn’t really expect it to see much play but we’ve got so many good cards for ramp druid over the last year that the card had soared into popularity. Don’t get me wrong, it is still a meme card, but now it is actually somewhat viable. Like many other cards that had rotated from standard into the wild, astral-communion just got better due to a larger pool of cards. The card had spawned a deck archetype of its own, astral druid, and many players are always eager to experiment with it.
If you’re looking to build a ramp druid than I wouldn’t suggest crafting this card unless you’re looking to specifically build an astral druid deck. There is a world of a difference between ramp druid, a deck that gradually ramps up and provides you with a huge card advantage, and astral druid which looks to draw astral-communion and then play its huge minions which make up for the most of the deck. Astral druid is a very specific type of deck and, honestly, a very fun deck to play, but just keep in mind that this card shouldn’t be put into a standard ramp druid deck. If you have an extra 400 dust lying around and you’re looking to build something crazy then I recommend that you give astral-communion a go 🙂
Number 7
savage-combatant is a great addition to the beast druid deck. The developers have been pushing the beast druid deck for a while now and although it might seem as if they’ve given up on the idea, at least for now, savage-combatant is a staple card in that deck. The main problem that I’ve always had with beast druid is that I’ve always believed that the deck lacks support in the form of beast synergy cards. This was improved upon over the course of the last year and we’ve got a few very nice and very synergistic beast druid cards but what the deck still lacks, in my option, are powerful beasts. savage-combatant fixes that problem to a degree as it is a very strong beast minion with a great inspire effect. Turning your +1 attack hero power into a +3 attack hero power is no small deal and, on top of that, you gain the benefit of having a beast minion on the board for beast synergy.
To be perfectly honest with you, I didn’t really play a lot of beast druid. It is probably my least played druid deck and I’ve even forgotten that it had existed when I wrote my definitive guide to the druid class. It is very much a deck and I did read about a lot of players who have gotten to legend rank with it. There is no doubt that savage-combatant had played a huge part in that climb to legend and it will, without a doubt, be one of the better beast druid cards in the wild format. Before I move on to the next entry I just want to mention that savage-combatant and the following minion were tied for the number 7 spot and that it was personal preference that had placed the cards on the spot that they are in.
Number 6
mounted-raptor was tied for savage-combatant for the 7th spot but I’ve decided to place it here because I just like the card more. Back when the card was first spoiled everyone went crazy over it. A 3/2 for 3 that summons another random minion was absolutely crazy, but when the League of Explorers came out and mounted-raptor got into the game it made little to no impact which had always confused me. You would think that a druid would love to play a card like that and I think that the reason for it not seeing too much play at that time was because the card is a beast and everyone had automatically assumed that it needs to be put into a beast druid deck.
Where this card really shines, in my personal opinion, is an egg druid deck. There is one type of minion that egg druid loves above all other minions and that is the type of minion that creates more minions. For those of you who haven’t played an egg druid deck before, it is basically a zoo druid deck which looks to flood the board with sticky minions and then use mass buff spells on them. Minions like mounted-raptor and haunted-creeper are perfect for that type of deck. You can say that due to egg druid being more powerful and more popular than beast druid, mounted-raptor gets a better spot than savage-combatant.
Number 5
We’ve reached the halfway point and druid-of-the-saber is the next card on our list. This is honestly one of the better wild druid minions because it is quite versatile and can fit into several buff based decks. While not a staple in an egg druid deck, there is another archetype that is called an aggro druid deck and druid-of-the-saber is an allstar in that one because of its charge transformation. If aggro druid is not your play style you can always fit druid-of-the-saber into a beast druid due to its stealth transformation. Overall there is not much to say about this card other than it is a very versatile minion for a very low cost. It is honestly one of the better druid transformation cards that we have in the game.
Number 4
darnassus-aspirant starts the top 4 part of the list. On this part of the list you will find the cream of the crop of druid wild cards. darnassus-aspirant was first introduced in The Grand Tournament expansion as a part of the aspirant cycle of cards and it was, without a doubt, the best one. Nowadays it is not a staple in all ramp druid decks but a lot of ramp decks still run it, mostly more greedy ones, because it provides a good ramp at the early stages of the game and it has a very decent body for the cost. The downside of this card, the loss of a mana crystal, is honestly something that you won’t even notice. Since the ramp boost that you get is on a minion and it goes away after that minion dies we can consider this a temporary ramp boost so what happens after darnassus-aspirant dies? You lost your temporary 1 mana crystal which is not a big deal when you consider that your opponent had wasted resources to get that small temporary boost to go away. It is really no that big of a deal. The biggest downfall of darnassus-aspirant is the chance to get it out of pilotted-shredder xD
Number 3
mulch is the best druid single target removal spell. By single target removal spell I mean a spell that destroys a minion instead of killing it by dealing damage. Druid has always been a class which had struggled with removal, especially in the later stages of the game, and up until mulch came around the only single target removal that could aid you in the late game was naturalize and that card is just awful and you should never ever play it outside of a mill druid deck. However, because this is a druid after all, you can’t have a strong removal card without a significant downfall and in this case is giving your opponent a random minion. Because of a large minion pool in the wild format this is not too bad because there is a very high chance that you will give your opponent a bad minion and be done with it. I recommend crafting this card but usually you won’t need to have more than a single copy of it. Overall, great card, best druid removal, get yourself one 🙂
Number 2
We’ve reached the final two spots and, let’s be honest, what raven-idol actually says is ”discover a spell”. I can’t really thing of a situation where you are that desperate to get a minion out of this card. The card itself is very good which is why it lands on the second spot. A 1 mana discover a spell card is amazing, especially if a deck like malygos druid or arcane-giants druid where you’re looking to play as many spells as possible. You usually won’t be running more than a single copy of raven-idol and there are always those decks that don’t run it at all but it is, by far, the most versatile druid spell in the entire game, let alone in the entire wild format. An amazing card with a very powerful and versatile effect, I strongly recommend getting one if you don’t have it because 40 dust is dirt cheap for a card like this, and with that finally out of the way it is time for us to move to number 1.
And the best wild druid card is…
Number 1
Let’s be honest, you knew that this was coming somewhere in the top 4. living-roots is that one wild card that almost every druid deck runs with the exceptions of jade druid and maybe beast druid. It is an early game damage dealer, a turn one minion generator, a card cycle with gadgetzan-auctioneer, a cost reductor for arcane-giant, a monster with fandral-staghelm, a perfect board advantage for egg druid and much, much more. Almost every druid deck in the entire game runs 2 copies of this card and I honestly can’t recommend it enough. If there is a single wild druid card that you’re looking to craft then it should be living-roots.
Conclusion
This is it. We’ve reached the end of our first ”Top 10’s” article 🙂 I hope that you’ve liked it and, by all means, let me know what are your picks for the top 10 wild druid cards? Do you agree with this list? What cards would you put in the top 4? Let me know in the comments below and be sure to drop by tomorrow when I’ll be covering the top 10 wild hunter cards 😀
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