Weekly Legends: Big Ramp Druid

Introduction

Go big or go home. Today on Weekly Legends we are going to break down a deck that has always been at the edges of the meta in Ramp Druid. The big minion build has always had a solid core (thank to Druid’s insanely strong classic cards) but it also has had some major problems in the past. Most notably, the fact that it has a tendency towards inconsistent draws and does not handle aggro well. Pumping out giant threats is great, but there are problems with that strategy. This week we look at Xixo, who took the archetype to legend by dancing around its biggest problems. The list is not perfect, but it has some really fun, interesting, and powerful interactions. Not only do you get an exciting toolbox to mess around with, but you also have a range of strong cards that plug up many of the holes that have caused ramp problems in the past.

Key Cards

Innervate

It is impossible to properly discuss a ramp deck without talking about Innervate. The zero mana spell is the best Druid card of all time, and knowing how and when to use it in an all-in ramp deck is extremely important. The two mana jump is incredibly strong, but it is also very easy to use in the wrong way. A big understated part of ramp decks is properly planning your curve. Or, understanding the way your curve is going to break down. For example, is powering out a turn five Ancient of War going to be worth having a dead turn six and seven? Or is it better to wait a turn, then pump out a turn six Primordial Drake into a turn seven ancient? Both of those situations are good in their own way, but taking the wrong path can lead to problems.

Always think two or three turns ahead when you have Innervate in hand. This will help you limit your dead turns. It is very easy to see your innervate and just jump the gun. In fact, there are a lot of cards in this list that are easy to just play because you can. Do not fall into that trap. Consistency is always going to be an issue with ramp, and you want to fight against it as much as possible. To do that you have to actively think about the ways you can keep your curve going. Dead turns will kill you in a lot of games, which means you want to always have something to do. That can even mean using Innervate for one mana instead of two. It may feel bad, but so will hero powering against your opponent’s growing board.

Wrath

Wrath is an obvious card, but there are two important elements to the spell that we need to break down. The first is deciding when and how to use it early on. As I have stated over the past few weeks, there are a ton of decks that can build quickly. Very, very quickly. You do not want to let things like murlocs, Mana Wyrms, or Primalfin Totems live too long. However, you also need to ramp. This presents one of the most difficult choices in this deck: should you remove a high-priority early drop or get your engine going? As with so many of the core cards in this build, these micro decisions are going to be the most difficult and have some of the biggest impact. For Wrath, you should almost always take the immediate ramp unless the thing you’re fighting something that will grow to above three health the following turn.

The other part of the Wrath (both figuratively and literally) is drawing a card. If you take a quick look over the list you will note that there is no draw besides this spell Nourish. The five mana spell is going to get you a lot of value, but that typically will only come later on in the game. In contrast, Wrathing for one is a great way to smooth out an awkward hand and make it so you can get that one card you need to fill out your curve. As mentioned above, you have to work hard to resist dead turns, and getting an extra cycle is a great way to do that. You should take the card route if you have a weak hand while your opponent (or even yourself) has a minion out and there is nothing you need to hit for three.

Mire Keeper

One of the biggest things about Druid is that many of their cards give you choices. One such minion is Mire Keeper. While ramping is what you want to do, there are going to be many situations where you have to go with the 2/2 slime. Mire Keeper is fantastic because it ramps, impacts the board, and fills out your curve all in one go. For that reason, you should get it out as soon as you possibly can and then build off of the crystal it gets you. Though there are some exceptions, this is one of the best bodies to Innervate into early on. Not only does this allow you to set up your early board, but it lets you play toward your end-game as well. If you have a chance to pump this out you should do so as soon as possible.

You want to go the 2/2 slime route with this card when you need to contest the board. That sounds obvious, but it can be tricky to see those situations. As always, this read is going to come from what else is in your hand. If you can ramp into a gigantic threat you typically want to go there, but do not shy away from putting ten power worth of stats on the board. In fact, there are many games where it is right to push out a turn one or two Mire Keeper just for the bodies. This can be particularly helpful against decks like Hunter, Token Shaman, and Aggro Druid because of their lack of removal. A 2/2 does a great job of challenging current one drops, and a 3/3 can obliterate every other early card. Taking charge as a ramp deck rarely happens, but you should jump on the opportunity when it presents itself.

Nourish

As with Mire Keeper, Nourish gives you a choice that you need to get right. In most decks that run the five mana spell you want to use it to draw. Plain and simple. Druid has a lot of power, but early ramp can run you out of cards in a hurry. As a result, the extra three pulls are a great way to keep your flow going. However, this is a deck where you can really make use of those extra crystals. In fact, there are going to be many times where you have to take the ramp. Going back (again) to the idea of dead turns, using Nourish for mana is strong because it helps you jump straight to bigger cards without having to worry about skipping parts of your curve. Just immediately moving to seven, eight, or nine mana can be the difference between winning and losing a game. Even if you don’t have the cards in hand, it is also a great way to play to your clutch taunt top decks. If you have a good curve (or simply things to do) you should go for the ramp, but in any other situation you want to take the cards.

Moonglade Portal/Earthen Scales

As I mentioned earlier, aggro decks are one of the biggest (quite possibly the biggest) problems for ramp. You have a strong curve and a good way to push quickly, but your opponent will almost always run you over while you’re busy trying to figure out the best way to get to that turn six Ysera. For that reason, the two cards listed here are the most important in the deck. Seriously. Moonglade Portal and Earthen Scales give you a ton of leeway and allow you fight against aggro in ways past builds could not. You can still be rushed down, but if you have these in your back pocket it is much harder for your opponent to get lethal. These are also fantastic against Mage, which is never a bad thing.

These cards are key because they allow you to sculpt your hand in different ways. You are going to have to play carefully in most of your matches. That typically means you want to favor proactive spells over slow or reactive minions. As we touched on when discussing Wrath, this often puts you into a strange position where you have to use your resources to clear instead of advancing your board. However, if you have healing you can lean heavily on your big threats and then worry about bouncing back the following turn. Always watch your life total and treat these cards like taunts. That is, they allow you to advance your game in a way where you can also impact the board. Do not drop too low, but also recognize the massive value these can give if you aren’t going to die right away.

Matchups

The decks that I see the most while playing ladder.

Discover Mage

Mage is one of the reasons you should play this deck. Though you can draw very poorly and get run over, that can happen against anyone. Most modern Mage lists continue to move further and further away from minions and gravitate towards spells. That is mixed news for many lists, but it is great news for you. You have four healing spells, and all of them give you considerable chunks of life. That means, like Control Warrior or Priest, you just need to outlast Mage rather than beating them. That can be tricky at times, but it is a game you do not mind playing. Save all of your healing for after they drop Alexstrasza and set up the biggest Earthen Scales you can find. If you do both of those things while also doing a decent job of contesting the board you will eventually run your opponent out of cards.

Leverage your big threats when possible. Outside of random Primordial Glyph pulls, Mage has a finite amount of large minion removal. Some decks play Polymorph, but for the most part their only options are going to be Fireball, Meteor and Pyroblast. That means the second minion you play is often going to stick. Once that happens you can start to pressure your opponent out of the game. From that point, they are going to use burn to get down any armor you have and hit you hard with Alexstrasza. As long as you are smart about clearing and save healing you should be fine. Just make sure to get in extra hero power activations when you can.

Pirate Warrior

Get ready for a battle. Pirate Warrior has dipped (or everything has just grown) but you are still going to see it at all stages of the ladder. You have the tools to beat Garrosh’s army of never-ending pirates, but you need to actually get those tools in order to win. Healing can be extremely strong, as can your taunts. Do what you can to get both as soon as possible. This often means ramping quickly or finding ways to draw cards. While you always want more mana, extra cards are almost always going to be better unless you have a specific taunt you want to get to. If you have a weak draw or a slow start understand that you need to dig for healing.

Don’t take chances in this one. Pirate has an insane amount of burst and they will do everything in their power to kill you when they have an opening. They understand they are in a race and they know you can close the door at any time. It can be easy to think “I’m safe, I can play this Ysera” but that is how you often die to a flurry of burn and top decks. Be as proactive as you can with your cards. This is not a game where you sit back and put up a wall once your opponent runs out a few bodies. This is a game where you get the wall before anything comes down. The same rule applies to healing. It is easy to think you have one extra turn, but no state is ever going to be a done deal. Ancient of War and Primordial Drake are the only two cards that should close this one out. Treat them as win conditions and favor them at all costs.

Token Shaman

Shaman has finally gotten a good enough hold on the meta where we can talk about it. The class has been steadily climbing for a past few weeks, and now I see it everywhere. This match is going to feel like a mix of Mage and Warrior. That is to say, you need to fight both an aggressive push and strong burn if you want to win. Bloodlust is the card you should constantly think about, but Thrall has a lot of other ways to cause problems as well. The class does a great job of getting incremental damage, which you want to resist when you can. Watch out for Flametongue Totem above all others, but have a plan for Mana Tide Totem as well. The 0/3 can cause you to lose the game on its own. Take it down as soon as you possibly can.

The way you win this game is by controlling the board. While that plan is going to be pushing your big minions against most decks, Shaman is not most decks. Token is largely a tempo deck, and they do not do well when they have to play minions into a board. Rather, they want to be out ahead and use their strong, cheap bodies to trade up. You need to resist that whenever you can by getting stuff that will slow your opponent down. In addition, if you get pressured early or are worried about Bloodlust you need to always favor healing and armor gain over taunts. The reason for that is Shaman can easily invalidate any big wall through Hex or Devolve. Do not put up a gigantic taunt as a way to keep yourself safe when you can get immediate value in other ways.

Aggro Druid

This is easily going to be your hardest matchup. Not only does Aggro Druid have those nightmare explosive starts that you can vulnerable to, but they are also can flood the board in ways you cannot answer. To win this matchup you need fast ramp or you have to play threats (gigantic taunts) that they have no choice but to answer. Out of every match, this is the one where you want to take the control route and clear everything that comes down. Nothing makes use of their board like Aggro Druid does, and you never want to face down an unkillable Enchanted Raven because you got greedy and didn’t pull the Wrath. If you do not have access to removal early on you should just ramp as fast as humanely possible. Your win condition is Primordial Drake, but Ancient of War does a great job of cutting out Aggro Druid’s power as well. Get to those cards and throw up all your walls. Healing is great, but it does nothing against a huge board. You should also push out any early bodies you can here. Trading is almost invaluable when taking down Malfurion’s swarms.

Midrange Paladin

There is a mish-mash of different classes that could have gone in this spot, but Midrange Paladin likely remains the most popular. This matchup can sometimes end quickly if your opponent runs you over with murlocs. However, in games where you get up quickly or when your opponent has a slow draw this becomes all about the end-game. Paladin has some of the best finishers around. Things like Tirion Fordring and Sunkeeper Tarim can ruin your day, especially if they are backed up with the dreaded Getaway Kodo. You have to make Paladin answer you in this one by getting your big threats out ahead of theirs. While they do have ways to take out big things, all you need is one or two good turns before they are run out of options. Simply drown them in value once that happens.

This whole matchup is about properly baiting out your opponent’s clears. Unlike every other class in the game, Paladin has no spot removal. That means they do not do well against minions with activated abilities that go off each turn. Sure, they can make your Ysera or Y’shaarj, Rage Unbound have one attack, but that isn’t going to stop their trigger value that comes each turn. The only cards you want to be hyper-aware of are Equality and Sunkeeper Tarim. The way you beat those is by playing one (maybe two) huge bodies at a time and then keep attacking your opponent until they have choice but to burn a clear. Then you play your next.

Mulligan Guide

This is going to be a brief mulligan guide. The reason being that almost all of your hands are going to be based off of how much ramp you had. Your curve and early mana are going to constantly change. You need to tweak your keeps based on how fast you can move up your curve. In that same vein, always aggressively look for both Innervate and Wild Growth. Those cards are vital and are better than anything else at what they do. Wrath is your other must keep. Tar Creeper and Swipe are both for aggro with the coin or a good curve, while Mire Keeper and Barnes are amazing with any opening ramp.

Conclusion

Ramp is not an archetype I have played much during my time in Hearthstone. While I enjoy playing big threats, there just have not been many times where the build has been properly viable. Though it is still not number one, there is a lot of good here. Things have slowed down from what they once were, which means you have more time to get to your bigger threats. It only takes one or two finishers to close out games. Until next time, may you never have a dead turn.

---