But did naturalize really need to get hof’d? After you gutted druids ramp?
Just rubbing salt in the wound at this point.
17 Likes
So once rotation hit, none of the actual druid deck survive. I really don’t know where they go with this.
Naturalize seems like a bit of an odd nerf tbh. It was never played before cards like UI/Togwaggle validated it, and it’d likely be just as useless post-rotation with the disappearance of said cards.
I have similar sentiments for Doomguard as well. I hated losing to Gul’Dan-resurrecting-five-Doomguards-at-once as much as the next person, but again, most of the cards that made it busted or un-fun will be rotating in the Spring anyways. It’s a fair card in decks like Zoo, and that’d be the only thing running it except maybe Discolock if that’s a thing.
6 Likes
With Naturalize going to the HoF, the Druid class basically has nothing left in either the Basic set or the Classic set that is worth slotting into a deck. The nerfs to WG and to Nourish have essentially resulted in a wholesale nerf to the entire Classic/Basic set because those cards were all balanced around the concept of 0 for 2 Innervate, 2 Mana WG, and 5 Mana Nourish. The end result is that the entire C/B Druid set is overpriced, understatted, expensive, and weak.
So the class is in a position where there is nothing in the C/B set worth slotting anymore. The cards don’t provide enough value. So Druids are entirely dependent on the expansion sets providing them with usable cards to make decks … or for those expansions to somehow ‘amp up’ the C/B cards to the point where they are worth slotting … or for the mechanics of a new expansion to somehow create a dynamic where the C/B cards are worth playing.
Here are the only cards Druid have left in the CB set worth slotting…
GIMMICK CARDS
Moonfire (only in Maylgos decks) and Innervate (only in Mechathun type decks) still can be ‘used’, but they’re extremely conditional.
TOKEN DRUID SUPPORT
Savage Roar, PotW, Force of Nature, Soul of the Forest. These cards are OK still, but they only fit in the Token Druid archetype, which has been around since beta. Very limited uses.
That’s pretty much it. Everything else in the Druid Classic/Basic card roster is so overpriced and underpowered that it isn’t worth putting in a deck anymore. ALL the Druid C/B minions are a pile of expensive, weak junk. Druid removal is trash. Druid minion buffs are trash. Ramp is trash. Claw, Bite, and Savagery? Trash.
Team5 needs to do a major overhaul of the Druid Classic/Basic set, or the class is going to be Dumpster Fire Tier for a looooong time.
12 Likes
Agree w/ you Riddler but I would add Swipe as a good core card for the class. On curve it does a good job thinning a board. I’d definitely trade you Swipe for either Lightning Storm or Holy Nova.
3 Likes
No, it’s dumb. If you don’t want naturalize to be a problem all you have to do is not give druid so much card draw that it doesn’t even matter how many cards their opponent draws and don’t print 9 mana druid and/or neutral cards that are broken by it. I wouldn’t say that’s a tall order at all as far as card design and balance goes.
Main reason naturalize was suddenly good is because they gave Druid more card draw than god, not to mention other forms of card advantage like being able to fill the board with a bunch of tokens and resurrections and copies of stuff for relatively few cards. They actually sometimes struggled to not mill themselves. So like… Just stop doing that? And we’ll be good.
7 Likes
Swipe is OK, but as you say it is still inferior to just about any other removal option. At 4 mana, it comes to slow to stop a snowball … at with only 1 damage to secondary targets it isn’t strong enough once the snowball starts. And as a 1-shot card it lacks the persistent value to be more than a minor annoyance.
If your standard for a good card is pay 1 mana, kill a minion, then yes, there is nothing left. People always talk about the inevitable power creep of ccg. This is why.
And Swipe and Wrath! That brings the useable cards up to 4!
But yes, I find it a but strange that cards like Nourish, which were fine and even didn’t make the cut in decks that needed card draw (never mind the ramp which was rarely used) are now considered too good.
It doesn’t help that Druid has been so heavily reliant on expac cards as it is. All their broken stuff has been things like Jades, Ultimate Infestation, Jasper Spellstone, Toggwaggle, Psychmelon into combo tutors, old now nerfed Aviana+Kun combos, and Twig to enable double mana during Maly turns.
All their base kit stuff? When’s the last time Starfire was played? Starfall is laughable, and only sees play in conjunction with Poison Seeds (an expac card) or else it’s never see play. Claw hasn’t seen play since classic, never mind Bite, Savagery.
The classic Druid kit has never been very strong, save for way back in the Force+Savage days. When that was nerfed, Ancient of Lore followed, as did Keeper of the Grove, up to the modern nerfs.
Mama… just killed a Druid. Asked him how he’s doin’, nerfed him now he’s ruined…
4 Likes
Swipe maybe will make a cut, but when was the last time you saw Wrath anywhere? 
Wrath has all but been abandoned for a while now.
1 Like
Well what else are they gonna play at this point!? There’s nothing left!
There was a time Druid played iconic Ancient of War and Druid of the Claw.
I hope Druid gets back to its roots with Taunt and “Choose One” instead of Card Draw, mill, OTK.
9 Likes
TAUNT
I don’t see how that is possible at this point. Taunt Druid would be losing Hadronox, and a metric butt-ton of decent taunts. All that they’ll have left are Neutrals for turns 1-5. Druid Ramp is now so slow that they’re going to be getting the tar beat out of them before they can put up even a basic defense. Even if the Druid survives to turn 6+, they’re only going to be able to trickle out 1 taunt minion at a time … which these days is laughable.
CHOOSE ONE
There’s none left except Wrath, Nourish, DotC, and PotW. Without Fandral to punch these up, it just doesn’t seem like they’re going to be good enough unless the new expansion artificially props them up somehow. I’d love for “Choose One” to be a decent core identity for Druids … but all the CO cards in the Basic/Classic set aren’t good enough anymore except in decks like Token Druid that only use one of their functions anyway.
Mill
Team5 just took Druid Mill’s only lifeline and threw it in the dumpster fire.
I was looking more at old Control Druid, which was one of my favorite decks all time. Where Taunt act as survival and not as a combo/N’Zoth-style win-condition for Hadronox Druid.
Druid’s wincondition should be similar to Odd Warrior + Dr.Boom, out-value and win at late-game with tough minions (and no, not with infinite Jades). What Warrior does with armor and boardclear Druid should do it with Taunts, Ramp and Choose One (Charge/Rush/Taunt/Poison/Lifesteal).
4 Likes
That deck only worked (somewhat) when the game only had the Classic set & Naxx. A Control Druid deck based on taunts, fatties, and long-term value play (without Hadronox) hasn’t existed since 2015. Druids do not have the cards to even build this kind of deck anymore after all the nerfs.
Druid’s have no early game of any kind … so the deck couldn’t survive Aggro.
Druids have no utility to speak of … so it couldn’t stop other players from just dominating whatever minions they even did manage to summon.
Druids can’t ramp anymore … so by the time they can even summon minions that had the stats to value trade, their opponents are summoning stuff just as good or better.
Without a complete flush of the entire Druid Classic/Basic set, I don’t see how they could win games with Taunts, Ramp, and Choose One. There’s nothing to work with.
2 Likes
First and foremost, I am on your side in regards to the overboard nature of Blizz’s recent attack on Druid. That said I wouldnt dismiss Wrath so quickly. It was a staple card until UI & BP were introduced, and both of those are rotating. Short of (better) replacement card draw for the class I wouldn’t be surprised for it to return to being a staple on rotation.
3 Likes
I would love it if they would actually give a sneak peek or any indication of what a class is going to get in the future when they do these nerfs. Druid has been kneecapped so badly that they don’t have a leg to stand on. I also don’t have any faith that they will get anything worthwhile in the new year.
Here’s something to think about druids.
Choose one:
Nerf Druid or Censor Lunara
Throw in Fandral for the ultimate castration.
The blog mentioned this, but it’s mostly a future proofing thing. If Druid is very weak at single target removal it makes it easier to give them cards that make them great at other things. When you play against Druid one of the gameplay identities of that class is that they will have a hard time dealing with giant creatures. Naturalize going away reinforces that.
14 Likes
I for one am okay with that decision in fact most of the Classic cards needs to be HoF to make room for new expansions so Standard has more room for variety.