Can anyone comment on my question from earlier? Druids really haven't been great in all my experience with this brawl (whether playing as one or against one) but everyone here seems convinced they're OP as fuck....
Man....I lost three times with Druid. And absolutely melted the four Druids I fought as a mage or priest. I don't see its OP potential in this brawl. What am I missing?
The reason why Druid are so good in this Brawl can be boiled down to these reasons:
*Ramp combined with high cost spells. In this format high cost spells even if they are "bad" are pretty godlike (with the exception of stuff like Twisting Nether which destroy your own board but even that spell isn't that bad because you can potentially get Sneeds and gain board advantage). Stuff like Starfire basically kills one of their mid to big sized minion, draws you a card and puts a big 6 mana cost body on the board. This already solves one of Druid's issues which was tempo... this Brawl proves that if Druid had ways to get tempo back they would be unstoppable because of their ramp. Because Druids can ramp up so easily with stuff like Wild Growth and Innervate, their high cost spells give double benefit. It's like they start the game 2nd, coin out Wild Growth, get two minions on board... then innervate another Wild Growth for 4 minions with 4 mana on the next turn which they can Soul Forest and win the game off of the god draw.
*High cost spells that also draw them cards. Nourish is insane in this format because not only can it ramp up but it also draws you 3 cards AND puts down a 5 cost body on the board. In the late game Wild Growth is insane because at 10 mana you can put down a 2 drop minion + Wisp/Target Dummy and draw a card. This makes it so that Druid can dump their hand in the beginning of the game then draw cards back so they don't run out of steam. They have Starfire, Nourish, Wild Growth, Wrath for draws.
*High cost board clears and removals. Starfall is bad in Constructed but godlike in this format because while Consecration summons a 4 drop minion...Starfall summons a 5 drop minion. Recycle is a bad card in regular format but godlike here because it lets you gain massive tempo (remove their big creature and summon your own big creature). Force of Nature is not only good to finish game but clear the board AND put out a big body. Swipe of course is godlike here as well.
*Druid makes great use out of the 0 cost minions because of stuff like Power of the Wild and Soul of the Forest... both cards are like top 5 cards in this format. Power of the Wild at the WORST summons 2 2 drop minions and on the other end can buff you board while also putting out another body that is 2 drop. You have two shitty minions on board and then with one card you have 3 decent threats on board. Soul Forest makes their board very sticky and annoying while ALSO putting a 4 drop on the board. And then suddenly these shitty 0-2 drop minions they got from ramping up their mana with Innervates/Wild Growths suddenly become huge threats because of Power of the Wild and Soul of the Forest. Druid also has 2 buff cards like Mark of the Wild/Nature that buff up a card to prevent aggression with a taunt and ALSO summon another minion. So they get a Target dummy out of a 0 drop spell like Coin or Innervate, then they buff it up with +2/2 Taunt which gives them enough time to prepare their real cheap stuff...
*Ability to finish games quick. Because of their combination of fast ramp that puts minions on the boards and board wide buffs that makes their shitty minions strong... you get put into lethal range really quick because of Savage Roar. Suddenly they have 5 minions on board and by turn 5 they use Savage Roar and you die instantly. Even in the late game if you manage to wipe their board they can kill you the old school way with Force of Nature and Savage Roar. Even if the combo doesn't kill they have stuff like Starfire/Swipe/Bite to finish the game.
*Late game survival. Druids actually have a lot of ways to tech their cards because they have a lot of spells. You can tech for late game survival by having heals like Healing Touch and the godlike Tree of Life. Tree of Life is an insane comeback mechanic because it heals your board, your face AND puts down a 9 cost minion. You can get a Malganis, Ysera, Malygos ,Mekineer etc that can shutdown the game by themselves after you were put in a losing situation. Because of their card draws and these heals... they can comeback pretty easily in a dire situation.
Mage can counter Druid because a lot of Druid's potency relies on having a sticky board in this format and Mage can freeze their buffed up board while building their own. Frost Nova stalls the board while building the board of the Mage, same for Cone of Cord, Blizzard and Flamestrike. Then Mage can finish the game with Fireballs, Pyroblast (insane in this format because it puts down either Sea Giant or Deathwing) and Antonidas.
Priests have some ways to counter Druids as well. Mass Dispel is great because it negates Soul of Forest, Power of the Wild, draws them a card and puts down a 4 drop minions. Priest also has buff cards that can finish the game real quick and Lightbomb to clear Druid boards. In the late game if Druid doesn't have a full board then they will get demolished by Priests' Mindcontrol (take a big creature, summon Sea giant or Deathwing LOL!). Shadow madness can take a Soul Forest creature and kill another creature while spawning a 4 drop minion. Lightbomb is still effective at clearing a huge board.
Paladin has Equality Consecrate combo to deal with Druid boards which is why I personally use it. There's also Equality Avenging Wrath combo which summons a 2 cost minion with 1 health and a 6 cost minion. Plus Paladin has very similar playstyle to Druid where they have a bunch of very powerful draws, board clears, powerful buffs and health regain... what they lack compared to Druids is the ramp up which is why Paladins are strong but not as good as Druids. Paladin can also shutdown a game quick because of stuff like Blessing of Might into Blessing of Champion on a solid minion for lethal.
Other classes like Hunter and Rogue have insane early game tempo and damage where they can finish the game before the Druid can set up any real board IF they get lucky.
