Hearthstone Preview: Druid Spells and Abilities, Part II

by Zenstyle - 7 years ago

On Tuesday, we looked at some of the powerhouse mechanics featured in the Druid spell cards. Today, we’ll look at the rest of the ability cards.

Moonfire

Zero mana for one point of direct damage, obviously great. What’s even better about Moonfire is the flavor text: “Cast Moonfire, and never stop.” – How to Be a Druid, Chapter 5, Section 3“. Great counter to turn one minions without disrupting your agenda.

Naturalize

Here’s an interesting Druid spell. All of one mana to destroy a target creature? That sounds too good to be true. It sort of is. Your opponent will get to draw two cards as an additional payment. There’s a definite use for Naturalize, but it absolutely has to be worth it. You won’t want to drop this on any random minion with decent stats. This should be used to either set up a game winning turn, remove a minion that will win the game for your opponent, et cetera. Despite the risk, I like this card because of how rare genuine creature removal is.

Claw

Another low cost ability, Claw is like the way better version of the Druid hero power. It’ll allow Malfurion to wreck some poor low tier creature, while also giving him some lasting durability. It can also be combined with Savagery, which will explain soon here.

Savagery and Bite

By soon here, I mean now. We’re discussing Savagery now. Savagery is a nasty tool Druids can use in order to decimate the opposing minion pool. In conjunction with spells like Claw and Bite, Malfurion can obliterate low to high tier minions all in one combo. We touched on it yesterday, but the dev team raised the cost of Savagery to three and Bite to four, meaning that it’ll cost seven mana to deal four damage to everything on the board. Still, that’s pretty efficient, even considering the fact that it will require you spending two cards. The more economical option is Savagery and Claw, which will deal two damage to everything for three mana.

Mark of the Wild

I’d like this card more if it didn’t have taunt. Mark of the Wild offers a reasonable buff to attack and health for two mana, but taunt dulls my enthusiasm. Maybe I just want to buff my creature and not have them take a bunch of hits. It’s still a good card, especially if you run some sizable mid game creatures.

Savage Roar

It wouldn’t be a green deck without an Overrun equivalent. Savage Roar is a great spell to cast when it’s time to end the game. After assembling your horrible hordes, cast Savage Roar and watch as you simply run over the opposing hero. The three mana cost here is also incredibly accessible. You’ll be able to play this card and still do a couple of other things with your turn.

Healing Touch

Three mana, eight damage healed. This is a good stall card, especially when facing highly aggressive styled decks that could give the Druid issues. Healing Touch is very mana efficient for what it is and will allow you the extra turn or two to get to your bigger, more horrifying cards.

Soul of the forest

What a terrifying card. Soul of the Forest is the legit counter to board clearing spells. All your minions getting destroyed? Consolation, they all just basically turn into 2/2 Treants, draining your opponent of a strong card, mana, and probably a bunch of morale. If you can get this out and avoid a card like Mass Dispel, it’ll be very difficult for your opponent to get control of the board, and you can start setting up for a final push.

Swipe

I love Swipe, mostly because it can be used primarily on either minions or an opposing hero, but will still inflict one point of damage to anyone that’s not the main target. I’d take a four damage nuke for four, so any extra additional damage is gravy.

Force of Nature

This deck just generates entirely too much trees. Like, way too many. Force of Nature will, for six mana, create three 2/2 Treants with charge. From there, you can choose to either attack your opponent directly, or deal with some troublesome minions. Return damage won’t be an issue because these trees are getting cut down by the end of the turn, regardless of what happens. Just remember, since they’re guaranteed to die, turtling with them is not possible. Of interest, Force of Nature costs six mana, and Soul of the Forest costs four mana. That’s just enough to summon these, and then give them the ability to create NEW trees upon dying. Maniacal laugh, maniacal laugh.

Conversely, applying Savage Roar to your one turn Treants is also reasonable, considering the buff also only lasts one turn. That’s a potential twelve damage swing in your favor. Definite potential as a game closing combo.

Starfire

Worth noting, this marks two cards that allow the Druid to deal five direct damage. The mana cost is steep, but Starfire can wipe out a big minion, deal considerable damage to the opposing hero and still award you a card. There are a lot of uses for this card, but imagine coupling it with mana accelerating abilities in order to get it out on turn three. You’d absolutely blow up any one creature on the board and get another card for it.