Budget Jade Druid
- Last updated Apr 6, 2017 (Un'Goro Launch)
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Wild
- 10 Minions
- 20 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Jade Lotus Druid
- Crafting Cost: 1280
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 12/20/2016 (Gadgetzan)
- RedneckBudha
- Registered User
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- 3
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- 31
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Battle Tag:
RedneckBudha
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Region:
US
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Total Deck Rating
167
Jade Druid in general is a decent budget deck in general, but not everyone has access to some nice cards like Raven Idol, which is from League of Explorers or Fandral Staghelm, so I decided to tinker around with the netdeck to see what could work and this is what I got.
Tech Cards
Moonfire: It's a great anti-pirate early card, or late game it can be used to cycle through deck with Auctioneer.
Acidic Swamp Ooze: Also great against those weapon decks, worse case scenario it's dropped on curve for early body. If you don't want to run this I recommend Loot Hoarder to fill in the mana slot and give card draw.
Short How to Play Guide
This deck runs like any other jade druid deck. You want to ramp early mana, card draw, and golem stats.
Basic rules:
ALWAYS play your first jade idol as a 1/1 golem. DO NOT shuffle it into your deck early on or you will only earn dead draws.
If you see a shaman, warrior, or rogue, try to mulligan for Swipe, Acidic Swamp Ooze, Wrath, and Moonfire. Getting the early removal cards really puts those pirates in their place. If it's warrior, I'd especially hard mulligan for those powerful early game cards.
Always use Nourish to draw. Even if you're in a mirror match, always use Nourish to draw. You have plenty of other ramp cards, and drawing is extremely important in this deck.
If you have a lot of cheap 1 or 2 mana spells, feel free to drop Gadgetzan Auctioneer early for that deck cycle. He's a decent soft taunt (whoever lets them live against a druid deserves to lose) and if you have Innervate left, you can get a lot of strong draws with your first auctioneer.
For your SECOND Gadgetzan Auctioneer AND your SECOND Jade Idol, save them until you have 5 or less cards in the deck. Then drop your Auctioneer, shuffle the Idol, and let your easy value end game run amok. This is how you win, by drawing through your deck so you can drop those two and keep playing free 1 mana golems.
Intermediate rules:
Normally, save that Feral Rage for armor (especially against pirates), but if you see an Azure Drake on the enemy field, go ham and eat its face. Same deal if your enemy plays a Gagdetzan Auctioneer too. Pretty much, if it has 4 hp, eat it unless it'll kill you.
Most players know that Wrath is crazy good, that's because it is. It synergizes with your Azure Drake and it gives good early game removal, whether it's used to draw a card or not.
Wild Growth is a nice ramp card, but I usually try to save at least one for the late game. Being able to pop it for the free 0 mana draw spell is nice, but even more so if you have an Auctioneer on the field. If you have 10 mana, pop Wild Growth but DO NOT PLAY Excess Mana until AFTER you play Gadgetzan Auctioneer. That 0 mana draw a card suddenly becomes a 0 mana draw 2 cards. This works especially well if you wait until the start of your turn, so you can play Auctioneer then pop 0 mana to draw 2 cards, and have 4 mana remaining for a swipe or whatever spells you have remaining.
"But, Mr Budha, what if I have some better cards and and not F2P?"
Well, then tech inFandral Staghelm first, since he is ridiuclously powerful in all current druid decks (drop an Acidic Swamp Ooze). Then, feel free to add Arcane Giant x2 for free 8/8s midgame. For them you can get away with dropping one Wild Growth, and possibly a second Ooze. Last tech card I like is Doomsayer. I'd be willing to drop Jade Spirit for his 2 mana board clear, or even Moonfire if you don't see a lot of aggro decks at your rank. Last notable tech option for those with cashmoneyYOLOswag is Raven Idol, another personal favorite of mine since it's a 1 mana spell that lets you find more spells (or minions too if you have Fandral).
Mulligan Rules
The Mulligan is pretty easy and straightforward. In general, low drop cards (0-3 mana) are worth keeping, plus Swipe. Other cards are not worth keeping at all, unless you have Innervate. With Innervate, it is worth keeping Azure Drake or Jade Spirit but not Gadgetzan Auctioneer.
More specific rules:
See a Rogue/Shaman/Warrior? Keep Acidic Swamp Ooze, otherwise get rid of them. Also try to keep Moonfire, Wrath, and Swipe to get rid of those pesky pirates.
See a Mage? Feral Rage. Save it for Flamewaker. Otherwise, get that early ramp and pressure them with Jade Golems. Try to bait out their Fireball(s) and Polymorph(s) with your golems and Azure Drake.
See a Warlock? Feral Rage helps against Imp Gang Boss, and all of your other removal spells are nice, but ramp and draw is super important. Try to get your draw a lot and get that 10 mana Auctioneer cycle working. If they're a ZooLock, then focus on maintaining board control.
Priest? Pretty much similar to Warlock/Mage.
I'm forgetting the other classes. Does anyone still play Hunter is a joke right now, and even Paladin is pretty easy to beat. Anyfin can be a coin toss, but still favorable for the Jade early/midgame. If it gets lategame then start worrying.
Oh yeah, Druid. Mirror match is a clusterfuck. OTK Druid is pretty beatable if they do the C'Thun combo, and if it's Malygos combo it's a little less favorable for the Jade, but still pretty beatable.
That's it. No more mulligan rules. Go win some games. I still pop in every so often and I reply to most comments so if you want, leave one and I might say something.
EDIT 1: Added in some basic and intermediate rules for the deck, as well as cards to tech in to make it a non-budget deck.
Edit 2 (1/5/17): Over the past four days I've been playing this deck on my F2P account (EU) and been keeping track of the stats. As of right now, the deck is 11-2 with a max winsteak of 6. It is 2-0 against pirate warrior, and 6-0 against priest decks (dragon, reno, and basic-inner fire). It is 1-1 against paladin, and 1-1 against warlock. The Paladin loss was due to horrible draws, and the Warlock was playing a hyper aggro deck I couldn't keep up with. I will keep playing and editing this every few days with the new stats.
Edit 3 (3/20/17): I've gotten well over 100 games (326 according to my deck tracker, not including mobile matches) with this deck, both on my F2P EU account, and my main NA account. I completely forgot to update this with all of the stats, however the win percentage is roughly 65-70% in the current meta. I've tried the deck with a few alterations (such as playing Loot Hoarder instead of Azure Drake or dropping the Acidic Swamp Ooze for other early cards). In general, the deck runs about the same, and has become even better after the aggro nerf. Shaman are still a bit of a problem to beat, but aggro warrior is easily one of the best match-ups. Lately I've been seeing more Dragon/Menagerie Warrior, and Jade is still slightly favored depending on the midgame. I've also gone ahead and included some basic mulligan rules. If I can get my recording software to work properly, I will play a few games with this deck and put them on here for the "how to play" section.
Edit 3 (4/6/17): With the loss of Azure Drake and Living Roots, new cards need to come in and replace them. Currently I am trying the new Un'Goro card Earthen Scales and Druid of the Claw. If draw power becomes a problem, or aggro dies down, then I may replace Druid of the Claw with Loot Hoarder for more cycle.
This deck is really fun and more of an intro deck into jade without crafting some of the big stuff.
I'm currently 4-0 w/ it. Started it in R17
Rank 10, currently 2-8. Really underpowered without Fandral, but I will try this deck more.
Jade Druid is not a powerful deck in Un'Goro. I am still occasionally fiddling with it, but lately I've been preoccupied with college (almost complete) so I haven't been spending much time on this deck or HS in general.
It is certainly not as powerful as it was pre-Un'Goro, but this is a budget deck. I don't expect it to get most people past rank 15. I have found it currently to be particularly weak against Quest Rogue right now though, and am open to suggestions on how to improve the deck.
How about replacing the oozes for a cold light oracle? Its a early board minion and gets you 2 cards (though it does give your opponent 2 cards as well)
The deck is pretty consistent with its card draw, and it has a lot of card draw in general. Cold Light Oracle could work, but they're a weaker body for more mana compared to Acidic Swamp Ooze. Ooze is a particular tech against the more aggressive warrior/shaman/rogue decks, and dropping them makes the deck lest consistent against aggro. If you replace them with the Oracles, it's actually an even worse match up. If you find the deck lacking draw and/or early game presence, I would recommend dropping Azure Drake for Loot Hoarder. It will improve your early game presence, maintain your draws, with the only downside being the loss of spell damage.
Thanks for the reply! I got another one for ya, what do you think about replacing a moonfire for a mistress of mixture? Its a good 1 drop for 2/2 and heals both players for 4 health for a deathrattle. I was thinking this would be good against aggro decks
I did try Mistress of Mixtures instead pre-aggro nerf, and it was helpful when Small-Time Buccaneer was a 1/2 - 3/2, however post nerf I've found moonfire to be better. It allows you to cycle easily if you save it for Gadgetzan Auctioneer, or if you draw into it. It can also be saved to deal extra damage with Azure Drake. It's not a bad switch, but I find Moonfire to be overall more versatile. If you aren't seeing as many weapon-based classes, I would recommend dropping the Acidic Swamp Ooze for Mistress of Mixtures. I recently have seen maybe one weapon-heavy class out of ten or so lately, so that's a switch I am going to try myself.
any place for Brann Bronzebeard in this deck, i think it could really help with the mid-game jade golens and i'm considering swaping one Jade Blossom or Wild Growth to make room for him, not sure tho
I've never been a particular fan of Brann in my Jade decks, however you should be okay dropping a Wild Growth for him, or one of the Ooze's if you haven't seen many warriors/shaman lately.
Any thoughts on what to replace azure drake, raven idol and living roots with when they rotate out with Un'Goro's release?
Without knowing the new cards, I can't say for sure. My budget deck does not currently run Raven Idol so that's not a problem. Azure Drake can probably be replaced with Loot Hoarder to make it even more budget-friendly. Living Roots is the hardest one to replace. It's possible to try running Claw for more cheap removal (damned pirates) or it could be swapped for more draw power with something like Novice Engineer.
Although not all of the cards have been revealed yet, I believe my previous answer will most likely be the most likely stay true, unless druids get a decent 1 or 2 mana spell this expansion. If not, depending on the meta, then some spell power card will likely be teched in to deal with a lot of 2 health minions (probably Kobald Geomancer). This is, of course, all speculation, and with the idea that zoo decks will be popular (Quest Hunter, Quest Lock, even early game Quest rogue). This deck will eventually out-value them with jades, but it's still important to maintain early game control.
what do i keep and what do i mulligan if i have the not f2p cards? is it the same or is anything different
It's still pretty much the same. Try to keep the low cost spells more than anything else. Aim for 0-3 drops, arguably Swipe is worth keeping as well. Anything else is a risk to keep in hand unless you have Innervate and/or The Coin to play it quickly.
ok thanks for the reply
I have been more successful after i replaced 1 Ooze for 1 Sunfury. You should try it out, a really great card especially against pirate warriors
I did try sunfury, and it worked pretty well after the aggro downfall. I'm currently testing out a different variation without any Oozes, and if it continues to work for me then I will update the deck list in a few days.
Just reached rank 10 with this deck! First season for me i got better than 18... Wow! :D
Good job dude! Have you tried it since the aggro downfall?