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
- 17
- 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.
Well, Aya works in 3 different decks and won't rotate out for a while. Fandral, while a staple in almost every druid deck, is only good for druid. It really depended on whether or not you plan to play jade Rogue/Shaman.
You could get away dropping one Wild Growth, both of the Acidic Swamp Oozes, depending on how many weapons you keep running into, Moonfire is optional, but I am really enjoying it in this deck. It makes for an excellent anti-aggro card and as a 0-mana spell works AMAZING with Auctioneer, which then only leaves the Jade Spirit. You COULD drop ONE Jade Idol, but I like the turn 1 1/1 that starts your golem ramp.
Climbed to rank 15 with this deck! I am loving it! It is really simple to play.
I am using a Malygos and put one Jade Idol out.
Dropped one [card]Jade Blossom[/card] and one [card]Acidic Swamp Ooze[/card] for both [card]Arcane Giant [/card]
Personally I'd recommend dropping a Wild Growth instead of a Jade Blossom. Otherwise it's viable. I'm hesitant to say Malygos works with this deck, but you do have 2 0-mana spells and a 1-mana spell for that late game burst, which is nice if you haven't already cast the spells or used them to cycle. So I guess he isn't bad, but at face value it looks like Malygos is counter-intuitive to how the deck is designed to work.
Nice deck! I use the deck you created except i dropped one Ooze for Fandral Staghelm. I have about 1800 dust now and i was wondering if there is any cards you recommend me to replace?
There isn't a crazy ton you need to replace. If you look near the bottom of my wall of text I mention certain tech cards like Arcane Giant, Raven Idol (if you have those two adventures), and Doomsayer. I've seen some players turning this deck into more of a mid-range by adding in other solid value legendaries such as Sylvanas, Rag, and Cairne. I'm not so sure about playing them because this deck is so reliant on cycling through the deck, but it's open for experimentation.
If you want to replace cards, I'd recommend dropping:
1 Wild Growth, 1-2 Acidic Swamp Ooze, 2 Jade Spirit. Not in this order though, if you're facing a lot of aggro decks that run weapons, I'd keep the Ooze for them (cursed warriors and shaman).
I see. problem is i dont have those adventures.
what are your thoughts on adding Aya Blackpaw?
Even at 1/1 and 2/2 golem stats, Aya does have value for her mana cost, but I feel she costs too much mana for the deck. I suppose if you want to drop a Jade Spirit you could add her in, but she's not the greatest in my opinion.
Ok I really like this Budget Jade deck list! The Moonfire have been the MVP so far, and they are working great! So is the Druid of the Claw I added instead of the second Gadgetzan Auctioneer, because I don't have the dust for two of them.
I started at Rank 17 and now I'm one star away from Rank 14. No loses so far, and I even beat a Mid Range Jade Shaman haha. Yea, I have not seen any aggro decks during my games, but I like how the deck is performing for me on my F2P account. I'm thinking that Moonfire might be a good addition to normal Jade Druid lists...because they really help with board control.
Thanks for sharing the deck with us, and now I have two different decks to play on my F2P Druid :)
Glad it's working out for you! I personally like having two Auctioneers because it allows for more mid game card draw, and late game, but both are not necessary. As for the Moonfire I also thoroughly enjoy having them in as well. They synergize better than expected. I have been debating dropping one Ooze for a Druid of the Claw as well, but the deck is working well for me in its current state.
Yeah if the deck is working for you, I would not change it then. I just don't have enough dust for the second Gadgetzan Auctioneer yet, and until I get it I'll be using the Druid of the Claw in the mean time.
I'm still using this deck after the reset, and I love Moonfire so much man! I need to add them to my main Jade Druid decks, because they are so good for removal like no tomorrow :)
I have a good WR with your deck, and I really enjoy playing it on the ladder!
Thanks man, glad to hear it's working so well. I've been sick with Bronchitis lately so I haven't been playing too much, but this month I plan to focus on this deck and give WR stats after a week or two.
I hope you feel better, and it will be nice to see the WR stats soon.
Thanks for making this deck! I have a F2P account I mess around with (not my main account) on the EU server. I will try and craft this budget version (tonight if I can)....because it will be nice to play a different druid deck on the F2P side of things.
P.S. I do have two Druid of the Claw on my F2P account, so I might drop one Ooze and one Auctioneer, to combat aggro better, and I don't have enough dust for two Auctioneers I think.
On my F2P account I have reached rank 9 with this deck after many many matches. I sadly didn't think to collect any data on it, so I'm going to play 100 matches in January and update the list after those 100 matches
Focus on controlling the board pretty much the entire time. Avoid SMOrc unless your opponent has 0 minions on board, or if you think you've got enough pressure that you'll need to force them to trade. Otherwise, ALWAYS use your first Jade Idol as a golem, and save the 2nd idol until you've got a Gadgetzan Auctioneer. I'd also recommend waiting until you've got a fair amount of mana before dropping even your first Auctioneer. On top of that, the first Auctioneer is meant for trades and early card draw, whereas you want to save the second Auctioneer until you have 5 or less cards (not including Jade Idol), then try to draw as many of those as possible, then pump your deck back up with Jade Idol for big golems every turn. Last note worthy tip is to save your Nourish for card draw. If you can keep a Nourish until close to the end of the match, you've suddenly got three, one mana 7/7, 8/8, 9/9 or whatever. Massive tempo/value boost to win you the match.
The big problem for this deck is full on board clears like Brawl or Twisting Nether. If you're playing against control warrior (rare, but I've seen some) or RenoLock, make sure you save some of your big minions and an idol or two for their board clears. It's difficult to bate them out, and admittedly I am not too great at it, but it's one of those things that just takes practice and intuition.
If you want, PM me your Name#Tag and what server you play on and I'll happily help you real-time with the deck.
What would you tech in the raven idol for? (with the deck as listed above, except with an ooze dropped for Fandral Staghelm)
You could get away with dropping both Moonfires for them, especially if you're not seeing a lot of aggro decks (which druid seems to handle pretty well either way). Or you could drop one [deck]wild growth[/deck] and the other Ooze. Dropping the Jade Spirits is also an option, but I've been toying with them a lot and they seem to fit in the deck well enough that I keep them in the non-budget version.
What about Aya Blackpaw