The ironically Caucasian bloke: J4CKIECHAN got to #2 legend on the first day of season 21 with an old school Egg Druid deck. That’s right, Egg Druid, the deck that has been around for a while now, the one that no one really loves or hates.
For years it has existed as an afterthought, a niche archetype that some players swear by as a viable deck, and one that no one can truly deny because no one really plays it. Well, I think J4CKIECHAN has proven to all of us that this is a viable deck and that we should all be playing it because he has gotten to the legend ranks the last few seasons with this deck alone!
How to Play
I’m going to have to start this write up with a DISCLAIMER: this is one of the toughest decks to learn how to consistently play, if you are not willing to assiduously practice with this deck to learn the minutia of it all then don’t even pick it up. When I first started tinkering with this deck I sucked, losing horribly game after game, watching my ranks slowly slip away into oblivion. I thought this was a horrible deck and wondered why anyone with a right mind would want to play it. And then it happened; that perfect draw that everyone gets, the draw makes everything in the world make sense and the meaning of life so simple; basically, it was my “how did I not already know this moment.”
Essentially, this deck thrives off of board control and much like Zoolock you do that through effective and efficient minion trading. Unlike Zoolock though, you don’t have a hero power that allows you to tap away mistakes like they never happened, you make one mistake with this deck and usually it results in a horrible, soul crushing, snowball loss. Now I’m not saying this is bad deck, heck you can fall really far behind with Egg Druid and come back in two turns to win the game; all I’m saying is that you have to be very careful with how you use every single card and make sure you try to control the board as much possible.
Always try to have at least 3-4 minions on the board at all times. The crux of this deck is buffing cheap, sticky minions. Cards like Power of the Wild, Soul of the Forest, and Defender of Argus are your core early-midgame cards because they are great for buffing multiple minions at once. Like I’ve already iterated several times, make sure not to waste cards and try to get as much value as you can out of each one. That means doing things like getting multiple Whelps’ out of a Dragon Egg and not using a Living Roots for removal. Tokens, tokens, and more tokens will win the game and getting that big Savage Roar combo can swing a game like nothing else.
Mulligan
The Mulligan Phase for this deck is relatively simple compared to everything else you have to deal with. You should be strictly looking for Innervate, Living Roots, Dragon Egg, Echoing Ooze, and Nerubian Egg. The 1-drop minions should obviously have higher precedent over the 2-drops but getting any of them will do. Cards like Mark of the Wild, Power of the Wild, and Jeeves are great top-deck cards that will help buff an already strong board.
A Few Combinations
There are a myriad of combinations involved in this deck and that is why it so important to practice with this deck. I’ll do my best to list the big ones, but playing this deck is the only way to truly understand the possible combinations and synergies of this archetype.
Power of the Wild + Multiple Minions: You’ll want to get at least 3 minions worth of value out of this card. It is essentially a mini Savage Roar in that it buffs multiple minions. This cards value though is in its ability to make efficient minion trades. Use it to keep your weak minions alive and make efficient trades to get 2-1 or even 3 or 4-1 value out of a your sticky, weak minions.
Soul of the Forest + Multiple Minions: This is another great mid-game card and the Soul of the Forest
doesn’t get enough love for how good it can be. By turn-4 you should have a decent amount of minions on board and by turn-5-6 you should be able to further increase its value by combining it with another minion. It should be noted though, that in a lot of situations this card is best used in an aggressive manner so that you’ll guarantee a myriad of minion drops.
Mark of the Wild + Dragon Egg, Echoing Ooze, or Nerubian Egg: You couldn’t really call it an “Egg Druid” unless it had some eggs in it. Dragon Egg can become a really powerful opener when coalesced with Mark of the Wild on turn-2, allowing you to get at least 2-3 Whelps out of it. Using Mark of the Wild on either Echoing Ooze or the Nerubian Egg is also self-explanatory; you place a big threat on the board early that is hard to deal with.
Savage Roar + Game Over: Savage Roar can swing games so quickly and in my opinion, is the burstiest card in the game today. Doing 15+ damage with this card is far from crazy and with the Druid class everyone plays scared against it, usually making inopportune decisions.
Additional Notes
Of course Savage Roar had to get nerfed after I wrote this article! OF COURSE IT DID, it was an insanely over powered card. Team-5 would look like a bunch of hypocrites if they didn’t, especially with their vague policy of “it’s not fun to lose that way” and this definitely was one of those cards like the Grim Patron and the Gadgetzan Auctioneer that made losses hurt more for some reason…
For years it has existed as an afterthought, a niche archetype that some players swear by as a viable deck, and one that no one can truly deny because no one really plays it. Well, I think J4CKIECHAN has proven to all of us that this is a viable deck and that we should all be playing it because he has gotten to the legend ranks the last few seasons with this deck alone!
How to Play
I’m going to have to start this write up with a DISCLAIMER: this is one of the toughest decks to learn how to consistently play, if you are not willing to assiduously practice with this deck to learn the minutia of it all then don’t even pick it up. When I first started tinkering with this deck I sucked, losing horribly game after game, watching my ranks slowly slip away into oblivion. I thought this was a horrible deck and wondered why anyone with a right mind would want to play it. And then it happened; that perfect draw that everyone gets, the draw makes everything in the world make sense and the meaning of life so simple; basically, it was my “how did I not already know this moment.”
Essentially, this deck thrives off of board control and much like Zoolock you do that through effective and efficient minion trading. Unlike Zoolock though, you don’t have a hero power that allows you to tap away mistakes like they never happened, you make one mistake with this deck and usually it results in a horrible, soul crushing, snowball loss. Now I’m not saying this is bad deck, heck you can fall really far behind with Egg Druid and come back in two turns to win the game; all I’m saying is that you have to be very careful with how you use every single card and make sure you try to control the board as much possible.
Always try to have at least 3-4 minions on the board at all times. The crux of this deck is buffing cheap, sticky minions. Cards like Power of the Wild, Soul of the Forest, and Defender of Argus are your core early-midgame cards because they are great for buffing multiple minions at once. Like I’ve already iterated several times, make sure not to waste cards and try to get as much value as you can out of each one. That means doing things like getting multiple Whelps’ out of a Dragon Egg and not using a Living Roots for removal. Tokens, tokens, and more tokens will win the game and getting that big Savage Roar combo can swing a game like nothing else.
Mulligan
The Mulligan Phase for this deck is relatively simple compared to everything else you have to deal with. You should be strictly looking for Innervate, Living Roots, Dragon Egg, Echoing Ooze, and Nerubian Egg. The 1-drop minions should obviously have higher precedent over the 2-drops but getting any of them will do. Cards like Mark of the Wild, Power of the Wild, and Jeeves are great top-deck cards that will help buff an already strong board.
A Few Combinations
There are a myriad of combinations involved in this deck and that is why it so important to practice with this deck. I’ll do my best to list the big ones, but playing this deck is the only way to truly understand the possible combinations and synergies of this archetype.
Power of the Wild + Multiple Minions: You’ll want to get at least 3 minions worth of value out of this card. It is essentially a mini Savage Roar in that it buffs multiple minions. This cards value though is in its ability to make efficient minion trades. Use it to keep your weak minions alive and make efficient trades to get 2-1 or even 3 or 4-1 value out of a your sticky, weak minions.
Soul of the Forest + Multiple Minions: This is another great mid-game card and the Soul of the Forest
doesn’t get enough love for how good it can be. By turn-4 you should have a decent amount of minions on board and by turn-5-6 you should be able to further increase its value by combining it with another minion. It should be noted though, that in a lot of situations this card is best used in an aggressive manner so that you’ll guarantee a myriad of minion drops.
Mark of the Wild + Dragon Egg, Echoing Ooze, or Nerubian Egg: You couldn’t really call it an “Egg Druid” unless it had some eggs in it. Dragon Egg can become a really powerful opener when coalesced with Mark of the Wild on turn-2, allowing you to get at least 2-3 Whelps out of it. Using Mark of the Wild on either Echoing Ooze or the Nerubian Egg is also self-explanatory; you place a big threat on the board early that is hard to deal with.
Savage Roar + Game Over: Savage Roar can swing games so quickly and in my opinion, is the burstiest card in the game today. Doing 15+ damage with this card is far from crazy and with the Druid class everyone plays scared against it, usually making inopportune decisions.
Additional Notes
Of course Savage Roar had to get nerfed after I wrote this article! OF COURSE IT DID, it was an insanely over powered card. Team-5 would look like a bunch of hypocrites if they didn’t, especially with their vague policy of “it’s not fun to lose that way” and this definitely was one of those cards like the Grim Patron and the Gadgetzan Auctioneer that made losses hurt more for some reason…
