Neoguli's Custom Druid Core Set Changes

Submitted 4 years, 1 month ago by

Greetings there! I'm here to present you my version of how I would change Druid's Core Sets. I'm jumping the bandwagon a bit with the changes after seeing some other people trying their reworks and generally accepting classes may need some updates.

This time, I've put crossfire onto Druid. Some people may be surpirsed I'm taking a closer look at this class instead of some other ones, but I'm willing to experiment with a slightly differend approach to Druid than most people are used to. I'll try to shift the class to resemble more of what nature in real life can be. Expect to be a bit like my previous Warlock thread where I may start with too many expansion cards going to Core sets. Feel free to correct me and pinpoint mistakes.


Strengths and Weaknesses

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  • Strengths
    • Choose One - flexibility is king.
    • Ramp - Druids can accelerate faster than any other class, playing higher-Cost cards while others can't just yet.
    • Minions - Nature has a wide fauna of small, medium and big minions. It has species who are small, but appear in immense numbers. There are also bigger creatures.
    • Buffs - Mother Earth can bolster your units.
  • Limitations
    • Card Draw - Druids feel safe inside Nature that they don't need to hurry as much. Debating whether this should also be their weakness, but I think not.
    • Removal - Nature can do some damage to enemies who interrupt the circle of balance. Druids may also do some stuff themselves. May see if it should be their strength or will try to reduce hard removal present in the set.
    • Survivability - Nature is pretty durable, but not untouchable. Also Branching Paths flashbacks.
  • Weaknesses
    • Tempo - Druids are powerful, but their plays are often slow and don't really threaten in early stages of the game.
    • Card Generation - Once you get a stranglehold on Nature, it takes years for it to recover.


New Sets

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Basic Set

Classic Set



Explanations

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Pounce - A bit more fair of a cheap card than Moonfire, you know why.

Barkskin - exposes the power of Druid being able to buff and survive.

Force of Nature - redesigned as a basic card, as it was looking meaningless as an Epic ever since it's nerf to stop combo Druid.

BEEEES!!! - despite the card being in the standard rotation for the next rotation, I could see it being an excellent Classic card. Provides removal while situationally summoning minions.

Mulch - changed into a common and added as a card due to my philosphy of adding more removal to Druid's arsenal.

Life Boon - a brand new card. Adds either a big buff to one minion or gives up to three minions some power.

Tree of Life - Showcases Druid's emphasis on survival. It's not the strongest tool, but it can get you out of temporary trouble when needed.


Hall of Fame

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Some cards that were considered, but didn't make the cut

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Malorne - as iconic as Cenarius, and shows the slow side of Druid. Pulled him off because of him feeling weird in the classic set and because of him generating himself.

Treespeaker - could bolster Treant support, but felt too limiting for a classic set.

Earthen Scales - could ifind a place for the card, seems strong. But maybe it's a bit too similar to Barkskin.

Giant Anaconda - didn't find place for the Conda and could be limiting design space. Also, 5-Attack theme doesn't play out in any Core set.

Dark Wispers - could be considered.

Naturalize - was meant to be added instead of Mulch. Decided not to because of the mill aspect, which Blizzard has strafed away from since HoF'ing Coldlight Oracle.

Astral Communion - with limited card draw, this could seem good. But maybe it was also forbidden.

Stranglethorn - custom card. Felt hard to word and balance.

  • Neoguli's Avatar
    Duskrider 880 596 Posts Joined 06/25/2019
    Posted 4 years, 1 month ago

    Greetings there! I'm here to present you my version of how I would change Druid's Core Sets. I'm jumping the bandwagon a bit with the changes after seeing some other people trying their reworks and generally accepting classes may need some updates.

    This time, I've put crossfire onto Druid. Some people may be surpirsed I'm taking a closer look at this class instead of some other ones, but I'm willing to experiment with a slightly differend approach to Druid than most people are used to. I'll try to shift the class to resemble more of what nature in real life can be. Expect to be a bit like my previous Warlock thread where I may start with too many expansion cards going to Core sets. Feel free to correct me and pinpoint mistakes.


    Strengths and Weaknesses

    Show Spoiler
    • Strengths
      • Choose One - flexibility is king.
      • Ramp - Druids can accelerate faster than any other class, playing higher-Cost cards while others can't just yet.
      • Minions - Nature has a wide fauna of small, medium and big minions. It has species who are small, but appear in immense numbers. There are also bigger creatures.
      • Buffs - Mother Earth can bolster your units.
    • Limitations
      • Card Draw - Druids feel safe inside Nature that they don't need to hurry as much. Debating whether this should also be their weakness, but I think not.
      • Removal - Nature can do some damage to enemies who interrupt the circle of balance. Druids may also do some stuff themselves. May see if it should be their strength or will try to reduce hard removal present in the set.
      • Survivability - Nature is pretty durable, but not untouchable. Also Branching Paths flashbacks.
    • Weaknesses
      • Tempo - Druids are powerful, but their plays are often slow and don't really threaten in early stages of the game.
      • Card Generation - Once you get a stranglehold on Nature, it takes years for it to recover.


    New Sets

    Show Spoiler

    Basic Set

    Classic Set



    Explanations

    Show Spoiler

    Pounce - A bit more fair of a cheap card than Moonfire, you know why.

    Barkskin - exposes the power of Druid being able to buff and survive.

    Force of Nature - redesigned as a basic card, as it was looking meaningless as an Epic ever since it's nerf to stop combo Druid.

    BEEEES!!! - despite the card being in the standard rotation for the next rotation, I could see it being an excellent Classic card. Provides removal while situationally summoning minions.

    Mulch - changed into a common and added as a card due to my philosphy of adding more removal to Druid's arsenal.

    Life Boon - a brand new card. Adds either a big buff to one minion or gives up to three minions some power.

    Tree of Life - Showcases Druid's emphasis on survival. It's not the strongest tool, but it can get you out of temporary trouble when needed.


    Hall of Fame

    Show Spoiler


    Some cards that were considered, but didn't make the cut

    Show Spoiler

    Malorne - as iconic as Cenarius, and shows the slow side of Druid. Pulled him off because of him feeling weird in the classic set and because of him generating himself.

    Treespeaker - could bolster Treant support, but felt too limiting for a classic set.

    Earthen Scales - could ifind a place for the card, seems strong. But maybe it's a bit too similar to Barkskin.

    Giant Anaconda - didn't find place for the Conda and could be limiting design space. Also, 5-Attack theme doesn't play out in any Core set.

    Dark Wispers - could be considered.

    Naturalize - was meant to be added instead of Mulch. Decided not to because of the mill aspect, which Blizzard has strafed away from since HoF'ing Coldlight Oracle.

    Astral Communion - with limited card draw, this could seem good. But maybe it was also forbidden.

    Stranglethorn - custom card. Felt hard to word and balance.

    "Truth is in the shadows, waiting to be revealed by the light. But light only disperses the shadow." - Me

    "If other people shared traits of those considered naive, the world would've become a better place." - Also me

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  • Cheese's Avatar
    270 163 Posts Joined 05/30/2019
    Posted 4 years, 1 month ago

    Oh god what have I done

    • Pounce - An ok change, though in my opinion Claw is fine.
    • Barkskin - An ok change. Barkskin is a card I shortlisted for my own Druid revamp (it's almost done) and I may keep it too.
    • Force of Nature - Completely agree with this change. I made the same! A card that simple having an epic gem makes no sense.
    • Starfire - I'd have rotated the base card completely but ok
    • Life Boon - Non-HS-related art. Apart from that the card is good.
    • Moonfire - Agree. It needed to go.
    • Gift of the Wild - A shame this card costs so much, but yeah as it is it's useless.

    Now the changes I don't agree with

    • BEEEES!!! - Clearly too OP for a core set. It's a Shadow Bolt powercreep for a class that isn't supposed to be good at removal. It is ubiquitous in Druid right now which is a good sign it shouldn't be evergreen.
    • Savagery - I don't know if you're aware of that but your version of Savagery is what the card was in the alpha version of the game before it was nerfed (https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/Savagery) and if a card is nerfed during an alpha, that means it was REALLY OP. I know the current version is useless. Personnaly I've replaced it with [Hearthstone Card (Savage Strider) Not Found].
    • Keeper of the Grove - Silence should stay a Priest thing. I don't agree with KotG being a core card and even less so being even better than what it was before it was nerfed.
    • Ancient of War/Ancient of Lore - That change is super weird. I disapprove of it, though I agree those two cards need a buff.
    • Tree of Life - I don't know if it's a good idea to have such a card in the classic set. I can't think of any way to abuse it right now but my instinct tells me there are many ways it can be abused.
    • Soul of the Forest - I'm surprised you let this card in the basic set. Doesn't feel druid-y at all.
    • Mark of the Wild/Wrath/Bite - I don't understand why you rotated them.
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  • Neoguli's Avatar
    Duskrider 880 596 Posts Joined 06/25/2019
    Posted 4 years, 1 month ago

    I removed Wrath from the set mainly due to my philospohy of what card Druid can do. I've lsited card draw as something Druid can have, but not to extreme. I felt Nourish and Ancient of Lore were enough.

    Mark of the Wild and Bite were thrown away because I lacked room for them ([Hearthstone Card (Barskin) Not Found] fills the similar purpose like Mark, and Bite was replace by Life Boon).

    Could replace BEEEES!!! with Gnash, which was something I thought of adding for some time. Also, Savagery was changed this way again due to my philosophy that Druids can deal with more boards now. But I totally forgot about Alpha, like 98% of people. xd

    Was once thinking of replacing Keeper of the Grove with a custom card.

    Acnient card changes felt intrieging to me to the point I went for them. If needed, I could pull them off and leave AoL at 6 mana.

    "Truth is in the shadows, waiting to be revealed by the light. But light only disperses the shadow." - Me

    "If other people shared traits of those considered naive, the world would've become a better place." - Also me

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