Deck Overview: Combo Druid is a deck built around the combination of Force of Nature Savage Roar, which it plays in combination to deal large amounts of damage to its opponent in a single turn. Like the Ramp Druid deck, Combo Druid also uses Wild Growth and Innervate to gain a mana advantage over its opponent and play its large minions multiple turns early. In addition to its core cards, the deck also has space for a number of situational cards, like Loatheb and Harrison Jones, that can give it the edge in certain matchups.

Decklist: aReNGee's Combo Druid

Personal Tech Choices:

• Many people choose to run Cenarius. He is an excellent choice for the deck and a very powerful card, however I personally removed him to lower my curve as I found I needed more help against aggro.
• I run Earthen Ring Farseer over Mind Control Tech as I personally find it a more consistent, if weaker, card.
• I chose to run both Harrison Jones and Loatheb as situational cards and have been very happy with both of them.

Combo Numbers:

• Force of Nature Savage Roar: 9 mana, 14 damage
• Force of Nature Savage Roar Innervate Hero Power: 9 mana, 15 damage
• Force of Nature Savage Roar Innervate Savage Roar: 10 mana, 22 damage

The standard combo deals 14 damage on its own, and can potentially be played with only 7 mana with the help of an Innervate. Force of Nature double Savage Roar does 22 damage and is almost impossible to survive if you have one or two minions on the board, but requires a full 10 mana plus an Innervate to pull off. When playing against Combo Druid, it is important to keep these numbers in mind and avoid falling below 15 health if at all possible.

Strengths: The deck runs one of the most powerful combos in the game, in addition to powerful minions and mana ramp. The deck is powerful because it doesn’t require its combo in order to win, but it forces your opponents to play as though you have your combo cards even when you don’t. Another strength of the deck is that it plays plenty of cards that are powerful in their own right. Your modal cards (Ancient of Lore, Druid of the Claw, and Keeper of the Grove) are all very flexible and useful in every matchup. Shade of Naxxramus makes an excellent stealthed threat, greatly increases your combo’s damage, and is very difficult to remove. Such is the power of its individual cards that Combo Druid is able to play plenty of tech cards to improve its weaker matchups without really weakening its good matchups.

Weaknesses: All of the cards in the deck are powerful, but Combo Druid really relies on being able to draw the right card at the right time. You are much more favoured in games in which you have an early Wild Growth than in games that you don’t. The deck has plenty of high cost cards that are awkward draws in the early game, and not a ton of early interaction. Combo Druid is light on board clear and healing, and its taunt minions all cost 5 or more. If you have a weak hand against an aggressive deck, you often find yourself overwhelmed. Against control opponents, Combo Druid doesn’t have much card draw and can find itself running out of gas if they deal with all your minions, and can have difficulty actually closing out the game if you don’t draw your combo.

Mulligans: You want to mulligan aggressively with Combo Druid. Wild Growth is your best card on turn 2, and you want to try to find it if you can. If you’re playing against an aggressive deck, you also want to mulligan to find your early game cards, so you tend to mulligan a lot of cards as Druid. If you are lucky enough to have Wild Growth in your hand, you want to keep your 4 and 5 mana spells to take advantage of your increased mana.

Playing the Deck: The general strategy of Combo Druid is simple: Get ahead and stay ahead. The deck has plenty of ways to gain temporary advantages, but very few ways to get real card advantage. As such, the deck has a very difficult time playing from behind, so you need to make full use of your advantages while you have them. Against aggro, you want to do everything you can to reduce the pressure you’re under and make sure you have the time to play your more powerful minions. Against slower decks you want to build up your board and put your opponent on the defensive. You generally want to use your Ancients of Lore to draw towards your combo unless you really need the health. If you don’t draw your combo, you can usually win with a Savage Roar and a couple minions on the board.

Tips and Tricks:

• Innervate gets better the longer you hold onto it. Playing a 3 mana spell on the first turn is far less impactful than playing a 5 mana spell on the third turn or a 7 mana spell on the fifth turn.
• If you draw Wild Growth while at 8 or 9 mana, wait until you have 10 mana to play it. It will draw you a card.
• Ancient of Lore can heal any character, not just your hero.
• Let your Shade of Naxxramus grow outside of removal range, rather than attacking with it immediately. A 5/5 is much harder to remove than a 3/3 or a 4/4!
• Innervate can’t actually bring you beyond 10 mana crystals. Spend your mana first!
• Your hero can’t attack when frozen. A standard combo with a frozen hero only deals 12 damage.

Your comments and (constructive) criticism is welcomed and encouraged. If I’m missing any information or if you have a tip to share, please let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading!

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