Barnes Ramp Druid Standard

[Damien 1,514]

This thread is for comments about our Barnes Ramp Druid Standard deck.

[sc47 2]

Thanks Sottle, I have been trying a similar deck to this with reasonable success.

Against aggro, I think we need a early taunt before those decks overwhelm you. Since we have no taunt/board control early game outside of some lucky rng from Barnes, I think -1 Bog Creeper +1 Dark Arrakoa seems more safe against aggro as we can get out a taunt 1 turn earlier while still having the synergy with Barnes.  

Let me know your thoughts on this.

 

[positiv2 953]

1 hour ago, sc47 said:

Thanks Sottle, I have been trying a similar deck to this with reasonable success.

Against aggro, I think we need a early taunt before those decks overwhelm you. Since we have no taunt/board control early game outside of some lucky rng from Barnes, I think -1 Bog Creeper +1 Dark Arrakoa seems more safe against aggro as we can get out a taunt 1 turn earlier while still having the synergy with Barnes.  

Let me know your thoughts on this.

If you feel the need for an early taunt, I recommend you to use Sen'jin Shieldmasta instead of Dark Arakkoa. Sen'jin is an underestimated minion. He is a solid taunt as he gives you 5 health with enough attack to kill most of 2-drops and 3-drops. When coupled with your hero power, you should be able to trade efficiently even against control decks.

[sc47 2]

1 hour ago, positiv2 said:

If you feel the need for an early taunt, I recommend you to use Sen'jin Shieldmasta instead of Dark Arakkoa. Sen'jin is an underestimated minion. He is a solid taunt as he gives you 5 health with enough attack to kill most of 2-drops and 3-drops. When coupled with your hero power, you should be able to trade efficiently even against control decks.

I do like Tazdingo and he is pretty good. I would definitely consider him against Zoo.

But I don't want to lower the curve that much.  Especially against decks like Shaman, dragon warriro and midrange hunter. True he may clear some early drops like alex champion, trogg etc, but considering cards like Totem Golem, TFB, Lava burst, Kill command, Fire Elemental,  Doomhammer+rockbiter, Highmane and even a CotW on a empty board, Arakkoa is pretty strong.

Overall I think replacing a 7 drop with a 6 drop might just be sufficient to stablize given that this deck has some good ramp and also because how well the Arakkoa interacts with the above mentioned cards. Just my 2 cents.

[KingMe 289]

Living Roots, Wrath, Feral Rage and Swipe combo'd with Innervate and Druid's Hero Power gives you plenty of early game answers to extremely fast starting decks like Zoo, Shaman and Hunter.  Mire Keeper gives you early board presence and Fandral Staghelm is basically a taunt in its own right seeing as your opponent will opt to remove it before he spirals the game out of their control. 2 Bog Creeper is perfectly fine in my opinion but if you feel safer dropping 1 for Dark Arakkoa then that will work as well. Sottle said himself that the late game in this deck is flexible

[positiv2 953]

7 hours ago, sc47 said:

But I don't want to lower the curve that much.  Especially against decks like Shaman, dragon warriro and midrange hunter. True he may clear some early drops like alex champion, trogg etc, but considering cards like Totem Golem, TFB, Lava burst, Kill command, Fire Elemental,  Doomhammer+rockbiter, Highmane and even a CotW on a empty board, Arakkoa is pretty strong.

3/4s card be cleared with trade + hero power. On turn 5 you will use another 4-drop and then 6-drop and then Bog Creeper, or skip the 6-drop if your 4-drop was Mire Keeper. That means Sen'jin Shieldmasta won't often matter in the turns past 4 or 5. You play him to soak up 5 damage, and that's pretty much it. The two turn difference against Dark Arakkoa is significant. Dark Arakkoa is a great taunt, but turn 6 may be late sometimes.

[Valks 2,375]

2 hours ago, positiv2 said:

Dark Arakkoa is a great taunt, but turn 6 may be late sometimes.

Dark Arakkoa stops a decent/slow start by an aggro deck. Sen'jin stops a decent/good start by an aggro deck.

[Guest Chris]

This deck works really excellent! I went from rank 11 to 8 in about 40 minutes! Due to the huge amount of aggro deck (or am I the only one who got that feeling..?) I did the following changes: - 1 Bog Creeper, - 1 Moonglade Portal (I think it is sometimes way too slow..), +1 Bloodmage Thalnos (I think this card is actually really good especially against dragon warriors because Living Roots will deal 3 damage instead of 2 for 1 mana and this is quiet excellent against the charging Champion with that sticky 3/3 board), +1 Shieldmasta and + 1 Sylvanas because I havn´t got Deathwing yet... I think this little change is working better against aggro. What do you guys think about this?

[KingMe 289]

4 hours ago, Guest Chris said:

This deck works really excellent! I went from rank 11 to 8 in about 40 minutes! Due to the huge amount of aggro deck (or am I the only one who got that feeling..?) I did the following changes: - 1 Bog Creeper, - 1 Moonglade Portal (I think it is sometimes way too slow..), +1 Bloodmage Thalnos (I think this card is actually really good especially against dragon warriors because Living Roots will deal 3 damage instead of 2 for 1 mana and this is quiet excellent against the charging Champion with that sticky 3/3 board), +1 Shieldmasta and + 1 Sylvanas because I havn´t got Deathwing yet... I think this little change is working better against aggro. What do you guys think about this?

The changes don't seem to be too bad, obviously since you were able to climb higher up the ladder on the backs of the decks you set out to beat. :P  Moonglade Portal I think works well against aggro in this deck (Even though it's slow) since you have the ramp ability and you can heal while hiding behind things most aggro has a hard time removing. 

[Valks 2,375]

50% agreeing on the Portal - sometimes it can be slow, sometimes it can be excellent. I definitely don't think it's a necessity to have two in the deck and your replacements seem fine.

Adjusting the deck to what you are playing is the first rule of using a deck.

On 9/16/2016 at 3:36 PM, Guest Chris said:

+1 Bloodmage Thalnos

How often does this cause you to get a useless Y'Shaarj turn? Genuinely interested in the viability here and I feel like it could sometimes turn a guaranteed solid minion on board into a much less useful minion.

[KingMe 289]

21 hours ago, Blainie said:

50% agreeing on the Portal - sometimes it can be slow, sometimes it can be excellent. I definitely don't think it's a necessity to have two in the deck and your replacements seem fine.

I agree it not being a necessity to have 2.  I've been looking at it roughly as a 5/5 (on average) minion that restores 6 health for 6 which is more or less a cheaper Guardian of Kings. 

 

21 hours ago, Blainie said:

Adjusting the deck to what you are playing is the first rule of using a deck.

This is in the 10 commandments of Hearthstone. 

[Direwolf 0]

I don't have Deathwing yet - have everything else. What would you recommend including instead?

These are the options that I am playing with (in order of what I feel is best to worst): 

Sylvanas, Malygos, Soggoth the Slitherer, Cenarius, Chromaggus, 

All pretty big threats. I wouldn't get Cenarius's full power if he came via a Y'Shaarj. But, he is pretty awesome with Fandral. Soggoth is surprisingly hard for opponents to deal with. 

Edited October 6, 2016 by Direwolf

[positiv2 953]

7 minutes ago, Direwolf said:

I don't have Deathwing yet - have everything else. What would you recommend including instead?

These are the options that I am playing with (in order of what I feel is best to worst): 

Sylvanas, Malygos, Soggoth the Slitherer, Cenarius, Chromaggus, 

All pretty big threats. I wouldn't get Cenarius's full power if he came via a Y'Shaarj. But, he is pretty awesome with Fandral. Soggoth is surprisingly hard for opponents to deal with. 

Sylvanas Windrunner, or Feral Rage if you face a lot of aggro. 

[Direwolf 0]

Thanks. I played a game with Soggoth and the other player dropped a Sylvanas. Needless to say, I lost. I'll add in Sylvanas instead.

[Direwolf 0]

1 hour ago, positiv2 said:

Sylvanas Windrunner, or Feral Rage if you face a lot of aggro. 

Do you mostly use Feral Rage to get some armor and buy time or to take out a minion?

[positiv2 953]

7 hours ago, Direwolf said:

Do you mostly use Feral Rage to get some armor and buy time or to take out a minion?

Depends on when you draw it, or when you find enough mana to use it. If it's in the early game, it's often better to trade. If you draw it later and have no good trades with it, gain armor. Same goes when you have low HP and are afraid of burst damage, such as Doomhammer+Rockbiter Weapon. 
There are a few exceptions though, where using it for armor is much better - OTK decks, such as freeze mage or malygos druid. 8 extra health is a lot when facing OTK, as they have to spend extra effort and cards to get through the armor, just like mage's Ice Barrier.