[Wild Meta Guide] Jade Druid
![[WILD META GUIDE] Jade Druid](https://hearthstone-decks.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/WILD-META-GUIDE-Jade-Druid.png)
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Hello and welcome to the first edition of Hearthstone-Decks.net’s Wild Meta Guide. This article is classified as a “Meta Guide,” rather than the usual “Meta Report”. We feel typical Meta Reports are too simplistic and are insufficient in explaining why a deck is well-positioned in the meta.
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Deck archetypes are ordered by strength with the strongest variant of a deck in mind. Most decks contain multiple variants, which may differ in viability or may be intended to counter different metas. Understand that the 4th most viable variant of, for example, Shudderwock Shaman, may not be better than the strongest variant of a weaker archetype.
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Jade Druid - Decklists
![[WILD META GUIDE] Jade Druid - EvilDevil](https://hearthstone-decks.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/WILD-META-GUIDE-Jade-Druid-EvilDevil.png)
![[WILD META GUIDE] Jade Druid - Memnarch](https://hearthstone-decks.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/WILD-META-GUIDE-Jade-Druid-Memnarch.png)
![[WILD META GUIDE] Jade Druid - Chine Meta Report](https://hearthstone-decks.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/WILD-META-GUIDE-Jade-Druid-Chine-Meta-Report.png)
A short introduction
Jade idol has been in Druid since the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan expansion. It took until Knights of the Frozen Throne however to make Jade Druid a format staple. It was not the Jade Idol itself that carried the deck into the spotlight, but cards like Spreading Plague, Malfurion the Pestilent, and Ultimate Infestation. Then the next expansion, Kobolds and Catacombs, provided more cards with Lesser Jasper Spellstone, Branching Paths, and Oaken Summons. With these support cards, Druids could finally reliably draw through their entire deck while fending off aggression to make use of Jade Idol. From then on, you summon a large green man every turn for the rest of the game.
Jade Druid Variants
There have been two types of Jade Druid decks during the deck’s long career. The two variants are Tempo Jade Druid and Fatigue Jade Druid. Tempo Jade Druid runs Jade Golem producers like Aya BlackPaw and Jade Behemoth. Fatigue Jade Druid runs more defensive cards like Starfall and combo tech cards.
Previous iterations of Tempo Jade Druid ran cards like Jade Spirit and FLobbidinous Floop. These cards have fallen out of favor because of Archmage Vargoth. The Oaken Summons package, which is Archmage Vargoth and either Hecklebot, Zul’Drak Ritualist, or Ironwood golem, has become the best way to build Jade Druid. The power of hitting Archmage Vargoth with Oaken Summons has overcome the consistency of Jade Spirit and Flobbidinious Floop by such a degree, that it is simply no longer viable to run anything but the Oaken Summons package.
This guide will mainly focus on the fatigue variant with Jade Druid. The tempo variant has fallen out of favor. This is mainly due to a meta shift and so if the meta shifts again with printing of new cards or nerfing of current cards, then the tempo oriented version will be worth revisiting.
We personally prefer Zul’Drak Ritualist over Hecklebot. While both cards are not the best to play, Hecklebot does have a chance to lose the game if you pull the wrong minion.
Basic Gameplan
Jade Druid has a very simple game plan. Draw your entire deck and then overwhelm the opponent with large green men. Jade Idol is effectively infinite value, but it is very slow. So slow in fact that it you mainly win because of fatigue instead of large green men. Also Jade Idol is the worst card in the deck until it is the last card in your deck. It is almost always wrong to shuffle in Jade Idols before one draws most of the deck. This is because you want to draw all the defensive tools before you start recurring Jade Idols. The way you win is almost always through exhausting the opponent’s resources and not Jade Idol recursion.
The Mulligan
» Universial Plan
The universal keep is Oaken Summons. Oaken Summons sometimes lets you get the high roll with vargoth that can win you the game on the spot. Paying 4 mana for 12 armor and 5/15 in stats is very strong and forces answers from the opponent. Jade Blossom is almost a universal keep, but it is greedy against aggro. However, Jade Blossom can be kept against aggro if you can ramp into something.
» Universial Plan
The universal keep is Oaken Summons. Oaken Summons sometimes lets you get the high roll with vargoth that can win you the game on the spot. Paying 4 mana for 12 armor and 5/15 in stats is very strong and forces answers from the opponent. Jade Blossom is almost a universal keep, but it is greedy against aggro. However, Jade Blossom can be kept against aggro if you can ramp into something.
» VS Aggro
Against Aggro, you want your removal. Armor gain alone is not enough to give you time to play 5 and 6 cost spells. In addition to that, spreading plague is no longer the aggro stopper it once was. The minions aggro plays now are a lot better than they used to be. The removal you want also differs from matchup to matchup. The only definite keeps against aggro are Lesser Jasper Spellstone, Wrath, and swipe. Spreading Plague and starfall can be kept, but only if you can play something before it or if you playing against Odd Paladin, Odd Rogue or pirate warrior. Against mech paladin you want poison seeds. Naturalize helps against them, but the 2 extra cards sometimes leaves you in similar spot as the previous turn.
» VS Aggro
Against Aggro, you want your removal. Armor gain alone is not enough to give you time to play 5 and 6 cost spells. In addition to that, spreading plague is no longer the aggro stopper it once was. The minions aggro plays now are a lot better than they used to be. The removal you want also differs from matchup to matchup. The only definite keeps against aggro are Lesser Jasper Spellstone, Wrath, and swipe. Spreading Plague and starfall can be kept, but only if you can play something before it or if you playing against Odd Paladin, Odd Rogue or pirate warrior. Against mech paladin you want poison seeds. Naturalize helps against them, but the 2 extra cards sometimes leaves you in similar spot as the previous turn.
» VS Control
Against control you want your Jade Blossoms and card draw. The sooner you get to the end of your deck the faster you can start playing large green men. Also against combo, you want your tech cards, ramp and your card draw. A lot of combo matchups come down to gaining a lot of armor and surviving the combo turn. With Ramp cards, one can justify cards that are usually not kept. The main two cards you keep are Overflow and Malfurion the Pestilent. Ultimate Infestation is expensive and was only kept in the past if you also had Nourish. Currently, the only way one can justify keeping Ultimate Infestation is if you have two Jade Blossoms, the coin, and Oaken Summons.
» VS Control
Against control you want your Jade Blossoms and card draw. The sooner you get to the end of your deck the faster you can start playing large green men. Also against combo, you want your tech cards, ramp and your card draw. A lot of combo matchups come down to gaining a lot of armor and surviving the combo turn. With Ramp cards, one can justify cards that are usually not kept. The main two cards you keep are Overflow and Malfurion the Pestilent. Ultimate Infestation is expensive and was only kept in the past if you also had Nourish. Currently, the only way one can justify keeping Ultimate Infestation is if you have two Jade Blossoms, the coin, and Oaken Summons.
» VS Darkest Hour Warlock
If you are playing against Darkest Hour Warlock you hard mulligan for Poison Seeds. This is the only card that matters. Oaken Summons is tempting to keep because it is the best card you can play on a curve, but it can not challenge the turn 5 combo. Jade Blossom can only be kept if you are on the play. This is because the opponent could play the combo on 5 with the coin. If this happens, you will often be 1 mana short of playing seeds because of Nerubian Unraveler.
» VS Darkest Hour Warlock
If you are playing against Darkest Hour Warlock you hard mulligan for Poison Seeds. This is the only card that matters. Oaken Summons is tempting to keep because it is the best card you can play on a curve, but it can not challenge the turn 5 combo. Jade Blossom can only be kept if you are on the play. This is because the opponent could play the combo on 5 with the coin. If this happens, you will often be 1 mana short of playing seeds because of Nerubian Unraveler.
Tech Options
» Fatigue Druid Tech
Mojomaster Zihi is by far the most controversial and seemingly counterintuitive tech card you can run in Jade Druid. A deck that ramps mana into expensive minions destroying its own mana seems really bad at first glance. Mojomaster Zihi is included because it is the only card that gives you time against combo decks. Archmage Vargoth with TimeWarp and Mecha’Thun are uninteractive combo decks that win the game from hand with 0 board presence. Mojomaster Zihi destroys the opponents mana and gives you at least three more turns to set up defenses or continue applying pressure. If this card forces a Zephyrs or a giant it has done its job. Against Mecha’Thun, you win the game on the spot if you also run two naturalizes. The amount of fatigue the Mecha’Thun player takes usually leaves them dead or unable to combo.
Unseen Saboteur and Loatheb are more tech options that are similar to Zihi because they target combo. Unseen Saboteur targets the cards in hand instead of mana which makes it better into non combo decks. Hitting the specific combo card usually wins you the game on the spot, but not hitting the card usually makes you lose the game on the spot. Loatheb prevents high cost spells from being played for a turn which usually gives enough of a window to close out games. Loatheb has fallen out of favor for Zihi because it simply does not provide enough time to pressure.
» Fatigue Druid Tech
Mojomaster Zihi is by far the most controversial and seemingly counterintuitive tech card you can run in Jade Druid. A deck that ramps mana into expensive minions destroying its own mana seems really bad at first glance. Mojomaster Zihi is included because it is the only card that gives you time against combo decks. Archmage Vargoth with TimeWarp and Mecha’Thun are uninteractive combo decks that win the game from hand with 0 board presence. Mojomaster Zihi destroys the opponents mana and gives you at least three more turns to set up defenses or continue applying pressure. If this card forces a Zephyrs or a giant it has done its job. Against Mecha’Thun, you win the game on the spot if you also run two naturalizes. The amount of fatigue the Mecha’Thun player takes usually leaves them dead or unable to combo.
Unseen Saboteur and Loatheb are more tech options that are similar to Zihi because they target combo. Unseen Saboteur targets the cards in hand instead of mana which makes it better into non combo decks. Hitting the specific combo card usually wins you the game on the spot, but not hitting the card sometimes makes you lose the game on the spot. Loatheb prevents high cost spells from being played for a turn which usually giving you time to pressure. Loatheb has fallen out of favor for Zihi because it simply does not provide enough time to pressure.
» Aggro Tech
Jade Behemoth and Aya Blackpaw have been in jade druid for a long time. They were mainly used in the tempo oriented lists, but since those have fallen out of favor, these cards are now relegated as tech in the Fatigue Druid variant. Both help increase the size of your Jade Golems so that you can pressure better. They have fallen out of favor because the combo decks in the format are so fast and pressure usually does not work against them.
Wrath is a strong anti aggro card. The two mana deal three is great against early aggression. If you are not playing against aggro it becomes a shiv and allows you to cycle through your deck faster. The main reason the card is not used anymore is because it is very unimpactful against combo decks. Against those decks you need your disruption and so those cards take its place in the list currently.
Starfall and swipe are strong tech card against aggro. The main reason you play starfall is because it is a full clear with Poison Seeds. Without Seeds it is still a decent clear against aggro, but not reliable. Swipe is amazing against odd pali, odd rogue and pirate warrior. Its mediocre against even shaman and secret mage so its meta dependant to run.
» Aggro Tech
Jade Behemoth and Aya Blackpaw have been in jade druid for a long time. They were mainly used in the tempo oriented lists, but since those have fallen out of favor, these cards are now relegated as tech in the Fatigue Druid variant. Both help increase the size of your Jade Golems so that you can pressure better. They have fallen out of favor because the combo decks in the format are so fast and pressure usually does not work against them.
Wrath is a strong anti aggro card. The two mana deal three is great against early aggression. If you are not playing against aggro it becomes a shiv and allows you to cycle through your deck faster. The main reason the card is not used anymore is because it is very unimpactful against combo decks. Against those decks you need your disruption and so those cards take its place in the list currently.
Starfall and swipe are strong tech card against aggro. The main reason you play starfall is because it is a full clear with Poison Seeds. Without Seeds it is still a decent clear against aggro, but not reliable. Swipe is amazing against odd pali, odd rogue and pirate warrior. Its mediocre against even shaman and secret mage so its meta dependant to run.
» Control Tech
Ysera, the Unleashed has also proven very effective and could be considered core in the future.
» Control Tech
Ysera, the Unleashed has also proven very effective and could be considered core in the future.
How to beat Jade Druid
» Jade Druid isn't in a good spot
Jade Druid’s spot in the meta right now is not good barring some pocket metas. Cube Warlock, Quest Mage, and Reno Quest mage are good into jade druid. Mecha’thun warlock also has a 95% win rate against Jade Druid unless you run Mojomaster Zihi. All of these decks have something in common. They have uninteractive gameplans or or can build a board that is resistant to Poison Seeds. When a Jade Druid runs out of Poison Seeds, then there is almost no punish for making massive boards
» Even Shaman
Even shaman is by far the best aggressive deck into Jade Druid because of devolve. Without Spreading Plague, Jade Druid has a difficult time stabilizing the board. Also there is the risk of Storm Bringer after you Poison Seeds the board.
All Jade Druid Decklists
We just featured one version of Jade Druid, but there are a lot more ways to build. For this reason, we feature the newest lists we posted on this website below.
- Owl OTK Warlock #475 Legend (Score: 16-6) July 2, 2023
- Discard OTK Warlock #48 Legend – 咆哮魔牢裆异撞 (Score: 11-4) December 11, 2022
- Owl OTK Warlock #28 Legend – autolytic4762 (Score: 17-5) March 3, 2022
- Owl OTK Warlock #91 Legend – AwireHs (Score: 15-4) March 3, 2022
- Owl OTK Warlock #362 Legend – Albertox2 (Score: 10-1) March 1, 2022
- Owl OTK Warlock #326 Legend – TimmyStreamer February 22, 2022
- Owl OTK Warlock #189 Legend – TapLast February 17, 2022
- Owl OTK Warlock #160 Legend – blisterguy February 13, 2022
- Owl OTK Warlock #487 Legend – TapLast February 9, 2022
- Owl OTK Warlock #3 Legend – corbettgames February 7, 2022
Our other Wild Meta Guides
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