Ek0p’s Savage Roar Token Druid – Cenarius Variant

Introduction

Hello guys, Giordy here! I took up Hearthstone at the beginning of Season 2 and made legend during Season 3 on my EU account with a variant of Ek0p’s “Savage Roar Druid.” Ek0p is a famous legendary player and twitch streamer. I played his deck for a bit and saw the great potential it had: that is why I decided to use it on my way to legend, with some slight modifications. After hitting legend I thought it was about time to share it with other people, so that they could have the same fun I had when playing the deck, and reach legend like me. I had an 86% win rate the morning during which I climbed up from rank 1 to legend: http://gyazo.com/20628c416ded9af6ebbc69945ff472ff Avarage win rate: It took me a while to get used to the deck, but once I got the hang of it things went smoother. Let’s say that the avarage win rate can range from 57% to 65%, depending on the current meta and on the player’s skill: http://gyazo.com/f3ffe680e036f2e2fde0bb387f6af285 Proof of legend status Here you can find the original deck Here you can find my new version Here is some information about Ek0p Here is his Twitch page The great thing about this deck is that it’s very versatile, it is able to play since the early stages of the game, but it can survive during long games, too, because of the awesome card draw and numerous minions. It is a fast deck: it’s quick enough as to finish your opponent in 4 to 9-10 turns, but it’s not so fast as to run out of steam that easily. I find it’s an improvement over the old-school Token Druid deck, because it doesn’t rely on Gadgetzan-Auctioneer or Violet-Teacher in order to pull out a victory. It is important to understand that Violet-Teacher is not a key card in this deck. Besides, 90% of the time you put her on the field she gets instantly killed, because she’s a serious threat to your foe. So, yeah, she’s good, but if she gets killed, whatever, you can still pull out terrific combos without her.

UPDATE

After Naxxramas’ 4th week, I decided it was about time to modify the deck and give it a new twist. After Plague Quarter had been unlocked on week 2, several players ran variations of the token druid archetype. I’ll link 3 for users to view: – Darkwonyx’s – Lucky’s – Xixo’s ADAM THE AD already talked about a variant of my deck in an article of his: you can check it out here. With the release of the Construct Quarter, there are great new additions to my version of Token Druid: – undertaker I subbed 2x argent-squire for 2x Undertaker; this guy gets buffed by Thalnos, Loot Hoarder and Harvest Golem, hence you can get a lot of value from him. – Haunted-Creeper these little fellas have creeped their way into my deck because they are so hard to kill: they are just perfect for a token deck. – Loatheb Since week 2 he’s been included in almost every existing deck. He has such good stats for 5 mana and an incredibly annoying ability, that can seriously mess up your enemies’ plans. I’m still unsure if it’s worth dropping azure-drake for him, though, since this deck benefits a lot from card draw.

Overall changes to my old deck:

-2x argent-squire – 1x loot-hoarder -1x azure-drake – 1x cenarius +2x undertaker +2x haunted-creeper +1x bloodmage-thalnos I hope you guys like my newest version, be sure to test it and let me know if it can be improved even further in the comments below 🙂

General Mulligan Strategy

You wanna keep in your starting hand cards that cost 1 to 3 mana. Here are some cards which is usally worth keeping: undertaker, loot-hoarder, bloodmage-thalnos,haunted-creeper,  wrath, harvest-golem, innervate. I rarely keep violet-teacher in my starting hand, unless I also have innervate. I also rarely keep swipe, unless I know for sure that I’m playing against an aggro deck, such as a shockadin. On the other hand, I sometimes hold keeper-of-the-grove in my hand when playing against certain decks, since this card can literally save your life in some games. I’m talking specifically about Miracle rogue and Handlock: keeper-of-the-grove can save you against an early edwin-van-cleef and it is always good against twilight-drake. It is also not bad at all against Zoo, especially when coupled with innervate, since it can kill an early knife-juggler or faerie-dragon while significantly improving your board presence. I’ve seen thrown at him many a soulfire. I try not to keep power-of-the-wild in my starting hand, because it is better used to buff up your minions. However, if you already have a supposedly bad starting hand and power-of-the-wild is the only 2-drop you have before the mulligan, you might wanna consider keeping it. The 3/2 panther is easily killed, but at least it serves as some early board presence.

General Deck Strategy

The deck strategy is pretty straightforward: gain control of the board with your early minions and use them + possible tokens to pull out the Force of Nature + Savage Roar combo as a finisher. Considering the current meta, it is hard to keep a firm board control, but even if you lose it it’s ok as long as you’ve dealt enough damage during the game as to pull out the wombo combo. Remember to always check for lethal: you’ll be surprised by how much damage this deck can deal. Try to be conservative with your Innervate and Coin, since they can be used to trigger the Violet Teacher ability, or to pull out an even bigger wombo combo (FoN + Roar + Innervate + Roar). However, don’t be afraid to use Innervate if you need tempo advantage: if you lose too much tempo you won’t easily regain control of the board.

Matchup Guide

Vs Handlock

Vs Zoo

Vs Control Warrior

Vs Freeze Mage

Vs Miracle Rogue

Vs Cancer Rogue

Vs Druid

Vs Hunter

Vs Shaman

Vs Priest

Replacements

Replacement n°1: you can replace the Big-game-hunter with The Black Knight. Since probably the deck’s worst matchup is Druid, a Black Knight goes a long way. It comes in handy both vs Druid and Handlock, so if you think it can have a spot in your deck, go for it! Replacement n°2: you can replace the Big-game-hunter with Cairne Bloodhoof if you don’t find it useful at your current rank. This guy is awesome for board control, it’s a minion your enemy will have a hard time to remove, so it works as a ramp for the wombo combo. His con is that he’s kind of slow in the current meta, but it’s still a great card to have in your deck. Replacement n°3: you can replace Loatheb with an azure-drake. This dude is great, but card draw is important, too.

Expected win rates (old version)

  Vs mage -> 64% Vs shaman -> 54% Vs warlock -> 67% Vs druid -> 37% Vs priest -> 88% Vs rogue -> 46% Vs paladin -> 73% Vs warrior -> 56% Vs hunter -> 82%

Those who made Legend with this deck (old version)

11 people made legend with this deck during Season 3, and here’s the proof of their successful enterprises:

• Varin: he used Cairne Bloodhoof instead of Cenarius to get there -> http://gyazo.com/ea2521fce68381a571e6babbe6024aca
• crk1337: he hit legend before me, using Cenarius instead of Bloodmage Thalnos (the original deck runs Thalnos)  -> http://gyazo.com/b193ecc83cd7db5e45b9c43a08dddd75
• OrdenTJ: he recently joined our brotherhood. For the wild!!!!!  -> http://www.directupload.net/file/d/3667/cqkkib2n_png.htm
• StarVaft, aka euvaftrudner: he sticked to my build and reached legend easily. Welcome to the team, man! -> http://i.imgur.com/d7wz5YP.jpg
• kpacx: he used The Black Knight instead of Cenarius and Bloodmage Thalnos instead of a Loot Hoarder.  -> http://imgur.com/c8rj1oT
• Pahlly: he subbed the Big Game Hunter with Cairne Bloodhoof    ->http://i.imgur.com/fFAKn2z.jpg?1
• Demi_G0d: he hit legend on the last day of season 3! -> http://postimg.org/image/3tcqlnreb/
• Shaethan: he hit legend on the last day of season 3, too! He swapped Cenarius with Cairne Bloodhoof -> http://voila.pl/index.php?f=1793180#prettyPhoto
• kondascet, aka Woobai: he hit legend at the last minute! Congratz 🙂  -> http://postimg.org/image/ir9qxlsdv/
• Mimo: he hit legend last season, too, but this time he did so with this deck 😉   -> http://www.urimage.net/images/2014/07/01/HearthstoneScreenshot712014010111.png
• Oleall, aka Ypsilanti: last but not least ^_^  -> http://i.imgur.com/imnL47u.jpg

Congratulations, guys!

Conclusion

I’ve had so much fun playing this deck and I see it on the ladder on a daily basis: this means it’s having a lot of success and that makes me proud. I hope I was able to cover all the strengths and weaknesses of the deck with my review, and that you guys appreciate my guide. If you have any doubts or concerns, you can ask me anytime! My battletag is Giordy#2566

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