Drunken Druid

[DrunkenSaint]

For anyone who missed it I have just decided to start uploading my current decks! Ill try to upload 1-2 a day and give a rundown of how any games I play with them go, as well as any tweaks I make to them along the way.

the important parts from my previous intro:
I'm fairly new to the game/ have only recently found a group of players to compete with. as I have only been playing new players for the most part my games are often undeserving victories!
I am trying to keep 6 functional decks so that I can have some variety and so that any new players I introduce can have their pick of interesting mages (I currently have the Kumanjaro and DvN expansions) and while I have purchased a few extra cards, some of my card choices are based on a lack of availability. I know teleport is awesome!

Anyways onto my:

Druid
(wychwood)

---  Conjuration  ---  (30)
4 Bloodspine Wall
2 Nightshade Lotus
2 Corrosive Orchid
4 Seedling Pod
1 Samara Tree
1 Etherian Lifetree
1 Altar of the Iron Guard
2 Tanglevine
2 Stranglevine
---  Creature  ---  (39)
4 Raptor Vine
4 Thornlasher
3 Vine Snapper
1 Tataree
1 Togorah, Forest Sentinel
1 Kralathor, The Devourer
1 Mountain Ram
---  Enchantment  ---  (22)
2 Bull Endurance
2 Rhino Hide
2 Eagle Wings
1 Cheetah Speed
1 Mongoose Agility
1 Bear Strength
1 Teleport Trap
1 Spiked Pit
1 Nullify
1 Barkskin
1 Decoy
---  Equipment  ---  (9)
1 Vinewhip Staff
1 Druid's Leaf Ring
1 Meditation Amulet
1 Mage Wand
---  Incantation  ---  (20)
1 Teleport
1 Minor Heal
1 Force Push
2 Dissolve
2 Dispel
3 Burst of Thorns
1 Renewing Rain

I have only managed 2 games with the druis so far. I LOVE her, so interesting! I also have no idea what i am doing with her! her book has gone through major flux each time. The listed cards are as yet un-played ( have not tried the samara tree) The plan is to play it  and perhaps an additional pod  along with tataree early on then advance with my mage+ barkskin when needed  to take the pressure off of my slow buildup. If they decide to make a slow play I samara and Meditation amulet for some pretty impressive action and mana buildup. I could spend a few turns quick casting an extra pod and a tataree, full casting the meditation amulet. I can't see it easily being out produced.
Anywho the games thus far:

Note:  I had 4 people come over at once to learn to play! (yay!) one of them had played with me once, the others were completely new. Anyways we had 2 games going at once, and I wound up breaking my never play the same deck 2x rule as keeping new things to a minimum seemed wise

Game 1  (win)
Druid's Leaf Ring/Vine Tree. I love manipulating the field so this led into a thornlasher/wall extravaganza. That said, I was against a First timer so many of my moves were more to illustrate a point than to actually win the game.

Note:  I was using the recommended deck for the first game. I changed it heavily between games, both to show how a book could be customized, and to support the rush in the next game. most of the changes were quickly made and involved the addition of enchantments. I kept many of them in the current iteration on the spell book

Game 2 (win)
Druid's Leaf Ring/Kralathor. this time I was against a  player that had watched the previous game, the previous player was watching this one. I decided outlining a rush strategy might be a good idea. I popped out Kralathor right away, followed it with a move x2 + enchantment for the next 2 turns. Once I was on their face I Pulled Togorah out, bonded with it, and proceeded to tanglevine + smash. That was it for lessons next they played against one another while I moderated.

[wtcannonjr]

Cool. I love playing the Druid as well.

Note - you cannot Treebond with Togorah since it is a Creature and Treebond only works with Tree Conjurations.

I tend to favor bonding with Vine Tree.

[DeckBuilder]

Hi again.

Unlike the Air Wizard, I'm a noob when it comes to Poison Ivy Druid.
So please don't expect much insights from me.

Again it looks solid but just few minor quibbles.
You can't bond with Togorah (he's pretty useless in my opinion, nerfed for not having a quick yet Vigilant)
Eaglewings don't work with Rooted (I too got caught out by this in the rules, so you are not alone on this)
Though maybe the 2 copies are just for Kralathor and your Ram? That works.

My main issue, however, is I suspect that Toolbox is not the way to go with a Druid.

I theorise that, in a game of "pick your cards" where combo is just action burst, there are 2 axis in the game:
* The Tempo Axis is Aggro <-> Control (yes, you can go Aggro Control, place a threat and protect it/remove threats)
* The Versatility Axis is Focused <-> Toolbox (yes, often correlates but there are Focused Control and Toolbox Aggro)

Your style of play seems to be Toolbox (this means no match-ups are walkovers but you've got a game against any)

I suspect there are 2 strong builds in Druid
* an aggressive one with Vine Tree and Rouse the Beast etc
* a defensive one with Samara Tree, Procrastination Amulet, Vine Snappers, Conjurations (terraforming)
Mixing the Aggro and the Control builds may end up unfocused

The point about the Air Wizard build is you Focused on a Theme (Push) and added a Toolbox of cards to help it
Here, it just feels schizophrenic
This may be fun but a competitive book will have the resilience to out-attrition half a book
By which time switching to the other strategy is too great a resource investment/tempo loss

That's just my theory and I may be talking out of my posterior (you won't surprised how often my friends say this)

It'd be interesting to see if, after a few more plays, you find some mages are better for Toolbox builds than others

Cheers again for posting.

[DrunkenSaint]

You can't bond with Togorah (he's pretty useless in my opinion, nerfed for not having a quick yet Vigilant)

Well crap that's what I get for not reading the instructions thoroughly! My second grade teacher would be soo disappointed. "tree CONJURATION" lol I see it NOW. though it kinda dose make me sad... I am really trying to find a way to make use of Togorah.

I don't see how not having a quick nerfs vigilante. I mean I do! hes gets no counter attack, but hes there to prevent damage to others more than anything, and he makes up for the lack of counter with the ability to FULL attack and guard... which amounts to an upgrade, guarding means your opponent gets to pick who is taking the hit, and you get a quick action counter. This way you get to pick the target for the damage, and it is a full attack. He can also move 2 spaces and guard, which may have its uses. My problem with him is simply the cost, between the 6 spellbook points and the  mana investment 21 up front +2 to move he is a spendy "situational" creature. I would almost rather he had no attack at all and was more affordable. just a mobile meat shield.

Anyways I agree that this deck seems manic! In a way its kinda supposed to at the moment. My tendency has been to throw together all of my ideas about how the spelbook MIGHT work well. I then play around with it and remove/tweek/throw out, until the book has been paired down to one or 2 central themes. In the case of the Druid I simply haven't had her for very long, and have played very few (2) games. Additionally she feels quite a bit different than the rest of thee mages, and I really had no idea where to start. So at the moment it's still an admitted mess! But I will get around to thinking it through a little more, and playing with it a bit more, and I have high hopes for the mage in general! I think there is quite a bit of as yet un-tapped potential in there. I'll post my book again when it sees it's next iteration.

I tend to favor bonding with Vine Tree.

I too think that the Vine tree will wind up being my go to, just trying sow them wild oats a bit before settling down sensibly.

Thanks again for the input! and the support!

[Sailor Vulcan]

Amulet of Procrastination...

LOLOLOLOLOLOL

[DrunkenSaint]

Just got another game in with this build. It went quite well!

Game 1  (win Vs Warlord)
Samara Tree/Tataree. My opponent looked like they were setting up lots of outposts to make use of their Spawnpoint. so I took my time, grabbed my meditation amulet and let my vines spread, they put an archer tower in far center, i took a turn off channeling my amulet and spawned a vine snapper under it to keep him busy, Got out Krathalor fairly quickly and started buffing it, sent it out to gobble up his archers and had the game fairly quickly.

[Sailor Vulcan]

Btw, why is the Druid Drunk? I keep feeling like there should be some sort of erratic, drunken quality to the way your drunken mages play, as opposed to the mages that aren't labeled as drunk.

[DrunkenSaint]

Btw, why is the Druid Drunk? I keep feeling like there should be some sort of erratic, drunken quality to the way your drunken mages play, as opposed to the mages that aren't labeled as drunk.

well that's just because you haven't actually seen me play! there is almost always a bottle of wine or a growler on the table, and during the second game of the night, you may well see some erratic play coming from my druid.