The Druid's Treebond

[technicallynerdyrebel]

I was having a discussion with my partner about the different mages and we realized that the Druid seems to be pretty much the only mage that doesn't get their marker (Treebond) back to put on another spell. The only other thing I can seem to find comparable is the runes for the Anvil Throne Warlord, even then I think that those runes seem to be harder to get rid of than the Druid's tree.

I can definitely think of some reasons why she wouldn't get her marker back, mainly that perhaps I'm incorrect and the Druid's tree is about as difficult to get rid of as the runes (I could see that, as I always put my tree in the corner of the board and then attempt to keep my opponent in the middle or other side of the board with vines, etc.)

Basically: I'm just wanting to hear what other people here think about this!

[iNano78]

Treebond is a lot more powerful than, say, a Beastmaster's Pet ability or Warlock's Bloodreaper ability. Also, it makes sense thematically as the Druid intends to protect her forest and is somewhat demoralized if she loses her tree. With the tree, she has 34 life and channels 10, and more-or-less has Regenerate 2 (actually better, since it works both ways, can be combined with other Regenerate from Barkskin or Regrowth Belt or Mohktari or whatever, and gets around Finite Life). Without her tree, she's down to 30 life / 9 channeling / no inherent Regenerate... so a lot of incentive to protect her tree!

[Halewijn]

The only other thing I can seem to find comparable is the runes for the Anvil Throne Warlord, even then I think that those runes seem to be harder to get rid of than the Druid's tree.

In my experience, the runes aren't much of a target for the enemy. But, if you want, you can spend a ton of mana and dissolve it.

The tree on the other hand.. easy to destroy??  That thing is really hard to kill. 12 life, 2 armor and bassically 4 regenerate. Combine that with a druid that will try to protect it...

In the 6 games online that I was a druid, only 2 of the opponents managed to kill it. 1 player had a ton of luck and the other time I had tons of luck but he just kept going. By the time it was dead I was in a huge advantage and destroyed him. (he did it, but it had cost him too much resources)
Most players waste a ton of mana on it and give up afterwards.

Being able to cast a new one would be really unfair. And when fighting a druid, I would say, ignore the tree or try to make sure it is dead in 1 or max 2 turns. 

[sdougla2]

If your opponent dedicates a lot of resources to kill your tree, fails, and then gives up to try to do something else, you've basically won the game. Treebond is pretty much the best mage ability in the game if you can keep your tree alive. It takes the Druid from having the worst stats of any mage to having the best stats of any mage. It's pretty reasonable for an opponent to be willing to spend 16 mana (double Fireball) to kill your 7-9 mana treebonded tree round 2, because the long term advantage you get from keeping that tree out is worth more than the 7-9 mana difference (whatever the tree does + the benefits of a Mana Crystal, a Regrowth Belt that stacks with regenerate and works through finite life, and Bull Endurance).

The Druid can either focus on defending their tree and using that long term advantage to come out ahead, or allow their opponent to kill their tree while they gain a significant early game board advantage and apply a bunch of pressure while their opponent is behind on mana. The best of both worlds is if your opponent dedicates a lot of resources and doesn't kill the tree, in which case you are massively ahead.

The Anvil Throne Warlord's runes aren't directly a target in the same way that the tree is, though they can also give you a significant long term advantage.

[technicallynerdyrebel]

Thanks for the feedback, y'all! Definitely got my brain working a little more on the subject.

With the tree, she has 34 life and channels 10, and more-or-less has Regenerate 2 (actually better, since it works both ways, can be combined with other Regenerate from Barkskin or Regrowth Belt or Mohktari or whatever, and gets around Finite Life). Without her tree, she's down to 30 life / 9 channeling / no inherent Regenerate... so a lot of incentive to protect her tree!

Absolutely a lot of incentive! As far as the Finite Life thing goes, I did get really thrown off the other day when I was playing against the Necromancer. I was trying to deal with Deathlock and trying to keep myself alive while also not transferring too much damage to my tree. Thinking back on it, I did leave myself completely open to the situation. I got too used to just being able to send damage to my tree that would get healed immediately and wasn't thinking enough about armor, etc. At least I learned from my loss and will be prepared next time!

[Slavecutter]

and more-or-less has Regenerate 2 (actually better, since it works both ways, can be combined with other Regenerate from Barkskin or Regrowth Belt or Mohktari or whatever, and gets around Finite Life). Without her tree, she's down to 30 life / 9 channeling / no inherent Regenerate... so a lot of incentive to protect her tree!

Wait, I thought that when a mage of creature has 2 regenerate buffs only the highest counted and it did not stack? Does this mean that with Treebond my druid could get Regenerate 4 or even 6 when combined with Barkskin and/or Regenerate Belt?

[Halewijn]

- You cannot combine regenerate. (regrowth, regrowth belt, barkskin, unicorn, mohktari, ...)

- You can combine a lifelink, or something similar with regenerate though.

So with lifelink you can regenerate 2 damage each turn and with 1 regenerate effect, for example barkskin, you can regenerate some more.

This way the druid can easily heal 4 damage during upkeep.
In the same manner, the warlock can use deathlink and regrowth to heal 4 damage during upkeep.