Ash Worm
A 1-mana 6/6 is obviously strong, but the condition is extremely difficult to meet, reserved in theory to the most aggressive, board-flooding Token Druid decks. Our problem with Ash Worm is that it mostly wakes up when we are already in a great position to win, as it means our opponent could not clear our board and we were able to completely fill it. That does not strike us as a condition for a card that helps us win more games.
Ash Worm does have the advantage of its cost being unconditional. We can always drop it to the board. But we see it staying dormant whenever the deck is not dominating the game.
Score: 1
Heartroot Stones
Drawing 2 cards while gaining 6 armor for 3 mana is obviously a great deal. Heartroot Stones reminds us of Frost Lotus Seedling. Seedling gained more armor but was a significantly slower card that needed to sit in our hand for multiple turns to come online. This spell is far easier to activate immediately.
Currently, Merithra Druid is relatively minion abundant. It is feasible for the deck to activate this spell, but it might not be the best fit unless Druid chooses to tweak the build to accommodate this new condition. Thankfully, this card is a big incentive for Merithra Druid to be lighter on minions, and it can also slot into other types of decks in the future.
Score: 3
Seeding Dragon
A weak taunt body that generates a random dragon with a discount. We do not really see why we would play this dragon. We are not desperate to increase our dragon count in Merithra Druid, while faster Druid decks will rightfully consider this minion to be too slow. The value, even with the discount, is unreliable and unnecessary for Merithra Druid. This is an easy pass.
Score: 1
Wizened Wildspeaker
A net 2-mana 3/7 taunt with the same thematic condition of Heartroot Stones. Wildspeaker is a very strong enabler for Merithra and Broodwatcher on paper but likely requires us to tweak the deck to be lighter on minions so that we can have stronger turns before playing it.
We can see Merithra Druid reducing the dragon package and cutting Darkscale Broodmother, as it is not a great card in the deck, despite its synergy with Felwood Treant. Wildspeaker offers more defensive stability alongside Heartroot Stones in comparison.
Having said that, this card is competitively reliant on becoming a Merithra enabler and is not as ubiquitously useful as Heartroot Stones is likely to be.
Score: 2
Tranquil Clearing
The comparison with Power Word: Shield or Mark of the Wild makes us wary of this card. The buff is not particularly strong when compared to other buffs of a similar cost, while the drawback is massive. Yes, Tranquil Clearing provides protection in theory, but losing an attack is brutal for our ability to make trades or pressure the opponent. A minion does not survive on the board for long in the average Hearthstone game anyway, so denying an attack on the turn it is the most likely to survive, does not seem like a good deal.
We think Druid has better tools than this one to defend itself.
Score: 1
Lifebloom
This high-cost spell packs an impressive amount of value. Summoning two random 8-drops for 9 mana is a significant play for the board that can represent a swing turn. For comparison, Cenarion Ward only summoned a single random 8-drop for 8 mana while gaining 8 armor. Armor is stronger than health, but the heal affects our board as well.
Moreover, Cenarion Ward was mostly utilized with Solar Eclipse to double the effect at 10 mana. Lifebloom is a stronger standalone card with less obvious synergies in the format, though it is important to note that it is a great Shaladrassil corruptor.
In our analysis of the deck a few weeks ago, we noticed that Merithra Druid really wants to corrupt Shaladrassil and does not have the most optimal high end for it. Here, we have a stabilizing spell that sets up a Shaladrassil/Awakens the next turn. We think there is a good chance, especially if Merithra Druid opts for a build lighter on minions, that it will end up utilizing Lifebloom to good success.
Score: 3
Bashana Runetotem
A 7-mana 4/4 is a horrendous initial play that we doubt a Ramp Druid deck can afford to make. Bashana generates three Treants that cast spells for a combined cost of 12 mana. On paper, this could make up for the loss in initiative from playing Bashana, but we do not see the vision here.
The total package of playing Bashana and all three Treants is 10 mana. We are spending 10 mana on a 4/4 and three 2/2’s, while casting random spells that cost 12 mana. Is that a worthwhile late-game package? Does it win us a game of Hearthstone? If we compare it to a late-game bomb such as Merithra, or similarly flavored cards such as Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron or Rune of the Archmage, this looks woefully inadequate.
Score: 1
Final Thoughts
There are a few nice cards here and a potentially new direction for Merithra Druid to explore, but we do not expect to see an entirely new archetype coming to fruition. Druid’s set is not as ‘packaged’ as the other classes, which is not necessarily good or bad. The main issue is that these cards are mostly weak.
From how Tranquil Clearing is worded, I suspect it would be more like red card. You could use it to force a taunt minion your opponent has to go dormant. This sounds reasonably good to me.