Top 30 Legend Hearthstone on NA – The Kookie Wall Druid

imageHi guys, my name is Kevin Kookies, and I play competitively for Team Vicious Syndicate. I just thought I’d help some people out and share my wall druid that I created and climbed to top 30 legend NA with this season.

I’m not usually a “try hard” player per se, but I’ve been around the Hearthstone competitive scene for quite some time now as a consistent low-level legend player.  A couple of days ago, however, I accidentally crafted golden Cairne Bloodhoof while looking at golden legendary cards (oops).  So in order to play Cairne in a deck that was viable, I decided the best option was a heavy, high mana curve ramp druid.  This deck is solid against most decks on ladder and has few real weaknesses besides a bad curve.  I scaled from Rank 4 to Rank 35 Legend in about a day’s worth of games.  If you are trying to scale the ladder quickly and efficiently, and love Ancient of Wars as much as I do, I guarantee that this is the deck for you.

Mulligans:  The mulligan for this deck is fairly simple and consistent.  You MUST, and I repeat MUST hard mulligan for your ramp cards.  Always keep Innervate and Wild Growth.  If you already have one in your first cards, you can keep key 3/4 drops as well.  For example, if you draw Wild Growth/Innervate, feel free to keep Shade of Naxxramas and Sen’jin Shieldmasta.  Also, if against Shaman, and sometimes Paladin (if your hand is good), I like to keep Mind Control Tech.  If on the off chance you draw double Innervate, feel free to keep a big card such as Dr. Boom, Ancient of Lore, or Cairne Bloodhoof.  Sometimes bad curves are inevitable, but follow these rules and you should be solid.

Match ups:  I will outline some of the more common match ups here.

Combo Druid: 65/35 good match up. Most ramp druids, including our Kookie Wall Druid, fare well against combo druids.  The key here is a decent enough hand to get the ball rolling.  Fight for board the entire game, and eventually you will overwhelm them with big taunt minions.  Most of the time they will not be able to get through your wall in order to finish with a combo, and they will crumble.

Ramp Druid: 50/50.  Who has the better hand?

Mech Mage/Tempo Mage:  60/40.  This is a fairly decent match up, but by no means is it a slam dunk.  If you do not draw a decent curve it can sometimes be tough.  The key here is not allowing the mage to snowball in the early game.  Getting a taunt out ASAP is important here.  Keeper of the Grove is also a good card, as it’s pretty sticky and can be used to remove or silence one of the mage’s problem cards.  Ancient of War is a good way to slam the door on their chance of victory here, as it is often so efficient against aggressive mage that you just overwhelm them in the end.  A good Mind Control Tech also seals a win for you as well.

Face Hunter: 70/30.  The “freelo” deck!  Here at Kookie Wall Inc, we feast on the “free legend” hunters.  This is a great match up, and the only thing that can make you lose here is either a REALLY bad hand or a REALLY great hand on their part.  Super aggressive decks like these will always be in the meta, and this is where Zombie Chow really shines.  As long as you get Zombie Chow, Senjin, Innervate, or Wild Growth, victory is pretty much assured here.  Taunt up, save Ancient of Lore for a 5 heal, and show those huntards who’s boss.

Midrange Hunter:  55/45.  This is one of our weaker matchups, but it is still a fairly positive one.  It’s a lot easier for Midrange Hunter to deal with the Kookie Wall because of snowballing early advantages alongside Freezing Trap, which is our worst nightmare.  Therefore, the way to win this matchup is to ramp up before they can develop a huge advantage.  The key is to innervate or wild growth into a Keeper of the Grove or Sen’jin Shieldmasta.  If you can get those minions out before the Hunter establishes board, you’re in good shape.  However, if you don’t set up the wall early enough, Savannah Highmane alongside Freezing Trap will eat you alive.  Not quite a toss up, but it is a very close and hand dependent match up.

Paladin: 60/40.  With most Paladins running only a single Equality nowadays, the Paladin matchup goes a lot better than expected.   It is a fairly standard game plan.  Just go for the ramp, so that you can get ahead early.  If you don’t have a good hand, don’t sweat it too much, because it’s a slow match up with many comeback opportunities.  Try to save Keeper for Tirion/Sylvanas and try to save swipe for Muster for Battle if you can afford to.  Mind Control Tech is also a star here, and you can often use it to swing the game into your favor.  Good matchup.  Be patient, and put your faith in the light!

Rogue: 40/60.  Oh Valeera… This is one of the two classes that I really don’t like to see when I’m playing this deck.  It’s not absolutely awful, but it is definitely stressful and unfortunately the odds aren’t always in our favor.  The key to beating Rogue is to get off to a fast start.  The issue here is that Sap destroys our wall, often trading 2 mana for 5-7 of our mana.  So what you’re looking for is a fast ramp.  You need to establish board before they draw the answers, and if you do this you will win.  If Rogue is forced to use their resources in inefficient ways, like blade flurry, then you will win the match.  However, if you get off to a slow start, you will be sapped into oblivion.  It’s not quite a 50/50, but it isn’t as bad as you think.

Shaman:  50/50.  Not as bad as you’d think.  While Combo Druids get destroyed on board by Shaman, it is not quite the case with the Kookie Wall.  It’s not a great matchup, but it is fair.  Shaman only has 2 hexes and 1/2 Earth Shocks, and they will often just run out of resources to clear all of your sticky minions.  Zombie Chow is a good draw early here, as it can shut down Shaman’s early tempo.  Also, I do keep Mind Control Tech in this mulligan because Shamans can often grow a solid board quick with Feral Spirits.  A good MTC or a large minion that they cannot clear can often be GG for you.

Warrior: 90/10.  This is by far the easiest match up.  It is an extreme rarity that you will lose to a warrior running this deck.  This match up is so easy for the same reason why shaman is so strong against warrior:  They just flat out run out of resources.  Warrior has two shield slams,two executes, and a brawl, but as the game drags on they just can’t keep up.  They always run out of resources as you pressure them with big minions, and you eventually will win.  The only way a warrior wins this is if you overextend too hard into a brawl.  Just be a little mindful of brawl, and you will almost certainly come out on top.

Priest:  35/65:  Who would’ve thought that our worst matchup would come from “the worst class in Hearthstone”?  Priests are super difficult to deal with.  Vol’jin as well as Shadow Word Death absolutely destroys us.  Also, if they get a good Injured Blademaster/Circle of Healing/Northshire Cleric combo, you’re toast.  Your goal here is basically to get a fast ramp and hope that they don’t have the solutions.  If you can snowball into a good board and note that they don’t have the answers, push for the win before they can recover.  This is a very hard match up.  Don’t get discouraged because you got beat by a priest. 😉

Demon Lock: 60/40.  I didn’t see too many Demon Locks on my climb, but to be honest when I did they weren’t that big of an issue.  Usually they don’t have the stopping power to kill your large minions, and usually a good Ancient of War can guarantee a win for you.  Just look to ramp up and destroy them with your good 7 drops.  Feel free to use Keeper on a Nerubian Egg, as it is often good value, and save BGH for Mal’ganis if you can afford to.  Sometimes a great Demon Lock hand can beat you, but most of the time you should be fine.  Solid match up.

Zoo:  70/30.  The strategy is essentially the same as Face Hunter here.  Look to Innervate or Wild Growth into Sen’jin or Keeper, and you should win.  Unless they snowball early, Zoo just doesn’t have the power to break through the Kookie Wall.  Dominant match up.

 

If you have any questions about the deck in general or about a match up that I didn’t list, feel free to let me know.  My IGN is KevinKookies#1804.  Also check out my Hearthstone Team’s Website.  We host Tuesday Night Hype on Tuesday nights, a Blizzard sanctioned weekly tournament that awards Blizzcon Points to top finishers.  Thanks for the read, and good luck on ladder!  🙂