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Tripp Allen

When Mike asked me if I'd do a preview article for Crown of the Heavens, all I could think about was, "Please let it be something whacky, please let it be something whacky." And I wasn't disappointed.

You see, I have a problem. I'm addicted to combos. I like the pretzel ones with the nacho filling, the cracker ones with the pepperoni pizza filling, and the ones that...we're talking about snacks, not cards, right? Oh wait. I meant that I like combos that involve two, three, or sometimes four cards.

Friends, neighbors, fellow Druids, may I present the latest in Druid Token combos: Wild Cascade.

As the Xibit meme would say, "Yo dawg, I heard you like tokens, so we made a card that makes tokens after you make tokens."

Druid has a lot of token-making cards out there floating around. Many of them are kinda obvious (Bottled Life, Verdant Boon) so I'll skip over the usual suspects and focus on min/maxing what can be done with this new ability.

So, let's look at some of the ugliness that can happen when Druids make tokens. A cursory glance at the token-making cards within the Core format shows a couple of very distinctive interactions based on timing: Those that occur at the start of your turn, those that can happen on an opponent's turn, and those that happen later in your own turn.

First, foremost, and probably the most evil interaction would be Lord Godfrey. He makes a pair of Ghouls at the start of your turn. Now we can double that number from two to four on each of our turns.

Second would be Mazu'kon. He's the Obi Wan Kenobi of the combos you can do with this card. Strike him down without a way to deal with the token copy, and he becomes more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

Al'akir the Windlord is also of great benefit once this ongoing ability hits the table. Doubling the number of Untargetable tokens that can exhaust opposing allies seems like a pretty good move.

Corrupted Egg Shell is another card that would be fun to try. If so much as a single token survives a turn, you can make it an 8/8 and then clone it.

Another card worth looking at is Staff of Ammunae. It forces a choice that your opponent must make: keep hitting your hero, or deal with the tokens that are created each time they do. Each token they leave on the board becomes another token you can double at the start of your turn. Though you won't be able to immediately Mend with the duplicates that are created by Wild Cascade (their Mend triggers can't be added to the chain til the following turn), it can certainly give you an edge.

Highborne Soul Mirror makes tokens. Suddenly, any ally you control can start churning out a token version of itself. Creatively stacking this on the start of turn chain can create some pretty nasty things as well. Amani Dragonhawk on the board? Make a token version of it with the Soul Mirror, then let Wild Cascade make another duplicate. It suddenly blanks all three types instead of just one. If you happen to have an Alexstraza Master Hero in your hand, you need only pay 1 to play her with three Amani Dragonhawks on the board, and there's no worry about the Soul Mirror's drawback.

I hear Druid also has access to some obscure card called Avatar of the Wild. I think it might be a pretty decent card to play in a deck that doubles tokens. Assuming it survives a turn, you're making more and more Ferocity allies for free.

Unstable Corruption and others also create beneficial tokens later in your turn that if left unchecked, will shift your side of the board into overdrive in no time.

Stevrona Forgemender and Tol'zin both seem to like interacting with tokens, so no matter which faction you choose, they can add synergy to your game-plan.

There are plenty of others that could create a synergy/combo with Wild Cascade. Sinestra, for example. I think for now, the ones listed above should be sufficient to get the brain going.

Let’s move on to making a deck!

At times, there’s a very fine line between a “Win More” card and an “Inevitable Win” card. By this, I mean that a “Win More” card isn’t exactly a necessity. It’s a scenario in which you might play the card, and thus have far more power than is really needed in order to win. Wild Cascade could easily become a “Win More” card, and thus get overlooked if we aren’t careful. Instead, let’s try to harness the power of what it does for a greater purpose. Not to overkill our opponent with a billion 1/1 tokens, but just enough to sign the results sheet with a win in our column.

When I started thinking about a decklist for this, I wanted to avoid one fatal trap: Poison the Well. We may not know much about the Crown of the Heavens set just yet, but we know Rogue has access to an instant ability that eradicates a board full of tokens. I have a strange feeling it will see a lot of play if Mazu’kon, Poison Tipped Murloc decks, and Grand Crusader decks continue to be a viable option for play. With this in mind, I think our best bet is to not lean on Wild Cascade (or tokens in general) too heavily. We want a board full of threats, some of which might produce tokens.

With this in mind, let’s a list that can harness the power of doubling tokens, but isn’t dream-crushed if they get wiped out.

Starting out, there’s a decision on which faction would be preferable. I want to look at Horde for one main reason: Sumi'jin, Guardian of Cenarius. I think this flip has the potential of keeping us in the game even if things aren’t going our way. I won’t kid myself though...we have the additional benefit of being able to include big baddies like Mazu’kon. He alone turns Wild Cascade into a serious threat to your opponent’s survival.

Alright, I’ve babbled enough...here’s the part that you scrolled down to find. The list!

Hero: Sumi'jin, Guardian of Cenarius

Allies: 33
2 Al'Akir the Windlord
4 Cairne, Earthmother's Chosen
3 Edwin VanCleef
4 "Fungus Face" McGillicutty
4 Jex'ali
3 Lord Godfrey
1 Malfurion Stormrage
4 Mazu'kon
4 Obsidian Drudge
4 Sava'gin the Reckless

Abilities: 8
3 Avatar of the Wild
3 Wild Cascade
2 Energize

Equipment: 16
4 Bottled Life
4 Dread Pirate Ring
4 Ring of the Great Whale
4 Devout Aurastone Hammer

Locations: 3
3 Shadowfang Keep

The first thing to note is that we’re attempting to harness the power of the Devout Aurastone Hammer with Dread Pirate Ring as an additional Stash card to add counters to it. For further acceleration, we’re packing Shadowfang Keep as our location of choice.

Compared to Shaman, Druid doesn’t have as many powerful/useful Heirloom equipment that fit into this deck. Due to Ring of the Great Whale being in the deck, Dread Pirate Ring might make the Ring spots a tight fit. Thankfully, making Bob tokens requires you to put this Heirloom ring back in your hand, making way for a second Ring of the Great Whale to really ramp up the healing potential of an active Hero flip.

Bottled Life is a great early play against the rush matchups. Late in the game, it becomes more of a “pay 1, heal 6” with our Hero’s flip and a Ring of the Great Whale on the board. It’s also going to be one of the best ways of feeding Shadowfang Keep.

We’re packing both "Fungus Face" McGillicutty and the Obsidian Drudge for eliminating opposing abilities and equipment. Unlike many other non-Girdle lists, we don’t necessarily need to wait for them to trade into an opposing ally. Shadowfang Keep gives us a way of playing them, then blowing them up at instant speed (even on an opponent’s turn) for an immediate answer to whatever threat was played.

I’ve also found that Shadowfang Keep has uses far beyond just ally acceleration. It gives you an out to things like Shockwave, Void Rip, and many other cards that do more than just damage the ally.

We have the usual suspects packed in as well. Cairne, Earthmother’s Chosen along with Sava’gin the Reckless for their continued utility both as Stashable allies, as well as big-hitters. Mazu’kon needs little introduction and will certainly pull his weight without a doubt.

Jex’ali is another ally that has been growing on me the more I use her. In a deck with plenty of other ways to not just heal, but boost the amount healed, there’s an increased chance that she’ll net us an additional card. Even healing just 4, it can be enough to pull you away from death’s door long long enough to stabilize.

Edwin VanCleef provides an extra bonus for us even if we’re not accelerating him out on turn 3. If we’re unable to get the Aurastone Hammer on the table, he’s still a great play on curve. If we use our turn 3 to flip, we’ll heal 3 (possibly 9 if there’s a Great Whale ring on the table) just for playing him on turn 4. That should certainly help against our aggro matchups.

Al’akir the Windlord has proven to be a great card in an ally-dominated format. His Untargetable keyword is exceptionally powerful, and the synergy with Wild Cascade just enhances his usefulness. Playing him out early with a Hammer and Shadowfang Keep can help overcome any number of matchups.

Malfurion is making a solo appearance in the deck in much the same way that a single Kel’thuzad Master Hero made it into a lot of decks in the previous rotation of Core. He’s a nice to have ally that should help push through that last bit of the game, but certainly not a card we want multiples of in our early game.

The ability suite seems rather bare, but in a deck that wants to accelerate out some big allies early, I wanted to try and keep these to a minimum. Even playing on curve, there are opportunities to turn your allies into a source of healing just by playing them. As such, I think that the small number of abilities becomes more of an advantage than a detriment.

Avatar of the Wild needs little introduction. Energize is a 2-of only due to slots in the deck. We should (in theory) be playing bigger and bigger allies each turn, leaving little room for unused resources to turn into draw power. There will inevitably be a point where the deck may stall out, and Energize should help us through those rough patches.

That about wraps it up. Big allies that make big tokens that then proliferate thanks to Wild Cascade. I’m enthusiastic to see what else is in the set. I anticipate this decklist will change long before I ever have a chance to sleeve it up. Have suggestions of your own? I’d like to hear about them on the forums.

-Tripp

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