Lifeweaver Druid Budget Deck List & Guide - Hearthstone Budget Deck Breakdown

Welcome to Budget Deck Breakdown, the series that favors the Pauper side of Hearthstone. As we get closer to the next Standard rotation, it's a great time to appreciate the cards and synergies that never got their time to shine. With that in mind, let's take a look at a Druid deck that takes literally the phrase, "Health is a resource." This week, we're diving into Lifeweaver Druid.

Healing for Fun and Profit

Healing Druid was a fun archetype that nobody noticed, thanks mostly to the fact that it got three payoffs from the Rise of Shadows expansion then was summarily forgotten by both the players and Blizzard. Lucentbark was the poster tree for the archetype and was powerful when it got going, but a single SIlence turned him into an 8 Mana 4/8. The other cards were barely played in their own right, but that won't stop us from trying to make use of Lifeweaver, a minion that turns health restoration into more cards. Thanks to some enterprising entrepreneurs from Dalaran and the Darkmoon Faire, our deck has ways to impact the board while using those heal effects to gain card advantage.

There are many ways to attempt building around Lifeweaver. This list goes for an aggressive midrange approach; using the deck's scads of healing to stabilize against aggro and a decent curve of mid-sized minions to punish control. My favorite thing about this deck is that, in pursuit of its ultimate goal, it runs cards you might not expect to see played in Druid. Of course, this might be because the Healing archetype hasn't received very much support in two years. We had to dig pretty deep to find the right cards for the deck.

Key Cards

Our key cards are Lifeweaver and the cards who provide healing to take advantage of its card generating abilities. Our cheapest synergies come from Crystal Power and Potion Vendor. With Lifeweaver on board, they're effectively 1 Mana cantrips. Crystal Power is also decent early game removal, while Potion Vendor is a body with the upside of generating several cards from Lifeweaver in the right situation. On the more expensive side of things we have Circus Medic and Groundskeeper, minions that provide a more substantial body and a more substantial heal (or, in Circus Medic's case, healing that can sometimes be damage instead).

Injured Tol'vir is a decent 2-Drop and our best way of getting cards from Lifeweaver against an opponent who stubbornly refuses to damage our face or minions. Neferset Ritualist is another good tempo play that can activate Lifeweaver. He's basically the Tol'vir's roommate at this point (the one that's always late on rent, puts empty milk cartons back in the fridge, and leaves Doritos dust on your Xbox controllers). Animated Broomstick gives our minions a way to impact the board when they're played. If Guardian Animals has taught us anything, it's that Twilight Runner with Rush is pretty good, so we've added the cat specifically to take advantage of Animated Broomstick (even though, as a puma, he flies like a moron). Arbor Up is a very good 5 Cost spell that also activates Groundskeeper's Battlecry. Overflow also does that, as well as giving us a way to refill our hand in the late game.

Mulligan Guide and Gameplay Tips

Since this deck has no real 1-Drops, the early game you'll most want to mulligan for are 2-Drops like Dreamway Guardians, Injured Tol'vir, and Neferset Ritualist. Lifeweaver is often a good keep since you can immediately begin planning ahead and looking for ways to take advantage of their effect. Nature Studies is your best turn 1 play, finding a spell and discounting the next one you play. Resizing Pouch is a spicy keep since it has a 50% chance (perfectly cromulent odds) of finding Embiggen on turn 1.

Against aggro, it can be a good idea to keep Animated Broomstick to fight back after the first couple of turns. Crystal Power works great in a pinch as an answer to one of their early minions. Lightning Bloom has some good power in this matchup, as aggressive decks have fewer options to overcome a big tempo swing made possible by it.

Against control, you want Discover effects and the biggest bodies you can muster. I like keeping Dreaming Drake in this matchup, mainly to Corrupt it with a 4-Drop and convert it into a bigger body. Nature Studies and Resizing Pouch are also great for finding extra pressure early on.

When playing the deck, you want to keep yourself apprised of the best opportunities to make use of Lifeweaver, but remember not to get too greedy. If your health is suffering, it's OK to use your Healing to stay alive. Getting only one or two cards from a Lifeweaver is an acceptable trade-off for not dying. Not to mention, this deck has plenty of healing.

One of the more difficult parts of piloting this deck is finding ways to leverage your Health against slower decks that don't go face. Injured Tol'vir is your best way to have something to heal in those cases, but you can also look for ways to intentionally take face damage. Smashing your face into a minion is often a great play since you have the healing to get back to full and can use it to get more cards from Lifeweaver. Do what you can to maximize your healing and free card potential.

Card Replacements for the Rich and Famous

Crystal Stag is a solid payoff for this deck, especially against aggro, and pairs well with our Corruptible minions (because it's such a bad influence). Lucentbark is a bit too slow for this kind of deck, but I won't stand in your way if you want to retool the list to make it more tree-friendly.

There are also plenty of budget changes to be made to this list. Umbral Owl is a good minion that can Rush in on the cheap and fares better against aggressive decks than Neferset Ritualist. If you're looking for ways to damage your minions (although I prefer to call it "creating healing opportunities") on your own, Guardian Augmerchant or Rocket Augmerchant can do that for you. If you're worried about the deck's lack of AoE, you can swap Overflow for Starfall and Neferset Ritualist for Wild Pyromancer. The Pyromancer also serves as another good way to "create healing opportunities" against slow decks.

Lifeweaver Druid is a pretty neat deck, providing the player with more ways to use their healing than just staying alive. I had a lot of fun testing this deck through its many iterations, and I hope you do the same: finding your own ways to make use of this very underrated minion. It's only got a few more weeks in Standard, and I'm pleased that I found something to do with it before it left us for good.

Are there any cards rotating soon that you feel are under-appreciated or never got the attention they deserved? Share your thoughts in the comments!