Introduction

Does anyone know how to bring up the pictures of each of the different treants? 

Nowadays when one thinks of aggro Druid, they usually go right to beasts led by the Oracle of Elune and their Frostsaber Matriarch or a large amount of spells drawn with Fungal Fortunes to create a large Glowfly Swarm. My mind goes further back, to a simpler time where the grass was green, the breeze was gently blowing, and animated trees would uproot themselves from the earth and softly pummel you with their gnarly, twisted fists. 

While definitely not popular nowadays, Treant Druid did recently pick up some new toys as recently as United In Stormwind, namely Sow the Soil and Composting. These cards slot comfortably into an aggressive deck based on summoning as many trees as possible and buffing them up until they resemble angry redwoods. Alongside their well-spoken if underplayed and underpowered leader Goru the Mightree, this evergreen army has performed well both in Casual and on the Ranked ladder. 

Win Condition

This is an aggro deck, so there’s really not much to elaborate on here. Your goal is to make the number next to the opponent’s portrait hit 0 as fast as humanly possible. This deck does so by getting a board to stick before providing a huge buff through the spells mentioned above. Once you achieve that, you go face and win the game earlier than you may expect. You need to hold on to these spells, especially Savage Roar as they provide basically your only source of surprise burst damage. You aren’t limited to just these buffs, but they provide by far the most bang for your buck. 

Landscape Architects 

Many, many ways to summon Treants are found in this deck. The choose one spells deserve a special mention: I usually try to play Treenforcements before Sow the Soil when I’m looking to build a board, as the attack buff could be used later on in a game to close things out in conjunction with your heavy hitting spells. That’s not to say you should never use Sow the Soil for a Treant summon…especially becuase in my opinion the Stormwind Treant is the cutest and best designed Treant of them all. Just be aware of your resources and try to predict if you think you will need that buff later on before bringing forth another servant of the forest. 

Force of Nature made the cut over Runic Carvings primarily to provide consistency for Jerry Rig Carpenter, as splitting the spell would just feel awful every time and I can count on one hand the number of times I chose the rush option. Force of Nature still provides a good number of treants, and also acts as an activator for Garden Gnome and her desert treants (my second favorite design.) 

Fertilizer 

Fun fact: Guff Runetotem was my first legendary I pulled during Barrens, and in gold to boot. He sadly ended up sitting in my collection for quite a while, until this deck came together in my head. When combined with the split options from Jerry Rig Carpenter, Guff becomes a source of surprise buffs that can quickly create and incredibly threatening presence on the board that demands some kind of removal. I try to save him for late game plays, once I’ve split my Choose One spells and I’m ready to make a final push for lethal. 

Also, Goru the Mightree makes an appearance! While I understand the issues he presents, I feel that Lightning Bloom helps mitigate some of his disadvantages by getting the big boy in play incredibly early, allowing those stat buffs to make more of an impact throughout a game. A turn two Goru has been enough to force a concede once or twice, and I have frequently been able to play him on three or four and start developing a board early. Are there better options out there? Most probably. But I wanted to play Goru dang it because NO ONE plays Goru. You also get the added benefit of watching opponents mouse over Goru to figure out what the heck he does. It’ll make you stand out a little from the crowd. 

 Composting

These are the refill engines of your deck, both of which are quite strong. Aeroponics is incredibly easy to discount, and will frequently cost 0 mana by turn three or earlier with some shenanigans. Between that and a wide board that has been hit with Composting, I have never really found myself wanting for draw while playing this deck. Also important to note is that both of these cards are Nature spells, meaning that they synergies with Guff Runetotem if he has stuck and provide buffs in addition to their effects. 

Heavy Equipment

As one of your Treant payoff cards, Mulchmuncher typically acts as removal of a big taunt or obstacle to your trees hitting for lethal in its wake. By the time it is needed, the mech usually costs 0 and the rush keyword means immediate effect on the board as well. Don’t forget to factor in buffs when deciding whether or not to play the machine, especially if it costs 0 mana. Your 8/8 gas guzzler can all of a sudden be buffed north of 15 attack and take out the opponent’s last hope for survival in a diesel-fueled cloud of aggression. 

Mulligans & Matchups

I’m still playtesting and trying out different openers on ladder as I write this, but my current observations have been:

1. Only keep Garden Gnome in conjunction with a 5 mana spell so that she is active when she is on curve. I have bad luck whenever I try to hold on to her and hope for a big spell to show up off of the top of my deck. 

2. As mentioned above, I try to always play Treenforcements for a Treant summon rather than Sow the Soil so that I can save the potential buff for later if needed. However, don’t forget about the health and taunt buff on Treenforcements as it can help protect your trees later on in the game.

3. Don’t be afraid to use Lightning Bloom early if it will leave you with an incredibly aggressive, ahead-of-curve board. You should be able to handle the overload with the minions you have on the board, and if it means an incredibly early Goru the Mightree then go for it! The dude still is a 5/10 taunt body aside from his battlecry effect, that alone can buy you a good amount of time against some decks. 

4. More to come as I play more, including substitutions I have been trying out. 

Conclusion

While Treant Druid isn’t the first, second, or third choice for aggro druid in 2022, it is still a very fun and incredibly flavorful archetype that just feels cohesive to play and can catch some people off guard. While it does suffer in terms of come back cards if you fall drastically behind on board, the deck does provide plenty of opportunities for jumping out ahead of your opponents and beating them down with smiling, happy trees by turn 5 or 6. If you like Aggro Druid but are tired of the lists going around (and want to run a not good card in Goru the Mightree) then give this a shot! You may enjoy it!