Quest Druid is one of the best decks in Hearthstone. After you complete the Druid Quest, all of your Choose One cards will have both of their effects: Nourish gives you two mana crystals and draws three cards, Oasis Surger summons two 5/5 Rush minions, and so on. This gives the deck immense power in the mid-game, where all of its cards are extremely effective.
However, it is not a steady performer: the deck is great against Rogue and Warrior, which makes it a strong choice in the current meta, but it also has a number of weak matchups, such as Mech Paladin and Highlander Mage.
Quest Druid can be outvalued by extremely greedy decks, and it can be defeated before it gets going by aggro decks. The decks in between, those that have a good midgame, but do not have infinite value, fall prey to the Quest-buffed midgame of Druid.
Quest Druid decklist
Deck code: AAECAZICBiT3A67SAvX8AvihA/atAwxAVl/+AcQGv/ICqaIDyKID76ID2akD+bUDxrcDAA==
There are several variants of Quest Druid, and it is by no means obvious which one is the best. All common lists share 24 cards, but there are tens of variants when it comes to the last six cards.
In this list, those last six cards are:
- One copy of Crystal Merchant
- Power of the Wild
- Two copies of Steel Beetle
- Two copies of Ferocious Howl
Some lists cut one copy of Crystal Merchant because it is at its strongest in the early game and can be a weak draw later in the game. However, this makes it even less likely to draw it early on, so this cut seems to be unfounded.
Power of the Wild is used in between zero and two copies. It is a mid-performing card in the deck.
Ferocious Howl used to be core in the deck, but with Steel Beetle in the card pool, Ferocious Howl is sometimes replaced by that card to retain armor gain and gain some tempo, but at the loss of some card draw. Some lists run both cards to improve the archetype’s odds against Hunters.
Furthermore, Worthy Expedition and Zephrys the Great appear in some of the lists. Zephrys, of course, is only active in the late game in a deck full of duplicates, so it is mostly an anti-control tool to compete better against Highlander Mage.
Overall, the sample sizes of Quest Druid decks are not sufficient to fully determine the best list. Some choices depend on the meta and can improve specific matchups at the cost of others. The list I played attempts to beat Rogue and Warrior while improving the Hunter matchup to be close to even. It is not very good against Mage.
Quest Druid mulligan
You always keep the Quest in the mulligan in every matchup. Against aggressive decks, the cards you look for in addition to that are Crystal Merchant for a strong early game and Oasis Surger for a big tempo swing when the Quest is ready.
Against control decks, you look for Crystal Merchant and Nourish: ramping up quicky is important in those matchups.
Quest Druid tips and tricks
Completing your Quest is vital. You can spend the Coin after playing Quest on turn one to get it done one turn faster. However, sometimes you need to delay the Quest in order to survive: be prepared to do so, but only do so in a dire situation. The line when you have to do it is something you can only fully learn from experience.
Ysera is your main win condition, especially in slow matchups where you want you Floop to be a second copy of it. Try to ration the rate at which you draw portals: if you’re low on real cards, avoid drawing more so that you do not get all of your portals too quickly. This allows you to have multiple boards from them.
Flobbidinous Floop is one of your most flexible cards. It can be a pair of 5/6 Oasis Surgers. It can be another Wardruid Loti. It can be another Ysera. In control matchups you often want it to be Ysera, whereas against aggro you use it defensively, sometimes even as another Anubisath Defender.
Wardruid Loti is another flexible card. It is your only hard-removal piece, and as such vital in defeating giant minions. Against some opponents – such as in a mirror match – a stealthed Loti can stay on the board indefinitely, as the opponent has no tools to remove it. This can be an effective strategy to make your Wraths, Swipes, and Starfalls deadlier.
Cenarius gives you burst potential if you have board control. With +2/+2 to all of your minions, it is a small Savage Roar in addition to a potential defensive tool.
Quest Druid gameplay video
Finally, here is a video with a recap of the guide as well as gameplay with the deck. I hope it showcases the types of decisions you need to make when playing it.