Gloom Stag
Gloom Stag is a 5 Mana Cost Epic Druid Minion Beast card from the The Witchwood set!
Card Text
Taunt Battlecry: If your deck has only odd-Cost cards, gain +2/+2.
Flavor Text
Majestic. Ethereal. Still pretty down in the dumps, though.Gloom Stag Card Review
If you play a full Odd-cost deck, it’s a 4/8 Taunt for 5. Which is obviously good – but not “amazing”. Such a card would normally be priced at 6 mana. Druid already has a 4/6 Taunt in the 5 mana slot (Druid of the Claw), which has some extra flexibility, as it can Charge too. At 6 mana, Druid has Dark Arakkoa, which is a 5/7 (comparable stats to 4/8), but with an extra effect of buffing C’Thun. I wouldn’t be surprised if Druid got a 4/7 vanilla Taunt for 5 mana some day.
So in case of this card, the upside isn’t really great. 4/8 Taunt for 5 seems bad compared to other odd/even synergies revealed so far. Of course, if Odd Druid will be played, this card WILL see play – there is simply no reason to not put it into such a deck. But it simply doesn’t add a lot of incentive to run such a list. Why?
Because there is no way, and I mean NO WAY that a slower Druid deck (even Midrange) would want to drop all of the even cost cards. Just look at them and think for a bit. Wild Growth, Wrath, Swipe, Oaken Summons + Ironwood Golem, Branching Paths, Spreading Plague, Ultimate Infestation. Those are all cards you would want, or at least consider running in such a deck, and they’re all gone. Half of your deck. It’s really not worth it. I mean, Oaken Summons into Ironwood Golem is a 4 mana 3/6 Taunt which gives you 6 extra Armor. I’d say that it’s already comparable with a 5 mana 4/8 Taunt. And you don’t have to throw away all your other even cost cards to play it.
So right now, the only way I can imagine Odd Druid seeing play is through some kind of Aggro build. However, Aggro builds will have their own problems – Enchanted Raven, Mark of the Lotus and Mark of Y'Shaarj rotate out. Odd cost cards would also mean that you can’t possibly play Power of the Wild, which means that you would be left with no AoE buffs – not to mention that you’d need to drop any 2-drops like Dire Wolf Alpha or Druid of the Swarm. Is it worth it? I really doubt it.
Card rating: 2/10
Gloom Stag Full Card Art
Druid needs a “if your deck has only
odd cost cards gain an empty mana crystal” to make up for the loss of wild growth and it should come with an unconditional taunt
I rated 5 stars because its way better then nesting roc
At least you don’t have to take out every even card for it to get that effect.
Definitely not better than Nesting Roc
Surely Levy is joking
Mehhh.. Not that good
I agree we already have some 4/7 taunts like nesting rock and avian watcher that dont see much play and this only adds 1 more health at a much bigger cost. Plus druids odd pool of cards isnt the best as of right now
Looks like this is going to be a Beast-focused expansion… just as Menagerie Warden rotates out of standard. Granted you can’t use it with this card but I’d be surprised if there wasn’t a complementary “even cost” card for Druid.
Love this card but it probably won’t see play because it’s a fair power level and fair power level doesn’t see play
So far Baku Druid would probably be Aggro Druid. This is not a bad card for the deck, but at 5-mana you normally want to use Living Mana. Also, it will feel very bad to drop this and then get silenced. 3/5
You usually want to play living mana on 6 or 7. Agro druid usually runs something else to play on 5.
Fair enough. I’d still rather drop a Bittertide Hydra on 5 than this Stag, though.
What if everyone is still going call to arms for jugglers into stand against darkness on 5?
Stand Against Darkness will rotate in April. And for the sake of the HS community, let’s hope Call to Arms gets nerfed soon.
Am I the only one who thinks 5 mana 4/8 taunt is a little busted? Even with the restrictions
for 5 Mana you get Druid of the Claw which has defensive only 2 less live and the option of charge. Additionally you need to renounce Wilde Growth, Wrath, Swipe, Branchin paths, Oaken summons-Ironwood Golem, Spreading plaque and Ultimate Infestation…
This is why this card only really fits in an aggro deck as a some sort of heavy top end… and even then it needs to compete with living Mana and Bittertide Hydra
Nop dude, that is not why the deck might not work.
U’ll be playing a different deck, in a different meta, so there is no point on blaming cards you cannot play for being responsible for it being bad ocasionally.
I think the biggest loss for that type of druid is U.I, cause is such a good Late Game refill… other than that, you can play around: Greedy Sprites, Nourish, Tar Creeper, Stag, etc. Plus your hero power contest most 1 drops, a lot of 2 drops and even some 3 and 4 drops.
In my opinion, the deck lacks a win condition so far into the expansion. Im thinking solutions right now, maybe filling a list with High Cost power cards like ysera, and playing then by hand, but it seems to 2015 to me right now… another 2015 idea, but till now is my best bet, is that u should play the deck as an old-school midrange druid, finishing with a savage roar. Since ur hero power provides such stability, and u can run up to 10 overstated taunts (Creepers, Stag, Ancient of war, Druid of the claw – Not overstated, but it charges sometimes, so- and it goes on) u probably going to be ahead on the board agains more slower decks, meaning better Savage Roar value. Vs aggro, 2/2 malfurion is already quite an obstacle, + again the wall of taunt available.
Think it has potential to be a tier 1-2, but sure it makes at least a solid tier 3 (Not baaaad).
I disagree Badboom, have you seen the year of the raven cards for druid? There is almost nothing good at an odd mana cost, you lose all removal but naturalize and spellstone, you lose spreading plague, UI, wild growth, oaken summons, golem, and the list goes on, almost every good druid card is an even card, and at the end of the day this is BARELY better than druid of the claw when it’s active because you lose flexibility. This is definitely the worst card revealed so far. worgen is better. 0/5. Odd druid will be tier 27, nowhere near tier 1-2. you lose tons of amazing cards to get a good hero power that you will replace with malfurion and a slightly above average card, really bad. I have no idea how this is rated 4 stars.
It’s the top end of a deck that wins when it drops living mana and doesn’t give a crap about spreading, UI or malf.
Dont think is BARELY better than Druid of the Claw… its waaay better in what it proposes to do. 5 mana 4/6 taunt is reasonable, 4/8 is colossal… The comparison with Dark Arakkoa is just dumb. Arakkoa is +1 mana -1 health, and we know what matter to a taunt is mana/health, then some “evasion” (Shield and Cant be targeted) and having a reasonable attack, so it can kill stuff… 4/8 taunt hardly get removed 1to1, even harder spending 5 or less mana, so its almost always a positive tempo play + it kills any 1,2,3 (Not creeper), most 4 and some 5… it already makes a powerfull tool for OddDruid.
Now the issue of dropping all those precious cards that are so powerfull no one could ever touch then, becaus… stop the bullsh1t! It kinda gets to me when people start to see only what is getting played right now as viable, and nothing else as an alternative. Not saying OddDruid would be better then Druid right now in what it AIMS to do right now, playing ramp early game, outvaluing opponents answers late game… but there IS MORE to the game, other play styles and archetypes, those that the actual druid lists are BAD at, like hybrid midrange, lower mana curves
I see OddDruid, the list u can biuld right now having a low mana curve, some late game, and beeing a great anti aggro, even more consistant than Actual druid , just because the amount of powerfull taunts early on (Yes, without the precious Spreading Plague) + 2/2 hero power (Cmon, it puts constant pressure agains early opponent minions). As i said, it lacks a win condition, and i meant it againts more slower decks, like CubeLock… thats why RIGHT NOW i see it as tier 3. If savage roar starts working, and you can consistantly be ahead at the board, then it may be a tier 2… and if it gets support, has potential to be tier 1.
Anyway, Dropping the Deck prediction and focusing only at Gloom Stag: 5 4/8… colossal stats, great (At least good) against any minion that comes earlier, quite a boost for odd druids.
4/5 on an OddDruid List
4/5 stars if the Druid odd-cost deck actually works (P.S without UI).
If not, 2/5 stars 🙂
Good if it sees play, bad if it doesn’t.
Seems like a better Druid of the Claw, but giving up UI is a tough ask.
And another one lol
The Beast tag is interesting to see, 4/8 worth of stats for 5 mana seems really good
5 mana 4/8 Taunt SeemsGood