In the past, Druid has not had enough speed and power to make it a dominant class to draft. No matter what kind of strategy players came up with going into a draft, most of the time, they wouldn’t end up drafting Druid because it was just too underpowered. March of the Legion Draft changed all that. In my opinion, Druid is not only viable, but it is also the premier class to draft, replacing Shaman as the number-one class to go for. With March of the Legion, Druid has more useful abilities, is more cost effective, and has more impact on the game as a whole.
 

Commons

Shred

Druids get another cat form card, and Shred may be the best one thus far. Shred costs a measly 2 resource points to play and gets your hero ready to pounce on any opposing allies or heroes. Shred is also capable of killing any attacking allies and prevents them from ever dealing damage. Shred is a must-have in any Druid Draft deck.

Swipe

This is a terrific utility card, meaning that it has multiple uses in different stages of a game. I have had success using Swipe in the early goings of a game, picking off three opposing allies when I was behind after a bad mulligan or just a slow start. Swipe also puts your hero in bear form, which is helpful in messing up your opponent’s attack and denying him or her from attacking one of your allies. If you draft Alliance, Swipe lets you use Arktos’s flip to survive a turn of attacks from an opponent, giving you an extra turn to win the game.

Earth and Sky

I always like cards that give you multiple choices when playing them. Earth and Sky can deal 4 damage to a big opposing ally, or it can deal the final 4 points of damage needed to win a game. This ability can also replace itself while destroying an ally that only has 2 or less health left. Earth and Sky is a very good card to have in any Draft deck and will help win many games.

Strangling Roots

A good, efficient ally-removal ability, Strangling Roots is very similar to Entangling Roots, with the added bonus that it will eventually destroy the ally it is attached to. This makes it harder for your opponent to draw a way to deal with Strangling Roots and use his or her ally later in the game.

Uncommons

Druid Training

More than likely, whichever ally you put Druid Training on, your opponent will destroy it before you get multiple uses out of it. Druid Training is probably best used in the late game when your opponent may be out of ways to destroy your allies besides attacking them, or when you’re able to use the Training to shut down a big opposing protector for a couple of important turns. I think one Druid Training would be sufficient in any Draft deck since you do not want to draw them too early.

Invigorating Touch

This is a very cheap ability that could possibly win the game in a tight-race situation. Overall, though, Druid has so many great ability cards in March of the Legion that Invigorating Touch does not do enough to warrant any kind of play in Limited.

Sustain or Reclaim

I have to say that the few times I have played with this card, I have not yet been disappointed with it. Sustain or Reclaim is all about saving allies. It can heal an ally in play, or it can bring back one that was destroyed on a previous turn. Sustain or Reclaim can ruin an opponent’s plan of attack on your bigger ally with two different allies: just use it to heal an ally during the second attack and keep your ally alive for another turn. You can also retrieve important allies from your graveyard to answer equipment, such as “Acid Hands” McGillicutty, or to get deeper into your deck, such as Bizzazz. Either way, Sustain or Reclaim is a very useful card to have in Draft.

Rares

Feral Instinct

Since there are only two cards, total, in March of the Legion that are capable of putting a Druid hero into bear or cat form, Feral Instinct will not be a rare that you’ll want to open in Draft. But Feral Instinct costs only 1 resource point to play, so it may see its fair share of play in Constructed cat form decks.

Natural Genesis

Not much of a Limited card, Natural Genesis may have some potential fitting into a Tree of Life Constructed deck.

Gift of the Wild

Now we get to a bomb rare that you do want to see during the course of a draft if you’re drafting Druid. Gift of the Wild can turn a game that has been going back and forth into a one-sided slaughter. Every ally that you play after Gift of the Wild is just so much more for your opponent to deal with, eventually causing too much card advantage for your opponent to handle. The result: dominating board advantage for you. Gift of the Wild is also an instant ability, allowing you to use it as a trick during combat on turn 6, disrupting an opposing attack or ability card. Gift of the Wild is one of the best rares to crack in March of the Legion Limited.

Dreamstate

While not an amazing Limited card, this has Moonkin deck written all over it. The problem I had with the Balance Moonkin Form deck when I was testing for Worlds was keeping cards in my hand. I would always run out of cards, and unless I was able to refill my hand with Counterattack! and Gahz’ridian, I would eventually lose. With the addition of Dreamstate, Moonkin Form decks won’t have the problem of being out of cards to play.

Barkskin

There aren’t too many ways to interrupt cards in Draft. Barkskin could see play in side decks against evil Mages or possibly even Warlocks.

Strategy

In Heroes of Azeroth / Through the Dark Portal / Fires of Outland Draft, Grennan Stormspeaker had the best flip power and Shaman was a very viable class to draft. So, going into a draft, I always wanted to draft Shaman, specifically Grennan, as my first choice. In March of the Legion Draft, however, I am always looking to draft Taheo Skyspeaker as my first choice. The heroes’ flip powers are less appealing in this expansion, but Taheo’s flip power is the best of the bunch, in my opinion.

There are two things you want to look at when drafting Druid. You’ll usually want to go Horde so you get the extra flip power, which acts as an extra ability, and you’ll want to draft a decent curve of allies. As far as abilities go, you want to draft Shred, Earth and Sky, Strangling Roots, and even Swipe high in the draft, picking them early in each pack to prevent others from gaining interest in Druid. Druid decks can gain a lot of card advantage from their abilities, and this gives them the ability to win simply because the card advantage will inevitably wear down its opponents.

Next week, I’ll be going over the Rogue class in March of the Legion Draft. Until then, good luck opening a Gift of the Wild!