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Druid has been the most versatile class since Hearthstone's beta. In 2017, Druid received some extremely powerful cards from all 3 sets. It is a well-known meme in the Hearthstone community just how broken Druid was and players have been constantly complaining about it. So much so that Reddit has opened another subreddit just to remind you how broken Druid is (see /r/F*ckDruid).
Some changes did eventually hit Druid. Aviana, previously costing 9 mana went up to 10. Nourish, previously costing 5, went up to 3. Wild Growth, previously costing 2, went up to 3. Overall, there has been a significant impact and the number of Druids and their win rate has come down in the middle of the Rastakhan's Rumble expansion.
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That being said, Druid has had many powerful cards in the Journey to Un'Goro, Knights of the Frozen Throne and Kobolds & Catacombs expansions. Here are some of the most powerful among them which will no longer be in Standard in 2-3 months time.
#5 Living Mana
Expansion: Journey to Un'Goro
Druid did not receive many strong power level cards in the Journey to Un'Goro expansion. It was a largely balanced expansion, but Living Mana proved to be quite powerful. At first glance, it does not seem like a huge threat (and that's what streamers thought too!). But it was widely used in Token Druid, which relied on flooding the board with small minions.
Combo-ing this with lower mana cost cards such as Mark of the Lotus (1 mana, rotated to Wild a year ago) and Power of the Wild (a Classic Card) made for big threats from these small treants. Although we did see some funny moments of how hard countered it could get.
Psychic Scream or Vanish or anything that removes the treants from the boards severely set back the Druid player from recovering mana faster.
#4 Branching Paths
Expansion: Kobolds & Catacombs
Branching Paths was an auto-include in almost all Druid decks on release and even now. It is versatile in offence, defence as well as card draw. Druid already had great armour mechanics and draw mechanics. Branching Paths is a cheap option that allows you to level the playing field according to what kind of situation you find yourself in. It was the first card in Hearthstone to see the keywords "Choose Twice".
#3 Spreading Plague
Expansion: Knights of the Frozen Throne
Spreading Plague is the best defensive card Druid has ever gotten. It floods your board with 1/5 Taunts and punishes your opponents if they are playing aggro minions with less than 5 attack. It has been the cause of controversy because it was seen as "too busted".
Originally costing 5 mana, Spreading Plague's cost went up to 6. That didn't stop the card from being an auto-include and for Druids to buy enough time to muster their defence. Along with all the crazy armour, Spreading Plague is the card that does too much for its mana cost.
#2 Ultimate Infestation
Expansion: Knights of the Frozen Throne
Ultimate Infestation is the definition of a broken card. Knights of the Frozen Throne truly gave Druids the best tools they need. The Draw 5 cards was the most seen in a card draw (until Myra's Unstable Element) mechanic. Along with that, you gain 5 armour, a 5/5 body and the ability to potentially clear out an enemy. This needs to cost at least 15 mana!
The 10 mana justification for the card never saw it nerfed.
#1 Malfurion, The Pestilent
Expansion: Knights of the Frozen Throne
The Death Knight Card from the Frozen Throne set is a huge upgrade to the already powerful Druid class. Summoning 2 minions of your choice, as well as the Hero Power (Gain +3 attack or +3 armour), made the Death Knight card an auto-include in every Druid deck.
The DK Malfurion is just better than the Druid hero in every way. This card seems like the obvious choice for the #1 spot, but it really did deserve it because of how versatile it is and what a big upgrade it is to the Druid hero.
Honourable Mentions
There were some other great cards among the collection too. They were not as powerful, but they have seen play in some Druid metas. Here are some honourable mentions.
Druid Spellstone
A powerful board clear for Druids, who can easily gain Armour.
Oaken Summons
Usually paired with Ironwood Golem, Oaken Summons was a great way to gain armour, draw out a minion while also thinning your deck for better draws.
Barnabus / Druid Quest
Barnabus wasn't the greatest reward, but there were some incredible decks where you get tons of 0 cost high mana minions if you played him on time.
Twig of the World Tree
An interesting legendary weapon, which could be used to achieve a combo by gaining 10 mana twice in a turn. It was used a lot in Standard Malygos Druid
Hadronox
Hadronox Taunt Druid dominated the Witchwood meta for a while, when the Witching Hour card was released (summon a friendly Beast that died this game). It was not too powerful on its own, but with the support of Witching Hour, Hadronox Druid proved to be a hard deck to play against.
