Codex: Growth spec

Argagarg Garg is the Growth spec hero of the green faction. Outsiders stereotype Argagarg’s fish-like people as being savage and barbaric, but they have it completely backwards; the Merfolk are wise and patient. Just because they look different from humans, doesn’t make them bad!

Here’s Argagarg’s hero card:

 
 

He comes with a 0/1 wisp, which gives you an extra defender. His max level ability summons a 3/3 water elemental with anti-air, which is quite a perk. Argagarg himself tends to stay out of combat; he sits back and buffs units while they do most of the work.

Speaking of defense, the green starter deck in general offers good defense. Look at these Treants:

Young Treant basically doesn’t cost a card and Ironbark Treant turns into a 1/4 while patrolling. That’s equivalent to a 1/5 if you make him your Squad Leader. The point is, basic green cards are already good defenders, and Argagarg gets a wisp and a water elemental thrown in without spending any cards at all.

Argagarg himself only gets 1 ATK even at max level, but his spells are very strong. He can grow a unit huge, or shrink it down to nothing:

Dinosize makes one of your units big enough to kill basically anything, and Polymorph Squirrel turns even the most terrifying enemy unit into something you can easily kill. The perk of Dinosize is that even though you can often use it to kill an enemy unit or hero, later in the game it helps you set up for a huge turn where you attack their base for 20+ damage. One perk of Polymorph Squirrel is that it can kill units that are normally unkillable, such as indestructible units—they aren't indestructible when they lose all their abilities! It also lets you get around triggering any "Dies: Do X" abilities the victim unit might have, because those are erased too while it's a squirrel.

Are you looking for awesome art that is too great for this Earth?

 
 

There you go. And while you’re at it, have a crazily powerful spell too. Somehow it GAINS gold every turn, and it buffs your guy, and it heals all your guys. That’s a lot of upside. If +2/+2 on one unit isn’t enough for you and you want to straight up win the game by overrunning your opponent, use this:

 
 

Even if you weren’t really winning by much on the board, Stampede can give you an explosive 20+ damage turn to win in one shot. You'll have set up for it by having a max level Argagarg already in play when you cast your ultimate spell.

The green faction is also really good at generating gold. Argagarg’s friend Galina Glimmer is able to boost your economy a lot:

 
 

I mentioned in the article about the Feral spec that you can use Young Panda and Giant Panda to get more green units to make your Gigadons cheaper, and the same advice applies here to power Galina Glimmer. The Feral spell Murkwood Allies would also be an incredible compliment to her. (Green specs have a lot of synergy with each other!)

At the tech II level, check out Artisan Mantis:

 
 

He’s a very proper, fancy Mantis. Rarely seen without his top hat or monocle, he’s a master architect and able to repair structures better than anyone else in the game. If your opponent is blowing up your tech buildings in one hit, or threatening to take down your entire base in one hit, he won’t help. But often there’s a race for damage, especially against the red faction, and he works wonders there. He’s the key to some matchups, so use him wisely.

 
 

Blooming Ancient is the kind of guy who grows completely out of control if opponents don’t put a stop to him, fast. Blooming Ancient grows every time you play a unit from your hand, and ALSO grows every time you summon a token unit such as a wisp from one of the pandas or Argagarg, or all those frogs from Murkwood Allies. If you play your cards right, Blooming Ancient will be covered with +1/+1 runes, then you can distribute them as you see fit across your other units.

For those of you who like to lie awake at night, fantasizing about card powers that work out just right, this is for you:

 
 

All you have to do is deal combat damage 5 times after you play this, and all your units AND heroes grow ridiculously large. It’s pretty hard to lose if this goes off, but the trouble is getting those 5 growth runes. Might of Leaf and Claw is a tech II upgrade, which means it comes somewhat late in the game, and the upgrade itself can’t attack or patrol. So you’re putting yourself a little behind by playing it, and you’re facing an opponent who probably has access to tech II stuff. Ideally, you have a whole bunch of units laying around who can attack at once and trigger it in a single turn. Then you can live the dream of +5/+5 for everything.

At tech III, you get Guargum, Eternal Sentinel:

 
 

Guargum is the heart of the forest, the most powerful watcher over nature’s children. He’s legendary, which means you can’t have two of him, but you shouldn’t need two anyway. As a 10 cost tech III, he’s very, very expensive, but his last ability lets you play Growth spells for free, and without even having a Growth hero. Have a Dinosize and Stampede in your hand? That usually costs a total of 10 to cast, but go ahead and do that for free. And by the way you get a 12/12 with resist 2 and obliterate 4 while we’re at it. Obliterate 4 is totally crazy. Every time you attack, your opponent will lose 4 units, and there’s no way they can keep up with that while a 12/12 is grinding them down and casting free spells at the same time.

The Growth spec starts with a small Merfolk named Argagarg, but it ends with Guargum: Growth’s ultimate incarnation, taller than trees.