I personally like Dragon Priest, but if you like more aggressive decks then you should go with Secrets Paladin.

9680 Dust, but that includes cards you get from Adventures.

I don’t think they’re necessary, but you can experiment with them.

Sylvanas and Loatheb. It will be tough to play this deck without Mal’ganis.

I would go with second Brawl probably.

Second Shrinkmeister and Velen’s Chosen. You’re going to be weak to early aggro though.

Two Argent Squire, or an Argent Squire and a second Worgen Infiltrator.

Loatheb or Sylvanas for Vol’jin. Ysera I would replace with another big dragon like Nefarian or Chromaggus.

You could try Burgle for Dr. Boom. Sylvanas or Loatheb can fill in for Dr. Boom otherwise.

It’s a Legendary that you can safely dust. It’s a fun legendary, but it has never been used very much.

I wouldn’t use Majordomo, that’s a pretty bad card. Mal’ganis is pretty tough to replace because of the affect it has on the board. You might try Fearsome Doomguard just to add a big demon.

You could go second Arcane Intellect or Mirror Image. Nefarian is fine if you feel you need a big minion.

I think it’s a fine choice for that area of Ranked.

No worries, I don’t mind the questions!

Secret Paladin is for sure going to see an increase in play. I would expect that we’re going to see a lot of decks actively trying to counter it on the ladder. You’ll see more anti-aggro decks, so decks like Dragon Priest might pick up in popularity (which Druid also has a bad matchup against). It’s hard to say what’s better, Midrange Druid has been around for so long that I would generally opt for that deck because it’s a safer pick.

Sylvanas.

It’s been confirmed that the nerf is scheduled for next week. Looks like it will be before BlizzCon.

Overall I’d say Druid is the better deck right now, but that could change after the Warsong Commander nerf. Check out this link for a matchup chart: https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitiveHS/comments/3o92vf/metadeck_matchup_chart_a_data_mashup_of/

I would just go with standard Mech Mage if you don’t have Kodo Riders. http://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/decks/mech-mage-deck-list/

Congrats!

It’s generally best not to create rares and commons because you should get those in packs. I’d save for AoL, and play Arena and do Quests for the rares and commons. Ancient of War is a good wall against more aggressive decks, but it goes in and out of the deck so it’s not essential.

AoL is irreplaceable because Druid can run out of cards quickly when using things like Innervate and Wild Growth. Often by turn 7 you are down to a couple of cards, and AoL usually gives you the gas to finish the game. It is also extremely versatile because of the healing, which can save you a turn which can be all you need with a combo deck.