Help With A Forest Spectre Deck

[Gurnard]

Just looking for some guidance with this deck at the moment. I'm enamoured with the idea of a deck based around the Forest Spirit/Spectre Growth ability. I've played around a bit with Emerald Dragons, Shields, Empathic Bonds, etc. but it just runs smoother and more consistently without anything unnecessarily extraneous to the core mechanic. Trouble is I'm winning lvl 3 about 4 in 5 but only with Mastery about 1 in 5. Any advice would be appreciated in getting this deck off the ground quicker, or pointing out any rookie mistakes.

The deck at the moment (30 cards total)
Mark of Water
10 x Forest Pillar
4 x Forest Spirit
2 x Forest Spectre (so far)
4 x Heal (helps get over the line for Mastery)
2 x Druidic Staff
4 x Saphire Pillar
4 x Freeze (a bit of defense to hold up opponent for a couple of turns while growing spirits/spectres)

[Macintosh]

You should switch out the heals with emphatic bonds. 6 x 4 a turn is 24 health.

[Baily18]

You should change to Mark of Life and cut down on Emerald Pillars.

[Celidion]

You should post a picture.

[Daxx]

You should change to Mark of Life and cut down on Emerald Pillars.

Actually I think that might hurt his plan. The mark is important should he not draw sapphire pillars. Of course if he gets rid of the freezes then he could get rid of the sapphire pillars altogether.

You should post a picture.

It would be helpful, but I should probably point out that it's not required in the deck help section. If you're good enough to be offering critique, you should be good enough to visualise his deck without needing a picture.

[Essence]

Here's my take on this deck, and why:

Mark of Water  -- to power Growth and a couple of Water cards.
Emerald Pillar x10 -- Duh.
Sapphire Pillar x2 - to power multiple Growths in a turn.

Forest Spectre x6 - The core beatdown.
Empathic Bond x3 - Over time, even with only a couple of creatures down, Empathic Bond will give you more HP than Heal.
Jade Staff x1 - For creature-resistant decks.  Upgrade this first if starting from unupgraded.
Jade Shield x1 - To reduce swarm effectiveness and eliminate direct-damage as a viable threat.
   (Alternately, Ice Shield, if you're willing to save up the Water Quanta to cast it, would be better once it actually hit the field.)
Freeze x3 - To reduce single-creature effectiveness, whether its an annoying skill creature like Otyugh or a Crimson Dragon.

That's a deck that's assured to get the core beats out fast, but has the tools necessary to deal with the variety of situations that AI3 can put you in.  It would be nice to get some permanent-removal in there, but it's just not an option given these elements

With a little lifegain to deal with the early-game damage, a little damage reduction to survive things like Skeleton swarms, and Freeze to put the inevitable skill/huge creatures on hold while you out-Grow them, this deck should have a 90%+ vs. AI3, easy.

[RedRevive]

You should post a picture.

Seems alright.  I would agree with adding Feral Bonds instead of heals, or maybe go with three bonds and three heals?

[Delreich]

You should post a picture.

It would be helpful, but I should probably point out that it's not required in the deck help section. If you're good enough to be offering critique, you should be good enough to visualise his deck without needing a picture.

And, presumably, good enough to realize that the poster in question hasn't been around in quite a while, most likely since Semptember.
With the incorrect time stamps that might not be obvious, but it still seems a bit silly to tell a non-member to include a picture.



Here's a picture version of what Essence suggested. It's four cards short, dunno what Essence had in mind but I imagine a couple more freezes and saph pillars might do.

[Essence]

Hrm...no idea how I miscounted that one so badly.  Yes, I'd add 2x Freeze and 2x Emerald Dragon, to be precise.