Introduction
I always played Control decks, they are fun, they make me use my brain and they involve a lot more skill than the usual cheap Aggro and Rush decks, nevertheless, I figured it was time to give Aggro a few of my Legend titles.
This season, I got my 10th legend title!
What a road! From druids to shamans, back to Shaman into warriors, priests, druids again, miracle at some point, priests and then Zoo and finally Hunter, I played every different strategy in this game and even tho Hunter’s strategy wasn’t the most fun, it was one of the most effective strategies I have ever played: Outside from the post-naxx Charge druid(which I got to legend with over 80% winrate), I never got such an easy legend as I did with hunter. After some time playing it, I realized how strong the deck was: with a 78% winrate (41W 9L) the deck simply destroyed, and getting to legend was a breeze this season.
The List
The list was the one I got you guys a few days back, no changes at all. I was testing different Paladin lists and Druid lists, and I did not have time to get to legend before that, but I got bored with testing at some point and got on a big winstreak to legend.
There are quite a few special things about this list that I would like to talk about.
Some of you might have noticed the lack of sludge-belcher which has been used a lot in tournament Hunter versions, the reason behind that choice was that I realized that despite the fact it has taunt, and that its deathrattle spawns another taunt, Sludge Belcher is a card that should be used (in hunters!) against control decks rather than aggro decks. The reason behind it is that despite the fact Belcher gives you no reach, it stops opposing medium minions from trading with your small dudes, which means you’ll have your board protected against some of the usual control cards. Against Aggro, however, you better have early cheap spells and minions to give you control over the board, such as houndmasters, explosive-traps, unleash-the-hounds, among others. These cards will generate more value than the belcher itself on the aggro matchup, while they will not be as good on the Control Matchup and that is why most pro players avoid using those on tournament meta. And that is the reason why I decided to avoid sludge-belcher and loatheb for now: we’re living a aggressive meta.
The same reason here goes on the “why” of my choice to leave hunters-mark aside: it was bad in too many of my games. 2-for-1-ing yourself is only good when you are virtually ahead in tempo and cards, and that wont happen in all the occasions, which makes using Hunter’s Mark more of a choice than a need. I decided to take it out: I needed the slots for other things.
You will also notice I decided to avoid using snake-trap in order to add explosive-trap to my list. Reason behind that being the same as both Hunter’s Mark and Belcher: While Snake Trap is overall worse against Control, I am fighting a lot more against Aggro than control.
There, you now have a tuned deck to fight off Aggro with Hunter… But Nuubaaa, how bout the Control matchups? Do we simply lose them?
We are Hunters! Hunter already has a good matchup against every Control deck there is, and tuning a deck to be even better against Control is just not what should be done!
Just as a mere illustration, here are a few of my last games stats:
Deck Breakdown
flare: A cycle card that also happens to break enemy Secrets. Can simply be a way to thin your deck out, can be game breaking. Remember to not cast those against enemies with Secrets on their decks!
tracking: Another cycle card, but this time we get to choose what we are going to be drawing. This card is very good, but since the name of this deck is Tempo, we can not risk ourselves with the possibility of having 2 1-mana cycle cards in our hands, and since the Meta has grown with Secrets, having 2x Flares 1x Tracking is reasonable.
leper-gnome: The Cancer Deck’s Herald! This guy gives you a free Steady Shot whenever he dies, sometimes if dropped on the early game will deal 6 or more damage, which is huge. It also happens to have a positive Deathrattle, which is the theme of the deck.
undertaker: This deck is spammed with deathrattle, might as well run the best 1-drop in the entire game, ey?
webspinner: Awesome dude. Cycles itself for a random beast, which has higher chances of being a good beast than it has of being a bad beast. Not only that: it’s a beast, costs 1 mana and have positive Deathrattle!
explosive-trap: A meta choice, good to fight off the aggro swarm and also dealing damage to DA FACE!
Freezing-trap: a must-have 2-of in any Hunter deck, this is the best trap in the game for Hunters as well as a huge tempo kick on the opponent. Remember to try and make it so the most expensive minion gets hit by this trap, which is often a removal given the tempo it generates.
haunted-creeper: It’s a beast? Check. Has a positive deathrattle? Check.
ironbeak-owl: A great utility card: Good against both Control and Aggro. I decided I needed to have the silence since I was dropping that Hunter’s Mark!
loot-hoarder: A Deathrattle minion that cycles itself.
mad-scientist: Probably the best card in the deck, the tempo this guy generates is so huge I have no idea why this guy made it out of the Beta tests of Naxxramas the way he is.
eaglehorn-bow: The trap theme for Hunters has always been huge, even with Hunters running rampant (which means a lot of flares in the meta!) having the bow for the board control as well as face smash is still a must.
animal-companion: Doesnt matter what you get, this card is always good. Probably the best basic Hunter card in the game.
kill-command: Gives you reach to close games faster as well as kills those pesky Belchers!
unleash-the-hounds: A meta choice to fight off the aggro swarm.
houndmaster: Have beasts? Buff them! This guy is a stronger version of defender-of-argus that only requires a beast in play in order to be super efficient, the stats-bonus of this guy are generally amazing.
savannah-highmane: This deck’s late game. It’s literally the best 6-drop in the entire game and since we can support it, we should play it!
Mulligan Strategy
Cards you always want to see:
- undertaker
- leper-gnome
- webspinner
- mad-scientist
- haunted-creeper
Cards you occasionally want to see:
- freezing-trap – Against Druids!
- flare – Against Mages (don’t keep those against Hunters unless your hand is already good enough!)
- eaglehorn-bow – Against Zoo and decks alike (probably not hunter, unless you already have a Mad Scientist in your hand!)
- unleash-the-hounds – Against Aggro and Rush decks.
- ironbeak-owl – Against Hunters.
- animal-companion – If your hand is good enough already.
Cards you never want to see:
- tracking – A very good late game draw tool, not good in the early game at all.
- houndmaster – Good in the mid/late game, not in the early!
- kill-command – It’s a finisher! Why would you want that in your opening hand?
- explosive-trap – wont give you much of a board presence, and is denying you the possibility of having a card that will.
Conclusion
But Nuba, we’re already in the Conclusion and you didn’t even posted how to play the deck!! Well, in case it’s not obvious, go for face smash against Control decks, go for board Control against Aggro decks, this deck was made to fight off aggro by Controlling the board rather than going all in, its pretty simple that is why I did not put a separated section only for this.
I think I went thru everything I had to say about the deck, I am now back to priest and in the top 100 NA Legend rank, Hunter although boring can have very fast games and get you to Legend in no time, there is the fact it doesn’t take much skill to master the class, but for sure its one of the strongest classes in the game, regardless of the nerf.
In case you want my priest list, it’s the same I posted on the Best Meta! article, which is this one:
Hope you guys had a nice read, see you all around!
Cuddles,
Nuba
 
 
 
Published: Oct 22, 2014 08:29 pm