Editor’s Note: With the new Standard Format in 2016 for Hearthstone, we highly recommend going for cards in the Classic set and Whispers of the Old Gods (Standard Format). Here are budget guides, also from Sheng, to get you started!
- Budget Standard Standard C’Thun Druid
- Budget Standard Midrange Hunter
- Budget Standard C’Thun Mage
- Budget Standard  Aggro Paladin
- Budget Standard C’Thun Priest
- Budget Standard C’Thun Rogue
- Budget Standard Midrange Shaman
- Budget Standard Zoo WarlockÂ
- Budget Standard Combo Warrior
Introduction
Greetings, I’m Sheng, a Legend rank constructed and 7.5 win-average arena player. I run HearthstoneCoaching.com where our coaches have helped students around the world reach many of these same achievements.
If you’re new to Hearthstone, or just have a limited collection of cards—I feel your pain. It is often difficult to find cheap but viable decks to play on the Hearthstone ladder. Given this dilemma, I’ve set out to help those of you with a limited collection by creating budget decks for each class.
Requirements
- Reach Level 10 to unlock all of the Basic cards for this class.
- Complete the Naxxramas, Blackrock Mountain, and League of Explorers expansions.
Deck Playstyle
- Face Hunter’s goal is to kill our opponent as quickly as possible. While this deck’s goal may seem simple enough, what distinguishes a good aggro player from a poor one, is the ability to maximize damage over several turns through efficient use of spells and Hunter’s Steady Shot hero power.
Minions – 20
2x webspinner
- 1 mana for a 1/1 isn’t really mana-efficient, but he’s a Beast, and his deathrattle is extremely useful in our deck. Because we only have access to a limited set of cards, there’s potential that he’ll draw better Beasts than what we have in our deck. I’m looking at you, savannah-highmane.
2x bluegill-warrior
- The Bluegill Warrior’s primary role in our deck is to provide extra damage later in the game. While on the surface the two damage he provides seems redundant due to our hero power, we need to see him as an additional 2 damage on top of our hero power later in the game, which may help us secure a game.
2x haunted-creeper
- This spider is our counter to aggressive decks that like to drop multitudes of 1 health minions. He’s a mini harvest-golem that spawns two 1/1 tokens instead of a single 2/1 token. The spawned tokens become nice targets for buffs.
2x huge-toad — New!
- An upgrade over bloodfen-raptor, Huge Toad is a mana efficient 2 mana minion with a useful Deathrattle.
2x deathlord
- Deathlord’s role in our deck is to protect our low health charge minions from being cleared, allowing us to deal as much damage as possible. Instead of dealing with the threats that may come out of Deathlord’s deathrattle, we ignore it, and focus on finishing the game as soon as possible.
2x wolfrider
- The Wolfrider, like the Bluegill Warrior, only has one primary job — to do damage directly to our opponent’s face. While the Wolfrider is a bit weak to classes that can deal 1 damage with their hero power, utilizing the hero power is a somewhat anti-tempo play, preventing opponents from putting up the defences necessary to deal with your threats already on the board.
2x ancient-shade — New!
- 4 mana for a 7/4 is incredible value, and for our deck, we don’t care so much about taking damage as we will almost always be the faster deck.
2x houndmaster
- This card has an insane value with its really nice buff and the decent 4/3 body that comes with it. The card itself is not a beast but is probably one of the main reasons to play a Beasts focused Hunter.
2x nightblade
- While Nightblade isn’t mana efficient for her cost, she gives us additional reach. The 3 damage from her battlecry is amazingly useful in our rush deck, and can help us get closer to piecing enough damage to kill our opponent.
2x reckless-rocketeer
- 6 mana for a 5/2 isn’t particularly mana-efficient, but the Reckless Rocketeer provides us with a way to deal with annoying 5 health taunts like senjin-shieldmasta, and is a great source of direct damage.
Spells – 10
2x hunters-mark
- The Hunter’s Mark is primarily used to deal with taunts or large minions we cannot ignore.
2x arcane-shot
- 2Â points of direct damage. Not much more to be said. Can also be used to deal with minions we can’t ignore, but generally you’ll want to hold on to this until you either need to deal with a taunt or have lethal.
2x quick-shot
- 3Â points of direct damage. The advantage here is that you might be able to draw an extra card if you topdeck this card with no cards in your hand. More cards = more damage.
2x animal-companion
- Your best play on turn 3. It’s hard to say which Beast you’ll spawn from this card, but in my experience it’s generally the one you want the least 😉
2x kill-command
- Usually 5 points of damage. You’ll want to hold onto this card until you have a Beast on the board so you can deal the full 5 damage, unless you’re desperate and need the 3 damage to survive or to clear a taunt for lethal.
Mulligan Guide
In general, you want to mulligan to setup your first three or four turns. Please note that there is a distinction between going first and going second in Hearthstone, and this should factor into your mulligan choices.
When going first, your advantage is the ability to play first. In addition, you gain mana crystals before your opponent. To take advantage of this, you want to be aggressive in your mulligan to put minions on the board.
When going second, your advantage is mainly the-coin, which gives you tempo over your opponent for a single turn, and also an extra card. Depending on the nature of your deck, whether it’s Aggro, Midrange, or Control, you’ll be looking for different things.
- When playing an aggro deck, you’ll be looking for the same cards going second as you would going first. The objective is to quickly populate the board and bring down your opponent’s life total.
- When playing a midrange deck, you’ll also be looking to get onto the board early, with the caveat that you can keep a single copy of a situational minion or spell that you think may be useful to counter an opponent. This spell might be something like a kezan-mystic to counter classes with Secrets or removal like frostbolt.
- When playing a control deck, you’re looking to save the coin until much later in the game, generally when you can bring out a large late-game threat earlier than usual.
While I won’t make an exhaustive list, these are some of the cards you should consider keeping in your opening hand when playing this deck. In general, your goal with this deck is to get onto the board as soon as possible. It’s important to dig for an early 1 or 2 mana minion to play so you can begin to pressure your opponent’s life total.
Minions
- 1 Mana: 2x webspinner
- 2 Mana: bluegill-warrior, haunted-creeper, huge-toad
- 3 Mana: deathlord, wolfrider
Spells
- 3 Mana: animal-companion
Gameplay Video
Upgrades
Here are some substitutions that will improve this budget deck. If you’re looking to craft cards to play this class, it’s best to start with the “Key Substitutions” first before working your way to the “Nice-to-Have” Substitutions. Unless stated otherwise, you can substitute a single copy of an upgrade card instead of two if you don’t have both.
Key Substitutions
- 2x webspinner ? 2x leper-gnome
- 2x arcane-shot ? 2x abusive-sergeant
- 2x bluegill-warrior + 2x houndmaster ? 2x mad-scientist + 2x explosive-trap
- 2x huge-toad ? 2x knife-juggler
- 2x deathlord ? 2x eaglehorn-bow
- 2x ancient-shade ? 2x unleash-the-hounds
Nice-to-Have Substitutions
- 2x hunters-mark ? 2x ironbeak-owl
- 2x nightblade ? 1x worgen-infiltrator + 1x glaivezooka
- 2x reckless-rocketeer ? 2x arcane-golem
Personal Preference
- 2x wolfrider ? 2x argent-horserider
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this guide! If you have questions, feel free to use the comment sections below. Our team at HearthstonePlayers would be happy to answer them.
Coaching Lessons
If you’re interested in reaching Legend rank, or earning unlimited gold from arena, my team at HearthstoneCoaching.com would love to help! We’ve provided over a thousand hours of excellent coaching to students around the world. 
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