Hearthpwn

Hi all, I've hit legend in the current season with this face hunter deck.  It's nothing unique, but as my specific list is proven to work, I figure it could help some people.

Check out my stream, I play this deck and more! http://twitch.tv/faction60 live every day!  Will answer any questions you have.

I must also give credit to Modernleper, who shared his initial list with me and who encouraged me to try this deck in the first place.  I only made a few small changes, so he deserves a lot of the credit.  Check him out on Twitch, he is a great player: http://twitch.tv/modernleper

While this is a face deck, it actually requires careful planning to maximize your damage.  Like most decks, it's easy to learn, but hard to master.  Seemingly minor misplays can leave you 1 or 2 damage off lethal.

WINRATE STATISTICS

OVERALL RECORD: 104 WINS 78 LOSSES (59.3%)

Warlock: 22 Wins 4 Losses (84.6%)

Mage: 6 Wins 2 Losses (75.0%)

Rogue: 11 Wins 5 Losses (68.8%)

Shaman: 10 Wins 7 Losses (58.8%)

Hunter: 32 Wins 23 Losses (58.2%)

Priest: 8 Wins 6 Losses (57.1%)

Druid: 5 Wins 6 Losses (45.5%)

Paladin: 2 Wins 2 Losses (50.0%)

Warrior: 8 Wins 23 Losses (25.8%)

 

GENERAL TIPS

Arcane golem is not a 3 or 4 drop.  Turn 5+hero power is the earliest you should ever play it.

Mulligan your entire hand for undertaker if you are going first.  If you're going second, always plan out your curve (IE: Coin 2 drop into 2 drop into 3 drop) and mulligan appropriately for turns that you lack plays on.  If your starting hand has undertaker, instead dump everything for more deathrattles.

Maximize your hero power.  From turn 4 onwards, you generally always want to use your hero power every turn.  The ideal turn 4 play is hero power+2 drop.  The ideal turn 5 play is 3 drop+hero power.  Etc.

MATCHUPS

Regular aggro hunter (Highmane, houndmaster etc): 55/45

This is the matchup you will see the most, and luckily, you're slightly favored in it.  Usually it's decided by starting hands, however, with double unleash and double explosive trap, you have more ways to come back from a bad hand than your opponent likely does.  Mad scientist will always give you explosive trap and you can abuse this to ensure you get a good one off.  Flare is a problem, but often they won't have it.  Try to control the board in the first 3 or 4 turns, then simply start maximizing damage on the face. 

Zoo Warlock: 90/10

This is by far the best matchup for this deck.  Zoo simply can't handle the damage it takes to the face and double UTH+explosive trap makes it almost impossible for them to ever establish a board.  Play around the turn 4 argus and try to get a big explosive trap or UTH off, and from there Zoo generally can't develop a board fast enough to kill you before they simply die.

Handlock: 70/30

Handlock is tougher than zoo but still is a pretty easy matchup.  The correct way to play it is simple: get them to 15-20 life with an Eaglehorn Bow up on turn 5, and then push for face damage with Wolfrider or Arcane Golem, Hero Power, bow to the face, and anything you've got on the board.  This will put them low enough that even if they get a massive molten giant taunt turn off, you should be able to kill them in a turn or two anyway.  However sometimes you simply don't draw the followup damage you need, and if that doesn't happen, or they manage to stall until Jaraxxus, you can lose.

Druid: 50/50

Most druid decks are very similar, and all of them are pretty tough matchups that are more or less simply decided by draws.  Since we don't run freezing trap, this deck can struggle with early innervate plays.  You'll mostly want to ignore the druids board and simply go entirely to the face, except to play around swipe (ie: kill off 1hp minions if you think the druid is going to swipe you next turn anyway).  This matchup is very volatile and random, so don't get too disheartened if you lose to a Druid.

Priest: 50/50

Surprisingly, I have actually done reasonably well against Priest, a class that I initially thought would counter this kind of deck.  Even with TERRIBLE starts, like my opponent having a Cleric on turn 1 when I only have a webspinner to play, I've sometimes been able to come back and kill them, and I can't even explain how.  You pretty much just want to go entirely to the face except to kill wild pyromancers and pray that you draw enough damage to kill them.  Mindless, I know!  It works half the time!

Shaman: 55/45

We are slightly favored in the shaman matchup.  They usually don't run any healing so you will mostly want to go all in on the face from the start and try to get them low enough to die to your reach before you run out of steam.  This strategy is nixed by really good draws however, such as double feral spirits or double argus.  Still, it's a favorable matchup as shaman is unlikely to draw all of the cards it needs to stabilize the board before its too late.

Miracle rogue: 65/35

We are heavily favored against miracle rogue as they generally start too slowly and lose too much health before they manage to start going on the offensive.  However, they can win with good draws, such as backstab into coin agent.  Miracle rogue with the coin is considerably more dangerous than miracle rogue going first, so keep this in mind and be wary.  Think about your turns and maximize your hero power and you should have turn 7-8 kills most of the time.

Midrange secrets mage: 90/10

Losing to secrets mage is almost impossible, and the only chance they have is to duplicate sludge belchers, so be mindful of that and try to play around duplicate if possible.  They simply can't kill you fast enough to avoid dying to reach even after stabilizing, unless you are woefully unlucky and don't draw any reach, of course.

Freeze mage: 30/70

Freeze mage is a very hard matchup as we don't run any flares.  Wins are still possible with good draws, like having owl ready for the doomsayers, but it's not in your favor.  Luckily, it's a very uncommon deck.  I only played 3 freeze mages in my entire climb, and went 1-2.

Control Paladin: 50/50

You will need a good starting hand to kill a paladin before they can heal back up, but it's still a winnable matchup.  I only played against 4 of these, going 2-2, so I can't really comment on the matchup that much.

Control Warrior: 25/75

Control Warrior is by far the worst matchup for this deck, and the only truly poor matchup.  While regular hunters with Highmane can go 50/50 with Warrior, we struggle to pull out the damage to finish them.  It's still possible to sneak in wins though with good draws and if you are intelligent about maximizing your damage.  This matchup is often decided by even 1 or 2 points of damage, so you MUST be mathematically inclined to stand a chance.

WHY NO LEEROY?

I'm dumb and disenchanted him lol.  Maybe drop a haunted creeper or a webspinner for him, if you have him.  I would not drop an arcane golem as I feel arcane golem is a very strong turn 5 play.

Any questions or comments? Let me know here, or come ask in my stream! Have fun and enjoy this deck.