Hearthpwn

Top 10 NA Beast Hunter

 

EDIT* Thanks for the love guys.  Im gonna be taking time tonight to answer all questions as well us update the list, and mulligan guide. I manage to hit 51 legend last night with an hour to go, but I needed multiple WC points so I had to keep grinding and finished around 150. 

Greetings, travelers! Turns out hunter is still really strong post TGT. Inspired by Deathstarv3’s beast hunter from February, I decided to look into the archetype again. I forwarded the list on to my teammate over at Rude House Gaming, Marshee (twitch.tv/selfdestructv2).  He swapped out a questionable king’s Elek for a Flare and quickly climbed to rank 10 NA farming secret paladins along the way. Proof  (http://imgur.com/zzWHa9i)

I have been testing the list extensively over the past 3 days and despite making some greedier changes have maintained a solid win percentage over time 33-13 over that time including tournament play. I kept the tournament testing statistics because I want this deck to see play in a conquest setting not just ladder.

This write up seeks to explain the list that hit top 10 as well as discuss directions I see the deck going for both ladder and tournament play.

Card Choices

Core Cards

Webspinner, Haunted Creeper, Knife Juggler, Mad Scientist,  Houndmaster, Savannah Highmane, Animal Companion

These cards are the heart and soul of the deck, consistently giving you a steady stream of hard to deal with minions to out-pressure your opponent.

Beast Synergy

2x Snake Trap- We need the traps for Mad Scientist and these 1/1’s are where the deck generates its power.

2x Bear Trap- Even if your opponent knows you run snake trap (it becomes pretty obvious given your curve of creatures) bear trap punishes them for attacking your face, and often helps trigger the snakes as well. This card singlehandedly solidifies one of the deck’s weakest areas: attacks to your face.  I’m not sure you want 2 copies and am currently testing one.

2x Scavenging Hyena  Benefits from Unleash/Snake Trap/ Houndmaster value. Once you hit someone for 8 with this after clearing their board, you understand why it's included.

2x Kill Command - Deathstar cut one back in the day, but I like having such crazy burst potential in the deck.  Running 2 copies allows you to use the first one as removal to protect your board state as well.

 

2x Unleash the Hounds- This deck is all about maintaining board control and nothing swings it back in your favor better than unleash. Coupled with Juggler,Hyena, Houndmaster, and Ram Wrangler, unleash offers quite a bit of value.

 

2x Ram Wrangler- This is the card I am most unsure of in the list. The variance swings this card offers are fairly obvious.  Hit a great beast and win instantly, whiff and your opponent still has a shot. As I have continued to test the deck I am leaning towards cutting the second one. Too often you get stuck with 3/3 in hand and no way of activating your snake trap.  I think a sludge belcher would significantly improve this slot in the deck. Sludge offers protection for your smaller beasts to continue punching in damage. Additionally, Sludge helps get mid-game value out of your snake trap, providing an additionally taunt that must be attacked.

Filler

1x Hunter’s Mark- This card helps you trade with a particularly tricky minion of your opponent.  I might consider running 2 but this deck does cycle quite enough and the second copy can often just be dead in hand.  The card is reactive and this deck generally works towards proactive plays.

 

1x Flare- Teched in to farm the heavily secret pally meta. Marshee lived the dream against Thijs and managed the 5 secret flare on 6. Also helps the mirror, though you’d never keep it.

 

2x Eaglehorn Bow – Bow is a must have, especially when running all 4 traps. It helps you swing boards back in your favor as well as helps bursting.

 

Additional Choices

Gormok the Impaler - Edit* As of my last edit my opinions were that Gorkok was a power addition to the list. It was powerful, but not the effect the deck was lacking. It could push you further ahead ,but couldnt bring you back. This was cut for Defender of Argus. 

Ironbeak Owl- I played this over the flare for the tournament version. Performed well, but there may be better options.

Sludge Belcher-  Belcher definitely warrants conclusion. It helps solidify the plan of board control, synergizing nicely with snakes, The turn after most aoe. 

Timber Wolf- After extensive testing i think that timber wolf deserves a two of site.  It  helps push through taunts in the matchups where thats relevant and helps clear board and push damage in the rest.  

Mulligans

Hunter- Keep 2 drops that aren’t Juggler, Webspinner. If you end up with juggler its fine, but you want to contest the board early in the matchup and juggler doesn’t help this game plan as much as your other minions. If you already have two 2-drops, you can keep bow/companion on coin as well.

Game plan: control board until you can snowball with houndmasters/belcher/wrangler/Highmanes

Paladin. I usually hard mull for unleash, but I also don’t throw back Mad scientists or Haunted Creepers. Webspinner usually gets outclassed in the matchup but its fine on the play. If you run the Flare, I don’t actually think you keep it, just hope to hit it in the mid-game.

Game Plan: Play early minions to contest 1 drops and Minibots- swing the game back in your favor with timely unleashes. Hope they don’t draw both consecrations. Drawing flare on turn 6 helps as well in the secret matchup.

Warlock- On ladder I usually just mull for a curve (2 into 3 into 4 etc.) If you know its zoo, then you switch to mulliganing for unleash. Lots of 2 drops are more important against both Handlock and zoo.

Game Plan – Zoo use scientests and creepers , to generate board presence. Swing the game in your favor with either Juggler, hyena, or timber + unleash. Don’t be afraid to start pushing face if you fall too far behind. Timber, unleash, and kill command can push a significant amount of damage.

Game Plan- Handlock- Hit the curve, while being mindful of board clears. Hope to burst with Kill commands and timber wolfs, but never keep either. Save hunter’s mark for key taunts not just the first threat. You can use bow to clear up board for creatures to push through as well.

Dragon/ Control Warrior- You game plan in the deck is curving out and hoping they don’t have the answer to every creature you play. The matchup isn’t great, but you should be able to win a decent amount of the time. Hunter’s mark can help push through any taunt creature as well as early armorsmith, but you don’t keep it unless you have 2/2/3 on coin.

Game Plan- Curve out- this means playing hyenas on 2 if you have too, but mull for creeps, scientist, and jugglers first. Defender helps you maintain a presence that is more difficult to clear. Stay mindful of Brawl and hope to hit the late game. You play this match-up pretty aggressively forcing them to have as many off curve answers as possible.

Patron- Against Patron you mull the same, but use minions to control board as much as possible.

Dragon Priest- I think this matchup is better than Warrior matchups, but not by much. You keep the hunters mark with webspinner or with double 2 drops and coin. Bow is extremely vital in this matchup as well. Game Plan- Use weapon/hunters mark with early minions to to clear through early dragons and hope they don’t draw more than one aoe. If you hit your curve they should still have difficulty fully controlling the board, which allows burst with timber wolf/unleash/kill command. †he matchup isn’t great, but’s its also far from unwinnable.

Mage- Mulligan for Creepr/ Scientist. You keep the webspinner if initially in hand as well. I like to keep bow on the coin as it helps you control the tempo matchup. If its freeze just curve out then burst with KC.

Game Plan- Tempo- Use Creeper and Scientist to generate a hard to deal with board prescence bow and unleash can follow up to help you recover from early tempo loss.

Game Plan – Mech – I haven’t run into a lot of Mech mage, but if you know its mech mage you hard mull anything that isn’t scientist and creeper for unleash. You can keep bow on coin as well, just try to clear Mechs before blastmage gets too much value against all of your 1/1s.

Shaman- Hit your early curve and follow up with unleash. You can push a lot of damage in this matchup just be mindful of lightning storms. Let your opponent pop the deathrattles. I haven’t had much problem in this match-up at all, beyond the creepers and scientists hard mull for unleash.

Druid- This matchup is about hitting the curve, so much so that it does not matter which two drops you have. Juggler and hyena are fine, but ideally you have creeper and scientist. if you have two 2 drops, you can afford to keep bow and companion as well, even on the play.

Game Plan- Curve out early and look to clear out minions with bow. Innervates/darnassus/wild growth take out a lot of the interaction of the matchup. Bow can punish darnassus and should be kept either on coin or with a 2 drop. Look to apply early pressure and burst them out, but dont pass up value trades to do so.

If you like the list and want to see more, Ill be streaming it this weekend over at twitch.tv/thegoatnapper. Follow either the channel or my twitter @TheGoatnapper for updates on when I’ll be going live.

Rogue- Pretty sure this matchup is aweful, though the Loatheb helps out significanty. Just try to play as on curve as possible, and hope they dont have the  answers (which they have most of they time). Scientist, creeper , bow and companion are what you're looking for. Game Use bow triggers to clear 3/3s. 

Game Plan- Hit an aggressive curve and use bow to maintain board presence. Hope they miss on perfect answers and have to clear inefficiently . 

 

Lastly, if coaching is something you might be interested, contact me via private message on twitch. You can find my stream over at twitch.tv/thegoatnapper

If you have deck suggestions, or budget questions, I would love to read about them in the comments.

Until next time, may your implosions hit for 4,

TheGoatnapper