Hearthpwn

Discussion Thread: http://www.hearthpwn.com/forums/class-discussion/hunter/6683-simbas-hunter-control-legendary-rank

edit 19/06/2014:

• added 1 hr video with gameplay on legendary rank: http://www.twitch.tv/drake22x/c/4492690
• added short video with awesome bluff: http://www.twitch.tv/drake22x/c/4472821
• added Spiteful smiths to the deck, seem to work pretty well so far, still under testing
• updated description

edit 13/06/2014:

• made some changes in the deck, reached legend today on EU.

edit 07/06/2014:

• Back to the hearthstone after 3 months break! Removed pagle and tinkmaster for harrison and extra tazdingo.

Video vs popular decks: http://www.twitch.tv/drake22x/c/4417842

Hi everyone, I would like to share my version of hunter control that I've been playing since season 1. I made this deck myself from scratch back in 2013, and am really proud of its results so far. I have also seen some variations of this deck such as Spark's secret hunter and Freshca's Lion King so it is very nice to see the direction this deck is taking.

I was able to reach legend in every season that I played with the help of its deck and it is currently at its prime due to the popularity of miracle rogues, which is favorable match up for us.

I often change several cards depends on who I meet more often on the ladder, but this is the concept behind it:

It is a heavy control deck with multiple removals and several finisher threats. It does very well vs control match ups and has very good answers to aggro decks. Worst matchups are aggro face hunter and warrior, the rest are favorable. I usually try to mulligan for a bow, pyromancer, hunter's mark or pagle. Explosive trap or abom vs aggro, freezing trap/deadly shot vs druids to protect from innervate stuff.

You have a lot of hard removals at your disposal such as 2x deadly shots, and pyromancer - hunter's mark combo. 2x explosive shots are excellent vs 5 hp drops too. Freezing trap is amazing vs chargers and 9 mana drops (making them useless). 

I tend to use all my cards to control the board, and slowly kill the opponent with hero power and charges you get from the bow. Additionally, you have finishing combo such as leeroy + faceless. (+arcane shot if you need it). Krush is an excellent finisher too despite being very expensive card. Krush vs Rag is a personal choice in the deck, both have advantages and disadvantages, but I will go through possible card substituions later.

Another fun combo is to pyro-hunter mark your own sylvanas on turn 8 to steal their rag or other good card. Here is a beautiful demonstration of such combo: http://www.twitch.tv/drake22x/c/3759086

Two farseers are for a little bit of extra heal and to balance out the curve, as you do tend to take quite a lot of damage if you get unlucky with the draws. But overall you have an excellent answer to pretty much everything in the current meta.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please feel free to ask/add.

You can also see me streaming the deck @ http://twitch.tv/drake22x if you would like to see the general strategy behind it.

P.S. one more good things - everyone assumes you are the braindead rush hunter and mulligan for that so it often works in your favor

Possible card changes:

Harrison Jones - Deck tend to have big problems vs Warrior Control due to high amount of armor. Harrison balances out the match up a little bit, and also adds extra card draw that is much needed for the deck. Also works excellent vs shamans and rogue, + adds a solid body on the board that requires removal. You can substitute him for either Ooze, if you want to deal with weapons, or another 5 drop, such as Azure drake.

Spiteful Smith - just added this card recently. An excellent body - 4/6 ( Basically Druid of the Claw with no taunt). It is hard to remove it and it synergizes well with our weapon. You can also enrage it with pyromancer. Example scenario - bow in hand, Turn 5 - Smith, enemy replies with Druid of the Claw, you place Wild Pyro - Mark the druid, enraging your own Smith and attacking with bow for 5 in the face. Can be replaced with azure drakes or maybe argent commander.

Loot Hoarders - Can be replaced with novice engineers if they get silenced a lot, or flares if you face a lot of mages. Gnomish inventor is also an excellent choice and helps with the curve more.

Krush vs Rag - I swing back and forth on this one. Rag being cheapers matters a lot, but Krush won me games many times, even though it is expensive, 8 damage charge is still extremely powerful.

Sylvanas/Black knight - in the current meta sylvanas tend to be a bit too slow so I cut it for now. It can win you games in control match ups, especially if you kill it yourself with mark/pyro or mark/arcane shot to steal an important minion, but at the same time it can put you at a huge tempo loss. BK can be good if you face a lot of druids/shamans - nobody excepts BK from a hunter, but at the same time it can be a dead card.

Coldlight - somewhat surprising card in the deck, and i switch it with acolyte often, however at legendary rank I often meet handlocks and it helps to mill them + you draw 2 cards straight away which can be a savior. You can also mill rogues, warriors and freeze mages. While acolyte has a decent synergy with wild pyro, it often gets silenced straight away or killed giving just 1 card. Your choice.