Hearthpwn

Naxx Changes:

-1 wolf rider, +1 weblord

-1 misdirection, + 1 weblord

Naxx 2.0 Changes:

-2 weblord, +2 jungle panther

-1 arcane shot, +1 stonetusk boar

-1 misdirection, +1 timberwolf

As a lot of decks are adopting the nerubian eggs and battlecry minions like dark iron, abusive, etc. to trigger the eggs, weblords are necessary to slow their gameplay. It sets up a huge advantange vs. zoo and tempo decks, as the majority of their minions use battlecries. The changes are geared to keep advantage vs. aggro, and weblords can also do a bit of trading vs. midrange. 

 

Intro:

I started climbing with Hunter this season because of the prevalence of aggro/tempo decks and miracle rogue that you tend to see in the beginning of the season.

The deck winstreaked from rank 15-8 and put me at rank 1 just 3 days into the season. With over 60 win rate (nearly 2 wins per loss), the deck logged 139 games to reach legends this season within the first week.

Games played: http://imgur.com/4EHpwwQ

The deck has had an impressive showing with:

70% vs rogue, 63% vs warlock, 70% vs. shaman, and 75% vs. freeze mage. It still went positive vs. druid, but hits the ground hard vs.warrior, paladin, and priest. 

[Match ups]: Only posting the relevant match ups, if you’re vsing warrior/healadin, or priest, my advice is to go to the bottom left, configure your settings to full screen and full volume, and then concede in style.

Rogue:

- Backspace/Aggro Rogue: 40:60

Mulligan for: explosive trap, animal companion, tracking

Sadly, the Backspace rogue is just a tad more aggressive than you are and is favored in the match up 60:40. You’ll win this one by setting up good traps and keeping the board clear. You want to save a crucial freezing trap or misdirect when you think he’s ready to play an arcane golem or leeroy combo. The bow is crucial to clear minions and make sure nothing hits you more than once. If there’s only one charge of the bow left and you don’t have any relevant traps, use it to clear.

You usually won’t have a good indiciator of whether the opponent’s miracle or aggro, so the tracking is crucial for digging once that’s been revealed. Dig for hounds or explosive, even burning leeroy in favor of those two pieces.

- Miracle Rogue: 80:20

Mulligan[with coin] : Leper gnome, Faerie Dragon, Eaglehorn, Animal Companion

Mulligan[no coin]: Leper gnome, Eaglehorn, Animal Companion, tracking

It’s crucial to pressure miracle rogue early, forcing them to use spells before they can gadgetzan. You’ll be using the bow to clear their 3/3 minions, SI/Farseer, while setting up traps for extra damage. Often times, miracle rogue will have enough removal to grind the game out to turn 7-8, which means you do have consider your own health. You can always use excess damage, like a second kill command, to save yourself a bit of health if you see the game going longer than expected. Use a freezing trap at that point to prevent leeroy and clearing the board can help you stall until you’re set up for lethal.

Warlock:

-  Handlock: 90:10

Mulligan: hunter’s mark, leper gnome, faerie dragon, animal companion

This is basically a free win, they do half the killing for you! The one mistake you can make is going too hard, dealing damage without lethal and letting them smack you with molten giants. Sometimes, you actually don’t want to hero power! If a hero power means a taunted molten giant next turn, you’re better off hero powering when you’re a little closer to lethal. For trackings, you prioritize kill command over all other cards, even Leeroy. When the handlock finally has taunts up, you’ll be using your 12 direct damage to finish the job.

-  Zoolock: 50:50s

Mulligan: Explosive trap, tracking, leper gnome, animal companion

With the unleash nerf, we’re no longer favored versus zoo. Buzzard + unleash + timber wolf being played on 6 is usually too late and we’ll often need a bit of help from an explosive trap to clear. We’re required to plan ahead for an explosive trap into an unleash to clear board. After the clear though, we can begin to take control. After they’re top decking, you’ll quickly be dealing damage, with their hero power fueling your lethal.

Shaman: 75:25

Mulligan: explosive, bow, companion, leper gnome, tracking

This match up used to be more of a free win than hand lock, but the meta’s seeing a new Breed of shamans. The earth elemental shamans pose a bit of a threat and can be a little harder to break through without a hunter’s mark and wombo shamans may be able to race you towards lethal. Overall, you should still focus on face, as shamans have no healing. If you think they might argus and you don’t have an answer if they do, spend some resources to clear. Spirits can be troublesome, usually an explosive into unleash the next turn can take care of pesky wolves.

Freeze Mage: 80:20

Mulligan: flare, animal companion, eaglehorn bow, tracking

Flare is a godsend, keep it if you have it, track for it if you don’t. Only pop a block if you have the lethal that turn. You should have lethal by turn 7-8. The regular freeze mage puts almost no pressure and giants mages get freezing/misdirected. I would consider face hunter a direct counter to freeze mage.

Hunter:

- Midrange hunter: 80:20

Mulligan: tracking, companion, eaglehorn bow, leper gnome.

You get the damage in, and you get it in faster. Hunter vs. hunter is a race, and midrange is pulling up in a minivan with big minions like kodo and savannah. Your hunter’s marks can clear taunts if need be and bow can clear some of their earlier drops to prevent an early houndmaster play.

- Face hunter: 50:50

Mulligan: tracking, companion, leper gnome, bow

Essentially the same mulligan as midrange. There’s not much you can do, as neither of you will have more than 1-2 minions on board at a time. You’ll want to search for as much damage as possible, relying heavily on kill commands or leeroy to clench the win.

Druid:

- Double combo druid: 60:40

Mulligan: leper gnome, companion, freezing trap, faerie dragon, tracking

It’s insane how much of a difference going first makes in this match up (I’m 70% without coin, less than 40% with coin). If you have leper gnome going first and force them to coin a hero power, you’ve already gained initiative. That’s why having faerie dragon to follow up becomes so important. You win this by dealing damage with every creature while forcing the druid to play reactive.

-  Big taunts druid: 40:60

If handlock didn’t damage itself, how would we ever beat it? That’s basically what the new druid is to us, a slightly less aggressive, life-gaining handlock (those big taunts are effective HP for the druid). You’ll want to deal damage before the taunts come out and set up traps to slow them down while picking at their health with hero power. Save your direct damage, valuing kill command above even Leeroy. I find that I usually win by playing a smart line up of traps. A freezing into misdirection into explosive can eliminate a large portion of their board and allow you to charge out lethal damage.

GL climbing everyone!

btag: Justsaiyan#1493