[Rank 3] "I Am the Greatest Dinomancer!"
- Last updated Apr 22, 2017 (Un'Goro Launch)
- Edit
- |
Wild
- 21 Minions
- 8 Spells
- 1 Weapon
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Midrange Hunter
- Crafting Cost: 4420
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 4/11/2017 (Un'Goro Launch)
- Lydian
- Registered User
-
- 3
- 17
- 34
-
Battle Tag:
N/A
-
Region:
US
-
Total Deck Rating
26
Hi! So I have never really played hunter until this expansion due to the fact that I have never been a fan of aggressive decks, but with all the pirate warrior and quest rogue running around, it's difficult to play anything that isn't aggro. Fortunately, hunter received some new tools that allows it to play a more value/control style game and can focus on value more so than just going face. Dinomancy is obviously an insane card and has carried me many games. It keeps your taunts alive versus pirate warrior, it lets you value trade against other aggressive decks, and it just helps you create threats from essentially any card in your deck bar Houndmaster and N'zoth. Speaking of N'zoth, Dinomancy also has amazing synergy with the hunter deathrattles that spawn more beasts, which almost guarantees that you will have a target for your hero power. I originally did not have N'zoth in this deck, but he has saved me against warrior board clears plenty of times and has proved himself a valuable asset to the deck (especially when you enter late-game topdeck mode).
Grievous Bite is another card that helps this archetype a lot and makes most other hunter decks and zoo-style decks very easy to contest early game, also helping your minions stick to the board. The real late-game lifesaver, though, is definitely Nesting Roc. I've had so many games end up with me at between 7-13 health and have this dude standing between me and a pirate warrior with an Arcanite Reaper equipped with no way to kill it as I continue to buff it out of range of other threats. The winrate for this deck against pirate warrior has so far been around 70%.
Overall, this deck seems to be very favored versus Hunter, Warrior (all types), Warlock, Druid, and Priest. Paladin and Shaman are really just about who can establish board control first so it's about a 50/50 in those cases, though I'm leaning toward Paladin being unfavored at this point. I've struggled a bit against Mage and Rogue especially, though it may just be me playing the deck wrong since more aggressive decks are supposedly favored against those classes and I traditionally play a more control-style. We shall see.
Mulligan:
Always keep Kindly Grandmother and Alleycat
Keep Dinomancy , Eaglehorn Bow, and Rat Pack if it's a control matchup, but don't keep or use Dinomancy versus Mage
Keep Grievous Bite and every 1 and 2 drop (besides Dinomancy) if it's an aggro matchup
I've managed to climb from rank 10 to 5 fairly quickly with this deck and plan on attempting to take it to legend. Any feedback or thoughts would be appreciated!
CHANGES:
-
Revision: 1
- +2 Tracking
- -2 Ravasaur Runt
-
Revision: 2
- +1 Flare
- +2 Scavenging Hyena
- +1 Terrorscale Stalker
- +1 Unleash the Hounds
- +1 Starving Buzzard
- -1 Tracking
- -1 Cat Trick
- -1 Grievous Bite
- -1 Eaglehorn Bow
- -1 Houndmaster
- -1 Infested Wolf
-
Revision: 3
- +1 Infested Wolf
- -1 Nesting Roc
I'm currently trying out Flare to see if it helps with Mages, as I often lose to endless Ice Blocks in conjunction with freeze effects. It has managed to shine against Paladin a couple of times, however, so there may actually be some merit to using it other than versus Mage.
I've also been tinkering around with cards such as Deadly Shot, a second Unleash the Hounds, double Houndmaster, and double Grievous Bite to help against aggro with the removal of N'zoth and a few duplicates.. I've also toyed with the idea of running a Tundra Rhino, but I'm not sure what I'd cut for it.
I have a lot of legendaries but not Nzoth. Any good replacements?
I've tinkered with the deck a lot since the expansion began and I'd say it isn't completely necessary, though it makes fighting control decks a cakewalk. The deck struggles a bit against quest rogue, murloc paladin, and even egg druid to some extent, so you could either go for tech cards like the crabs, which become less of a deadweight thanks to dinomancy automatically making every beast a threat, or you could throw in another unleash or houndmaster to counter the aggro better. It's really about figuring out what works best against the meta, which can vary a lot. Let me know how it goes!
Easily my favorite hunter deck to play that's not my own creation. As fun and creative as it gets in midrange hunter! Thank you for posting it.
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
This is the closest list to what I'm playing. Like you, I've had a lot of success with it. I think part of it stems from the fact that Dinomancy mid-range Hunter isn't very common, so opponents make the wrong mulligans and plays. Like you, I've found the toughest matchups to be Mage and Rogue. Flare helps with Ice Block, for sure. Rogue is tough though. My version runs Firebats, as i've found a 1 drop is very helpful on the first turn. The extra 1 drop also lets me run Ravasaur Ruunts instead of Kindly Grandmother. I also cut a Dinomancy. Dinomancy is great, but I almost never want to keep it in my opening hand, and I definitely never want doubles. How have you felt about not running Animal Companion? That's a bold choice! Infested Wolf feels a little slow to me...I'm running Cult Masters over the Buzzard. Seems a little easier to get value out of. I look forward to hearing more about your results!
Thanks for the feedback! I agree about the opponents' mulligans, as I've seen Warriors do weird things like mulligan away their quest, which REALLY makes it a free win. I've considered Fiery Bat, but I haven't managed to find room for it and I'm not the biggest fan of how easy it is to ping off, though it is definitely a powerful card. I used to run two Ravasaur Runts, but the card just wasn't performing as well as I would have liked and was rarely very impactful, though it would occasionally be amazing for securing the early game.
So do you not run Kindly Grandmother? I've found that to be one of the most important cards in the deck simce it is amazing at resisting board clears and almost always gives you a buff target. I have considered running a single copy of Dinomancy, but I've really liked having the ability to draw it very consistently, especially versus control decks (Tracking will sometimes help with the issue of having a second copy). It definitely isn't optimal to draw the second copy, but it can sometimes provide burst if nothing else, which is ok. I haven't actually tried running a single copy, though, so perhaps I'll give that a try. As for Animal Companion, I'm the sort of player that likes consistency and knowing exactly how my game plan is going to go, so I cut it in favor of more reliable cards, plus only Leok really has any synergy with the deck at all thanks to the tokens. It is definitely a card worth considering though. I cut one Infested Wolf for a while, but having a card with reliable board presence for buffing alonside being a decent card for N'Zoth to resurrect and for Terrorscale Stalker to trigger, plus ot's one of the few solid 4 drops hunter has bar Houndmaster.
I've seriously considered Cult Master and can definitely see some of the pros to running it. The pros I've seen from Buzzard is that you can trigger the draw off of summoning tokens rather than suiciding them and you can potentially draw into Alleycat for an extra draw 2 (thus argument also promotes incentive for me to run Fiery Bat). Buzzard is also a beast, which obviously has a few synergies with the deck, but it is definitely kind of a weak card on its own moreso than Cult Master. There are definitely a lot of combinations worth experimenting with, but the list I'm using has performed pretty well for the most part. We just have to find a way to get through those darn Mages and Rogues!
I may have to try Kindly Grandmother again. Runt has been great for me, and I'll be sad to see him go though. Getting the 2 1/1s or extra health can really dominate the early game, though it is another card like Crackling Razormaw that you hate to play alone. Actually, it's worse than Razormaw, since a generic 3/2 for 2 isn't the worst thing to play turn 2. Of course if I cut Runt, Firebat becomes a little less important! For a while, I tried Crawler against Rogue. It is fun to drop a 3/4 turn 2 and kill their Swashburgler, but even that wasn't enough...I wonder if I should be racing damage in that match instead of fighting for board control? It goes against my control play style, but it might be the right call...get them low before they go crazy with Auctioneer...
I honestly think that racing Rogues is the way to win, as historically that has been the most effective in the Hunter v Rogue matchup, but the amount of removal they have available definitely makes that difficult.
There's nothing more demoralizing then having Highmane bounced to your hand with back-to-back Saps.
Thanks,
Gonna give it a try.