Victory's Tempo Big Hunter!
- Last updated Jun 8, 2018 (Spiteful Nerf)
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Wild
- 19 Minions
- 9 Spells
- 1 Weapon
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Big Beast Hunter
- Crafting Cost: 10300
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 5/3/2018 (Witchwood)
- made4victory
- Registered User
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- 3
- 16
- 23
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Battle Tag:
N/A
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Region:
US
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Total Deck Rating
134
Remember to vote b4 u leave! (25+ votes = mulligan/match-ups guide)
Attention!! (06/08/18) All new visitors to this deck post. While this deck may still be viable, it was not made for this current meta - as you can gather from the description. I think this deck has been a catalyst in the resurgence of the Big/Katherina hunter that has become more popular in the current meta and those more recent decklists may prove more effective than this.
Post Nerf changes: (05/26/18)-1Gluttonous Ooze (rare cubelock encounter), -2 Spellbreaker (not as useful against meta full of cheap minions and low cubelock), -1 [card]stonehill defender (too slow). +1Saronite Chain Gang, +1Mind Control Tech, and +2Flanking Strike(this card is mvp right now in this cheap minion meta! reach over taunts and take out what u need while producing a minion...great value)
UPDATE!!: I appreciate the feedback on the deck! The critiques have been noted and I have scaled back the language of this guide to be careful not to oversell. This is not Hunter's Savior in this meta, BUT it is a strong option for those who play hunter competitively and wish to climb. With that said...match-ups and mulligans have been added :).
Hey everybody, thanks for the upvotes and showing Hunters some love! I am made4victory and would consider myself a cheap to play (C2P) player. Since I have most of the hunter collection and don't care to invest too much in other classes, I have been on a quest to make a unique competitive Hunter deck. I love the Big Hunter archetype and this deck is great for this current meta to potentially DOMINATE. I am absolutely ecstatic to share it with you!
Why this deck is different and WILL WORK:
- NO SECRETS/SPELLSTONE PKG! - too passive watching you opponent play around your secrets while building their board, while often having answers to your Greater Emerald Spellstone.
- Aggressive early board presence/control. The 1-drop assortment and cheap taunt pkg help to keep pace in the early game with even Odd Paladin decks. (or even EVEN paladin decks)...( or even EVEN/ODD paladin decks) (lol, couldn't resist the puns!)
- Very tailored big-recruit pkg. Every triggered recruit has immediate impact on the game, defensively or offensively.
In sum the deck for turns 1-6 play like a Spiteful deck, except this deck far outpaces the aggressive tempo post turn 6 with the Seeping Oozeling synergies. Arguably one of the most aggressive mid-late games as the big beasts come flooding in turns 7+. If your opponent has been "keeping up", they'll most likely lose after this point :).
Special Deck Mentions:
- Dire Frenzy - This works great to cycle your giant charging beasts back into your deck to blast through your opponents taunt wall, if they've managed to build one. (or their face if they haven't)
- Prince Keleseth - After building 95% of the deck i found I had no 2-cost cards...so why not? Not essential to deck, a good sub would be Acidic Ooze if you need to tech it in.
- Faceless Manipulator - I love the versatility of this card. Clone your charging beast for extra damage or use it a pseudo-spiteful-counter to get a copy of whatever your opponent got before you remove their threats.
- Deathstalker Rexxar - nearly unmatchable end game value. Must have for games that dare to go the distance.
- Unleash the Hounds - perfect against pally.
The above mentioned cards (except UTH) are flex cards to the success of this deck if you need to tech in substitutes to give you the extra edge in your frequent match-ups.
Very powerful deck that requires some skill. Practice, and Good Luck!
For those who care, here's my stats since this posting to show this deck is solid. Even Pally is trending around 63% and i'm at 62% in about 40 games. Started at Rank 12 since the post and am now at Rank 8. I expect % to increase as I master the deck and decrease my misplays.
Mulligans/Match-Ups
Always Keep: Candleshot, Firefly, and Prince Keleseth (except for maybe against Warlock - details below)
Never Keep: Any of your 7+ cards!
Now for match-ups we'll go from easiest to hardest (generally):
Shaman: Only have really Shudderwock/Elemental decks. Mulligans aren't too critical here. Just keep cheap and play on curve. Try to close the game before turn 10 if possible. Most times they're too busy removing your stall board that they don't get to play the minions for the shudderwock combo, and our turns 7-9 are such a big game swing it's too late to catch up for them.
Warrior: Haven't faced Rush Warrior, just Control/Taunt. Mulligans aren't too critical with these decks, just keep cheap cards and play the curve. Be careful not overextend when you get into your big beasts and can't finish the game - Dire Frenzy is your pal here.
Hunter: This is a lost class right with the near extinction of Baku Hunter, but there are some out there. Again, just keep cheap cards to trade and taunt - save health for turns 6+ and you will quickly out-value your opponent.
Hunter Game (not much hunter on ladder, lost to spell hunter. Baku games are unrecorded)
Priest: Spiteful/Mindblast mostly. In these match-ups I'll occasionally keep a Seeping Oozeling since I know the game will go the distance, and want to ensure I tap into my big minions. Otherwise, choose cheap except for Play Dead, Unleash the Hounds and Dire Frenzy...a Hunter's Mark is better to have against a Spiteful gen or any other big threat.
Mage: Big Mage is easy, similar match-up to Shaman. Tempo mage is harder. Since you never which one you're going to get. Mulligan for tempo by choosing taunts, fireflys, and candleshot. If you smell an Explosive Runes and can drop an Oozeling, it's usually gg after that since they have to sac face dmg to deal with board. If you can hang in and trade through the early game with health intact, you're good to go.
Tempo Mage game , Big Spell Mage game
Druid: Taunt Druid is easy, similar to Taunt Warrior - just can't keep up during the big game swing. Just try to close by turn 10 before the Hadronox combo if possible. Spiteful druid is harder. Mulligan for spiteful by choosing fireflys, candleshot, taunts and hunter's mark.
Taunt Druid game , Spiteful Druid game
Rogue: Quest is slightly easier than Odd Rogue. For quest, keep early game pressure to distract them from completing quest. Trade all bounce-able minions, leave the 3/2's and 2/3's and go face to bring their life within a charge attack's reach. For Odd, opt for early trade/taunt cards and trade trade trade. We have better late game board presence so try to keep the board to a minimum until then.
Quest Rogue game , Odd Rogue game
Warlock: Though it can be annoying to play with all their health gain/defense, it's one of my favorites because the games can last for interesting combos and finishes. In this match-up I'll keep a Gluttonous Ooze and Spellbreaker but otherwise I'm going for Candleshot+Hunter's Mark for their Mountain Giant - Be careful not to play Candleshot before the Giant or it may get oozed. If I get a lot of early damage in I'll save my silence for Voidlord, otherwise Possessed Lackey will most likely get it. Hang in there, tough but fun game with great odds to win.
Paladin: Tough in every form for us but we utilize the best tools we have as hunter with the exception of Explosive Trap. Keep Candleshot, Firefly, Unleash the Hounds, and even keep Deathstalker Rexxar if you have coin. Keep their board clear as best you can every turn until you can draw into your big recruits, then you can go face over board.
Im guessing no replacements for kathrena
Silver Vanguard, but that's not nearly as strong.
The problem is Silver Vanguard can draw Kathrena, Lich King, or Charged Devilsaurs, and by taking away Katherena you are hurting the possibilities.
The other issue is with Seeping Oozeling, having two options for deathrattles to copy is better than one in case you draw one of the cards.
After 10 games, My record is 4-6. I have the worse luck ever. Lich King and two Charged Devilsaur in my hand at turn one THREE GAMES IN A ROW, also it is commom drawing my 8-mana minions in early game. Nevertheless it's a really funny deck.
I just played against this deck for the first time as a big spell control mage and I had to use every single card in my deck including my one Pyroblast to beat my opponent. If I hadn't got a lucky 10 damage clear with a Dragon's Fury, the game would have certainly gone the other way.
Really neat concept, I'd love to see the list when it's fully optimized!
If you want the source with complementary information :
https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitiveHS/comments/8cplgv/keleseth_big_beasts_hunter_r5_to_legend_na_in_68/
I've played a similar big hunter in wild with cubes and eggs to round out the aggression but decided I'd try this standard version. Perhaps I've been super lucky so far but I had two absolutely crushing victories against spiteful druid and spiteful priest and in both scenarios, they managed to pull a spiteful T6 (the priest got one T7 too). Some people might have complaints about pointless turns at times, but the explosiveness of pulling off a huge combo is undeniable. I would recommend throwing in one cube just in case you can get a play dead combo on it.
EDIT: The Oozelings are great but do nothing if you draw Kathrena and Vanguard. I'm not sure it's worth having two in there for that reason. With no way to place either of those two back in with Dire Frenzy, it becomes pretty annoying having them sit in your hand. I wonder if there's a workaround here. Maybe the Violet Wurm?
sorry to say but this is a terrible terrible deck. 30 plays, all heavy losses that the marginal wins feel meaningless cause it's won simply by god draws or that the opponent didn't draw well.
it is so heavily draw and RNG dependent that if you have even remotely bad draws like drawing some of your 8 cost card before T5 or 2/all of your deathrattles together, you are so royally screwed with single digit chance to win moving forward. T1-T5 is completely at the mercy of the opponent so if they have anything relatively fast, you're very likely dead before T6 or T7. a single silence to any of your deathrattles during play is usually lethal as you lose out too too much in tempo.
here's what most of the time throughout the game you'll be doing with this deck:
you can see all the associated problems with the deck without playing it as it is quite apparent when you check the deck's mana curve with due consideration of the class type.
and before someone misunderstands, i play various Hunter archetypes like a lot a lot.
I'm using double Tracking in my Big Hunter deck to be able to get to combo pieces earlier. But I guess that's the difference: I'm playing it as a combo deck, while this is an attempt at creating a tempo deck with a strong top-end.
I'm also running double Stitched Tracker, but that works because I am using the Spellstone package and therefore have very few minions in the deck. I don't think it's going to be as useful in a minion-heavy deck.
I had exactly the same problems. The deck runs out of cards too fast. It's also very weak against aggro beacuase there are too many turns without being able to play anything . Pretty bad winrate
yup. correct. i've already mentioned the problems of this current deck in the current iteration.
I'm getting creamed with this deck at rank 20. I think the only difference is I have Leeroy Jenkins and one Charged Devilsaur. I just liked having a 6 charge attack on turn 5 (or is it 6?). I find that I lose control early and have a hard time getting it back. When I've won it's when I'm able to play/recruit King Krush, Charged Devilsaur or Litch King. And if I Dire Frenzy one of those my opponent usually quits.
Nice deck. Could you post some replay about hard match up ?
Any replacement for king krush
Hard to say yes because the charge of King Krush keeps all your beast recruits consistent so u can always expect to draw an immediate attack, which helps a lot in gameplay to know what to expect.
But otherwise, I'd say something with taunt which is another immediate board effect. Either Giant Mastodon or Witchwood Grizzly, with my preference leaning more to the grizzly for cheaper play if drawn.
Not viable after rank 5. Too draw RNG dependent. Gets clobbered by odd and even pally, aggro mage, tempo rogue. Plus, drawing the 2 deathrattle minions and 8-drops early renders your Oozelings useless. Fun deck to play but competitive only at the lower ranks against less seasoned opponents.
I played a deck similar to this last month for hundreds of games, although the version I made was far more spell-based than minion based (so traps, Emerald stones, animal companion, flanking strike, etc.). I ended up writing it off as a failure and thinking Kripp's less ambitious highmane version was better, because I found it too easy to get screwed by drawing the high-cost cards you'd rather recruit instead of the early game cards you needed. At the last few days, I was stuck at rank 8-9 with a basically 50% winrate.
Opting for a more minion based / Keleseth build around the core Charge Kathrena package is interesting, I might try it out.
You are going to have to explain how you beat the most common deck on ladder with this deck. That being paladin in almost any form since this deck has no way to combat the constant stream of 1/1 spam and buffing.
Pally is a tough match-up. Even more so than odd/murloc, b/c of Equality and Sunkeeper Tarimshrinking our bigs, not b/c of the Silver hand swarm. The taunt pkg, elemenals, and hounds are plenty for trades and stall until you can tap into the big recruit pkg and it's usually a 2-turn game after that. It's a tough match-up, but the tools are there.
It doesn't.
The only card which you have enough mana to combo with is the Oozling, but that's only when you reach 10 mana. At that point, you probably have drawn or recruited most stuff out of your deck.
This means the way one would use it is to throw it out as a tempo soft taunt... which is too clunky, slow, and low stats.