Hearthpwn

Secret Hunter Mulligan Guide

Secret Hunter is a fairly aggressive deck that aims to gain control of the board early and keep it that way. As a result, your mulligan will be fairly similar in every matchup and you will be looking for the fastest possible start to get into the desired board position.

In all matchups, you should be looking for a 1-drop, ideally Secretkeeper, in addition to a follow-up of Secrets. When choosing between multiple Secrets, your first choice should always be Wandering Monster, followed by Snake Trap and Venomstrike Trap.

If you have kept Dire Mole in your opening hand instead of Secretkeeper, you can look for a more minion-based opening instead and look to follow it up with Crackling Razormaw and Animal Companion.

Though it may not fit your Mana Curve directly, you should also always keep a copy of Lesser Emerald Spellstone in your opening hand. The large number of Secrets in the deck means that you will almost always be able to upgrade it to play 4 Wolfs onto the board, which is too big of a tempo swing to throw away.

Against Control, especially Odd Warrior, you can also look for keep Deathstalker Rexxar in your opening hand to allow you to access the late-game strength of the Build-A-Beast Hero Power as soon as possible.

Secret Hunter Strategy

In the early game, you should always be looking to play Dire Mole or Secretkeeper on your first turn, prioritising Secretkeeper if you also have any Secrets in hand. As a follow-up to a Secretkeeper, you should look to empty Secrets out of your hand to get it as strong as possible, prioritising Wandering Monster, followed by Snake Trap and Venomstrike Trap. If you opened with a Dire Mole, you should look to follow it up with Crackling Razormaw and look to choose adaptation that boosts its stats.

Going into the mid game, you should continue to try and curve out with cards like Animal Companion and Houndmaster if you are in control of the board. Alternatively, if your opponent is putting up a lot of resistance, you can option to use Eaglehorn Bow and Flanking Strike instead to be able to secure control of the board. Additionally, if you have a copy of Lesser Emerald Spellstone in your hand, you should try to make sure you play at least 2 Secrets before turn 5, even if it makes your previous plays slightly weaker, to ensure you can get maximum tempo from the Spellstone on turn 5.

Throughout the early and mid game, you want to develop the strongest board possible while also pressuring your opponent. This means you should take any value trades that are available that protect your board to take away the initiative from your opponent and get the strongest board possible. However, as the deck is also quite aggressive, you should also avoid over-trading to maximise the damage you do to your opponent. For example, if you have a 4/4 minion on the board and your opponent has a 2/2, there is very little reason to trade in this situation and you should just attack your opponent directly instead as the minion does not threaten your board. The exception to this rule is if you are expecting your opponent to land a buff onto the minion, such as Fungalmancer, that would cause the minion to threaten your board.

Going into turn 5, your priority should always be playing your Lesser Emerald Spellstone if you have managed to upgrade it. Alternatively, you can also choose to play Subject 9 to maximise the card draw from its Battlecry as it will slowly lose value as you naturally draw Secrets from your deck.

When choosing which Secrets to play, you should carefully look at the state of the board before deciding. For example, with Freezing Trap available, you should look to isolate a single large threat on your opponent's board by trading into any smaller ones. Explosive Trap can be used if your opponent has developed a wide board; in preparation for it, you can often make trades to set the Health of your opponent's minions to 2 or less. Snake Trap and Venomstrike Trap can be used if you anticipate your opponent trading into one of your minions to allow you to spring back onto the board, these can also be used if you anticipate a Wandering Monster Secret being triggered as it naturally forces your opponent to attack into one of your minions. Lastly, if there are no good reactive choices available, you can choose to play Snipe or Wandering Monster instead, which are both solid proactive choices.

When you reach the late game, you should evaluate the state of the game from your earlier play. As this deck offers so much tempo, your strong early and mid game will allow you to deal a significant amount of damage to your opponent while staying in control of the board. For these situations, you will often want to keep the Steady Shot Hero Power to help finish off your opponent with the help of your minions on board. Alternatively, if you have not been able to deal much damage or you are facing a resilient Control deck, you can opt to play Deathstalker Rexxar to commit to a long value game where you grind your opponent down with Build-A-Beast.

Secret Hunter Card Swaps

The Secrets within the deck are very flexible and can be adjusted based on personal preference. However, you should aim to maintain many different types of Secret to maximise the value of Subject 9.

You can choose to make the deck slightly more aggressive by adding in additional spells like Unleash the Hounds to put further pressure onto opponents.

If you wish to strengthen the deck against Control decks, you can put in copies of Savannah Highmane to generate immense mid-game pressure.

Quick Tips and Tricks

• If you have a Lesser Emerald Spellstone in hand, making sure it is fully charged by turn 5 is your highest priority.
• Try not to trade too much as it can result in missing a lot of damage you can deal directly to your opponent.
• Play Subject 9 as early as possible to maximise the number of Secrets your draw.