Wild Knuckles Surprise
- Last updated Sep 13, 2020 (Scholomance Academy)
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Wild
- 4 Minions
- 23 Spells
- 2 Weapons
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Secrets Hunter
- Crafting Cost: 8140
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 2/23/2020 (GA Week 4)
- Gnorf
- Registered User
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- 3
- 16
- 29
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Battle Tag:
N/A
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Region:
N/A
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Total Deck Rating
163
[Note: if you love a good Knuckles combo, but don't have the dust to craft all these epics, I'm working on a Budget Knuckles Hunter list, too. Check it out.]
[More updates: For the September, post-nerf meta, I cut the Spellstones and some of the secrets, added Grievous Bite for cheap board control (against pirates, totems, and other tokens), and Carrion Studies for insurance against the many Dirty Rats out there. Carrion Studies actually feels really good in the deck. I've also added Scavenger's Ingenuity to the deck, because I really, really want to draw Knuckles. The guide below is a bit out-of-date, and needs to be rewritten. Reached legend from rank 5, on NA and EU, with this list.]
This is not a meme deck.
Okay, it is a meme deck, but it's a competitive one. I'm winning more than I'm losing with it. It's also really fun to clock opponents for 20, 30, or 45 damage from hand with a card they've probably never seen before. As early as turn 7.
I've taken the deck from rank 15 to 5 (or better) on all three servers. Very good matchups vs. Warlock, Priest, Rogue, and quest/highlander Mage. Lose hard to Warriors and Paladins and secret Mage. Pretty even matchups against everyone else.
Plan 'A':
Mulligan for Master's Call and Phase Stalker. Typically keep Trueaim Crescent. Depending on the matchup, keep a Wandering Monster (vs. Paladin, Warrior, Shaman, Rogue, Hunter), Tracking (Priest, Warlock), or even Flare (Mage).
This deck really wants to play Master's Call on 3, Phase Stalker + hero power on 4, and Scarlet Webweaver on 6. Depending on the matchup, and whether or not you're on the Coin, either Trueaim Crescent, or Coin + Phase Stalker, is your best turn 1.
Turn 5 is a flex turn; if you have Knuckles and Scarlet Webweaver in hand, make sure you've played out your Phase Stalkers, and think about Tracking or Flare to cycle through your deck for Goblin Prank, The Beast Within, or buff cards. Marked Shot can also be used to create these cards.
You can draw through your deck as fast as a other combo decks. Ideally, you want to Master's Call and Phase Stalker before you Track/Flare. (Save one Flare for OTK turn vs Quest Mage.) But Track for Master's Call early if it's your best play on the following turn.
You want to create enough friction on the board to protect your face. It's okay spend some buff cards or combo activators in order to control the board.
The combo turn can be a bit tricky to navigate, if you don't have Bestial Wrath to make Knuckles immune, or if your opponent has annoying deathrattles on board. The board state will dictate whether you can take random attacks (The Beast Within) before your directed attack (Goblin Prank), or whether you need to direct before random, or whether you need to alternate random/direct/random.
Note that if your opponent only has one minion on board, it's still possible to make multiple attacks against it, if you don't fully buff Knuckles for the first attack. Against Resurrect Priest, try to save Unleash the Hounds for the combo turn, so you can create some sacrificial minions for the Priest's deathrattles.
Also, Scarlet Webweaver isn't strictly necessary for an OTK. If you don't find it by turn 10, or it gets ratted out, or whatever, you can still put together lethal damage in many cases without having played it.
Gameplay vs. Secret Mage, Quest Mage and Even Reno Shaman at rank 5. I bet the Shaman, in particular, was surprised...
P.S. If you had any question about the eternal debate over cavemen vs. astronauts whether Tracking is a good or bad card, this deck should remove all doubt. It's a freaking awesome card.
I totally love this deck. I have been playing OTK Knuckles for as long as it was ever possible, but the version I made was a little too slow (back when wild games lasted longer than turn 8). It was a version with Emeriss to make Knuckles gigantic and Crazed Alchemist to basically double his attack again. Really fun, but much too slow, so this version has been eye opening. Upvoted for SURE.
love this deck, its only downfall is card draw
Sometimes Master's Call and Tracking are buried, and you will lose because of it. Can't be helped without changing the nature of the deck. But this deck has as good of card draw as any hunter deck I've played. Theoretically you can pull/discard as many as 16 extra cards from your deck by turn 10, which would put you in fatigue if you're on the Coin.
Also, the draw priority (Master's Call > Phase Stalker > Tracking > Flare) in this deck works in conjunction with the deck's strategy; once you've drawn your beasts, secrets, and Tracked, your top-decks tend to be quite good as well.
Just wanted to reply to the "card draw" aspect of the deck one more time, with the release of Scholomance. I've been playing a bit with Sphere of Sapience, and it seems to work well in the deck for smoothing out some of the bad luck deck shuffles. For example, if I have Master's Call in hand before turn 6, but draw Knuckles or Scarlet Webweaver, I can send them safely to the back of the deck.
Likewise, I can send secrets to the back of the deck that I'd prefer to tutor out with Phase Stalker, and hope to draw into Master's Call or a combo activator instead.
+1 seems fun :-)
Where is Plan B?
I've tried different things to make the deck a bit more resilient vs tempo/aggro. For example, replacing the secret package with a rush/lifesteal package of Diving Gryphons, Vicious Scalehides and Dire Frenzy. But the Knuckles combo becomes a lot less reliable with 5 minions for Master's Call, and a lot more stuff you need to play out of your hand before you can drop Scarlet Webweaver.
Since this is very nearly a pure spell hunter deck, another thing you could try is adding Rhok'delar to the deck, for some mid-to-late game value, while you assemble the combo. Or Deathstalker Rexxar.
Ok.
I Tried this:
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More secrets = More draws with stalker
My Phase Stalkers tend to get killed as soon as they're played. If I manage to put two secrets into play with Phase Stalkers, I figure that's a good outcome. (And Eater of Secrets is a thing.) But the number and type of secrets used in the deck is definitely something that can be experimented with.
I (BuffaloD) played against you today and you were using this deck. Tried adding you afterward to say GG, was definitely a surprise to see Knuckles come out, then get buffed, then slam in to my minions AND FACE! Great deck!
I think my friends list is full ;-) But I'm glad you enjoyed the surprise, and left a note. It's my goal to make Knuckles meta...
All good, I was just browsing around for some new memey Wild decks and I saw one with Knuckles in the title and had to check it out. Sure enough it was your deck!
You just beat my Highlander Mage with this deck at Rank 5! Tried to add you (battle tag “Gnorf” matches author name of this deck) to talk about it but was lucky enough to find it here with an excellent write up. Fun and creative deck to lose to, gg!
Thanks for the note, and GG. :-) I've actually found that playing this deck is a good way collect friends in the game. I've gotten several invites (and no salt!) during the time I've played it.
You probably didn’t add me because of the “wow” emote spam after I realized what you were doing! Just wanted to say “gg” and great, fun deck! I’ve been running this since I posted my comment and it hasn’t been overwhelming but it’s a lot of fun when it goes off.