Hearthpwn

This is a death & taxes style Demon Hunter aggro deck I have been having a great deal of fun with lately, inspired by both a Roffle video and a deck posted by redjuggler13 called “death and taxes.” The deck seeks to add taxes onto your opponent’s minions and spells through cards like Mana Wraith, Nerub’ar Weblord, Loatheb, and Cult Neophyte in order to limit their plays and help you secure the board. If successful, you can usually manage to rush the opponent down through minions that scale with your hero power such as Battlefiend and Lowly Squire. If a quick victory seems to be a problem, Mana Burn, Glide, and my new favorite card (public opinion of her be damned) Star Student Stelina are in the deck to provide further disruption to the opponent’s plans, keeping them off balance just long enough to push through for lethal by gliding or using Voracious Reader for refill. Below are the changes I made to other lists I found, and my reasoning. They may not work for you and that’s fine! I tried to stick with a theme/flavor to death and taxes that I like.

Star Student Stelina: Yes, I know. No one runs this card, this card is garbage, so on and so on. I agree that she is not a world beater by any means with her stats and her outcast requirement. But ever since she was revealed, I have been enamored with this card and am dedicated to use it as much as possible. In this deck, I have had a fairly reliable amount of success grabbing a board clear or big taunt minion from my opponent that would have changed the dynamic of the game, usually allowing me to win a turn or two later. I have the most success playing her on curve if she is outcasted, or tutoring her with Double Jump which automatically outcasts her for that turn and playing her on 5. Yes, you have two other outcast cards that can be hit with Double Jump so it’s never a guarantee. Either way I have found the most success with Stelina by picking off board clears, followed by taunts. Anything that will have an immediate impact in the next two or three turns needs to go back into the deck. Picking off Holy Nova, Brawl, Spreading Plague and the like always feels great. The only exception I have found has been Reno Jackson. Shuffling him back in on turn 4 with a medium sized board has resulted in more than one immediate concede (which is hilarious because the opponent might have just drawn him again on the next turn!) I just love Stelina, and I’m not ashamed to say so. 

Glide: I love hand disruption in other TCG’s, so I was very excited to see it come to Hearthstone. As a result, I have shifted this deck more towards hand disruption with a goal of clogging up an opponent’s hand to the point where a Glide will cause them to lose either the hand they started with or cards they have spent mana to draw through card effects. The many awkward turns that follow Glide always make me feel like I have been able to successfully disrupt some plans, and that’s usually enough to keep your pressure up and get the damage rolling. Of course...your opponent could Glide into a board clear. Or you could Glide into lethal! It’s always a fun trip on the merry-go-round! 

Kayn Sunfury: Other versions of this type of deck would run Altruis the Outcast as a combination board clear/finisher type of minion, which I get and think can totally work. However these versions would run Skull of Gul’dan rather than Glide. Since I am going as all in as I can with the hand disruption potential, I stuck with Glide over Skull which made Altruis less effective when I tried him. As a result, I swapped him for Kayn as a sort of last ditch burst of damage. He has definitely won me several games, but I can see the appeal of Altruis with Skull to provide ammunition. To each their own. Try them both out and see what you like!

Loatheb: Yes, this guy gets very expensive if you are executing your game plan, and he may not be played every game. I have found that his lockdown effect is amplified if he is played following an opponent awkwardly clearing your board using taxed cards, locking them down even harder for another turn and giving you a chance to rebuild your board, cycle through your deck, or Glide their congested hand back into their deck. 

Double Jump: So far, this has been a very good tutor card in a variety of situation. Just be sure to cast it only when you have the mana to play what you are looking for in the same turn. Drawing the card and then passing puts it in an increasingly bad position for outcast, depending on your hand size of course. 

Mulligan: If people are genuinely interested, I can expand this section. In general, I have been trying to play on curve, giving priority to taxing minions like the Neophyte, Weblord, or Wraiths in the early game. The only exception to that rule has been if Stelina or Glide show up in the leftmost outcast slot or the middle slot of your initial three cards if not stuck behind something like Loatheb. Disrupting as early as possible is key. Mana Burns are also appreciated: if you can get a scaling minion down on one, and then lock the opponent out of a turn 2 while starting to scale up, followed by a minion tax on turn three for example, you can get the ball rolling very quickly. When you win, you usually win by turn 6. My favorite play so far with this deck has been coining out a Nerub’ar Weblord on turn 1. That alone seems to mess up many, many people’s plans. Following up with a second Weblord or Cult Neophyte to help secure the board is just gravy on the...cake?

I’m not saying this is gonna get you Legend, although others have played Death & Taxes Demon Hunter to Legend so it is possible! I’m saying this has been a very fun deck for me that highlights a play style uncommon to Hearthstone that I happen to enjoy, while using a new legendary I have been excited about. Give it a shot, you may enjoy it! If you play it and make changes, I’d love to hear them. I’m sure someone out there can make this deck much better than I ever could! 

...Just leave Stelina please. She’s been too much fun.

 UPDATES:

-1 Umberwing/+1 Chaos Strike I have found myself liking the extra card draw from a Chaos Strike more than the two bodies from a single Umberwing. Certainly seems to help out in the later stages of our hopefully short games to burst the opponent down. In my best test game, I was able to Chaos Strike into Twin Slice with a Kayn to bypass a Spreading Plague wall and win the game. Would not have happened with Umberwing. I’m going to keep testing it but I like the change so far. Update: Yes, this change has been overall very nice for me. I haven’t been missing Umberwing at ALL. 

I’m currently trying to find more taxing minions and see if they can work somehow in the deck. I wish Nerubian Unraveler could fit in here because who the hell plays him...but I think that’s getting too greedy for too little of a payoff. 

Currently trying out 2xRobes of Protection in place of the 2xBeaming Sidekick simply because I pulled three of them, one golden, in my last few packs. Theoretically, it would be handy against some removal with the trade off of not helping against AOE which we are already weak to. Sidekick did help against AOE slightly through the buffs, but I’m curious if this is enough of a trade to run the robes. I will report back after a bunch of games! UPDATE: So far, Robes of Protection have shredded mages and priests I’ve come up against who all of a sudden seem to have a hard time clearing out my minions. I am gonna stick with them, but your mileage may vary depending on what decks you are running into.