Hearthpwn

Hello folks. Lucero here with another homebrew creation that I am excited about and tentatively seems to be performing well. Thought I would share it with you sooner than later so you can help me refine it!

So this is a quest hunter/deathrattle hunter mashup. The meta has grown to include a nice selection of deathrattle cards that also summon bodies, which lend themselves quite nicely to the quest hunter archetype. We forgo many battlecry options in favor of deathrattles, primarily including a heretofore unpopular mech package that includes Oblivitron. Believe it or not, it works.

Here are the new cards that enable this new build:

• Darkmoon Tonk - Great target for Oblivitron
• Jewel of N'Zoth - summon many more high value deathrattle minions
• Vectus is thrown in there as just another way to summon that many more high value deathrattles

Mech package:

• Oblivitron, Ursatron
• Darkmoon Tonk

Guardian Animals package:

While capable of high damage output, this is not a fast deck. I embraced this fact and put in some late game plays that could potentially be swapped out. Notably, a Guardian Animals package because Teacher's Pet has become a staple of quest hunter and I want to see GA work in Hunter. As a result, we have no small beasts in the deck. 

• Teacher's Pet
• Lake Thresher
• Guardian Animals

Since Teacher's Pet was gonna be in there anyway, we cut Eccentric Scribe for Lake Thresher. This is only 4 beasts, so Guardian Animals can become dead in hand, but many Wild druid decks run only 4 beasts, and it works there. So far, it's working here as well. You could consider the new 5-mana rush beast.

Summoning/quest package:

Notably, nearly all of our cards tutor or summon new minions, generate copies of minions, or more minions from your deck than you could otherwise do for that amount of mana.

Some quest hunter staples are still present - Desert Spear, Kill Command, Swarm of Locusts, Shu'ma.

• That 4-mana 2/5 reborn taunt has been replaced with Khartut Defender for reasons. Heck, I'll just say it. Those reasons are healing. Healing is an issue for hunter, and this deck has quite a bit of it. A maximum of 84 health, to be exact. It is a bit slower as a result, but the healing certainly helps.  
• Snake Trap has been replaced with Open the Cages because it is simply better.
• Adorable Infestation has been in some quest lists, but isn't core. We use it here though.

Deathrattle package:

As much as this is a quest hunter deck, as you often finish by completing the quest and buffing your board to go face, the stuff it does that feels borderline abusive is thanks to the deathrattle package. 

• Nine Lives
• Ursatron
• Khartut Defender
• Oblivitron
• Darkmoon Tonk
• Jewel of N'Zoth make up the deathrattle package. 

Strategy

Early game - Our early game is somewhat weak. The deck starts to build momentum in the midgame. So early we are normally looking for Ursatron, Desert Spear, Adorable Infestation or Open the Cages. If you have The Coin, you might consider keeping Swarm of Locusts.

Mid game - In the midgame, we want to start developing our deathrattle graveyard. If you've drawn Teacher's Pet, get it out. If you drew Oblivitron, get it out. If you're facing aggro and have a Khartut Defender, get it out. Use Swarm of Locusts to clear a board. 

Late game - Here we want to start making power plays. Use Shu'ma to complete the quest. Guardian Animals, Jewel of N'Zoth and Nine Lives to trigger abusive effects like dealing 16 damage to the opponent's face/board or healing for 24. By this time we should have completed our quest and should be pushing the button every turn if possible to start pushing face damage. If we haven't gotten our free Animal Companions yet through Open the Cages, these big summoning plays should help us do that as well. 

Mulligan

Against Aggro - we are looking for stall and early board presence. We still mostly want Ursatron, but this is where you will make decisions about whether or not to keep a Teacher's Pet in hand, or to hold onto a Kill Command to use it as removal instead of saving it for face. 

Against control - Turn 8 is a really long way away for a hunter, so control or not, I wouldn't keep Guardian Animals. However, against control you might make smart decisions regarding the mech package. For instance, keep Oblivitron to ensure Ursatron draws the Darkmoon Tonks and then Oblivitron can summon them. If it's a class with a lot of board clears, you may want to keep a big spell/minion that fills your board to ensure you have some refill. But by and large, I think looking for Ursatron and Desert Spear are the best options for most opening hands. 

Alternates: 

I originally had Eccentric Scribe in the deck instead of Guardian Animals. If you want to cut GA, you can also cut the Lake Thresher. I would replace with Eccentric Scribes and Snake Trap or Cult Master. Or possibly Unleash the Hounds or another Taunt minion. In fact, I believe I may try replacing Guardian Animals and Lake Thresher with Unleash the Hounds and Snake Trap when I get the chance to play next to speed the deck up a bit.

I'd love to hear feedback and discuss alternates or refinements you make if you enjoy the deck. Hope you enjoy!