Hearthpwn

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Hi all,

This is a completely new write-up from the last. I will preserve the old at the end of this one.

What a journey it has been in creating a face hunter deck that feels fast and reliable, a less clunky variant. I don't know about you but I don't like to pick up a "Trampling Rhino" on turn 3 and hold onto it for 3+ turns, that is not a good face hunter inclusion. Agree to disagree that is just my thoughts.

I am appreciative of the commenter below whom I haven't directly responded to, because it has taken me some time to cut "Sunscale Raptor". Raptor is not a bad card and I have had some triumphs with it, but drawing a 1/3 raptor on turn 5/6 is indeed not ideal.

And, turn 1 "Sunscale Raptor" is not as potentially game-winning as turn 1 "Irondeep Trogg" which also sets up your "Traveling Merchants" to be a lot bigger.

The ideal idea of this deck is to mulligan into your 1-drops and to swarm the board and slam a 6/7 traveling merchant onto the board by turn 3. That's how it operates. "Demon Companion" is also very handy and will sometimes bless a large board with +1 attack each.

"Encumbered Pack Mule" is a high value minion. It's great for protecting your troggs and other higher value minions. It is great for a bit of defense vs. rogues, pirate warriors, aggro druids. Buffed to 4/4, it is great for escaping 3-dmg board clears. It also synergizes nicely with traveling merchant. It fits the swarm initiative of the deck.

I have since the creation of this deck cut the "Argent Squire" slot to 1. It is still amazing but "Guardian Augmerchant" is just slightly better at protecting minions from aoe and pinging an opponent's minion which can be a significant option at times.

I have also since this deck's creation removed 1 "Piercing Shot". "Piercing Shot" is great and flexible as you can use it on your own low-health minions to send 4-5 damage to the face (potentially game-closing) or to help deal with a taunt of course. 2 is a bit too much as sometimes you'll have hands with 2-3 burst spells, and a board sparse of minions.

I have completely cut "Sneaky Delinquents". In the original deck I thought they were clever inclusions, they had stealth, they could be buffed considering the opponent didn't have aoe to sweep them the following turn. But that's the problem. Mage, Warlock, sometimes Shaman matches were tough because they have access to 2 or 3+ dmg aoe. Between running x1 "Sneaky Delinquent" or x1 "Argent Squire", the latter has the edge slightly.

Newer inclusions are x1 "Rustrot Viper" for dealing with rogue/warrior/hunter weapons and that filthy paladin weapon. When is that hero gonna get nerfed to 8-mana? Maybe if it sees an increase in play after rogue nerfs...

Also included is x1 "Voracious Reader". The curve of this deck is beautifully low. So this provides that extra bit of card draw that you may require sometimes. Reader is a new inclusion but within the few games I have played Reader it has been a game-changer, putting burst in my hand where it would have been 2+ top-decks out of the way.

Anyway, the rest of this deck is pretty self-explanatory. GO FACE, of course trade where sensible, you do want to value your higher-health and buffed minions a bit more over your 1-health tokens.

This deck is easy and breezy, fast and fun. And it has undergone significant changes, and it undoubtedly feels like the superior version. You can play a few games with the old version and a few games with the new, but I cracked legend with this version of the deck, so of course I believe in this version. Rogues are toughest match-ups, waiting on those nerfs... Pretty soon...

Anyway have fun, if the match went south at least it's a short one. I love 5-minute games :)

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Hi all,

Since I've gotten back into Hearthstone in Mid-December of 2021, I've been testing out many different face-hunter and midrange-hunter gimmicks from the popular rhino variant and a lot of experimental inclusions and takes on the deck. I cracked 8000 legend on December 22, 2021 with another face-hunter deck before the meta started taking true shape.

Since I've gotten back into Hearthstone in Mid-December of 2021, I've been testing out many different face-hunter and midrange-hunter gimmicks from the popular rhino variant and a lot of experimental inclusions and takes on the deck. I cracked 8000 legend on December 22, 2021 with another face-hunter deck before the meta started taking true shape.

Rhino Hunter is not reliable. Yes, I said it. Especially in a spell-based meta where all minions are big minions and they start coming on the board sometimes as often as turn 5. For similar reasons, I opted to cut weapons from this list. I'd rather run another minion to reload my board state than an underperforming weapon (in this meta).

Me face hunter, yah know? Me no want run out pressure turn 5. Me want early game domination. Me want plenty of tools to reach the face. Big taunt? Don't worry, plenty of spells to wittle down lifespan.

Some inclusions in this list that are out of the ordinary are "Argent Squire", "Sunscale Raptor", "(1x) Wriggling Horror", "Encumbered Pack Mule", "Sneaky Delinquent", and "Manafeeder Panthara", and "Traveling Merchant".

"Argent Squire" is great vs. Paladin, Mage, Priest. It will almost certainly stick until turn 2 to start utilizing your buff cards. And it works great in conjunction with ramming mount, it retains its divine shield. If you don't believe in this card, you can always put "Intrepid Initiate" in, that 1-mana 1/2 spellburst: gain +2 attack.

"Sunscale" is a great raptor to pull from "Warsong Wrangler". Now you have two 1-mana pulls that can create good board pressure turn 4/5.

"Wriggling Horror" allows early minions to escape board clears, or just to get a little more early chip-damage in. Drawn early in the game it can be powerful, however sometimes it's a dead/underwhelming draw so 1 inclusion of it is enough. This can be replaced with something.

I replaced "x1 Wriggling Horror" and "x1 Viper" with "Traveling Merchant". "Traveling Merchant" escapes board clears better, it utilizes your strong turn 2 boards and gives you a sort of insurance. This also grants the deck x1 more tradable to fish for that game-swinging card in your moment of need.

"Manafeeder Panthara" is a must for a deck with this curve. Between this card, "Warsong Wrangler", and "Quick Draw", these are your true reloads and "Tracking" is a partial reload. Never cut "Tracking", it is a game-changer. It closes games before they escalate.

I believed what I had written in the last paragraph for a bit. However, sometimes "Manafeeder" is too slow or awkward. And vs. aggro I'd rather something a bit more defensive. "Encumbered Pack Mule" provides that pressuring solution and drawing two 4/4 taunts from your "Warsong" is amazing!

I forgot to write about "Sneaky Delinquent" so I am writing about it although it is no longer in the new version of the deck. It's alright, there are better. At the time I valued this minions stealth and its deathrattle to reload the board-state. However, it is not fast enough. I like my hand a bit free-er to activate my "Quick Shot" and now "Voracious Reader".

This deck is great for climbing to diamond 5 and of course from there it is a PUSH! It is legend viable, trust me, however, temper your expectations. Some wins followed by some losses. Sometimes you push 2 and drop back to 4. It's like that. Sometimes control decks have all the answers vs this deck. Sometimes an aggro will out-pressure you. There are elements of luck within this game, don't forget. However, this deck is enjoyable just for the fact that your games will be 5 minutes and no longer before you know the outcome.

Possible Substitutions:

-2 Argent Squire/+2 Intrepid Initiate

-1 Wriggling Horror Trading Merchant/+1 Beaststalker Tavish (I'm on the fence with Tavish, it's anti-synergistic with "Aimed Shot" and it's not pressuring enough to break through an opponent's taunt wall like priest/druid. Sometimes, the upgraded secrets can help, more-so vs. less spell-oriented decks... Play-test it, it's fine but it's no "Deathstalker Rexxar" vs. control decks.

Have some fast fun with this one. Take care.

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