Hearthpwn

Hello, My name is XaNi, I am a Hearthstone player from Croatia. This is my first Deck Guide, for my variant of a well known deck - Face Hunter. As stated in the title, the deck really does play 1 copy of Misdirection, which may not seem signifcant, but really does make a huge difference. I will go through every card in the deck, why it is played and reason for number of copies, then I will move onto matchups, mulligans and some tips and tricks in general for playing the deck.

The proof for Rank 4 Legend: http://imgur.com/TdA9VDV

Card explanations:

1. Abusive Sergeant - 1 drop, very good for opening and/or for later stages of the game, because you have a lot of charge, almost always does atleast 2 dmg. Can also be played turn 1 if there is no other 1-drop.
2. Leper Gnome - Classic card for almost every Aggro deck, just a great card does 2 dmg every time and not so rarely 4 and even 6. Very good turn 1 play, can be played later aswell.
3. Worgen Infiltrator - This card is really good for securing this 2dmg for the next turn and mostly letting it be buffed by Abusive Sergeant/Glaivezooka. Very good opener always, especially against Warrior since it can't get killed by Cruel Taskmaster. Always deals 2 dmg and secures your buffs.
4. Glaivezooka - Since you are focused on having early minions and killing your opponent fast, this is a perfect card cause it allows you to use your health to kill opponents minions, while your health doesn't really ever matter. On the other hand is also very good for just going face sometimes cause it can do 5 damage to your opponents face over 2 turns for just 2 mana. Just great card with various options in this deck.
5. Explosive Trap - A standard trap for Face Hunter. does damage, gets Durability for Eaglehorn bow, also makes opponent not attack your face often, cause they don't want to take damage / lose health on their taunts.
6. Misdirection - My own tech. Reason for this card, and playing it is not as simple as it might seem. First of all this card allows your Mad Scientist to ALWAYS be useful. It also does get bonus durability for Bow. It does bring a factor of surprise with it, because people tend to think 2nd trap will be either Freezing/Snake trap and play around those cards. But the biggest reason for this card is - it just improves all of the decks worst matchups. Warrior - you often lack dmg, but opponent often takes way too much dmg from this card solo, and does kill his minions quite often. Druid - he mostly has big minions so they either attack his face and you will have lethal for it, or his minions just kill each other, which is good aswell. Handlock - can easily win you games because he attacks his face with molten, or 2 molten just kill each other.
NOTE: always try to play Misdirection in combo with Explosive Trap, and ALWAYS play Explosive trap FIRST! This makes sure that Misdirection actually does something and that it can't be negated by low attack minions.
7. Quick Shot - Good spell in general, can be used for face, can be used as Darkbomb. Very versatile, can also be card draw very easily in this deck. This card can actually be played very liberally - if you see you have too much cards in your hand, you can sometimes just throw it into opponents face (DEPENDS ON MATCHUP!). Just a very good and versatile card in general.
8. Ironbeak Owl - Only card to bypass taunts. Use this card for bypassing taunt almost exclusively. You can sometimes Silence Armorsmith, if you think the opponent would get too much value out of it. In other matchups I highly recommend saving this card for bypassing taunt or using it with Kill Command to finish off the opponent.
9. Knife Juggler - I think this card is played very differently in this deck than it is played in many others. While usually you would want to save Knife Juggler for some combos or squeeze most value from it, in this deck you just want to play him as a 2-drop and try to do as much damage as possible. You can easily turn 1 coin it out, if your opponent didn't play anything turn 1. You just want to do as much damage as possible and thats it. On the other hand it still can be used as a very good combo with Unleash the Hounds, and do much damage that way. Very good 2-drop, does alot of damage and opponents has to clear it asap, making you able to go face dealing lots of damage.
10. Mad Scientist - Awesome 2 drop, does damage, brings up a trap, even more useful cause of Misdirection. Very good card for this deck. Be careful by not killing this card, you should always remember your opponent can silence it and destroy your plans with it.
11. Eaglehorn Bow - A card that can do crazy amounts of damage. Mostly go face with this, try to get into lethal range, of course trade when needed (when you have good opportunity). Do use all Durability even if you have a trap in case you have other weapons in hand or in case another weapon means lethal!
12. Animal Companion - All 3 beasts are really good for this deck, Huffer probably the best mostly. Just do as much damage as possible. This is the best turn 2(with coin) and turn 3 drop. Also can be used with Kill Command. Very good card! Take care for Counterspell and Loatheb tho!
13. Kill Command - Does alot of damage, helps you finish games. Can be used for killing taunts, but rarely. Mostly for hero damage. Very solid card in general.
14. Unleash Hounds - Mostly does 3 dmg or more, and they are beasts, for Kill Command. Easily used with buffs, destroying low health minions, doing face damage. Very good for most matchups, except for Control Warrior, where its practically useless.
15. Arcane Golem - Mostly to finish your opponent or to put him into lethal range, don't use it on turn 3, or when you can't secure lethal now, or in few turns.
16. Wolfrider - 3 damage, easily buffed, face damage, can be used anytime you have free mana. Really solid card, don't use it on taunts unless you have to, rather wait up for an owl.

Mulligan:
Not on coin:
Mulligan everything out for any 1-drop. If you already have it try to make a curve, try finding any 2 drop and some good 3 drops (Animal Companion, Wolfrider).
On coin:
There are 3 ways your mulligan can go:
1. Find 2 viable 2-drops, coin one out on turn 1 and play the other turn 2.(Viable 2 drops=Knife Juggler,Mad Scientist,Glaivezooka)
2. Find 2 1-drops and a 2-drop, either coin out the 2 1-drops or the 2 drop and drop others turn 2.(The order depends on matchup, for example you shouldn't play 2-drop against druid, because he can just wrath it, while against paladin you can easily play a 2-drop since he can't do anything about it.)
3. Find a 1-drop and a viable 3-drop. Play a 1-drop turn 1 and a 3-drop turn 2. In this case you also want another 3-drop to follow up on turn 3.(Viable 3-drops are Animal Companion and Wolfrider, sometimes Eaglehorn Bow)

Matchups:

Control Warrior (35-65, WORST MATCHUP) - A very hard matchup, your opponent has way too much armor possibility. In this matchup you have to maximize your damage, using your hero power anytime you can, going face with everything almost never trade. Try to kill Armorsmith the easiest and fastest way possible. I do not recommend silencing it, you will need silence for belchers. Except for that try to make him do damage on himself with Misdirection, and try to get as much value as possible by Eaglehorn bow.

Grim Patron Warrior (40 - 60) - Mulligan the same as for Control Warrior. Another very hard matchup, but in this case Unleash the hounds can actually be used. Another good thing about Patron Warrior is that they mostly don't use Belchers, so then only taunt is usually Dread Corsair. Again, try to kill Armorsmith asap and don't let him get much value of it. Also do take care for Frothing Berserker, he can do alot of damage to your face (explosive trap even gives him more damage!). Try to finish the game fast, he doesn't have as much armor as Control Warrior, but does have some tricks up his sleeve. Definetly not unbeatable, but you have to be careful.

Druid ( 50 - 50) - Mulligan the same as always, but you never want to drop Knife Juggler first - always play something else to check for Wrath, besides that mulligan is the same. Druid is traditionally a hard matchup for Face Hunter, but Misdirection helps it a lot. The druid is often confused by the 2nd trap and often thinks its freezing, making him do unfavorable trades, expecting his minions to be freezed. On the other hand Misdirection also makes his minion kill each other or just do crazy amounts of damage to his face. He doesn't usually play Healbots, so the only heal is Ancient of Lore, which is kind of late and you can kill him through it. Just be careful to have silence for his taunts and you should win the game.

Handlock( 55 - 45) - Just try to burst him down, silencing his taunts, and finishing him asap. Try to play around Shadowflame (kill minions with 4+ attack if possible) and always count on damage done by hellfire. You can usually burst him down fast, but if he gets to get control of board AND play healbots you will probably lose.

Zoo( 75 - 25) -The game is pretty much always win, except if he gets some lucky mal'ganis drops(from Bane of Doom or Voidcaller). Always try to save silence for either Mal'Ganis, or just the Voidcaller himself. Generally you just do your own thing, and he can't do much about it. The best matchup for this deck.

Priest( 55 - 45) You should generally just do the most damage possible, Priests usually don't have too much heal except for hero power. The biggest problem in this matchup is Deathlord, so try to silence this thing. You don't care about for Cleric, because if he is healing his minions, means he isn't healing himself. Try to maximize Eaglehorn Bow damage, try to do as much damage with Charges and Weapons as possible before he makes some taunts. In the end Priest will have trouble killing you, so you should have enough damage to kill him.

Paladin( 60 - 40) - They are usually Midrange, their only heal is usually Lay on Hands, which is too late. Get a lot of value from Unleash the Hounds, because of Muster for Battle. He often gets rekt by Explosive Traps aswell, and he should always have a difficulty killing you. Just a good match in general because you can do your own stuff, while he can't do what his deck should. But be careful if they get more heals, they can prolong the game and just finish you by having stronger creatures in the end!

Hunters( 55 - 45) - This deck usually is better than most of other hunter decks cause of 2 traps, and because its very fast-paced. If it is Midrange it is a good matchup for you, because he has a slower deck, and no heals. You should take care for Belchers and Loatheb! For Face Hunter matchup it's always 50-50 because even though this deck is slightly different, the goal of the deck is the same, so mostly in the mirror it's about RNG!

Mage( 50 -50) The new upcoming deck is a Tempo Mage. I haven't played too much against this deck but i did find the matchup mostly 50 - 50. Your deck can easily run over this deck because it is based on low mana minions, and Mirror Image, which is perfect for your Unleash the Hounds, and Explosive Trap. But you always have to be careful about the burst potential this deck has with Flamewaker and many damaging spells. This deck usually uses Arcane Missiles which also do alot of damage with Flamewaker.

Final tips and tricks:

- Always try to play Misdirection in combo with Explosive Trap, but PLAY EPXLOSIVE TRAP FIRST!
- Try to use as much hero power as possible.
- If you have 2 mana left and nothing to use it on, and a Quick Shot in your hand, you can often use it just to do damage on your opponents face. This should only be done if you think there is no chance Quick Shot will make a draw for you.
- Don't care 2 much about trading value. Even though trading sometimes seems great, you should probably go face. Often times will opponent want to make that trade anyway, and you just lose damage cause of your trade. BUT be careful for combo cards such as Armorsmith, Flamewaker, Frothing. These cards should always be killed as soon as possible.

NOTE: TESTED LEEROY INSTEAD OF ARCANE GOLEM, HE REALLY SEEMS BETTER. TRY MAKING THAT CHANGE IF U WANT!

Also check out my reddit post about this deck: http://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitiveHS/comments/389v0u/reached_rank_4_legendeu_and_finished_rank_7/