Hearthpwn

The deck I'm presenting here I believe adds quite a bit of intelligent playmaking ability and higher level decisions than the standard aggro hunter deck (not taking anything away from it), and is overall just a blast to play. It it certainly NOT a standard hunter deck at the moment and deviates a fair bit from Hunter's classic aggressive style of play while not exactly being a control deck itself. I would describe it's style as a defensive type of aggresion (or tactical aggression), that seeks to finish opponents off around turn 10-14.

For brief background I am indeed a legend player, and after messing around with many silly TGT decks I have (after a bit of playtesting) climbed over 1000 ranks in legend using this deck (proving at very least its viability). I believe this deck to be very strong in the current meta with all the paladin and hunter players running amuck, and I intend this to be my main laddering deck in the upcoming season.

This is a very tricky deck because it plays a very nonstandard style of Hunter (which causes opponents to misplay quite often), and utilizes several TGT cards that haven't seen a great deal of play yet. No one really expects to be hit by either Powershot or Dreadscale, and Feign Death catch opponents unaware quite often.

Deck Mechanics and How to Play It:

The main idea behind this deck is to keep to early board controlled utilizing traps, weapons, and spells in order to overvalue and take tempo in the midgame with strong sticky minions. The high value minions in this deck such as Savannah Highmane, Sylvanas Windrunner, and Sneed's Old Shredder are all very difficult to deal with minions and nothing in the deck is vulnerable toBig Game Hunter except Dr. Boom who gets additional value with the boombots anyway. Feign Death used in conjunction with Sylvanas Windrunner can easily swing a game and give you the win, or alternatively can be used in a pinch with even Piloted Shredder in order to get a 2 mana minion 2 mana. Further, the deck is designed in such a way that the majority of minions in the deck are 5 cost or greater thereby allowing you to win the joust with King's Elekk the majority of the time and drawing you into the late game cards that win the game.

It has a strong defensive early/mid game in which you attempt to keep the board largely clear with Powershot, Eaglehorn Bow, both your traps, and of course Mad Scientist. Dreadscale often comes in super handy against Paladin decks (very popular at the moment), as well as the aggressive hunter decks. With so many weapons in the meta (and not a ton of early beasts in this deck), Harrison is able to counter a lot of enemy momentum, allows for the interruption of Warrior's Patron Combo, and in the worst case scenario a solid 5 drop that needs to be dealt with and can often bait out a Shadow Word: Death.

Mid/late game is where this deck thrives, as the surprise factor of this type of deck really shines for the moment. Perhaps if it sees more play the deck will worsen but for now it is very strong. Control decks so rarely suspect Deadly Shot that you can often destroy a huge minion and play one of your own to counter. It often comes in very handy against the dragon decks running around, especially priests with Velen's Chosen. The heal provided by Antique Healbot often wins the game against burn decks that do not anticipate it (basically everyone) by lifting you just out of reach of that last Kill Command. Astute Hunter player's may have noticed that the deck runs zero Webspinners, and only 1 Kill Command. Webspinner was originally in the deck; however, after playtesting I found that it just didn't fit in with the team of the deck and was the cause of a lot of lost Jousts. Further, due to the lack of early beasts and the fact that this deck wins primarily through board control as opposed to burn damage, Kill Command was often sitting unactivated in the hand or was simply unnecessary.

I believe this deck to be favoured or even in many matches including all current Paladin Decks, Dragon Priest, Tempo Mage, and is even vs a lot of Midrange Druid and Hunter decks. Played correctly it can take games of most anything. Patron Warrior with it's possibility of One Turn Kills is always a threat and in that case it's often most favourable to simply race with them killing only necessary units. Against Patron Warrior, they can kill you out of nowhere with the correct draw regardless and so it's honestly almost not worth worrying about (especially with TGT just coming out and its decrease in popularity). I have won most of my games vs various forms of Demon and Zoo Warlock as well. Handlock I believe to be one of the deck's hardest counters.

Alternative Card Options:

Kel'Thuzad - A hugely powerful card when coupled with deathrattle minions. I am actually just starting to experiment with this included instead of the Ram Wrangler and have been pleased with the results thus far. Kel Thuzad allows you to play the feign death as well as regain the deathrattle effect by sacrificing Sneed's, Boom Bots, Sylvanas, etc... Very powerful when used correctly, and can be substituted instead of either Harrison, Ram Wrangler, or potentially Sneed's.

Dreadscale - Excellent early beast and potential board wipe. Great for removing divine shields as well. Explosive Sheep could be a potential replacement.

Harrison Jones - An obvious choice would be Acidic Swamp Ooze for the weapon hate, which has the drawback however of being a low cost minion for your Joust. Alternatively a second Ram Wrangler or strong deathrattle card such as Piloted Sky Golem could work well.

Potential Ideas:

A second Feign Death could potentially be added since it's quite often a big swing. Most often I save the one for a big swing turn though, and using one early could tip the opponent off to your strategy. Usually one is all that's needed to really take command and win.

Piloted Sky Golem and other strong deathrattle could be added to the deck as well (ie. Cairne Bloodhoof. I originally had 2 Sky Golems in the deck, but found that there was too much variance in which 4 drop I got for my personal tastes. If certain Priest decks become popular Cairne with it's 2 guaranteed 4 drops could actually be a very strong pick (though vulnerable to theShrinkmeister + Cabal Shadow Priest combo.

Also, I experimented with Snake Trap instead of the explosive, but found that it just didn't have the necessary board clear effect early game and often opposing decks will try to ignore your minions and thus never trigger it. Plus, after seeing a Freezing Trap (which is almost always played in conjunction with Snake) the explosive trap can really catch opponents off guard.

Final Remarks:

I'd like to give a big thank you to everyone who gives this deck a look, some thought, or goes further and tries it out for themselves. It IS still a work in progress, and is likely not completely optimized (and of course the meta will always change) but it is working very well so far. As this is the first deck I'm publishing any feedback on the actual write up or constructive criticism on the deck itself is greatly appreciated. If you'd wish to give me feedback in game I am more than happy to chat and am always polite :)

Please have fun and enjoy this new deck in your constructed Hearthstone adventures, and best of luck to everyone as well!