S25: Top 17 legend hybrid hunter in-depth guide
- Last updated Apr 28, 2016 (Old Gods)
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Wild
- 18 Minions
- 10 Spells
- 2 Weapons
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Secrets Hunter
- Crafting Cost: 3360
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 4/11/2016 (Explorers)
- Buckbeard
- Registered User
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- 5
- 14
- 22
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Battle Tag:
N/A
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Region:
EU
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Total Deck Rating
442
INFO ABOUT ME
My hearthstone nick is Buckbeard , im x10 times legend player , i reached several times top 100+ but only two top 100 finish (both with hybrid hunter) , here you can see my top 86 finish , http://eu.battle.net/hearthstone/en/blog/19817949/hearthstone-july-2015-ranked-play-season-final-rankings-08-08-2015 , besides ladder i have also won several open tournaments like gfinity , strivewire and so on.
I didnt intend to do this guide but recently a lot of people ask me about advice and decklists and how they should climb and its pretty hard to explain in small sentences why they are stuck at these ranks , giving them a decklist wont help on its own no matter how good the deck is because the areas they are bad are mulligan and decision making (this is the case for almost anyone stuck below rank 5) , therefore i have to give them a decklist but also teach them how to play with the deck otherwise they will still stuck.
My main goal is to have some sort of guide to redirect them and perhaps that would be enough to help them reach higher ranks.
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PROOF OF SUCCESS WITH THIS DECK
In this video i reach top 29 legend with this deck , i climbed all the way up from top 600 losing only one game i think , all games were played with this deck but i recorded the last 3 games only, sadly it doesnt have sound but this was the best i could do for the time being. Just for the record i also reached legend with this deck going almost undefeated from rank 3. You can also see in the *GAMEPLAY* section the match where i reach top 17 with this deck , i climbed from top 64 winning 3 games but recorded only one.
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WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM THIS GUIDE
This guide is made for intermediate players (rank 13 or above) who have some basic theory understanding and sense about the game and want to improve to either reach a high rank or even legend , if you are rank 18 or something and cant distinguise between curve and tech cards chances are that this guide will confuse you and you may apply it incorrectly , you will still win more than before but you will not get the most out of it , usually so low players have zero sense about the game and personal coaching is required , i could make a guide for these type of players but it would have to be more general and maybe not helpfull to better players , still if you are smart enough and have common sense you will benefit even if you are rank 18 , showcasing is also a better tool for these players so you may want to see that before reading the guide.
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DECK'S GUIDE
1. INTRODUCTION
Hybrid hunter was a deck that saw its glorious days before the release of argent tournament and league of explorers , it was among the best decks back then , since then other classes got several tools some of them are: Entomb , Living Roots , Bash , Justicar Trueheart , Mysterious Challenger , Flash Heal and so on.. , this had very negative effect for hunters overall , some great matchups like control warrior became far worse and some decent matchups like control priest became terrible or almost unwinnable , druid's Living Roots also made the matchup far worse for hunter since it screw ups hunter's opener and traps. This is the reason why a once god tier deck became a tier 3-4 deck according to tempostorm site.
Personally i abandoned hunter for quite some time but recently i experiment with the deck and saw some potential into it which led to me to legend and then to top 100 for some time (now i dropped to top 300) , the good news about hunter is that some matchups remained uneffected and hunter got some cards that can actually improve a lot its performance , the most notable one is Flame Juggler , that card is great and improves hunter's opener and consistency a TON , the other one is the Bear Trap , this is a very solid trap that none expects and can turn games around.
2. TERMINOLOGY & THEORY (for complete beginners)
Field advantage
Field advantage usually means when someone aims to dominate the field through a series of successfull minion trades. , when your minion survive a trade and your opponent's die then you get field advantage because you have more minions on the field.
Tempo advantage and initiative
Initiative is when you force your opponent to react to your game , aka you play threats first and then he plays his and you attack him first aswell , this is VERY important on hearthstone , it doesnt manifest usually on earlier rounds but when you reach late game like turn 6 or 7 and you have the initiative aka you can attack first then the damage can skyrocket because the threats will be bigger and you have more mana to use a lot of burst spells , this is why you should prioritize trading early and face later on , there isnt much to gain by smorcing face early on and if you lose the tempo you will be in a terrible position later on. You retain initiative and tempo through good trading and field advantage both of them are related.
3. MULLIGAN
This deck allows for very flexible mulligan compared to other decks due to the many 2-cost minions , the insane consistency makes it a better option in some cases to keep an Eaglehorn Bow or even a Piloted Shredder even without having early game because the chance to draw early minions is high , this is an incredible advantage because those cards are very important to help you stabilize your board during the mid-game and gain the tempo advantage you want especially Eaglehorn Bow is very important. Keep in mind the advice is strictly for this type of deck , if you cut even two of the 2-cost minions then the strategy will change A LOT because in that scenario we will have to make more safe mulligans or else we may hurt our early game significantly.
Lets see all the scenarios one by one:
GOING FIRST WITHOUT COIN
Our goal here is to go either 1-2-3 or 2-3 and in some cases 2-2/1 or even 1-2-2/1 (if you gamble expecting to draw a 1-cost minion)
Always keeps
Always keep only ONE of these: Mad Scientist > Flame Juggler > Haunted Creeper > Knife Juggler
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Always Keep only ONE of these: Leper Gnome or Webspinner
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Always keep only ONE of these: Eaglehorn Bow > Animal Companion. (experimental play and ONLY for this deck)
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Always keep a Piloted Shredder if you have perfect curve 2-3-4
Other keep scenarios
Keep two 2-cost minions if one is Haunted Creeper or Mad Scientist and the other is Knife Juggler or Flame Juggler.
Keep two 1-cost minions if you already have a 2-cost minion and the matchup is preferably against an aggro deck. (this is again a play only suited for this deck)
GOING SECOND WITH COIN
Our goal here is usually to go 2-2-3 or 1/1-2-3 or 2-2-2/1 , in some rare cases you will want to go 1-3-3 or 1-2/1-3 or even 1-2-3 (save coin for Unleash the Hounds / Knife Juggler combo vs pala usually or earlier Savannah Highmane vs warrior usually).
Always Keeps
Always keep only THREE of these: Mad Scientist > Flame Juggler > Haunted Creeper > Knife Juggler
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Always keep a 1-cost minion if you draw TWO of them or if you draw TWO 2-cost minions
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Always keep only ONE of these: Eaglehorn Bow > Animal Companion if you have preferably at least one 2-cost minion (experimental play ONLY for this deck)
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Always keep a Piloted Shredder if you have perfect curve 2-2-3-4
Other keep scenarios
Keep three 1-cost minions if you have a 2-cost minion against an aggro deck.
Keep one Piloted Shredder if you have a 2-cost minion and an Eaglehorn Bow or Animal Companion. (experimental play only for this deck)
These are the general mulligan rules and apply against every class but against some we need to make some minor but important exceptions without breaking the general mulligan rules.
EXCEPTIONS
You want to keep this against locks , hunters , mages and paladins ( vs paladin keep it if you have the coin ONLY and you have a Mad Scientist aswell ) , you aim to silence Nerubian Egg , Haunted Creeper , Mad Scientist ,Shielded Minibot , Doomsayer
You want to keep only ONE of this against everyone except maybe locks and hunters. You aim to kill Mana Wyrm , Acolyte of Pain , Deathlord , Armorsmith , Unstable Ghoul , Frothing Berserker, Zombie Chow , Northshire Cleric , Shielded Minibot , Piloted Shredder , Keeper of the Grove , Feral Spirit , Tomb Pillager or even a Druid of the Claw. Generally Eaglehorn Bow is a very strong card that improves hunter's trading capacity a ton early and since the deck has so many 2-costs you dont risk much by keeping it because the chance to draw a 2-cost minion is very high.
You never want to keep this against priest , its crucial to open with strong 2-costs minions to kill the Zombie Chow and the Northshire Cleric otherwise you will get outtempoed easily and lose. A case can be made for warriors too , some dont keep it because it doesnt really create any pressure and its a bad target for Acolyte of Pain too , personally i keep it , i guess everyone has his preferences , i wont blame you if you drop it vs warriors.
You want to keep only ONE of this and ONLY with coin against a paladin. Later im thinking to keep it against zoolocks too but im not sure yet.
You can keep only ONE of this when you go first if you have at least an Eaglehorn Bow or Animal Companion against druids,warriors,rogues (still its a risky and experimental play only for this deck) , you can also keep ONE when you have coin against druids,warrior,rogues and you can curve well at least for the first 2 turns.
You can potentially keep this against a priest ONLY in order to kill his Zombie Chow or Northshire Cleric , this is more of an experimental play.
I tried to cover as many scenarios as possible but its still hard to write every single thing about mulligan , i personally love to gamble and make strange keeps sometimes that end up pretty bad or pretty good for me but in this section i wrote the most solid and safe advice i could think of so if you follow it you should be fine.
4. STRATEGY AND DECISION MAKING
If i had to describe the decision making and strategy of this deck in few paragraphs it would be:
Trade when you should
Trade only if you will gain field advantage or initiative with a strong minion , if you face a serious threat that will cause you to lose tempo(like an aoe spell or a strong but killable minion) , if you have Eaglehorn Bow or if its neccesary otherwise go face and let the opponent trade with you. Usually you want to trade early to get a tempo advantage and go face later on to finish the game with all the tempo you have gained because the longer the game drags the more you lose that tempo advantage so you dont want to drag it for too long especially against decks with better late game than yours. If you failed to generate tempo early on then you either have to fight for it on the mid-game or go for a sucidal push , this depends a lot on your hand.
Push when you should
At mid-late game see if you have enough burst and if the opponent can recover from it if you push , if he cant recover then you mostly want to push and finish him on the next turn otherwise if you dont have enough burst play abit more safe and keep field on check usually you want to push around turn 7 and preferably after you have dropped your Savannah Highmane but opportunities for a push can arise earlier aswell so always look out for them.
Play aggressive and dont be too scared
Dont play around cards like Swipe , Reno Jackson , heals or lethal combos especially if you are behind , there are alot of times you will have to gamble and push because this will be your best winning chance, these cards will not be on your opponent's hands usually more than 50% of the time. Always choose the winning play rather than the safe play unless its too obvious you will lose thats my style , you play safe only if you are ahead and there is no need to risk it.
Make an ugly play if its the best play you can do
Sometimes you will have to play Arcane Golem on turn 3 to trade with a minion or play Unleash the Hounds against one minion or drop a Knife Juggler against a Mad Scientist or even a Leper Gnome , most low rank players seem to avoid these plays and instead prefer to use hero power and pass and this is wrong usually. The problem is that you lose tempo and in some cases losing tempo can be even worse than making the ugly play , you want to make the best possible decisions on every turn even if they look ugly.
5. MATCHUPS AND COUNTERS
Vs Druid 50/50
This is not a good matchup for hybrid but it is not a terrible one either , if the druid has a perfect draw then there is nothing you can do but guess what , druid is an inconsistent deck while our deck has the consistency advantage , we pretty much almost always have a decent opener while druid sometimes will be with big minions and no Wild Growth and others wih Dr. Boom and 2 Innervate therefore it evens out in the long run. Trade in this matchup only if you can afford it or if its neccesary , otherwise you want to hit face , dont suicide all your board on Piloted Shredder or Keeper of the Grove unless you have Eaglehorn Bow or Quick Shot (for Piloted Shredder only) or you can take the initiative with a Savannah Highmane on the next turn , also dont play too much around Swipe , this is a tough matchup and you want to play aggressive and risk.
Vs Hunter 50/50
This matchup is all about luck and who opens better , you want to trade early if that would wield a tempo advantage or field advantage , call it whatever you want , same goes for later stages too but usually on later stages if you are in advantageous position then you want to push to end it , hunter have no way to heal so if you smorc them hard they simply lose , this doesnt mean you should ignore field control or else he may turn it around with a tempo swing move.
Vs Secretdin 60/40 on our favor
This is a slightly good matchup for hunter because of Unleash the Hounds and because hunter has a powerfull curve capable to stop paladin and also secretdin doesnt have any heal , your aim here is the same as usual , trade if its lucrative otherwise go face and let him trade with you , you should play around Avenge and not proc it unless you can deal with it and pretty much you should never play Unleash the Hounds alone if you have a Knife Juggler , Knife Juggler and Unleash the Hounds can win games on this matchup. In some cases if you draw Knife Juggler and Unleash the Hounds you want to save coin to play them together unless you dont have an option or you will hurt your curve a lot.
Vs Murlockdin 60/40 on our favor
Nothing special here , make good trades and go face , he simply reacts to what you are doing , you mostly want to end it before he is capable to heal but even if he heals its not a big deal , murlockdins cant put a lot of pressure on you so you may have the chance to kill them multiple times , i have won against murlockdins who used 3-4 heals in a single game also another tip , you want to play a bit around Consecration unless you are behind and have no choice.
Vs Rogue 55/45 on our favor
There is not much to say about this matchup , you simply play your cards and rogue reacts to them so its kinda automatic matchup , you should aim to trade a bit more here because rogue has a lot of aoe therefore he wont neccesarily trade with you still if the trade doesnt wield a field advantage or its suicidal then you shouldnt do it unless its neccesary.
Vs Zoolock 60/40 on our favor
This matchup is similar to the hunter's one , you aim to take a field advantage early then push for victory later on , a tip can give you is to play Knife Juggler first if opponent played Voidwalker and save Mad Scientist for later , he will rarely have Dire Wolf Alpha or Abusive Sergeant because they dont keep these cards. Try to trade early a bit more to not allow him to play Sea Giant otherwise he may outtempo you pretty hard , avoid trading with Imp Gang Boss instead let it trade with you and kill spawns one by one if you can otherwise go face.
Vs Renolock 50/50
Simple matchup , try to play around Mind Control Tech and aoe , dunnot allow him to Shadowflame unless its suicidal to do so (dont trade with a Twilight Drake or Piloted Shredder to achieve this) , overall its very simple , if he draw Reno Jackson then you almost lose otherwise you destroy him , i have actually won games where he played Reno Jackson but these wins will be rare and you need to dominate the field pretty hard to achieve this.
Vs Shaman 50/50
This matchup is all about who opens better , make good trades if you can otherwise go face , not much to say about this one.
Vs Priest 25/75 on priest's favor
This matchup is your worst nightmare because he can pretty much destroy and negate anything you can do , he can use Entomb on Savannah Highmane , aoe and heal everything , your best bet in this matchup is to open well and kill his early minions and Deathlord and then hope he is unlucky or Deathlord summons a Savannah Highmane or something like this , on late game you pretty much want to go all in because you will never be able to sustain field control or outplay him somehow , its ok every deck has a counter and some have hard counters too , this one isnt even a hard counter but its probably one of the worst matchups in the game.
Vs Control Warrior 40/60 on warrior's favor
This matchup is bad but winnable , you want to kill Acolyte of Pain , Armorsmith and Deathlord and after that you want to avoid trading unless a very very good trade opportunity arise , in this matchup you dont want to waste your hero power , warrior will mostly react to your threats but if you throw too many of them and curve well you will find out that he is dieing , try not to waste your hero power if you can afford it , its very important to save as many cards as possible for later damage and dont trade with a 2 or 1 attack minion with Acolyte of Pain. let it trade with you and go face. A lot depends if he draw Justicar Trueheart or not , if he draw it on time then you lost otherwise its winnable.
Vs Patron Warrior 50/50
This is matchup is simple and similar to control warrior , you want to trade early and then go face unless a good trade opportunity arise , this matchup depends entirely on warrior's hand , if he has early combo then you most likely lose unless you opened and outempoed him pretty hard , if he doesnt draw combo then you will probably win , its the same as with druid , we have the advantage of consistency here while his deck is inconsistent therefore it evens out in the long run.
Vs Tempo Mage 55/45 on our favor
Tempo mage is similar to hunter and zoolock , you trade early then go face , if he lose the field or dont outtempo you hard then he wont be able to deal with your late game threats and eventually lose , his best bet is to somehow control you early which isnt easy unless he is lucky with the Flamewaker combo and then finish you off with Fireball , if he doesnt bring you on lethal range then you will destroy him on the late game with either Savannah Highmane or a good push to face. The best tip for this matchup is to play around Mirror Entity but in some cases when you are behind you may want to risk it and drop a big threat because the chance that a Mad Scientist spawned a Mirror Entity is around 33% since almost all tempo mages these days play 3 different traps usually Duplicate and Counterspell along with Mirror Entity.
vs Freeze Mage 60/40 on our favor
Most important tip here , never use Ironbeak Owl on Mad Scientist or Acolyte of Pain but always save it for Doomsayer , this matchup as any other control matchup is automatic , you drop threats and he reacts to them , there is nothing special about it , just go face face and avoid trading in this matchup.
6. TIPS AND TRICKS
Learn to bluff
Yeah thats right , this one of the reasons why hunter is so much fun , you can actually BLUFF with it , how you ask me?
You have Bear Trap down, just play a Knife Juggler and 100% of players even at legend ladder will think you have a Snake Trap and they will attack face to confirm it , they cant do much about it after all , its 50/50 you have a Snake Trap or a Bear Trap so you cant blame them for their decision making.
100% of players think you have an Explosive Trap because almost none plays Bear Trap , if opponent has a lot of minions down try to leave some of them with 2 health and he will NEVER attack your face because of Explosive Trap fear! I played against someone at legend who had a 23/3 Frothing Berserker and i attacked him with a hound and he never attacked face and instead traded with it! funny right?
Try to be as creative as possible with your traps and this can win games in some cases or leave you in a severe advantage.
Weapon usage
Never ever attack face with the Eaglehorn Bow unless you are about to end the game , even if you play it at turn 3 and opponent has nothing then save it and simply dont attack , you mostly want to trade with Eaglehorn Bow unless you go allin face.
Use attacks before spells when going allin
Very simply you have Arcane Golem and Eaglehorn Bow? then try to burst first with those and save Kill Command and Quick Shot for later because you may not get the chance to attack later if he plays a taunt minion like Sludge Belcher or Defender of Argus.
Never waste mana and always think ahead for your curve
Do you have a Eaglehorn Bow and two 2-cost minions on turn 3? i see alot on lower ranks prefer to play a minion here and this is bad , you want to play your Eaglehorn Bow and pass and play on turn 4 your two minions.
Other mistake on lower ranks , they have 2 mana left and have to choose between hero power and a trap , most choose hero power because the trap doesnt have an immediate impact and this clearly almost always wrong , you want to play the trap no matter what because you may draw something on the next turn you want to play and you wont be able to play the trap then , also you should never assume that a trap will be useless for significant amount of time , this is almost never true.
Save Unleash the Hounds for later
You should try not to play Unleash the Hounds as fast as possible unless its neccesary or too good to avoid especially if you have a Knife Juggler , you want to save it and play it along with Knife Juggler for a game finishing effect.
Curve well
In almost all cases you want to play Mad Scientist first because his death will deckthin your deck and improve your draws , also it wont leave you in a disadvantage and the traps can combo with your other minions. In some cases a Haunted Creeper or even a Knife Juggler can be better if it will curve well against opponent's field.
Sacrifice health for tempo and think ahead
I see a lot of people try to deal with enemy threats immediately , dont do this always , try not to waste mana and dont attack either if the trade is too bad and you cant attack face , yes you will take a bit of damage but you want to take damage to improve your tempo on a future turn because without tempo you cant win either and you will be severely behind , in this case sacrificing health for tempo is the best thing you can do.
A good example would be , you are on turn 4 and you have Piloted Shredder , Eaglehorn Bow and Haunted Creeper and opponent has a 2/3 minion , most on lower ranks will play the weapon to kill the minion but this is wrong , yes if you play the shredder he will attack face and you will take abit of damage BUT on your next turn you will be on even better position than if you played the Eaglehorn Bow.
Dont waste your hero power
Common mistake among low rank players , you have 2 empty mana and only Quick Shot on your hand unless you plan to kill a minion here you should never ever Quick Shot because you waste 2 damage this way , most low rank players do this though.
Another , you have 4 mana , Eaglehorn Bow and a 2-cost minion , most low rank will play Eaglehorn Bow here , the correct play is to use hero power and minion and next turn Eaglehorn Bow and hero power.
Never ever waste your hero power unless you plan to curve or kill a minion with a spell and in some cases using hero power is better than curve with a minion when you want to pressure to end it and the minion wont put better pressure than hero power.
Always use your coin when going second to play a 2-cost minion
In some cases you will have only one 2-cost minion when going second and you will not have a follow up on the next turn , in that case you should still play your one 2-cost minion because there are so many 2-cost minions in the deck and the chance to draw one on the next turn is VERY GOOD.
Dont suicide your minions always to a taunt minion unless you can kill it
Thats very important , its not always true but often it is , you dont want to suicide your minions to a taunt minion but instead play your minions and simply pass and let him trade with you , you should attack the taunt minion only when you can kill it , in some cases where you expect opponent to use removal or kill your minions without using the taunt minion then you should attack the taunt minion.
7. DECKBUILDING CHOICES AND METAGAME
Why Flame Juggler?
This card is sick and its the reason this deck is good now , its 2-cost which improves your early game and consistency something that hunter lacked to some extend , i dare to say this is one of the best if not the best 2-cost minions in the game, It can screw up a lot of openers and win you the game right away with a very strong tempo move. Its essentially a Knife Juggler without the minion summon requirement and a solid body.
Why Bear Trap?
I always understimated this card but it really works very well , it also improves the consistency of the deck because its not too bad if you are unlucky and draw it on your first hand , it combos perfectly with Knife Juggler and has the element of surprise going for it because none is expect it in this metagame , some are not even aware of its existence. In this metagame its better than Freezing Trap or Explosive Trap but still inferior to the best hunter trap and that is the Snake Trap.
Why no Glaivezooka?
Well personally i think this card is bad and Flame Juggler is MUCH better , i dont remember the last time i kept Glaivezooka on my first hand and it also doesnt curve well with Eaglehorn Bow and imo Eaglehorn Bow>>>>>>>> Glaivezooka, it also screw a lot the consistency of the deck.
Why Webspinner instead of Abusive Sergeant?
The reason is simple , Abusive Sergeant is not always a usefull card and is not something you can keep in your hand on the early game , yes sometimes you will combo it with Haunted Creeper but these times are rare , Webspinner is more solid drop and improves the consistency of the deck , Webspinner can offer SICK value and is also a beast.
Why no Hunter's Mark?
Hunter's Mark is not a bad tech but its only usefull in few matchups and those matchups are beyond saving , most likely priest , my motto is to maximize consistency and beat the matchups i can beat , you dont need to improve the priest matchup because its so terrible , its beyond saving. Of course Hunter's Mark is usefull vs warrior and druids aswell , these days they are playing Deathlord and Ancient of War , so its not something that i have abandoned but im not considering it for the time being , if you want to play it then i wont blame you , the best canditate for replacement is probably one of the 1-cost minions or one Haunted Creeper.
Why no Explosive Trap?
Explosive Trap is good in three matchups , those are secretdins , hunters and zoolocks maybe shamans too to some extend , its a dead draw on any other matchup and its very predictable on the good matchups aswell and good players will play around it and almost negate it , Bear Trap performs already too good on all the above matchups but its also better on the control matchups , they dont expect it and this has a positive effect. How many times did they kill your Mad Scientist and they had another minion to attack with and proc your trap or how many times did you have an Explosive Trap in your hand that did nothing? in this swarmy or very control meta Bear Trap negates this disadvantage , its a much more solid choice. Explosive Trap still suffers from the same syndrome Freezing Trap suffers , it procs on inappropriate times and has no value or even negative value.
Why no Dr. Boom?
Dr. Boom is a bit too slow for this deck , usually you want to initiate your final push after you drop your Savannah Highmane , also Dr. Boom is a target for Big Game Hunter who is a very popular tech atm among the best decks even zoolocks! and also can potentially give a target to Mind Control Tech aswell , im not saying its a bad card by any means but its not for this deck for many different reasons.
Is there any replaceable card on this deck?
No there isnt because every single card fullfill a very important role , the only cards you can potentially replace are either one Haunted Creeper or one of the 1-cost minions and even then its a tough call and you have to know what you are doing therefore i dont recommend it.
8. EPILOGUE
So this was my guide , i tried my best to express my thoughts , i may still missed some stuff but none is perfect , also this guide is a bit rushed up and not very well written but as i said on my first paragraph my aim is not to hype myself or draw tons of viewers but to redirect here people who ask me daily about how to move up in ranks , nevertheless i will try to improve it as much as i can and keep it updated even after standard because i think hybrid hunter will be viable even then. I hope you find it usefull and win with it.
GL & HF
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GAMEPLAY AND SHOWCASING
Showcasing playing myself against top legend players and ladder (will be updated with more)
In this video i reach top 17 playing vs zoolock
Showcasing playing myself against randoms in casual , rank 5 up to legend players
On these videos i play some casual games against randoms who i estimate they are at least rank 5 due to my casual mode mmr being high enough , i recorded these games purely for demostration purposes and not to show you how much i win (even though i won all of them) also you shouldnt take away from them that i was lucky or whatever , i want to show you with these games *how it usually goes with these matchups* , yes the outcome could be different but if you play well you will win in the long run.
Vs Aggro Shaman
Vs Aggro Shaman 2
Vs Control Warrior
Vs Otk Patron Warrior
Showcasing by Kiwiinbacon (a multilegend player and famous deckbuilder)
Kiwiinbacon plays a match against a secretdin.
There is one truth in this post and that is that the video takes too long and the good part is that i have ALL the matchups people strungle with, i will try to have them here today , i see some misconceptions in this post and probably due to a mindset problem , this deck doesnt have any problem to handle shamans or any kind of early pressure , i know this because i crush shamans with it , its just that the lower rank player dont understand the priorities of curve and how he can take some beats in order to strungle his opponent's tempo on a future turn which is used often against shaman to win games , lower rank players think only for the current turn and try to respond on threats out of fear or agony or enthusiasm , you should always plan ahead , curve correctly and think how you can lock down or strungle your opponent on a future turn , saying that the deck is not fast enough means that you arent trying to control the board in a proper way , you shouldnt ever try to fix your mindset leak with cards that improve it but instead you should try to improve your skill so that you dont need those cards.
I added some but i wait for more and higher quality ones , you should get an idea from them though.
I wanted to add much more on this guide but since i see that wog will be released on 26th i think its pointless now, after all this is a deck guide and not a general one , legends who aim for a high finish wont be able to push with this deck so its pointless for them but low ranks can still benefit if they plan to hit legend or rank 5 before release , the guy i coached who was stuck on rank 18 and had zero sense about the game managed to reach rank 4 on his own with this deck and he still makes mistakes so if he is capable to do that then i believe anyone who read and understand this guide can go even higher , anyway i will give up on this guide for now but i will add the matchups i prepared if i ever get them , i may create a new guide when wog is out and make it more readable and detailed aswell , i think this guide isnt as detailed as it should especially the matchup section and doesnt hit the point too much , the coachings i did made me a bit better to understand the mindset of a lower rank player so i believe the next guide will be much better. Cya at wog.
I'm a little unclear here. You're saying it isn't that good in a control heavy meta versus a lot of control decks ... but then describe struggling turns 1-3 against a lot of 1hp minions like Leper Gnome. Control decks don't run many 1hp minions, nor do they run Leper Gnome. Those are much more aggro oriented. It sounds like there may be some confusion about what types of decks you're going up against.
If you're having trouble telling opponent decks apart or correctly identifying them, then it is likely you're making the wrong strategic choices (starting from the mulligan stage). Variance definitely plays a role in some games turning in one player's favor, but a turn 2 or turn 3 missed ping against an opponent's 1-drop should not be consistently losing you games. Beyond whether you play this deck or not, it sounds like it would benefit you a lot as a player to look into recording and submitting your games for analysis by other players.
Im surprised you think midrange druids are hard because lately i destroy druids with insane winratio and i start to think that this matchup might be slighty good for this hunter , i even win games where i get rekted in the early game , if you are rank 10 im pretty sure you are making tons of mistakes thats my experience with spectating people on your rank , hell even players at rank 5 make a dozen of them , im not saying that i would never lose but what im saying is that if you are having so much trouble climbing then luck is not the real problem , also the reason i made this guide is so that the people will make less mistakes than their opponents on their respective ranks.
Control priest and control warrior are generally harder decks than hunter to play but their matchup against hunter is not really hard , in a cw vs hunter matchup the skill required by both sides is about the same or i would say that hunter requires slightly more that is what confuse most players who switch to control warrior when they lose with their aggro and then get crushed when they play against other combo or control decks where a lot of skill is required. In the end of the day these decks are higher tier and are all bad matchups for hunter so you should be looking to make less mistakes , try to switch to the best anticontrol deck there is and you will see that your results will remain exactly the same because in the end of the day skill matters more than the deck itself otherwise i wouldnt make so big of a guide.
So are you a legend then? because if you win 70-75% of your games then you should be on legend , if you have such winrate yes there is no reason to try another deck and you should be standing on the top right now , my estimation based on what you said is that your winrate with any deck combined is around 50% and thats the case for anyone who is stuck on a specific rank below legend.
I cant tell you with certainty how much time you need to invest and what winrate is required , i would need a variance calculator to do that , there are some who believe thats its possible to reach legend even with lower than 50%(true winrate) because its possible to hit the negative side of the flip many times in a row , nevertheless 75%wr(assuming its real) is way too much if its not up until a specific rank and you wouldnt need to grind 10hours to get to legend , i can get much faster with less than this , a winrate is only relevant up until a specific rank , if you never got to a specific rank then its impossible to predict your winrate , if you are playing a lot and are stuck right now then your real winrate cant possibly surpass 50% , who knows i dont know your real situation , it might be that you simply play one game per 2 days or something but in this case you dont have a clear picture about your winrate and its pointless to discuss this.
I dont play 10hours per day , actually i dont play at all due to job , i play a lot only 2-3 times per month and thats when im pushing for legend or pushing for top 100 at the end of the season.
True winrate = your winrate without the effect of variance
Real winrate = the winrate you see and have right now
vs Druid 25max
25 games in thus far and I am at a 60% win rate. I am hoping that number comes up a bit in later games. Fun deck though! Can't seem to get past those Secretdins and Reno decks. Very well done and detailed guide though, I learned alot from reading it and really appreciate the time you put into it.
very nice deck! 2-0 so far... but i like the flow and mix of face/mid game... both times i had just enough to finish them off before they started ramping - 1 rogue 1 priest
Just a sick deck, played 20Games between rank 10-5 with a 75% Winrate :)
Well i struggle a bit now betweend rank 5 and 4... Completly different Meta. Overall Winrate decreased to 64%, still like the Deck...
I loved playing Hybrid in past seasons, and still enjoy Midrange even though it's not high tier currently. There's something about these Hunter decks in how rich and dynamic the card interactions and strategies feel. Thank you for inspiring me to delve back into a Hybrid style.
This is a phenomenal guide. Thank your for your mindset and commitment to educating. As a rank 10-5 player, I learned a couple of key strategic points which will improve my piloting of Hunter. For example, I was definitely one of those players who had a hard time dropping a Knife Juggler turn 2 into the jaws of a Gnome or Scientist. Coining the 2-drop even without a second 2-drop is another important skill I can learn to utilize.
+1'd, favorited, followed. I will keep you in mind when I consider investing in coaching in the coming months.
Can I fit King's Elekk somewhere?This card is amazing from my experience
Nah , its not that good compared to other 2-cost minions , it may see some play though after standard is out in a heavy 2-cost build like my deck.
Really good guide, that you put a lot of effort into writing.
I don't play hunter, always hated the class due to the 18 months or so the deck dominated the ladder as the easiest class to get legend with utterly abusive cards in an environment that couldn't do anything to stop the onslaught. However, as we know things have changed (for the better), and I don't mind a bit of steady shot now :)
I had to pick up some Hunter wins for a couple daily quests so chose your deck. The most impressive part though was the guide where you actually put really good strategy down, which if read carefully, would improve your play with the class, and in general. You're right about the Priest matchup - first 4/5 games against those damn clerics and Deathlords haha.
Bookmarked for whenever I decide to play some Hunter and need to brush up on my strategy.
Well done.
This is so funny , as i was trying to get some more material for showcasing to you guys i reached top 17 with the deck , the last match was against a zoolock and i recorded it , i also played a nice match against a druid , sadly didnt recorded it. Nevertheless im expecting the material i have prepared to be ready tommorow , its against top players and really really bad matchups , sadly its a bit of a risk to play ladder now with the purpose to meet a priest or a warrior , the last thing i want now is to meet a rank 5000 legend or rank 3 priest to drag me back to legend hell.
I also coached a guy to rank 8 from rank 18 and we could do more but no time , i noticed myself there is indeed a lot of reno , priest and warrior around rank 10-9 , these players are very beatable with this deck but you need to have the skills aswell and there is a reason there is so much control on these ranks , most players dont have the skills to play an aggro deck like hunter correctly and lose to these control players and then copy them and this has created this plague , of course you will lose sometimes , anyone will do but you should be able to beat them most of the time if you are playing well. If you are too worried about it then you can add one hunter's mark instead of one leper gnome in the deck but i wouldnt really be worried.
GL & HF laddering , i hope the material is ready tommorow
It's a pretty good dick. Thanks. Kripparian here.
How bad is it to switch a Piloted Shredder with a Kezan Mystic?
I don't think it's that bad... if you are facing a lot of freeze mages then you can add a kezan. If you are facing a lot of secret paladins you can tech in a flare