Hearthpwn

 

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  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 have made 2 guides on hearthpwn , you can find them here:

Hybrid hunter: http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/471108-s25-top-17-legend-hybrid-hunter-in-depth-guide

Pirate warrior: http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/512320-top-50-legend-75-wr-pirate-aggro-guide

My goal with these guides is to help players improve at hearthstone and reach higher ranks , it also helps me aswell because i get feedback for the deck and im also forced to learn it better.

This is kinda my second reno hunter guide , i think my first guide was way off and i shouldnt make it at first place , not before reaching legend with the deck at least and also have some experience with it too , now i think the deck is more refined and has a clear goal  and i also made legend with the deck with a decent winrate and reached top 100 with it and i feel i have enough experience to share my thoughts about it.

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PROOF OF SUCCESS WITH THIS DECK

I climbed all the way with this deck from rank 4 to legend in one day , i lost only three games but i didnt record any games , i took only a ss in the last game. You can see more proof on the gameplay section on the bottom of the guide , i added some games and i plan to add more during the next days.

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1. INTRODUCTION

After the release of wog hunter was on a weird spot . it lost all his core which includes: Mad Scientist , Haunted Creeper , Webspinner and even Loatheb besides that  some of his key cards like Knife Juggler and Leper Gnome got nerfed , what is left now for hunter are powerhouse late game cards like Call of the Wild and N'Zoth, the Corruptor but really bad early game cards , hunter's early game is among the worst right now and hunter's mid game is mediocre with the indirect nerf to Eaglehorn Bow (Mad Scientist ban) , hunter is a completely new class now and some of his old archetypes like hybrid or face are pretty much dead , yes you will still win with them even on legend but the point here is to compete with the best decks on the game and have a chance to top legend , our goal is to find the best and most optimal way to play the class and its pretty clear that aggresive hunter is no longer the way , beast hunter is good i admit with the Carrion Grub -> Houndmaster -> Ram Wrangler combo but  beast hunter cannot abuse the insane late game of hunter especially if it doesnt have a good opening , that alone make it an inferior deck in my opinion , its still a solid choice and with a lot of work its capable for top legend but i will stand by my opinion about hunters , deathrattles and control is the optimal and pro way for hunters.

After a lot of experiment with many deathrattle builds i realized that  Reno Jackson and mass removal are a neccesity for this deck in this new age without Antique Healbot , also deathrattle hunter doesnt lose too much if you play all cards x1 , in some cases its even better , you can now have both Sylvanas Windrunner and Savannah Highmane

 

 

 

2.   GENERAL STRATEGY AND THEORY   

I added a lot of this stuff in my first guide , i wont add in this guide  because its way too big and not everyone is interested in general theory and strategy stuff. If you are interested then you should check this link:  http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/537349-hearthstone-strategy-and-theory , it nearly includes everything you want to know.

 

 

3.  MULLIGAN

The mulligan with this deck is easier than an aggro deck , this will confuse some who see a slow control deck and then think that it might be complicated , thats not the case at all when it comes to mulligan ,  mulligan is more complicated with aggro because of the many combos and draws that can arise early for an aggro deck and therefore the mulligan impact is higher and deeper understanding of the chance and math is required compared to a control deck where the mulligan is  as simple as keeping good early cards no matter how they look and discard the rest.

 

ALWAYS KEEPS

 You should always keep good early cards these include:  Sir Finley Mrrgglton , Loot Hoarder , Huge Toad , Flame Juggler , King's Elekk , Fiery Bat , Acolyte of Pain and Eaglehorn Bow , you cant keep all of them always except the 1-cost ones , you should look to keep just enough to fill your early game curve , if you have enough early game then you can even keep a 4-cost minion or mulli for it.

 

KEEPS AGAINST SPECIFIC DECK TYPES

Control

Against very slow control decks like control warrior you can  keep  Twilight Summoner  or even Savannah Highmane , you can experiment with these keeps only vs slow decks.

 

Aggro

Against aggro decks like aggro shaman , aggrodin , pirate warrior or face hunter  you should keep Reno Jackson  because he can win you the game and if you dont draw him you will be in trouble

 

Weapon Classes

Against shamans , warriors and paladins you should keep Acidic Swamp Ooze to destroy Fiery War Axe ,Doomhammer and Truesilver Champion

 

Zoolocks

Against warlocks you should keep Unleash the Hounds and Mind Control Tech

 

Shamans

Against shamans you can keep Hunter's Mark for the Flamewreathed Faceless

 

 

4.  STRATEGY AND MATCHUPS

This deck specialize at killing shamans , warriors and paladins , its a coinflip against anything else and a huge dog maybe vs miracle rogue but if you are favorite against the three classes i mentioned then you are already far ahead since they are the most popular classes right now , i think thats the reason aswell i made the legend with such a good winrate.

 

Vs Druid 50/50

Some druids play C'Thun but most of druids now prefer a ramp archetype with Fandral Staghelm , Ancient of War and Cenarius both of these decks are similar anyway and thats why i dont separate them , druid does the same thing at both of them and that is drop big threat earlier than you expect them . Druid's curve can be stronger than our own before the late game , of course there is a chance that we may curve just as good with Twilight Summoner -> Princess Huhuran combo but we will do so less often , the good news is that we have the tools to deal with druid's big threats , those tools are Sylvanas Windrunner,  Deadly Shot and  Hunter's Mark , if we manage to survive and stabilize the game until late then we will destroy the druid. Sylvanas Windrunner is the best card in this matchup to steal Ancient of War

 

Vs  Hunter 50/50

Most hunters play a beast archetype with double Call of the Wild and N'Zoth, the Corruptor , our late game is about the same but beast hunter's curve is slightly better than our with Carrion Grub -> Houndmaster , Beast hunter has the power of consistency on his side but we have Reno Jackson and also a superior late game so this matchup can do either way , it depends alot who gets the momentum and is more lucky.

 

Vs Paladin Control  55/45 - we are favorite

Our late game is about the same as paladin's and both of us have a lot of removal and heal , the good news are that despite the similarity of our decks  , we have one big difference and that is the early-midgame , paladin's deck is filled with reactive passive cards like Doomsayer while our own is filled with cards that we can pressure with and this force the pala to use his removal earlier and leave him with nothing against our bigger threats , as long as he use Wild Pyromancer and Equality before you drop nzoth then you almost won and this happens often.

 

Vs   Aggrodin  55/45  - we are favorite

We have the tools to deal with aggrodins , we have tons of mass removal and full heal , aggrodin doesnt have enough reach so we can take  damage to establish field control , sometimes we will still not draw our Reno Jackson and will get outcurved and lose.

 

Vs Miracle  Rogue  40/60  - we are the outsider

Miracle rogue is incredibly hard for our deck because we can hardly keep up with its speed  and stop it somehow , we can only win if the rogue is unlucky and this will happen sometimes because miracle is inconsistent  and also requires a lot of skillcap and missuse of cards can lead to fatal mistakes , curve well , save your Deadly Shot for Gadgetzan Auctioneer and pray.

 

Vs  Deathrattle rogue  50/50 

Deathrattle rogue is more consistent and also has superior draw power but we have better late game cards and Reno Jackson , this is highly dependent on opening and luck.

 

Vs Renolock 60/40 - we are favorite

This is very good matchup for us because renolock has no way to deal with our late game threats , usually two things happen in this matchup , he either die to early pressure or he survive but he has no way to deal with the continuous threats of this deck , i have won many if not all matchups where they played Reno Jackson by simply running them out of removal and options.

 

Vs  Zoolock  50/50

This matchup is similar to vs hunter's one , it can go either way and depends a lot on draws , momentum and opening ,

 

Vs  Priest  50/50

Priest comes in many variations and all of them are equally popular these include Dragon , cthun , deathrattle or classic control decks , all of them are similar ,     priests no longer have Lightbomb , you can flood them without fear of losing everything but they still have a lot of tools to deal with our late game , some of them are  Entomb and now they have Excavated Evil too , priest control is among the few control decks who have answers for our late game but it can still go either way depending if they draw them or not.

 

Vs Control Warrior 60/40 - we are favorite

Warrior control decks come in many variations , these include  Dragon , cthun or even classic decks ,  classic decks are more popular atm.  Control warrior has no chance to deal with our threats and he will run out of cards by doing so , its very easy to reach late game with him and dominate , this as any control deck is a good matchup for us.

 

Vs Patron Warrior 50/50

Patrons no longer can pull early combo and these are good news for us since we will be able to deal with it more often , the bad news are that his early curve is stronger than our own and we may fall behind , this is why most warriors succeed these days , their early game is so much stronger than everyone else that even a deck like zoolock get destroyed all the time , despite that we dont get hurt as much as other decks from warrior's early curve and mass removal  and if we manage to stabilize and reach late then we will win thats why this game can go either way.

 

Vs Tempo Warrior  55/45 - we are favorite

This deck is exactly like patron warrior and their only difference is that they use different finisher , the first use patrons while the second use  Varian Wrynn and big minions like Malkorok and Cairne Bloodhoof , patrons are more of a threat to us since they can happen early and snowball , tempo warrior's late cards are not so much of a threat because we have the best late game and we also have the best tools to deal with opponent's late game threats , still the early game of warrior is so powerfull and this will make us lose some games.

 

vs  Shaman 60/40  - we are favorite

Shaman comes in two variations , one is aggro with Lava Burst , Lightning Bolt and x2 Doomhammer ,  the other is midrange with  Thing from Below and Bloodlust , both of them are similar and thats why i dont separate them , your goal is simple here , you try to control the game until late and eventually shaman will run out of cards and you will win with your late game threats , if he doesnt manage to put fatal pressure to you then he will be in trouble ,  Reno Jackson is mvp in this matchup since he help you stabilize the game until late almost always ,  this matchup is very favorable for us because we can dominate the field easily with our removals , we have an answer for doomahmmer and also a lot of heals and taunts.

 

Vs  Tempo Mage  55/45 - we are favorite

This matchup is similar to shaman's  but with one big exception , tempo mage's pressure is nowhere near shaman's level ,  tempo mages these days trade early pressure for hand advantage with cards like  Cabalist's Tome  , they try to play it more like a control deck with a strong late game but no late game is stronger than our own  , they dont have a chance to deal with our late game threats and they cant heal either , if they dont put fatal pressure early on to us then its over for them.

 

Vs  Freeze Mage  55/45 - we are favorite

Freeze mage is a good matchup for us since we can pressure him with this deck just fine and we also have full heal for Alexstrasza  and Deadly Shot plus  Hunter's Mark for Doomsayer , freeze mages can no longer survive as much as they did before with the  Mad Scientist and it should be easier to wreck them down.

 

 

5. COMBOS AND CARD USAGE

 

How to use Sir Finley Mrrgglton

Vs Slow Control  (control warrior , control priest)

Warlock>Mage>Druid>Rogue>Paladin>Priest>Shaman

Vs  Otk Control  (miracle rogue , freeze mage)

Warrior>Druid>Warlock>Mage>Rogue>Priest>Paladin>Shaman

Vs Aggro or Midrange (basically anything else)

Warlock>Mage>Druid>Rogue>Paladin>Priest>Shaman>Warrior

 

Save your coin as much as you can

You should not coin aggresively with this deck like you would do with an aggro deck because if you coin a 2-cost minion  and you dont have another one in your hand then the chance to draw one on the next turn is very small and you will hurt your curve , you should curve aggressively only if you have to respond to a dangerous threat or you can get a big advantage by doing so.

 

A Body is more important than an effect

Thats not the case always but usually it is , do you have Princess Huhuran on turn 5 without a deathrattle target? its ok you should still play it most of the time especially if you dont have any other good candidate for that turn because you will lose much more if you dont play it , the tempo you will lose will be significant.

 

 

6. DECKBUILDING CHOICES AND METAGAME

My aim with this build is to curve well and put some pressure while at the same time having a decent draw power which will allow you to draw into your reno and removals which will help you stabilize and win later on with your superior late game.

I only comment on card choices that may look strange , anything else is pretty much standar.

 

Why Psych-o-Tron?

Psych-o-Tron is almost equal to a  Sludge Belcher , it improves the defensive capability of the deck alot.

 

Why Bear Trap?

Bear Trap is the most solid and consistent trap atm , it has no weakness and it also can help the curve of this deck early in the game , any other trap is a dead draw early and can also fail to achieve its purpose.

  

Why  Infested Tauren instead of Infested Wolf ?

The taunt of Infested Tauren has MUCH better impact in our game , there were some people who said this card will be trash , its the complete opposite , this card is really great on a nzoth deck , Infested Wolf doesnt help our game enough and there much better cards for his cost thats why i dont include him on the deck , its a pure beast hunter deck card.

 

Why Cult Apothecary?

Cult Apothecary  is the new Antique Healbot in a similar way that Psych-o-Tron is the new Sludge Belcher , this card works very well and is a decent body aswell , it is much better than Antique Healbot on the matchups that you really need it.

 

Why Acolyte of Pain out of all 3-costs?

Acolyte of pain is a great 3-cost and and it helps the purpose of this deck immensely , it also combos with  wild pyromancer and mage's hero power when you take it with Sir Finley Mrrgglton

 

Why no  Kill Command , Animal Companion and Houndmaster?

The answer is the same for all these cards , these cards simply dont help the purpose of this deck and no matter how good they look , you dont want to play cards that have nothing special to offer for your strategy.

 

 

Cards that may improve this deck

 

The Black Knight

This card can be strong in this meta due to many taunts like Thing from Below , Dark Arakkoa , Ancient of War , Twin Emperor Vek'lor and so on.

 

Abomination

Good aoe effect and its also a deathrattle , i still prefer Psych-o-Tron over it

 

Defender of Argus

Solid card and it helps the defensive capability of this deck , unfortunately i cant find room for him.

 

Refreshment Vendor

Decent heal and very good body , a possible replacements for either Cult Apothecary or Sen'jin Shieldmasta

 

Emperor Thaurissan

Reducing the cost of  N'Zoth, the Corruptor and Call of the Wild , it also make some combos possible like Sylvanas Windrunner and Princess Huhuran nevertheless i cant find place for him in the deck

 

Dreadscale

Good body and aoe ,  Wild Pyromancer is better though , i cant find room for him in the deck.

 

Replaceable Cards

There are no replaceable cards among the epic and legendary ones.

 

 

7. EPILOGUE

So this was my third guide , i tried to improve upon my other two guides ,  i hope you enjoy it and win with it.

 

GL & HF  

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 GAMEPLAY AND SHOWCASING

Vs Rogue  Top 100 Legend Game

 

 Vs Zoolock Top 200 Legend Game