Hearthpwn

Introduction

Hello everyone ! I'm Spark, Legend player from France.
Today I'm going to present the Deck I'm having so much fun with this season : Yogg & Load Hunter running Yogg-Saron, Hope's End and Lock and Load.

The idea doesn't come from me as I found some different lists on the internet (even though I've never faced one on the ladder), so I swapped some cards here and here from the lists i've seen to adjust to my preferences and metagame.

Apart from being extremely fun to play, it is also surprisingly effective ! I was very impressed by how well I did with it, to the point that I ended up running only this Deck throughout the season and made it to Legend with a very solid overall 75% Winrate.

   

General Strategy & Mulligan

The strategy of the Deck revolves around controlling the board throughout the game thanks to your amazing removal tools. Because of the Hunter overall nature, you'll find yourself poking your opponent slowly with Steady Shot, Eaglehorn Bow and Animal Companion.

Finally, you'll be able to close the game with Call of the Wild and/or Yogg-Saron, Hope's End. Remember that you'll have to play this old god only when you have no other choice ! This works better as a comeback card than a win-more card ;) You'll be surprised by what this card can do, often closing the game one way or another. Even though sometimes it will troll you, but that's the game when you toy with the RNG god =P 
In short, you should see Call of the Wild as a solid win condition or late game pressure, and Yogg-Saron, Hope's End as comeback mechanism, hoping for some miracle, just like his name means =D

King's Elekk ensure you to draw Yogg-Saron, Hope's End from your Deck or pull out Emperor Thaurissan from time to time. Emperor Thaurissan is really great for this Deck as it can either allow a turn 7 Call of the Wild or some crazy Lock and Load combos. Don't hesitate to play it for a simple one turn effect, it will be enough and draw some attention from your opponent, which helps stalling the game ;)

Lock and Load can be amazing at refilling your hand, especially since Hunter cards tend to synergize very well together. Don't get to greedy on it though, playing 2 spells can be enough sometimes, especially if you'd have a blank turn otherwise. Moreover, it will often provides you with some more spells to play, like some new traps to give some more headaches to your opponent.
The Coin, Hunter's Mark, On the Hunt and Tracking are very good spell to combo with it as they are cheap and can even cost 0 mana if you managed to drop Emperor Thaurissan before. 
Sometimes you'll be able to chain 2 Lock and Load together in slower match ups, which can be pretty fun and devastating. On the other hand, against fast paced Deck you may have to play it for only one spell from time to time, hoping to get a decent card out of it, in order to prevent a blank before a turn 8 Call of the Wild for example.

A quick reminder about Tracking for those who still don't understand how the card work ... This card is just amazing !
It allows you to draw into the removal you need at the right time, while thining out your Deck to draw into your late game options easier. Of course, sometimes you'll have some hard choice to do but there is always a good pick to make.
For example, in my last game versus Zoolock (see videos below), you can see that I have to choose between Yogg-Saron, Hope's End and Call of the Wild. As I know the match up perfectly (25-1 against them), I decide to pick up Call of the Wild and remove Yogg-Saron, Hope's End from the Deck because I know that this is a better win condition.
In short, you have to understand that you don't aim to play all the cards in your Deck to win, so cutting some cards off is fine and actually pretty helpful most of the time. The only match up where it gets a bit tricky is Control Warrior because it's not rare to finish on the fatigue war (but that's generally a bad situation for you anyway as you'll generally have to kill them before this stage of the game).

A very solid knowledge of the metagame is mandatory to pilot the Deck and mulligan properly, I can't insist enough on this ! I may have climb all the way to Legend with the Deck, but if you are unexperienced with the game or simply don't know perfectly the Decks you're facing, you'll fail miserably and rage at me for presenting this Deck ...

The mulligan can vary depending on the situation (what do you expect from your opponent and which tools do you already have in hand) but here are the basics rules that you should follow :

• Always keep : Bear Trap, Cat Trick, King's Elekk, Animal Companion, Eaglehorn Bow, Tracking if you know perfectly what you are facing.
  
  
• Against Aggro : On the Hunt is a decent keep, Quick Shot is a solid early removal, Explosive Trap is especially great against Zoolock and Powershot is good to have against Shaman, Snipe is also very powerful to counter Totem Golem but not very useful against Zoolock.
  
  
• Against Control : Snipe generally has a good value, Deadly Shot and Hunter's Mark are decent keep to remove a solid midgame minion. However, you shouldn't hesitate to mulligan them away if you don't have any cards from the "Always keep" section ;)

Strengths & Weaknesses

As I've climbed all the way to Legend using only this Deck, I have a very good samplesize to share with you guys. These are my winrates with Deck throughout the season :

In order to pilot the Deck properly, you have to know and understand the meta perfectly ! By doing so, you'll be able to recognize threats from your opponent and use appropriate tools to answer them ;)

• Zoolock is definitely the best match up of this Deck, I've rarely seen such a one-sided match up ! By mulliganing properly, your early removals and traps will allow you stall until the late game while poking them slowly and Call of the Wild will finish the game easily.
  
  
• Midrange Shaman is a decent match up because they aren't too fast and you have good answers to their threats. It's still a bit harder than Zoolock, because their minions tend to be stickier.
  
  
• Face Shaman is a very hard match up because they just have too much for you to handle. They'll often find lethal before you can stall to the late game. Fortunately for me, I faced more of the Midrange variant =)
  
  
• Control Warrior of any kind is a difficult match up (especially C'Thun variants) because they will just Tank Up! all the time and many of your spells are not very useful agains them. But it's not unwinnable thanks to Call of the Wild and Yogg-Saron, Hope's End. Sometimes the card will troll you by drawing into fatigue but sometimes they'll allow you to finish the game with style.
  
  
• Tempo Warrior on the other hand (being either Classic or Dragon oriented), is an easy match up, because you'll have the time to remove their threats and make the final push in the late game.
  
  
• Pirate Rush Warrior is very hard too handle because they apply a lot of pressure, just as Aggro Shaman. It's a bit easier since it has less finishing potential but still very frustrating. Don't forget to play around Mortal Strike if you can ;)
  
  
• Tempo Mage is a decent match up if you have appropriate tools in hand. But they can also surprise you with some late game burst, so beware of getting poked too muched in the early game.
  
  
• Miracle Rogue is a close match up, depending on how they can use Gadgetzan Auctioneer or not, a well timed Snipe can be deadly for them. The Leeroy Jenkins variant is a bit harder than the N'Zoth, the Corruptor variant because they have more finishing potential.
  
  
• Ramp Druid, like Yogg-Saron, Hope's End variants, are not too hard too handle. You have good removals tools to counter them and they'll play slowly into the late game, which is perfectly fine for you.
  
  
• Midrange Hunter is the hardest match up for this Deck, because they'll poke you slowly just like you do, but they will often have this initiative thanks to their sticky minions. Call of the Wild will often be better on their side because of the early pressure, so if they have on turn 8 you are basically dead. This is just due to the fact that you have to get the right answers at the right time to counter what they play in order to keep up with the pressure. But it's perfectly winnable if you manage to start with good early counters to what they play because you'll slowly win the poke race afterward ;) 

Gameplay Videos

I posted some gameplay videos spotlighting the Deck in action, I definitely recommend checking them out to see how to pilot the Deck properly ;)

Here is the playlist containing the videos. I'll probably keep adding some because I have so much fun playing this Deck !

Epic 20 Spells Yogg-Saron, Hope's End closing the game (sorry fot the lack of sound) :

Full game against Dragon Tempo Warrior with a great19 Spells Yogg-Saron, Hope's End :

Early climb with the Deck facing Zoolock, C'Thun Warrior and Midrange Shaman :

Final push to Legend facing Midrange Shaman, Tempo Mage and Zoolock :

Closing

That's it for the guide guys, I hope you'll enjoy the Deck as much as I do ! 

Don't forget to show your support by upvoting the Deck if you liked and don't hesitate to discuss about it or ask any question in the comment section below ;)

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