Hearthpwn

This deck aims to solve some issues hunter has in the current meta:

• Typical hunter decks use beast synergy and early game. Unfortunately, the cards are weak in the current meta. Alleycat, Kindly Grandmother, Rat Pack, and Infested Wolf all provide low-health minions. These are weak against heavy use of AoEs in the meta. So, this deck provides a high health alternative. This results in far fewer hunter class cards being played (just half the deck)
• Control hunter is perhaps the worst variant of control right now. Hunter AoEs are weak and value is lacking. Whenever I try to build control hunter, I'm stuck wondering what the endgame is. Do I throw in Elise Starseeker to sometimes win by RNG? Do I try Lock and Load for another random option? Do I rely on scary (but slow) neutral legendaries like Ragnaros the Firelord or N'Zoth, the Corruptor? Just don't do it. Fight the current meta on the basis of tempo and damage -- that's the game that this deck can win

Aim to curve strongly with 1-drops to manage any gaps. Control the board with efficient trades and destroy the opponent's face. Similarly to other mid-range aggro decks in the current meta, you can lose to Reno decks playing Reno Jackson in the mid-game. The deck should be very competitive against less defensive decks

Main early game competition is against shamans and pirates. Hopefully you get the worse fiery war axe (Eaglehorn Bow) to preserve your board state and take control. Try to bring out Shieldbearer from Desert Camel to prevent other aggro decks from killing you--it's surprisingly effective. The Crazed Alchemists are very important for sudden burst damage from high-health minions like Leokk (from Animal Companion), Shieldbearer, or Carrion Grub. I've had good performance against pirates -- this deck has a consistent, low mana curve

A few fine points on how the deck operates:

• There are a lot of high health and sticky minions in this deck. This helps you stay on the board, unlike typical hunter decks running 1-3 health minions
• Crazed Alchemist offers good burst damage with high health minions. Make sure to take it into account when calculating lethal. One of my favorites is using it on Shieldbearer when a Dire Wolf Alpha or Leokk buff is active
• It's okay to eventually lose board control and go face. There's a lot of burst damage in this deck. The high end offers great top-decks: Azure Drake, Leeroy Jenkins, King Krush
• The main Sir Finley Mrrgglton hero power choices are warlock (to sustain the hunt) and paladin (supports board presence). Other hero powers are situational and depend on the match-up
• Worst match-ups are Reno Jackson / Kazakus control decks when they draw board clears along with the strong 'highlander' cards (e.g., priest, mage, warlock) -- this weakness is common across aggro / mid decks

Flexible card is mainly Zealous Initiate--probably switch it for Injured Kvaldir, though Zealous is great for anti-AoE with Argent Squire and high-health minions. I don't use Runic Egg or Dragon Egg for anti-AoE because I'm not committing to a large card budget of buffs. I would consider adding more pirate synergy if hunter had better weapons. Or, simply get rid of pirates entirely by swapping Small-Time Buccaneer for another 1-drop. Also think about switching out King Krush for Call of the Wild, but it's probably not worth it since it's a great high-roll from King's Elekk.

Happy hunting!