Hearthpwn

Midrange Hunter is one the most historically established archetypes for Hunter. It relies on Deathrattle minions to establish a board presence that's resistant to removal, as well as the class-defining synergy between Hunters and Beasts. Unlike other midrange decks, Midrange Hunter lacks card draw. It makes up for that deficiency by shifting to an aggressive playstyle in the later stages of the game, using burst spells such as Kill Command in conjunction with the Hunter hero power to close out games.

Despite the presence of traditionally strong cards like Savannah Highmane, and even Wild-only cards like Webspinner and Mad Scientist, Hunter as a class faltered down the tierlist during the Gadgetzan expansion. This was largely due to the rise of Pirate Warrior, which outclassed Hunter in the early game. One of the primary weaknesses of the Hunter class is its inability to recover when behind, due to limited removal and no class-based healing.

While these vulnerabilities remain with the new expansion, Journey to Un'goro manages to remedy the plight of Hunter by providing it with powerful early game tools to compete with Pirate Warriors and other aggressive decks. These include Jeweled Macaw, which is essentially a better Webspinner due to its more immediate impact, and Crackling Razormaw. The latter card is particularly impactful due to its flexibility; it has on-curve stats for a 2-drop, but also scales well into the late game by adapting a powerful late-game Beast. In addition, Golakka Crawler, which is a Beast, can be included as an additional tech card against any Pirate deck, improving these matchups significantly.

~ Write-up by MetricTrout