I get my fair share of wins against hunter but it seems like i can play with a deck that's suppose to have like a 90% win ratio vs hunter and still lose half. One thing I never know how to handle is explosive trap and when i should trigger it. I used to avoid triggering it when i was low on hp's but it seems like just a slow death trap sometimes. The only advantage i could see is you knew you had a taunt or heal bot to wait for. Does anyone have general rules for this and hunter in general, because I know I must be making some mistakes
Just remember that if you don't run a Kezan Mystic you're going to have to detonate it eventually no matter what. So with that in mind try to minimize damage that it's going to deal to you, and do so before they equip an Eaglehorn Bow.
as a general rule, I trigger it as soon as possible unless I'm trying to bait out the last charge of an eaglehorn bow, need to keep a creature alive to trade the next turn, have a kezan mystic that I can't/don't want to play that turn, or am waiting to exploit it thru some other means (e.g. as a warrior with an armorsmith or maybe a frothing berserker play upcoming, or as a priest with a big northshire draw off holy nova or circle). or if I know they're only running explosive and they have the trap up with a mad scientist out, I'd kill the scientist over triggering the trap so that they don't get the scientist deathrattle to proc. but generally triggering sooner is better, as it keeps them from getting bow charges if they don't have the bow out yet, and keeps you from damaging future minions. and sometimes killing off weak minions is good to minimize unleash the hounds, too. in the end, you can't win if you don't damage your opponent, and unless you've already got them very low, or are playing freeze mage or some sort of malygos (or velen) deck, you're going to have to trigger the trap to do that, so you should do it at the first good opportunity. the more turns you wait, the more turns they have to ping your face or draw into burn
tl;dr: trigger it ASAP unless you have a good reason not to
This question is always hard to answer as it is not always so clear-cut.
**You trigger it immediately. +Plays around Unleash The Hounds +Avoids giving an extra 3 damage to the eagle horn bow +Plays around hybrid hunters forcing freezing trap from mad scientist on important turns -Lose board control and loss larger tempo loss -Allows hunters to play minions immediately on their turn without fear of losing value
**You avoid triggering it so you can not lose tempo and trade your minions into theirs or when you can play minions immediately after. +You lose less tempo and value from your current minions +You play around second explosive trap from hand and prevent face hunters from dropping second mad scientist +Hunters are less likely to play minions till trap is trigger and uses burn inefficiently -Allows time for hunter to draw into bow -Sometimes hunters have just as strong plays from spells in hand and don't need to play minions right away -You make inefficient plays trying to avoid damaging new minions.
So you have to look at the strengths of your deck, do you have effective turns you can just play spells (thought steal ect.) and not lose tempo. Do you have healing and if so how much. What removal do you have to deal with likely threats he will respond with. Do they have bow. If they hero power turn three instead of bow and its only a turn or two later you might be able to wait on triggering it.
All these questions are asked when dealing with explosion trap and how to deal it.
I haven't play priest too much since getting gold with it so I am not sure on the post BRD decklist, but often i just proc it immediately with exceptions being going second turn 3 they didn't use bow and I only have thought steal. This lets me often trade with shredder. Or setting up a northshire cleric circle of healing/holy nova turn using the damage from trap. Only other time I think i didn't proc it was occasionally turn 5 going into turn 6 when i didn't have a play in case he highmaned I could holy fire/death trade into the 2/2 before triggering.
Sorry for the wall of text but I hope it helps you. Good luck on the ladder hope to see you in the ranks!
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I get my fair share of wins against hunter but it seems like i can play with a deck that's suppose to have like a 90% win ratio vs hunter and still lose half. One thing I never know how to handle is explosive trap and when i should trigger it. I used to avoid triggering it when i was low on hp's but it seems like just a slow death trap sometimes. The only advantage i could see is you knew you had a taunt or heal bot to wait for. Does anyone have general rules for this and hunter in general, because I know I must be making some mistakes
Just remember that if you don't run a Kezan Mystic you're going to have to detonate it eventually no matter what. So with that in mind try to minimize damage that it's going to deal to you, and do so before they equip an Eaglehorn Bow.
as a general rule, I trigger it as soon as possible unless I'm trying to bait out the last charge of an eaglehorn bow, need to keep a creature alive to trade the next turn, have a kezan mystic that I can't/don't want to play that turn, or am waiting to exploit it thru some other means (e.g. as a warrior with an armorsmith or maybe a frothing berserker play upcoming, or as a priest with a big northshire draw off holy nova or circle). or if I know they're only running explosive and they have the trap up with a mad scientist out, I'd kill the scientist over triggering the trap so that they don't get the scientist deathrattle to proc. but generally triggering sooner is better, as it keeps them from getting bow charges if they don't have the bow out yet, and keeps you from damaging future minions. and sometimes killing off weak minions is good to minimize unleash the hounds, too. in the end, you can't win if you don't damage your opponent, and unless you've already got them very low, or are playing freeze mage or some sort of malygos (or velen) deck, you're going to have to trigger the trap to do that, so you should do it at the first good opportunity. the more turns you wait, the more turns they have to ping your face or draw into burn
tl;dr: trigger it ASAP unless you have a good reason not to
"Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear turns into a cat and eats you." - Anonymous Druid
It seems like i take losses as often when I yolo it so i must be doing other things wrong but this is a good way to think about it
I didn't realize if they have a secret up it doesn't proc. does that only work if it's the same secret or any secret?
Same secret.
Oblivion!
This question is always hard to answer as it is not always so clear-cut.
**You trigger it immediately.
+Plays around Unleash The Hounds
+Avoids giving an extra 3 damage to the eagle horn bow
+Plays around hybrid hunters forcing freezing trap from mad scientist on important turns
-Lose board control and loss larger tempo loss
-Allows hunters to play minions immediately on their turn without fear of losing value
**You avoid triggering it so you can not lose tempo and trade your minions into theirs or when you can play minions immediately after.
+You lose less tempo and value from your current minions
+You play around second explosive trap from hand and prevent face hunters from dropping second mad scientist
+Hunters are less likely to play minions till trap is trigger and uses burn inefficiently
-Allows time for hunter to draw into bow
-Sometimes hunters have just as strong plays from spells in hand and don't need to play minions right away
-You make inefficient plays trying to avoid damaging new minions.
So you have to look at the strengths of your deck, do you have effective turns you can just play spells (thought steal ect.) and not lose tempo.
Do you have healing and if so how much.
What removal do you have to deal with likely threats he will respond with.
Do they have bow. If they hero power turn three instead of bow and its only a turn or two later you might be able to wait on triggering it.
All these questions are asked when dealing with explosion trap and how to deal it.
I haven't play priest too much since getting gold with it so I am not sure on the post BRD decklist, but often i just proc it immediately with exceptions being going second turn 3 they didn't use bow and I only have thought steal. This lets me often trade with shredder. Or setting up a northshire cleric circle of healing/holy nova turn using the damage from trap. Only other time I think i didn't proc it was occasionally turn 5 going into turn 6 when i didn't have a play in case he highmaned I could holy fire/death trade into the 2/2 before triggering.
Sorry for the wall of text but I hope it helps you. Good luck on the ladder hope to see you in the ranks!