Hearthpwn

Not even overload. That is a crazy good AoE for the mana cost...

I like the kingdom rush games. But they are tower defense games...

Silence is strong against magnetic minions. If they go all in on a minion and you spellbreaker it, you basically had a x for 1.

Vicious Syndicate proposes mage and shaman against mech Paladin and midrange hunter (which I suppose comprises mechs since there doesn't seem to be a mech hunter in VS). And rogue seems to be balanced.

Vanish serves as an AoE. AoE is supposed to be rogues weakness.

Sap is a single target removal and a tempo card which fits rogues identity.

I read the rogue part of VS and it seems to comprise Hench-Clan Thug . So I guess it is aggro rogue with Raiding Party and some pirates.

Quote from Scorpyon >>

What would you say is Hunter's biggest rival in the current meta at this moment?
What is keeping it in check (if at all)?

 According to your link, its best counter seems to be mech paladin and party rogue (whatever that is).  Other Rogues, Mutate shaman and token Druid seem also good. But I am not really familiar with the present meta. I presently play more MTGA and merely do my dailies on hearthstone.

But I also realized that my statements were only correct for Midrange hunter. Bomb hunter is even to warrior but loses to Shaman decks (again, according to VS).

Quote from Scorpyon >>

Oh, well perhaps that's true. I haven't read too far in the exact matchups, but rather was looking at the popularity of the decks.
In fairness, there was an assumption that Ctrl Warrior is good against Hunter, as it historically always has been (Rexxar exceptioned). 

Control warrior was good against face hunter, that's true.

But control warrior was almost always unfavored against midrange hunter (as long as there was a viable midrange hunter build). Be it old times with Haunted Creeper , Mad Scientist , Piloted Shredder , Loatheb , Savannah Highmane into Dr. Boom or later iterations with unnerfed Call of the Wild. And then came of course Rexxar as you mentioned (although at the introduction of the DK Hunter had a rough time since it was all Jade Druid and Raza Priest).

Quote from Scorpyon >>

Bear in mind also that going by the last data report from VS:
https://www.vicioussyndicate.com/vs-data-reaper-report-134/
it looks like roughly 25% of players are playing Hunter right now. Control Warrior is the natural counter to Hunter, hence why you may see a lot of them currently.

(...)

 If I am clicking on your link, Control warrior is unfavored against midrange hunter (and was unfavored most times) and is even against Bomb hunter and secret hunter.

I just took a look at the battlecry minions in standard. Lackeys are the only thing that will be really good since they are cheap and have a good effect. But beside Lackeys and maybe a few other cards like Mind Control Tech you have stuff like Dark Iron Dwarf which is nice with a +4 attack buff and a reasonable body, but when you consider the cost of 6 mana (4 for the dwarf and 2 for the hero power) it seems not so great any more. Many good battlecries are even not combineable with Heart of Vir'naal like The Black Knight , Big Game Hunter , Mossy Horror , etc...

With the present card pool (not knowing what will come in the shaman and neutral set of Saviors of Uldum) it seems necessary to me to play at least 2 battlecries to make the HP activation worthwhile in regard to tempo for most battlecry cards. On the plus side, the quest can just be done while playing the game without great effort (unlike the druid who has to deliberately lose tempo), and in the late game you can simply add a little bit of value to each of your cards (kind of upgrade them). Still, the reward does not convince me. In my opinion there need to be some very good battlecries in SoU to make this quest good.

Quote from Lycaon55 >>

  Hero Power (double battlecry) Electra Stormsurge+ Lava Burst = 20 HP

 Nope. Twice is twice, no matter how often you repeat the battlecry. 

Quote from DudeVonDudestein >>

Quote from Horkinger >>

Quote from TianBao >>

6 Battlecrys is a thing to do , after that you get a nice hero power.

This hero power will be nice to manipulate, like set it to 0 mana, use it twice, etc.  Will test this out in wild.

 

 How can you set the HP to 0? And why should you use it twice a turn? Activating it anyway counts for the whole turn and Battlecries still only trigger twice. 

 In wild you can, there’s a card called fencing coach, which sets you HP to 0 this turn. And also there’s Garrison Commander to double up on your heropowering.

 True, I didn't consider wild (didn't read properly). Still, I can't see the benefit. They only count for 1 turn and you have to play bad minions instead of good battlecries. And pay for them instead of the hero power. Nah, not worth it.P.S. auctionmaster beardo also works, but doubling hero power does nothing here. 

Quote from TianBao >>

6 Battlecrys is a thing to do , after that you get a nice hero power.

This hero power will be nice to manipulate, like set it to 0 mana, use it twice, etc.  Will test this out in wild.

 

 How can you set the HP to 0? And why should you use it twice a turn? Activating it anyway counts for the whole turn and Battlecries still only trigger twice. 

Paying 2 mana for the effect shouldn't be ignored. For example, 8 mana 6/5 deal 6 damage for a Fire Elemental is not OP. It's still strong, but on a fair level. With more smaller battlecries the hero power gets better, but then the shaman's hand is empty and card draw is not shaman's strong suit.

I don't expect this quest to be overly strong. Tempowise, if you finish the quest as early as you can, you have minus 2 mana tempo every following turn if you want to benefit from it. And only a few cards in hand. 

Edit: And hero cards have an anti synergy concerning the hero power. It's either the quest, or hagatha/thrall hero power. Not both.

Quote from MoonUnit >>

Quote from Horkinger >>

About 50 games a day and premium HS Replay account.

Edit: Just to clarify, all the rest matters as well, but knowing the meta and playing around stuff is something a good player can do as well. The main difference will be the experience and the use of statistical tools as a base for the player's decisions.

I'd suggest it goes a little deeper as well, as statistics can be warped by sub optimal plays, even at higher ranks. The great player takes the data with a pinch of salt and uses their own experience to determine which data is and is not relevant. Also being able to understand how mulligan/drawn/played win rates of various cards actually manifest themselves in a real life scenario is important when interpreting data.

That said I am still of the opinion that superior game knowledge, foresight and general CCG skill are more important than the ability to interpret data from a website when it comes to being a great player.

Since all the stuff you're stating  is something that every good player does as well, I understand your quintessence that great players are better than good ones. Got it ;)

Anyway, I also think that "good" and "great" is not really precisely defined by the OP (which he could've done instead of his low effort post), so there might be room for different interpretations. In my book good players also have the game knowledge, foresight and general CCG skill. The difference between good and great is just the dedication with which you try to get the top rank at the end of the month. And for that, stats and experience (i.e. played games) will make a difference if one assumes equal skill. That a better player is better in playing the game seems true to me, but also kind of self evident.

If you think good players are rank 1-5 players and great players are the tournament contenders, then sure, they have more skill, game knowledge and foresight. But as I said, better players are better, no surprise there.

About 50 games a day and premium HS Replay account.

Edit: Just to clarify, all the rest matters as well, but knowing the meta and playing around stuff is something a good player can do as well. The main difference will be the experience and the use of statistical tools as a base for the player's decisions.