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Deck of the Week #38: Midrange Hunter

by - 9 years ago

Every Friday a legendary member from team IHearthU breaks down IHU’s “Deck of the Week” . These decks are seeing a lot of play either in constructed ladder or tournaments. Team IHU explains the deck lists and how to play them. View past Deck Lists of the Week.

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[IHU]JRoc here bringing you this week’s Deck of the Week. This week we will look at  a pretty standard hunter list that is being used in the meta game. The deck consists of extremely aggresive play to kill the enemy before they can execute their own gameplan. The deck has no real hard counters because of Hunter’s ability to draw really consistent strong hands.

 Deck List

huntertaker1x Hunter’s Mark: A good tempo card to get through the enemies taunts or big threats. Only one is used to increase the chances of having a better curve to maintain momentum. Has great synergies with Knife Jugglers or Unleash the Hounds combo.   If the meta becomes really aggresive consider dropping this card.

1x Flare: Cycle card that has great uses with the amount of hunters in the metagame. At worst this card helps you get through your deck faster to the cards that you need.   Fits well in the theme of hunter by helping you use all your mana effectively on each and every turn.   Bring 2 Flares if you are facing many mirror matches.

2x Leper Gnome: A strong low value minion that gets guaranteed damage onto your opponent and helps to buff your Undertaker. The low mana cost helps to use your mana effectively.

2x Undertaker: By far the best 1 drop in the game that can become a huge threat if it is not dealt with right away. Look to keep this card in the early game to put huge pressure on your enemy forcing him to deal with your minions. Undertaker has great synergy with the amount of death rattles in the deck and its low mana cost helps to keep tempo and value.

2x Webspinner: Staying with the theme of value and tempo this card is key. At worst this card is 1-1 for 1 mana but it also cycles itself into another beast, and on top of all this it has synergy with Undertaker and Houndmaster. This all makes it a great and versatile card.

2x Freezing Trap: Tempo card that renders most of your enemy minions to be unplayable or they will lose tempo if they choose to replay it. Look to drop freezing trap if the enemy has a strong taunt or minion that you can not deal with.   Using Freezing to just gain tempo is not a bad idea as well if your hand relies on your minions surviving. The main usage of freezing is to get value from your Mad Scientist allowing you do get a 0 mana Freezing Trap for a tempo swing.

1x Snake Trap: A tricky trap for your enemy to deal with if they do not know your deck list.   This trap will make it difficult for your enemy to kill your minions. It has great synergy with Knife Juggler as well as Houndmaster. Snake Trap helps you to get the most value out of your Mad Scientist so there are enough traps to be summoned.. Keep in mind that the enemy does not know what trap you play so look to use mind games whenever you are able to. Dropping a Snake Trap against Handlock or Druid will make them worried about freezing with their big minions and may possibly not attack.

2x Haunted Creeper: A stricky beast minion that is difficult for the enemy to remove. Many times they will be forced to inneficiently kill it to prevent you from utilizing Houndmaster. This card also synergizes with your Undertaker and helps you to maintain board control. The two 1-1 spiders can also have some synergy with a Leokk from Animal Companion.

2x Knife Juggler: Strong 2 mana minion that has a great ability with the amount of low cost minions in the deck. Has synergy with Snake Trap, Hunters Mark, and Unleash the Hounds.

2x Loot Hoarder: Decent cycle card that can be used to buff your Undertaker. Helps to fill in your 2 mana in your curve to get some value and possible damage.

2x Mad Scientist: An extremely strong 2 mana card that has multiple uses. It buffs your Undertaker, gets you tempo from a free trap bypassing mana, as well is a decent 2-2 body for your board precence. Always keep this card in your opening hand as it is 1 of the key cards to winning almost all matchups.

2x Eaglehorn Bow: A three mana weapon that has a total of 6 damage and 3 of that is essentially a charge at the expense of you taking damage to your face.   This damage is generally minimal since your goal is to kill the enemy as fast as possible and their deck does not have this same goal. Look to use the bow to clear enemy minions to protect your own board. If the enemy is low on health consider going to the face. In combination with the traps, Eaglehorn Bow gains an extra charge when they are triggered from your side. Look to utilize this but dont be too scared to use up your bow on a minion without waiting for the trap. Dont be too greedy.

2x Animal Companion: One of the best 3 mana card in the game. All 3 animals are decent on their own but some help way more than others in different circumstances. Most of the time 2/3 of the animals are good and 1 is bad so this makes the RNG element not nearly as bad. Look to get this card out as early as possible as most classes cannot kill a 4 health minion and a 4 damage charger puts strong pressure on the opponent. Has good synergy with the amount of small minions in the deck with Leokk and has Hounmaster value. The 4-4 taunt Misha can help protect your weaker minions.

2x Kill Command: A good finisher card that can also be used to kill difficult 5 health minions such as Sludge Belcher or Chillwind Yeti with the presence of a beast minion. Keep in mind that houndmaster is not a beast 🙂

1x Unleash the Hounds: A decent removal card and finisher. Combined with Knife Juggler it can have extreme value and tempo.   The reasoning for only one copy is because in some matchups its simply better to have a stronger curve early game to start dominating right away making your deck more reliable in the early game.

2x Houndmaster: A really strong 4 mana card that essentially can be a 6/5 in terms of value if you have a beast. If you have Houndmaster in your hand look to set up a beast play that will survive on the board by the end of the turn. Syngerizes with the many beasts in the deck as well as Snake Trap.

1x Loatheb: The best five drop in the game that can shutdown the enemies spells protecting your many fragile minions. Can also help to prevent enemy OTK combos such as Druid’s Force of Nature combo etc.

2x Savannah Highmane: Arguable the best 6 drop in the game in competition with Fire Elemental.   It can trade with virtually any minion and can not be killed by many removals effectively. The deathrattle makes it a pain for the enemy to kill it and it has beast synergy with kill command as well has death rattle for buffing Undertaker. Look to play this minion as soon as possible.

The Mulligan

The main goal in the mulligan phase wether going first or second with the coin is to have a strong curve. You want to be able to drop a minion on every turn if possible. With this in mind, good cards to keep are Undertaker, Leper Gnome, Webspinner, Mad Scientist, Loot Hoarder, Haunted Creeper, Knife Juggle, Animal Companinion, and possibly Eaglehorn Bow if your hand is already great. This mulligan is applicable in almost every matchup.

Game Plan

With the mulligan in mind, you want to take control of the early game to put your opponent on the defense right away. This allows you to play your own game without worrying too much of your opponents threats. Since the enemy is using his turn to kill off your minions with spells or weapons it usually involves you going for the face in most cases. As you build up your board, eventually you will draw into a Savannah Highmane which in most cases can win you the game outright. Look to get your hero power in as much as possible against control decks like Warrior and try to play around some Area of Effect cards instead of playing out your entire hand. If a card will not net you 2 damage guaranteed and you already have board control and there is not much way to lose it, look to use your hero power instead. The enemy is on a timer with the Hunter’s hero power so look to use it whenever you are able to.

Final Thoughts

Hunter is the most popular deck in the game right now and it is for a reason. It is a deck with no terrible matchups and proves to be consistent in both ladder and tournament play.

[IHU]JRoc streams weekdays http://www.twitch.tv/JRoc_. You can find all of IHearthU’s streamers on their website with the days that they stream!

Written by [IHU]JRoc

Discussions about this topic brought to you by Team [IHearthU]


JR Cook

JR has been writing for fan sites since 2000 and has been involved with Blizzard Exclusive fansites since 2003. JR was also a co-host for 6 years on the Hearthstone podcast Well Met! He helped co-found BlizzPro in 2013.


0 responses to “Deck of the Week #38: Midrange Hunter”

  1. noob says:

    Nice post, keep going!! xD