Deck of the Week #8: Lifecoach Hunter

by Team [IHU] - 6 years ago

Every Friday legendary player [DKMR]Alchemixt breaks down Don’t Kick My Robot’s “Deck of the Week” . These decks are seeing a lot of play either in constructed ladder or tournaments. Team DKMR explain the deck lists and how to play them. Make sure you check out Don’t Kick My Robot if you want to become a better player or check out their premium services if you would like them to do a 1 on 1 coaching session with you to help you better your game. View past Deck Lists of the Week.

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[DKMR]Alchemixt here from team Don’t Kick My Robot to bring you this week’s Deck of the Week. Greetings Travelers! The deck of the week is hunter. Don’t worry though this is not your normal rush hunter deck but a more controlling midrange version of Hunter. The deck comes from a player named Lifecoach who recently achieved Rank #1 NA and Rank #3 EU using this deck. The deck does contain all of the most powerful cards Hunter has to offer but places more thought into the later game as opposed to rushing down your opponent as quickly as possible. This version of the deck should be much better at handling Druids and Warriors which the standard aggro Hunter can have problems with. Lets now talk about the card choices.

2x Hunter’s Mark – This card is great for dealing with cards like giants, legendary creatures, and even midsize creatures like Chillwind Yeti. Since the Hunter’s Mark costs 0 mana it is the perfect fit in any Hunter deck with the Starving Buzzard + Unleash The Hounds Combo. Ideally you will draw Hunter’s Mark off your combo and then use one of your 1/1 dogs to kill their troublesome creature.

1x Flare – This card is mainly just used as another way to cycle and help dig you deeper through your deck into your combo pieces. This card can be a huge blowout against opposing Hunter Decks as well.

2x Tracking – With so many powerful cards and combos in a deck you will need a way to find them consistently and quickly. Tracking allows you to reliably expect to combo out at least once during any game. Sometimes you may even need to just search for specific cards such as Hunter’s Mark or maybe even a trap card if you already have the Eaglehorn Bow.

2x Stonetusk Boar – Not the most impressive card in the deck thats for sure. The boar does fill an important role however. An additional beast to combo with Hunter’s Mark or Starving Buzzard is always welcome. It is also worth noting that using Houndmaster on him later in the game could be a viable option.

2x Timber Wolf – Another important piece of the combo and where most of your damage will come from. The additional power on each 1/1 dog can also be crucial if you need to clear your opponent’s side of the board.

2x Explosive Trap – Great trap for clearing your opponent’s board or setting up a board clear next turn with Unleash The Hounds. In a worst case scenario it puts your opponent in an uncomfortable position, testing to see which trap it is or taking additional damage.

1x Freezing Trap – Definitely a more controlling type of trap which can be fantastic for keeping you alive or saving your creatures from dying.

2x Unleash the Hounds – Probably the best card in the deck and the card you usually want to see the most each game. Always try to save this card to combo with your Starving Buzzard if you can.

1x Ironbeak Owl – Having one silence effect in any deck is a good idea. The fact that the owl is also a beast makes it even better (it can be used as a combo with many cards in this deck).

2x Scavenging Hyena – This card can grow large very quickly. If you are having trouble finding a Buzzard to combo with your Unleash, you may be able to go all in on a huge Hyena while also clearing their board.(Becareful for Big Game Hunter)

2x Starving Buzzard – The main draw engine of the deck which allows you to always keep up with your opponent as the game goes late.

1x Eaglehorn Bow – A very solid card used as removal or face damage. With only 3 traps in this deck only 1 bow is necessary.

2x Animal Companion – You are never disappointed to see Animal companion and this card gives you something to play while trying to set up for your main combo.

2x Kill Command – With so many beasts in the deck this card can be a great removal or a finisher if you manage to draw into both of them.

1x King Mukla – King Mukla into Houndmaster is a very nice curve. Just be careful of Big Game Hunter and don’t forget that Mukla is also a beast.

2x Houndmaster – This card does well as a follow up to King Mukla or Animal Companion. Even using this on a Stonetusk Boar can be effective. You are spending 4 mana to gain 6 worth of power, 5 worth of toughness, and a taunt effect. That is a great deal.

1x Leeroy Jenkins – Although this deck is not as aggressive as your standard Hunter deck Leeroy works way too well with Unleash The Hounds by giving your opponent whelps. He is just too good not to play in any Hunter deck in our opinion.

2x Savannah Highmane – The beef of the deck and the card that can really give Warriors and Druids a hard time. Nicely costed, Great stats, and a great deathrattle makes this card perfect for the late game.

How It Plays

Now that you have seen the deck and the card explanations we will talk about how this deck plays differently than your standard aggro Hunter that we are sure you all know and seen before while playing on the ladder.

In an Aggro hunter deck it might be more reasonable to play out something like Stonetusk Boar on turn 1 and start laying the beat down on your opponent. In this type of deck though you really want to save the boar for a combo with something like Starving Buzzard, Hunter’s Mark, or Houndmaster. You are not trying to rush down your opponent with this deck you are trying to use your decks synergy to gain the most value out of every card. Along with what we just said the same goes for Eaglehorn Bow and Kill Command. The Aggro Hunter build will use these cards to go straight to the opponents face whereas this deck is more likely to use those cards as efficient removal. The main thing to take away from this is that you are playing for a longer game so use your cards to gain an advantage and not just smash your opponent for direct damage unless you are setting up for the kill.

This deck also allows for some interesting lines of play. The Aggro Hunter deck is either going for direct damage or the unleash combo. While this deck also is trying to set up for an Unleash the Hounds combo, you are not useless without it either. You can go for an early Houndmaster line of play by using turn 3 Animal companion or King Mukla to make a very strong board presence on Turn 4 that any deck will have trouble keeping up with. You can also use your Eaglehorn Bow and traps to survive until the late game where you can throw down Savannah Highmane which is a card your opponent will have to answer. You also have Scavenging Hyena as a midgame threat that you can grow large enough to make it difficult for your opponent to interact with. We think the strongest part of this deck is the ability to come from many different angles whether it is strong removal, resilient creatures, or very strong combos with card draw.

Deck Weaknesses

Now that we have discussed why we like the deck let us take a moment to briefly mention some of the weaknesses that you may find. The most noticeable one that we found immediately is that since you are a mid-late game deck with no way of healing yourself you are prone to getting rushed down unless you find your traps on time. This makes matches like Miracle Rogue or even the other Aggro Hunter deck troublesome at times. Your matchups against Druid and Warrior improve but you lose some favor in other matchups such as the Rogue already mentioned and Handlock. The final thing we will say is that since your deck relies mostly on synergy between cards you can sometimes find yourself in an awkward spot if you are missing some pieces that go well with the cards in your hand. Thankfully, with Flare, Tracking, and Starving Buzzard you can usually find whatever it is your are looking for.

Well there you have it. We hope you all give this deck a try and maybe you can surprise your opponents who think you are playing Aggro hunter. It is always great when your opponent mulligans and plays differently against something that you are not even playing! Also we feel like since we am writing about this persons deck that we do not even know we should give him proper credit, he has made a great deck!

[DKMR]Alchemixt streams Monday,Tuesday & Thursday from 12 PM – 5 PM EST at http://www.twitch.tv/alchemisxt. You can find all of DKMR’s streamers on their website with times and the days they stream!

Guide written by [DKMR]Alchemixt

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