Hearthstone Mid-Range Hunter Guide
Hearthstone Mid-Range Hunter Guide by Trainerdusk
Hi guys and girls. I’m Nick, but online I go by TrainerDusk. I recently started a youtube series about netdecking and reaching higher ranks, as I recently shot up to rank 3 from rank 15. Some users asked for a written guide in parallel to the video portion of my guides.
For those of you who are interested, here is the video guide:
It is roughly 30 minutes long and contains the function of every card in the deck, how the cards interact with one another, how to mulligan properly, high level ranked gameplay of the deck in action and a quick concise guide on how to successfully counter the hunter deck with a tempo rogue deck. I am waiting on a better microphone, so I apologise in advance for the rather variable audio quality. I cleaned it up the best I could.
The Kolento Midrange Hunter: How it works and how to make the most of your cards.
The Decklist shown in the video:
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The functions of each card and notable interactions:
NOTE: If two cards work well together, I will only mention it once, the first time it comes up.
0 Hunter’s Mark (x2) – Used to remove strong creatures from your opponents side of the field. Combo with Stonetusk Boar for a 1 mana removal. Also combos well with a hound created by Unleash the Hounds.
1 Flare (x2) – Used to thin the deck. Drawing a card for one mana increases the likelihood of drawing UTH and Starving Buzzard. The bonus of removing enemy secrets is good and can win games, but its primary purpose is to get you to your combo faster.
1 Tracking (x2) – Used to thin the deck. 99% of the time you will take a UTH if you are offered one. If you can either flare or tracking (and enemy secrets are of no concern) use flare first. If flare draws part of your combo, you know what to take with the tracking, but if you use tracking first, you may have to discard part of your combo.
1 Stonetusk Boar (x2) – Beast with charge. Combo with Timber Wolf for 2 damage charge. Combo with Hyena for cheap increased Hyena damage/hp on turn 3. Combo with Starving Buzzard for draw. Combo with Kill Command for increased damage. Combo with Houndmaster for a 3 3 taunt with charge.
1 Timber Wolf (x2) – Combo with UTH for double damage.
2 Unleash the Hounds (x2) – Combo with scavenging Hyena for a board clear that leaves a large creature. Combo with Starving Buzzard to draw huge amounts of cards. Combo with Leeroy Jenkins for 2 additional hounds.
2 Ironbeak Owl (x1) – Used to negate taunts when pushing for lethal damage. Also used to silence large threats such asYsera when removal is unavailable.
2 River Crocolisk (x2) – Strong 2 drop regardless of board state. Works well with Houndmaster.
2 Scavenging Hyena (x2) – Works well when behind a taunted beast, such as Misha (4 4 Animal Companion) or anything buffed by Houndmaster.
2 Starving Buzzard (x2) – Probably the strongest card draw in the game. Combos with every beast minion in the deck.
3 Animal Companion (x2) – Strong 3 drop regardless of board state. Lets you push for face damage with Huffer (4 2) or puts up a large taunt with Misha (4 4). Leokk (2 4) is by far the weakest of the lot, but combos well with charge minions such as UTH and Stonetusk Boar. Combos well with Houndmaster the following turn.
3 Deadly Shot (x1) – Removal. Can remove invisible units such as a concealed Gadgetzan Auctioneer in a miracle rogue deck.
3 Kill Command (x2) – Removal or face damage. Any beast gives the bonus attack. Can be used as the finishing blow even if the enemy puts up a taunt.
4 Houndmaster (x2) – 6 5 worth of stats for 4 mana. Use it on any beast for best value. Using it on a Savannah Highmane orKing Mukla creates a Big Game Hunter target.
4 Leeroy Jenkins (x1) or 3 [b]King Mukla[b] (x1) – Leeroy is used as lethal damage or combo’d with UTH for more beasts. King Mukla is used as a powerful 3 drop similarly to Animal Companion. Use whichever you prefer.
5 Stampeding Kodo (x1) – Removal that leaves a 3 5 body. Combo with any other beast card, houndmaster being one of the best.
6 Savannah Highmane (x1) – 10 9 worth of stats for 6 mana. Huge midgame threat. It will eat up removal and leave beasts after it dies or it will do heavy damage. Strong 6 drop regardless of board state.
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Mulligan Guide:
Always keep: UTH, Animal Companion, Tracking, Flare, King Mukla, max 1 Starving buzzard.
Never keep: Timber Wolf, Leeroy Jenkins, Stampeding Kodo, Savannah Highmane.
Keep if you want early game minions (vs zoo, rogue, warrior): River Crocolisk,
Scavenging Hyena, Houndmaster.
Keep if you want early game removal (vs druid, handlock): Hunter’s Mark + Stonetusk Boar, Ironbeak Owl, Deadly Shot.
Always mulligan for zoo over handlock, as zoo is more common and harder to beat.
If you keep Flare vs hunter, don’t use it until you believe they are not running secrets.
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General Tips:
Try to maintain board control vs control decks, such as zoo or druid.
When in doubt, River Crocolisk, Animal Companion and Savannah Highmane are good to play.
Do not concern yourself on getting a huge hyena. Only make the play if the opportunity arises, but don’t force it to happen if it worsens your overall position.
If you can kill a minion with the Stampeding Kodo battlecry easily, more often than not you should do it. That card is hard to make work and is too high a mana cost to hold onto forever. Better that you play it and be done with it.
Turn 2 playing a creature is always better than using hero power. Hero power should only be used with leftover mana or when you are waiting to play your combo.
Turn 3 Animal Companion into turn 4 Houndmaster is very powerful.
Turn 3 Scavenging Hyena and Stonetusk Boar is a good reaction to an enemy minion with one health e.g. loot hoarder.
Turn 5 Starving Buzzard, UTH, Timber Wolf, Hunters Mark can get you back board control that you have lost, whilst also refilling your hand.
Turn 10 Leeroy Jenkins, Starving Buzzard, UTH, UTH/Timber Wolf is a game ending combo..
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Useful links:
Kolento’s Stream.
My youtube channel
My stream.
Sorry if I missed anything, but this is quite a lot to write in a single post.If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I know the ins and outs of this deck fairly well. You can expect more videos and guides like this over the coming weeks. I aim to release a video once a day on average.
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