Month: April 2020

Adventureless Budget Dragon Hunter deck guide – Hearthstone Ashes of Outland April 2020

Before the rotation, I built a budget Dragon Hunter deck without any adventure cards and it turned out to work surprisingly well. Now that Ashes of Outland expansion is here, I decided to look into the concept again to see if it still works.

The result is that, yeah, kind of. Dragon Hunter has hardly changed in the new expansion: people have experimented with Zixor, Pack Tactics, and Imprisoned Felmaw, but none of them have really made the deck any better. The full-cost version is still viable, even though new power spike from the expansion has knocked it down a notch.

I played the budget version on my budget climb from Platinum 10 to Platinum 7 with a 55% winrate. I can rock 80% on the same ranks with a cheaper Demon Hunter deck, so clearly Dragon Hunter without the adventure cards is not ideal, but it is a playable deck if you want to jam some Hunter with a minimal dust investment and a clear upgrade path.

The deck is actually really good against Demon Hunter, but the decks that try to control Demon Hunter typically have enough removal and healing to survive the assault from a Budget Dragon Hunter too: expensive cards would give the deck more reach to win those matchups better.

Budget Dragon Hunter decklist

Deck code: AAECAR8AD7UDyQThBJcI/gyKrQP5rgP7rwP8rwP+rwPnsAP/sAOFsQOHsQPZvgMA

The deck is actually a little cheaper than before the rotation because Lifedrinkers (rare) have been replaced with Burrowing Scorpids (common). Overall, this version of the deck costs 1280 dust.

The only other change I have made to my pre-rotation list is a change in the secret package from double Freezing Trap to double Explosive Trap. This is purely to counter Demon Hunter.

Budget Dragon Hunter mulligan

The meta is fast, so you mulligan for your early game.

Always keep Phase Stalker and Blazing Battlemage.

Against Demon Hunters and other aggressive decks, keep Dwarven Sharpshooter and Corrosive Breath.

Against Druids and other slower decks, keep Faerie Dragon.

Budget Dragon Hunter upgrade path

The deck is straightforward to upgrade and all upgrades can be made independently of each other.

Rotnest Drakes replace Evasive Wyrms.

Frenzied Felwings replace Animal Companions.

Stormhammers replace Eaglehorn Bows.

Dragonbane replaces a Burrowing Scorpid.

Budget Dragon Hunter tips and tricks

The deck is teched against Demon Hunters, you have tons of ways to deal two damage to their minions including Explosive Trap, Dwarven Sharpshooter, Scalerider, and Burrowing Scorpid.

Make the most out of your Explosive Traps against Demon Hunter: you often want to wait for a Satyr Overseer or multiple other minions to hit the board before you commit the Traps. Demon Hunter cannot buff their minions, so they will all die to the Trap.

Evasive minions cannot be targeted by spells and Hero Powers, but they can be targeted by Battlecry effects, so against any such minions make good use of your Scaleriders and Burrowing Scorpids. Burrowing Scorpid in Stealth can often connect for five damage on the following turn.

Use Tracking to dig for lethal, Phase Stalkers/Traps, or additional Dragons to activate your synergy effects. You will never reach the end of your deck, Tracking is great whenever you know what you want to look for.

Budget Dragon Hunter gameplay video

Finally, here is a video of my gameplay with the deck. I hope it further showcases the strengths of the deck and how to pilot it.

Best Hearthstone decks to climb to Legend – Ashes of Outland April 2020

Hearthstone Ashes of Outland meta has stabilized a little after the quick Demon Hunter nerfs, and there are now enough statistics available to look into what decks can most effectively and reliably get you to Legend.

These are not the only Legend-viable decks, mind you. There are plenty of decks that have around 52% winrates over large sample sizes, which makes them completely viable for climbing, but not as effective as these proven contenders.

In this early Ashes of Outland edition, there are only four top decks for climbing. As we may get more balance patches in the near future, and as counters to the top decks are developed, I expect we will see more variety in the future.

If you prefer to listen to the top list, you can find it as a video on my Youtube channel:

#4 Spell Druid

Deck code: AAECAZICBv0C5gXTnAPinwOxrAOuugMM/gHTA/cDxAa5lAPbpQP5tQPlugPougPsugPuugPvugMA

Coming in at number four is Spell Druid. It is not bad against Demon Hunter, which is a great feature for a deck, and it also counters the main Demon Hunter counter Galakrond Warlock.

The deck is almost mindless to play, which can be an advantage or a disadvantage, depending on your desire to reach Legend and how much you want to pay attention while doing so. Mulligan for Fungal Fortunes, Overgrowth, Kael’thas Sunstrider, and Glowfly Swarm, and win games.

#3 Resurrect Priest

Deck code: AAECAa0GBNaZA5ObA8i+A8jAAw3JBoKUA5mbA6GhA6+lA/KlA5mpA5+pA9msA/KsA/2wA5O6A9jCAwA=

The 200 IQ option is to play Resurrect Priest. So, people want to counter Demon Hunter by playing Spell Druid and Galakrond Warlock? Let’s kill those people – with boredom – and make them pay for their attempt to save the world.

Unfortunately, Demon Hunter are a bit fast for Resurrect Priests, but even that matchup is not an impossible one.

#2 Galakrond Warlock

Deck code: AAECAf0GBsUE/KMD068DkbED47QD8b8DDKMBxAidqQPlrAPorAPqrAPrrAPsrAP+rgOqrwP9sAPpvgMA

Galakrond Warlock is the best counter to Demon Hunter in the game. Unfortunately, while you’re trying to save the world, other people will start playing decks that counter you. Galakrond Warlock is still good despite those attempts, though.

#1 Tempo Demon Hunter

Deck code: AAECAea5AwTMugPDvAPWvgPaxgMNurYDi7oD17sDxLwD4LwDjb0DusYDx8YD2cYD1cgD98gD+cgD/sgDAA==

While other people try to counter, Demon Hunter kills.

Tempo Demon Hunter is still the best deck in the game. The nerfs just forced people to make it faster and better.

Some people still play the Raging Felscreamer + Priestess of Fury package, and it is a fine option, but the statistically best version does not bother with anything that slow. Other bands play, Demon Hunter kills.

But my favorite deck is not here!

Yeah, tough luck.

That does not mean that your favorite deck is bad. There are several decks that look viable, even old favorites such as Galakrond Rogue, Dragon Hunter, and Highlander Mage. Their performance has just fallen behind the absolute top tier.

There are also some up-and-coming archetypes that might become a thing, such as Discard Zoo and Totem Shaman. They are not established yet and their stats are not so good that I could confidently place them among the top decks. Maybe by the next version, they will be in.

Post-nerfs Budget Demon Hunter deck guide

Demon Hunter was nerfed within two days of its release, but the class remains strong, it is just more in line with the other classes now.

However, for budget players the nerfs present a problem because the prevalent Demon Hunter archetype on the ladder is aggro, which requires two Legendary cards and two Epic cards from Ashes of Outland, as well as Frenzied Felwings from the Galakrond’s Awakening adventure.

I have built and playtested a Midrange Budget Demon Hunter deck that can be built without any of those expensive cards and that can succeed on the current ladder.

Budget Demon Hunter decklist

Deck code: AAECAea5AwTJugPMugPUyAPVyAMNh7oDi7oDvbsD17sDnLwD4LwDusYDx8YD2cYD18gD98gD+cgD/sgDAA==

This list overcomes the lack of expensive cards by using the cheap power cards still available to the class: Priestess of Fury and Altruis the Outcast.

Because you are inevitably slower than the expensive aggro deck, you need healing to succeed in the mirror match. I have found that both Aldrachi Warblades and Ashtongue Battlelord are necessary to overcome the impressive damage numbers the aggro deck is capable of.

I also still use one copy of the nerfed Imprisoned Antaen. While it is the weakest card in the list – and there always has to be the weakest card – it is necessary for a budget deck to provide the deck with some more overall damage for slower matchups.

Consume Magic can both help to defend against Questing Adventurers and attack through Taunt minions.

Budget Demon Hunter mulligan

Your mulligan is similar to the full-cost lists because the early-game minions are largely the same.

Always keep Battlefiend and Umberwing.

Keep Crimson Sigil Runner if it is in a position where you can activate its Outcast effect, either as the left-most card or if all the cards to the left of it are early-game cards that you also keep.

In slower matchups, keep Raging Felscreamer and maybe even Priestess of Fury. You can also keep Satyr Overseer with Twin Slice or with Umberwing.

Against aggro, keep Eye Beam and Twin Slice.

Budget Demon Hunter upgrade path

You can easily upgrade the list to my full-cost Midrange Demon Hunter that I have been playing in Legend: replace Consume Magic with Kayn Sunfury and Imprisoned Antaen with Metamorphosis.

If you want to upgrade the list to the most popular aggro lists, you also need Frenzied Felwings and Warglaives of Azzinoth, so the full midrange list is a good intermediary step towards the aggro lists. There are also some aggro lists that cut the Warglaives, but they absolutely need Frenzied Felwings to work.

At this time, the aggro lists are still being developed and the rest of cards vary, but none of their other cards are expensive. Whether it is Questing Adventurers or Furious Felfins or Frozen Shadoweavers, the remaining pieces cost only a little dust once you have the adventure cards and the Warglaives.

Budget Demon Hunter tips and tricks

The Outcast mechanic is important to master. You get the bonus effect when the Outcast card is your leftmost or rightmost card when played, so try to think a couple of turns ahead on how you will use cards from your hand to position your cards accordingly.

Altruis the Outcast is your most powerful card. Sometimes you need to use it for early tempo, but usually, you want to go for a huge turn in the midgame, preferably with some cards discounted by Skull of Gul’dan.

The main use of Raging Felscreamer is to discount Priestess of Fury. Felcreamer on turn four followed up by Priestess on turn five can be devastating for the opponent. Secondarily, you can use it to discount Imprisoned Antaen, and sometimes just the tempo from discounting your smaller Demon can do.

Twin Slice is an important card. If you do not find a weapon, Twin Slice can activate your Satyr Overseer or Glaivebound Adept without spending mana. It is also great with Altruis the Outcast. Do not spend it too hastily, although sometimes you just have to use at least half of it to remove a Battlefiend early.

Budget Demon hunter gameplay video

Finally, here is a gameplay video of the deck. It showcases how to pilot the deck and make the most out of the Outcast mechanic and Altruis the Outcast.

Demon Hunter is the best deck in Hearthstone Ashes of Outland

Ashes of Outland is here, and Demon Hunter is exactly as good as predicted. The class has it all: card draw, pressure, healing, and tons of damage from hand.

People are still looking for the optimal Demon Hunter lists, and others are hard at work countering the class either by playing super aggressive decks or by out-controlling it, often with the help of some Sacrificial Pacts, natural or generated by Zephrys the Great, to remove big Demons for free while healing as well.

I played my Midrange Demon Hunter deck to Legend this season, going 18-6 with it for a sweet 75% winrate from Diamond 4 to Legend.

Midrange Demon Hunter decklist

Deck code: AAECAea5AwTMugPDvAPtvgPaxgMNh7oDi7oDyboD17sD4LwDmb0DusYDx8YD2cYD1cgD18gD98gD+NYDAA==

This deck can hold its own even against more aggressive Demon Hunters, and all the value it packs means that decks that try to counter the most popular meta Demon Hunter decks will not have enough tools to deal with all the threats it can get on the board.

With so many good cards in the class, it can be hard to highlight real stars. However, Imprisoned Antaen, Priestess of Fury, Altruis the Outcast, and Skull of Gul’dan have really shined in the early days.

This version derives its additional value from Netherwalker and Coilfang Warlord. If the meta turns out to be very aggressive, those can be cut for faster tools, but if the current attempts to counter the most popular Demon Hunter lists with control continue, they are the key difference that allows this deck to succeed.

Midrange Demon Hunter mulligan

Battlefiend is perhaps the best one-drop in the game right now, and should be kept in the mulligan in every matchup. If you are against an aggressive deck, you also want to find your healing cards Aldrachi Warblades and Eye Beam.

Other cards that you often want to keep in the mulligan include Skull of Gul’dan, especially if it is the left-most card or if the cards to the left of it are cheap keeps to ensure the Outcast effect, Imprisoned Antaen for its devastating swing effect, and Umberwing for early board control.

Demon Hunter tips and tricks

You can expect a lot of mirror matches. Most mirror matches revolve around the healing effect of Aldrachi Warblades and the swing turn from Imprisoned Antaen. If Antaen goes unanswered, that’s game. This deck has Coilfang Warlords that can answer Antaen on curve when you’re on the play or if you still have the Coin left at that point. Plan your coin use with that in mind, if you happen to draw Warlord early. It can also be effective to fight Antaen with Antaen: play your immediately after the opponent so that it wakes up the turn after your opponent’s Antaen.

Another key card in the mirror is Priestess of Fury, which can also win the game if left unanswered. Again, Coilfang Warlord gives this list an additional tool to fight the big Demon.

Altruis the Outcast is your main area-of-effect damage tool. Combine it with cards discounted by Skull of Gul’dan or just otherwise cheap cards like Twin Slice, and you can wipe out big boards.

Outcast mechanic is important. Try to juggle your hand so that you can activate Outcast effects. Sometimes you work them towards the left, sometimes you can play your topdeck followed by an Outcast card on the right. Combined with Altruis, the overall effect can be devastating.

Metamorphosis changes and refreshes your Hero Power. Note that you can use your attack Hero Power, play Metamorphosis, and then use the new Hero Power. Likewise, after the second use when your Hero Power switches back, you can use your Attack Hero Power again on the same turn.

When you make a minion with an awaken effect Dormant with Miaev, it will have the same awaken effect again when it wakes up. Imprisoned Antaen is scary to make Dormant. There are nonetheless rarely good opportunities to use Maiev on your own minions, the meta is a bit fast for that, the more common scenario is that you need to think which of the opponent’s minions it is best to make dormant.

Demon Hunter gameplay video

Finally, here is a gameplay video of my Legend climb with Demon Hunter. I hope it showcases how to pilot the deck and make the most out of the various tools available to the class.

51 theorycrafted decks for Ashes of Outland: Something for all archetypes and all budgets

Hearthstone’s Ashes of Outland expansion is coming on April 7th, and I have now gone through every class in the game and built potential decks for them. These include budget decks, updated versions of current meta decks, and brand new archetypes.

I have also examined some of the archetypes in more detail in articles I wrote for Hearthstone Top Decks, so give those a read if you’re interested in what the future of control and combo decks looks like in general:

Ashes of Outland Budget decks

Building budget decks has become harder in Hearthstone over time. In Galakrond’s Awakening, I was forced to use some Epic cards in the majority of budget decks, as only a couple of classes could still get by with basic, common, and rare cards alone.

This trend continues in Ashes of Outland: most of the build-around cards are either Epics or Legendaries.

However, the free Demon Hunter cards help, and there is still some hope for purely budget Hunter, Warlock, and Rogue decks as well.

I have built these theorycrafts for budget decks for Ashes of Outland:

I go through these decks in more detail in my video:

Ashes of Outland Demon Hunter decks

Demon Hunter looks strong. I expect it to be very aggressive, although some slower big decks could also prove to be viable.

Demon Hunter theorycrafting video:

Ashes of Outland Druid decks

Druid receives support for spell decks, some minor support for combo, and some support for going big. It is hard to see the new cards generating many new archetypes, but many of them slot well into existing Druid archetypes.

Druid theorycrafting video:

Ashes of Outland Hunter decks

Hunter receives a number of interesting cards. Beast support, Deathrattle support, and even a new OTK combo are coming for the class. With strong decks already existing, Hunter is looking good.

Hunter theorycrafting video:

Ashes of Outland Mage decks

Mage gets a pair of great new Legendary cards that fit into most Mage decks, support for a new Spell Mage archetype (unlikely to be enough yet, maybe next expansion), and support for Secret Mage, although I’m not sure if it’s enough to bring the archetype back to Standard.

Mage theorycrafting video:

Ashes of Outland Paladin decks

Paladin gets a big Libram mechanic package and some support for Murlocs.

Paladin theorycrafting video:

Ashes of Outland Priest decks

The new Priest cards try to not support the resurrect mechanic, but the current resurrect cards are not going anywhere. There is also some support for a tempo deck, but it seems way too fair in an unfair world.

Priest theorycrafting video:

Ashes of Outland Rogue decks

Rogue gets two clear packages: Stealth and Secret. Secret package seems difficult to use without tutors, but the Stealth package looks much more promising with Spymistress as an incredible one-drop.

Rogue theorycrafting video:

Ashes of Outland Shaman decks

Shaman receives support for a spell-heavy archetype, but what looks to be the strongest package is the good old Evolve. Get ready to roll the dice.

Shaman theorycrafting video:

Ashes of Outland Warlock decks

Warlock receives support for big demons and the return of discard Zoo.

Warlock theorycrafting video:

Ashes of Outland Warrior decks

Warrior receives some control warrior replacements, some pain warrior cards, and some support for weapon use.

Warrior theorycrafting video:

Updated Mecha’thun Warrior for April 2020 (Hearthstone deck)

Not long after I updated my old Mecha’thun Warrior deck with the improved Kael’thas Sunstrider combo, Hearthstone Hall of Fame arrived to take away my precious Acolyte of Pain.

Don’t worry! I managed to fix the deck one more time for one last week in Standard.

Mecha’thun Warrior decklist

Deck code: AAECAQcIkAf09QK49gKS+ALx+wLerQPfrQOuugMLS5ADogT8BP8HnfACm/MCs/wCn6ED8qgDpLYDAA==

The current Mecha’thun Warrior combo is The Boomship pulling Mecha’thun and Kael’thas Sunstrider, then Whirlwind to damage them, and finally a zero-cost Plague of Wrath (thanks Kael!) to finish them off. There can also be an optional third minion of any size, as long as it does not have Divine Shield or a summoning Deathrattle (unless you can rush it into something first).

The new combo enables Deathwing, Mad Aspect in the deck because you can always pull it as part of the combo if you do not need it earlier. There is also more redundancy compared to the old Malygos combo because Inner Rages are no longer needed and Whirlwind and Plague of Wrath can be run in two copies, of which only one copy is needed for the combo.

Card draw is more difficult now with Acolyte of Pain gone, and the deck is consequently a little weaker. I had the most success with this list that includes both Town Criers and Risky Skippers (and Ancharrr to tutor the Skippers).

Unfortunately, I had to cut Armorsmith to make room for the Rush package, and that weakens the survivability of the deck somewhat. I also tried with Armorsmiths but without the Rush package, but that was worse because then I did not draw through my deck fast enough.

As an upside, I was able to include the upgraded Dr. Boom, Mad Genius, so now you can always get rid of unwanted Brawls near the end of the game.

Mecha’thun Warrior mulligan

Ancharrr and Town Crier are the two main cards you mulligan for. With less armor gain around, Eternium Rover has become more important against aggressive decks, and you may also want to keep an eye out for Risky Skipper and Battle Rage now.

Mecha’thun Warrior gameplay video

Finally, here is a gameplay video with the updated deck. I hope it provides you further insight into how the deck works.