Aggro-vating Demon Hunter Deck List and Guide - Memes and Dreams #8

Hearthstone at its core is a game that people should have fun with, but that can get bogged down in the pursuit of competitive meta strategies. Thus, I humbly present Memes and Dreams, a series on Out of Cards looking to bring some good ol' memey fun into people's Hearthstone experiences. Each week we will do a deep dive on a different 'for fun' deck, discussing the basic ideas of the deck, what makes it tick, and roughly how to pilot it. This week we look into a take on Demon Hunter designed specifically to annoy the opponent.

My Motivations Are Beyond Your Understanding

I might have a teensy bit of a metric ton of disdain towards Demon Hunter. Their immense power and prevalence in the first two expansions since their release left a very bitter taste in my mouth. Their sheer consistency in damage and breaking rules (like re-introducing Charge) made me exceptionally spiteful towards the class and everything it stood for. To top it all off not many of its cards were 'meme-y' as much as they were off-meta. Big demons aren't an especially unique meme, although swarm Demon Hunter with Nethrandamus shenanigans piqued my interest a bit. Instead, I decided to distill my spite for the class into a deck that embodies its most annoying identities: aggro, tons of draw, and disruption. The deck is first and foremost an Aggro Demon hunter, which I admit, isn't very interesting or spicy. However, this deck breaks the mold by using cards such as Star Student Stelina and Glide for extreme disruption, as well as Zephrys the Great and C'Thun, the Shattered to break Demon Hunter's established identity and really annoy opponents.

The Meme - Typical Aggro Demon Hunter, kill opponents by turn 5, maybe deny a board clear with Stelina or Glide.

The Dream - "Agh! This Control deck answered all my things and is beating me down! Somebody, call an ambulance!" *Whips out C'thun* "But not for me!"

Key Cards

This deck is mainly aggro and thus does not have many key cards to achieve the express purpose of killing opponents before they can say 'Pretzel mustard'. However, the cards that make this 'Spicy Pretzel Mustard' starts with Glide. Glide along with Star Student Stelina provides a degree of disruption that could make even Tickatus blush and helps differentiate this deck from other Demon Hunters. Stelina doesn't make it into 'Key Cards' because she doesn't double as a draw engine and has a bit less infamy.

C'thun is definitely the spiciest part of this deck since he is typically put into Control decks as a finisher and to provide some utility in his spells. However, in early testing for this deck, I found I drew through the deck very fast but wasn't able to make that last push for damage since some aggro is sacrificed for annoying disruption. C'thun helps provide more disruption and breaks the Demon Hunter class identity through hard removal via Maw of C'Thun.

Zephrys, similar to C'thun, provides a possible extra push of damage in the late game and can defy the established Demon Hunter schtick through board clears and/or hard removal. There is the slight issue of the deck having many, many, many duplicates, but ideally, you're able to draw through the deck fast enough to activate Zephrys by the time he is relevant.

Honorable Mentions

Stelina may not have multiple purposes like the 'Key Cards', but her disruption is very unique and can win games on its own. Her ability to get rid of board clears, big taunts, or even combo pieces from opponents' hands will surely grind their gears. 

Illidari Studies might seem like a pretty harmless card, but it holds some serious potential. There are ten Outcast cards in standard as of current, meaning that it's a pretty selective pool.  Five of those ten draw cards (Consume Magic, Crimson Sigil Runner, Spectral Sight, Glide, Skull of Gul'dan), three offer some level of board disruption or damage (Consume Magic, Eye Beam, Illidari Felblade), and two are Glide and Stelina, allowing you to really mess with your opponent's hand. The only real dud is Felosophy, but that's fine since there are so many other strong options.

Budget / Alternate Options

For an Aggro deck this sis quite expensive due to its bulk of legendaries. Stelina's disruption is hard to replace, but also doesn't make or break the deck. Cobalt Spellkin acts as a decent replacement since many of Demon Hunter's 1-mana spells are very annoying, such as Mana Burn or Consume Magic. C'Thun, the Shattered and Zephrys the Great are quite a bit hard to find similar replacements for. No other cards act as alternate win conditions, so I would suggest replacing either with something that adds more consistency to the deck, such as Spectral Sight or another copy of Acrobatics. 

Stiltstepper is the only Epic in the deck, and there is only one copy of him to boot. I tried two copies before, but the C'thun spells made it too inconsistent to proc. Since his primary function is to draw, most any other card draw will do just fine. Double Jump can help reach some of the Outcast cards, but remember that Star Student Stelina, Glide, and Skull of Gul'dan aren't cheap and might require Double Jump to be played at a later time. There are plenty of other draw cards that work too though, such as Manafeeder Panthara or Loot Hoarder. Voracious Reader is a decent consideration, however, the C'thun spells can make it difficult to have an empty hand to utilize her draw to its fullest extent. 

This deck can be taken in a couple of other routes. You could push it much more traditionally Aggro Demon Hunter with cards like Altruis the Outcast, Kayn Sunfury, and Glaivebound Adept. It detracts from the meme-iness a little, but those cards certainly achieve the deck's goal of annoying the opponent. With all the Outcast cards, you could also use Redeemed Pariah, Line Hopper, and Questing Adventurer as a secondary meme/dream. This group might work better off in their own dedicated deck, but this series has never been about total optimization.

Matchups

VS Aggro

The thing about this matchup section, you're probably going to play every matchup the same with little variation. Here you might focus a bit more on board control so that the enemy doesn't overwhelm you, but the basic game plan is to rush them down. The best things to keep in opening mulligan/dig for are any of the 1-mana minions so that you can more easily contest the board. Unfortunately for this deck, the lack of dedication to the Aggro plan might be the downfall since they are more likely to consistently apply pressure. This matchup is also one of the main reasons why Glide is only a one-of despite being a 'Key Card', since it will more often than not provide the opponent with an equal or greater refill. However, this deck does come with Heart of C'Thun, Body of C'Thun, and potential Zephrys the Great shenanigans, which can help stabilize and pull out a win in the mid-late-game.

VS Control

Control naturally beats Aggro, so just go hard and hope they don't have answers to your aggression. Assuming they do, just try to get them as low as possible and ideally keep the board clean. C'Thun, the Shattered is the out in extended games and should be kept in mind. Eye of C'Thun has the potential to do some sizeable damage in the correct board state and Maw of C'Thun can be used to remove large threats/taunts. Be especially considerate of Tickatus in the Warlock matchup since you really don't want to burn C'thun. Star Student Stelina can be very helpful in taking out key cards from the opponent's hand, such as School Spirits, Risky Skipper, or Blizzard. Glide is also really helpful here since Control decks typically amass a large hand.

VS Combo

Aggro already has a decent time against Combo, so there shouldn't be too many issues in this matchup. However, this deck excels at more than just beating Combo decks down, this deck can destroy their spirits. Mana Burn on key turns can prevent attempts to stabilize or cancel their combo altogether. Similar to Control decks, Glide becomes exceptionally strong here since Combo decks need to gather the necessary cards, which you will then shuffle back into the deck for them. Stelina will similarly ruin their time if you get rid of an important combo piece such as Mozaki, Master Duelist or Il'gynoth. Since their board will also typically be empty, Eye of C'thun will typically represent 7 direct face damage, which can be nice in making the final push for lethal.

Conclusion

I typically don't like Aggro decks and I really don't like Demon Hunter, so it's kinda weird that I made this deck instead of pursuing some other Demon Hunter meme. Despite being a deck built on a foundation of spite, it doesn't even include everything I hate about Demon Hunters, such as Altruis the Outcast or Kayn Sunfury. However, this deck will hopefully make a truly frustrating experience for any opponent. Aggro provides a strong base of annoyance as they will have to deal with constant face pressure and the zany combination of Zephrys the Great and C'Thun, the Shattered adds a dimension of unpredictability that will leave your opponent speechless. It's one thing to lose to an Aggro Demon Hunter, we've all been there. But from the start of the game, C'thun's opening animation will set the stage for maximizing the opponent's salt by letting the opponent know that lost to some weird shit.

What is your meme deck of choice? Do you try different ones for each expansion or do you try to evolve old ones with new cards? Do you have any meme dream stories? Tell us in the comments below!