The full set of cards for March of the Lich King has been revealed a little while ago, and we're nearing the time when they can finally become a part of our collection. Still not sure what to make of Hunter or what kind of decks to play? We've broken down the class archetypes for the upcoming expansion, discussed the new cards, and gathered a variety of theorycraft decks from streamers, pros, and community members to guide you on Day 1.
First off, there is a lot of other relevant content that you might be interested in:
- You can find full information about the upcoming set in our March of the Lich King expansion guide.
- You can create and share your own decks featuring all these new cards via our deckbuilder.
- The new Rewards Track has been fully detailed. Get a head start on the early XP gains and stay prepared for launch!
- Major Patch 25.0 (plus hotfixes) has prepared the ground for the expansion with various game mode updates and features.
- Need a more detailed overview of March of the Lich King themes and mechanics? The initial announcement coverage has it all.
- Expect special Signature cards to add to your collection, and improved duplicate protection coming with the new Reroll Feature.
- Remember, you are able to open your packs faster than usual - should you wish to!
Now, onto what's approaching ever closer. Before we jump into a variety of potential decks, here is a quick look at the class in the upcoming expansion:
Lich King Hunter - Quick Impressions
- Hunter got a lot of support for a Spell archetype - Arcane spells to be specific. There's a handful of new Arcane spells and minions that make Arcane spells do more damage.
- Hunter's other archetype is one that focuses on their hero attacking, and could have a number of applications.
- Zombeasts are back, baby.
Lich King Hunter - Expansion Cards & Archetypes
There are two directions that Hunter is being pushed in by March of the Lich King: Arcane Spells and Hero Attacks.
Arcane Hunter
Halduron Brightwing (no relation) is pretty powerful, granting every Arcane spell in your deck extra damage, even considering that, before March of the Lich King, Hunter had all of one spell in the Arcane school. Now the class has five, and the four new additions are all looking mighty spicy. Arcane Quiver is the only one that doesn't care about gaining Spell Damage, but seeing as how it grants extra damage to another Arcane spell, we'll give it a pass.
Ricochet Shot and Conjured Arrow especially look very good with any amount of extra damage, but the spell we're most excited about is Eversong Portal. What can we say, we just like summoning 4/4s with Rush. Silvermoon Farstrider is a good complement for Halduron, by boosting any spells that hit your hand before Halduron could pique them.
The Arcane archetype for Hunter feels very on-rails, with some obvious highs being off-set by those times you don't find Halduron early. Our guess is that at least two of these spells (Ricohcet Shot and Conjured Arrow) will find a welcome home in Questline Hunter, and the rest will be part of a neat but niche deck that's fun but not formidable. If we had to grade it, we'd give it a solid B. But we don't have to grade it, so we won't.
Attack Hunter
This is certainly an interesting turn of events for the class. Are we sure that Blizzard didn't accidentally ship these cards with the "Demon" part of "Demon Hunter" unchecked? That being said, there are certainly powerful applications for each of these cards - we just don't see them as the basis for a bespoke archetype.
Hope of Quel'Thalas is pretty neat, and could fit into a deck that's chock full o' minions to buff. Shockspitter could be a decent tool for Face Hunter, if the archetype has enough weapons it wants to run. Keeneye Spotter is very interesting for slower Hunter decks (Candleshot is in Standard, after all) to eat those pesky big minions. Thanks to Prince Renathal, slower decks suddenly have a lot more space in them, and if the combo is as good as we think it could be, we might be seeing a lot of Spotter and Candleshot.
Our grade for this archetype is that it's not really an archetype, and more a collection of cards that play with the same theme in ways that each appeal to different sorts of decks. So, what is that, like a C+ or something?
Other Hunter Cards
Scourge Tamer is so special that he gets his own category, that category being "Other." We'll be honest: we didn't expect to ever see Zombeasts attached to any card other than Deathstalker Rexxar, but this is a welcome surprise. Deathstalker Rexxar is a personal favorite, and the Zombeast mechanic is one of the more interesting ways to play Hearthstone, so of course we love Scourge Tamer. As a 2-Cost minion, it's incredibly easy to fit into early turns and should, we think, see play in a variety of Hunter decks specifically because of the flexibility that crafting a Zombeast brings to the game.
As an archetype, we give "Other" an A+.
Lich King Hunter - Top Neutral Cards
In our honest opinion, the Neutral pool of cards from March of the Lich King doesn't appear to offer a whole lot to Hunter, unless they get really into Undead all of a sudden (it's been known to happen), and we don't have time to talk about every single Undead in the context of Hunter. Instead we'll talk about a couple of cards that we think could make an impact in Hunter regardless of whether the whole Undead thing catches on.
Invincible, as the only Neutral Beast in the set, should get at least a look in Hunter, a class that's Bonkers for Beasts. The Battle/Rattle may look clunky because it only targets Undead, but thanks to the new double tag system Zombeasts are Undead Beasts (like Invincible itself), and should be great targets for the buff. So, it stands to reason that a deck running Scourge Tamer (also an Undead) would want to also run Invincible.
Lor'themar Theron might find a spot in Big Beast Hunter lists, adding more stats to the already fairly massive monsters that Hunter likes to run. He's certainly worth trying out, at the very least.
Silvermoon Arcanist should be a good choice for the new Arcane Spell Hunter, especially since there's only one Arcane spell (Arcane Shot) that can even target a hero. In other words, her effect is straight-up gravy for Ricochet Shot and Eversong Portal, and old hats like Collateral Damage don't mind it, either.
Lich King Hunter - Day 1 Decks to Try
Not sure what to play for the class while we follow the March of the Lich King? We've gathered a handful of early deck ideas from all across the Hearthstone tavern just to help you out:
Superior David
During the theorycraft stream, Superior David toyed with this list built around the new Arcane spells that Hunter got, using Halduron Brightwing to boost his spell's power while also swinging in with cheap weapons Candleshot and Bloodseeker to boost up the Battlecry on Shockspitter.
McBanterFace
McBanterFace's take on a Shockspitter deck gets a little greedier, running more weapons in the form of Harpoon Gun (along with the helpful control of Keeneye Spotter) and even making space for Brann Bronzebeard to double up the damage from either Shockspitter or Halduron Brightwing.
Zombeasts and Other Things
We couldn't let this season pass us by without trying to brew up a Hunter deck using the new Scourge Tamer, so we put together this list that uses Defense Attorney Nathanos to gain/trigger the Deathrattle of Invincible (or something else) to boost our horde of Undead Beasts. To help in the early game, we're packing Keeneye Spotter to go along with Harpoon Gun and Candleshot to control the board, and also the package of Arcane spells because, thanks to Prince Renathal, we have the space to do so.
Wild - Sidisi Reno
If you're looking to play on the Wild side, we have two decks from the theorycraft stream that might be worth your time, both from Sidisi. First is this Reno Hunter built around a spells package, boosting the mid-game with Halduron Brightwing and Silvermoon Farstrider, then ending the game with Yogg-Saron, Hope's End and Zul'jin.
Wild Mode - Sidisi Shockspitter
The other Wild deck uses some of the Wildseed package to stall while copying Shockspitter with Northshire Farmer and Dire Frenzy to gather an army of Spitters and point all that damage (we assume) at the opponent's face.
More Class Coverage for March of the Lich King
Want to look at what we've put together for another March of the Lich King contender? The navigation links below can take you there in an instant!
What do you think of Hunter's card package for the upcoming expansion? Which decks are you going to take for a spin once March of the Lich King goes live on December 6? Is there something else from your favorite content creator that we didn't include here? Let us know in the comments!
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