Deck Spotlight: Punch Everyone With Standard Highlander Hunter

Heyo, Pezman here with another edition of "Let's Play Reno in Standard"! This time, our resident Lone Ranger (not actually that "lone," is he?) teams up with one of my favorite cards from the Badlands set: Theldurin the Lost! For my previous articles, click here and here. For now, onto the punching!

If You're Lost, Just Start Punching!

Just to reiterate, I LOVE Theldurin the Lost! I'm not up on the lore, so I don't know where he is, how he got lost, or why. But his answer is to just punch everyone, and that's something I can get behind! Not only does this card get top marks for flavor and fun, but it's also really powerful. Even without any buffs, he can clear a lot of minions, but you have multiple ways to increase his attack.

Honorable mention goes to Hodir, Father of Giants, whose stat buff applies to Theldurin AFTER you play him but BEFORE he starts punching. I was using Hodir early on to some decent effect, but I ended up cutting him as too slow in most scenarios.

My favorite Theldurin moment so far was a game vs Paladin yesterday, where my opponent played double Showdown! into Prismatic Beam, after which I topdecked Theldurin. The salt was tangible, my friends.

Who Else Wants to Get Lost?

Here's my current decklist:

We love getting Costumed Singer or Thornmantle Musician plus Barrel of Monkeys for early game action. Secrets like Bait and Switch and Hidden Meaning can really complicate your opponent's first few turns.

E.T.C., Band Manager is always a great tool, especially for Highlander decks. 

Putting Ignis into the band instead of the main list is a questionable choice, as he is one of the strongest cards in Standard right now. However, since Titanforged Traps is the only forgeable card here, I thought it made sense. The Viper is there to counter your opponent's Ignis, and Steamcleaner guards against Plagues.

Win Conditions

The most consistent win condition in this deck is playing Always a Bigger Jormungar on Stonebound Gargon or Hollow Hound. With a few buffs and some low health targets, you can belt out a lot of face damage from hand.

There's also good old King Krush. One of the few original class legendaries still playable in Standard, Krush is kind of a hilarious card, just 9 mana 8 face damage. In many scenarios, he's really not good enough, but with a buff or two, or when your opponent is exhausted from fending off your other threats, he can clinch the win. He's particularly good after playing Reno, Lone Ranger when your opponent may not be able to throw a taunt in the way. Krush makes me want to add Audio Amplifier so you can use your Hero Power the same turn. Holy Bullet would turn that 8 damage into 12, and I've lost a couple games where that would have made the difference.

That's a wrap for today's article. Get in the comments to share your Highland Hunter strategies, or just to let me know how much you love Theldurin too!