On the first day(s) of Ashes of Outland, it stands to reason that everybody and their mother is going to try out the new Demon Hunter class. While I will certainly be no exception to this, the predictability of the meta is surely tempting to try and exploit it. So I looked up @FearGralex Meta Breaker articles and tried to come up with something to counter the expected onslaught of Demon Hunters.

How do Demon Hunters win?
Demon Hunter looks like an aggressive or at least tempo oriented class. They have lots of rush, lots of smaller chipping damage especially from face and quite a few impressive midgame threats. Card draw is also a strength of theirs.

How might this class lose?
Thinking about how to beat Demon Hunter, I came up with three potential strategies. 1) Build a Warlock deck around [Hearthstone Card (sacrifical pact) Not Found]. This seemed not enough, destroying two of their demons won't win us a game most of the times. I'm not sure where Warlock is going, so let's look elsewhere. 2) Control / Big Warrior. Demon Hunters severly lack single target removal. We could exploit this by using Warrior's huge arsenal of control tools and win the game by pumping out big guys in the end game. This looks promissing, but I came up with one more candidate, and this one already proved it's valour during the last months: 3) Embiggen Druid.

You dare challenge me, brother?
Starting out with the HSReplay list from 4 weeks ago, the first thing I did was to check what's rotating:

1x Witching Hour - this hurts, since Winged Guardian is one of the key cards to our deck
2x Injured Tol'vir - great target for Strength in Numbers, can be compensated
1x SN1P-SN4P - allround card, tech slot
1x Leeroy Jenkins - finisher, could be replaced by Reckless Rocketeer
1x Zilliax - heal, very important for our Demon Hunter matchup

So the strategy behind my approach is to build up a taunt wall of Embiggened minions which prevents the Demon Hunters from reaching our face. Swipe helps dealing with their swarm cards, The Black Knight slipped in because I perceived a lot of strong taunt minions in Ashes of Outland. Malfurion's hero power at least partially counters our target: we can clear small minions like Shadowhoof Slayer or Battlefiend.

The biggest and probably most debatable change was the addition of Untapped Potential. I must admit that Hidden Oasis alone almost made me add the card, since heal and a strong taunt minion are exactly what we're looking for. Since Oasis Surger already was part of the original list and Nourish seemed like a good idea for draw, I'd like to give it a shot.

Our win condition is kinda multilayered in this deck. First, we have to prevent the Demon Hunters from hitting our face too hard and too often. Second, we try to outvalue them with the help of Embiggen. Third, if we manage to get to the late game, we drop the bomb with Ysera, Unleashed. They won't stay a chance once those portals get going.

Major issues and weaknesses
Obviously Kayn Sunfury hard counters our match plan and needs to be removed immediatly. The biggest issue will probably be the early game, though. We try to finish the quest, put ourselves at a mana disadvantage with Embiggen and need to play "do nothing" cards like Strength in Numbers and Breath of Dreams to compensate. I fear we might get overrun during the first turns. That brings us to alternative card choices:

Belligerent Gnome fits our weak early game like a glove.
Crystal Merchant provides a body and some value while we try to finish the quest. She could replace Nourish.
Archspore Msshi'fn also helps during the early game, Msshi'fn Prime fits our strategy. I wouldn't craft him for this deck, but if you should pull him from a pack he would be worth a try.
Frizz Kindleroost might be useful to compensate for the Embiggens, but I'm very reluctant to add another "do nothing" card.

Of course the deck can't be tested right now but I'd appreciate your feedback nevertheless. Is the addition of Untapped Potential to an Embiggen deck overkill? Do you think Warrior will do better against Demon Hunter? Let me know in the comments!

Change Log

Took out Nourish for Archspore Msshi'fn. (26.03.2020)