Combo Hunter v 3.0 (9-11 @ D5)

Hey gang, Boinkydoinky here with another garbage deck.

This is the third and final variation of the King Krush/Beastmaster Leoroxx Combo Hunter I've been playing for the past week. After taking a break from this deck and climbing to Diamond 5 I decided to log my results at this new rank, going a total of 9-11.

There aren't many distinct changes to the playstyle and packages - the only thing changed was 1x Misdirection for 1x Pack Tactics, which helps us fight for board against aggro and combos with deathrattle synergy like Loot Hoarder and Khartut. Overall, the idea of the deck is still the same: refer to my previous deck guides if you're curious about how to play this deck, this guide is meant to go over matchups and mulligan.

Demon Hunter: 1-2

 This deck has surprisingly okay early game against Demon Hunter. We are never comboing against demon hunter, so play Ramkahen as a 4/3. Even better is comboing Ramkahen with Phase Stalkers or whatever you drew of Scavengers. Getting handbuffed minions copied is pretty good, but don't feel too obligated to play for this - most DH minions are attack heavy, and generally buffed Gryphon and Lion are still dying in their trades. Copying Phase Stalker off of the Ingenuity is huge, however. Just tempoing 2 mana yetis is insane against DH.

Also, most DH players feel obligated to kill off your Stalkers since they don't know we only have 2 secrets. Try not to let them know this - if you're out of secrets, don't hero power with Stalker on board, instead, try to take a turn that would make sense even if you still had secrets in deck, i.e. playing aggressively for board, so they still feel obligated to kill stalker. Remember, survival is the name of the game here.

Khartut is kind of a win condition, since it gives healing and taunt, which Demon Hunters hate. Unfortunately, there's really nothing we can do if a DH gets off to a nuts start - our deck simply doesn't have the tools to beat their best hands. Aside from that though, we actually have a good fighting chance. My sample size for DH is small, but hopefully with the new patch it'll become less of a problem.

Mulligan: You're looking for Phase Stalkers, Gryphon, Sharpshooter, Depth Charge and Skydiving Instructor, just generally good units to help manage their early board. I've also considered keeping Explosive in hand, but I don't know if that's right or not.

Druid: 0-2

Not going to lie, guys, I kinda hate Spell Druid. No offense to anyone who likes playing the deck, I just think it's not really my cup of tea. The main problem is we just don't have the aggro capability to kill them before they make a large board, and then we don't have the control capability to clear said large board. This deck exploits Hunter's main weaknesses - lack of hard removal and lack of board clears, and we really feel it.

We actually can't win against this deck. I don't even know how we could. Maybe 1% of the time you can try aggroing them down before they pop off, but that's so impossibly unlikely. Mulligan for early cards and pray they don't draw well. With Druid getting off with a slap on the wrist in the recent patch, this deck is kind of screwed.

Hunter: 2-1

The main hunter is Highlander Hunter, and we actually have decent game against them. They don't have great ways to kill little guys like Novice and Loot Hoarder, so they actually kind of get in there and trade. This is generally a combo game, and they have no healing, so you'll need to try and Hero Power three times.

Mulligan: Look for Dwarven, Phase Stalker, Gryphon, Skydiving. You want to combo as fast as possible, and if you miss on one of your tutor effects that's going to slow you down. Don't be tempted into keeping your two mana draw cards, since we run 6 copies of two mana draw cards. I also kept King Krush once or twice so that I could play Ramkahen on curve, but don't do this - you have a lot of beasts, and 3 of your beasts are reactive, so your Ramkahen remains in hand regardless. Just hope you don't eat an on Curve Brann or Alex. 

Mage: 0-0

I have no data on mage.

Paladin: 1-0

They have heal, and their main heal, Libram of Justice, comes with a thick 8/8 Taunt Divine shield. It's going to be very important to get this out before you combo, so play aggressively in the early game and chip them down to force them to use this while you still have the resources to kill it.

Mulligan is the same as against Hunter.

Warlock: 0-3

Goddamn it guys, Warlock has it all. Taunts, Heals, Big Dudes, they can do everything. They even combo better than us! Unbelievable. At the same time though, they kind of sit there and let us draw for a few turns in the beginning, which is nice of them. This matchup is probably winnable, unless you're playing against the one guy on ladder who techs Scrapyard Colossus. What the hell.

Mulligan is the same as against Hunter.

Warrior: 0-0

I have no data on Warriors

Shaman: 0-0

I have no data on Shamans. What's a Shaman?

Rogue: 3-2

Rogue is eating a fat nerf, and I don't even know if it's going to be a thing. The important part is keeping up with them on board - deny Togwaggle and Faceless because those cards destroy us, and work towards comboing as fast as possible.

Rogue is unique because their early game is bad despite being a semi-tempo deck. If we can beat on them early game we can combo with 2 or even 1 King Krush. Just hope they don't roll Taunt Lackey and we're golden.

Priest: 4-1

Oh yeah. Oooohh yyyyeeaaahhh.

Priest just doesn't do anything. They kind of just sit there and stare blankly while we set up on them. The issue here is not surviving, it's chipping them low enough where we can actually kill the from hand. Remember, our max damage (if you don't buff King Krush off of Ingenuity) is 26 in a single turn. You still need to generate enough pressure to keep them semi-low. Also, don't be afraid to pull the trigger on them if they're at 28. The reason is that Priest can't kill your Krushes easily without Galakrond, so if they've already used it, their only answer is Plague of Death, but they can't heal easily (except Renew) after that. Then you can hero power them and they die.

Mulligan for your tutor cards.

Pro tip: this deck is real bad.

However, I do think Combo Hunter has potential. In fact, I know it has potential. The largest issue with this deck is that two of our combo cards are legendaries, and we can't consistently hit them. Furthermore, Tracking is crucial, but we can't hit that either. Now, because Krush is a beast, we could hit him with Ingenuity, but that means we can't run other beasts. But most of Hunter's strong draw options are also beasts. Except [Hearthstone Card (Arcane Fletcher.) Not Found] 

In fact, Chump daddy has actually already made this deck, the madman. He ditches almost everything about my deck and goes with Arcane Fletcher/Boar/Handbuff, and it actually works. And he's 12-6! 

Thank god he did this before I dunked 800 dust on this concept. I highly recommend checking out his video - if you're looking for an honest to god combo deck, this might actually be the best one out there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NroFcyN5aYA.