Maxima Funenheimer

Update 5/6:  The meta has slowed down a bit so I've cut both copies of Death's Head Cultist and replaced them with Carrion Studies. 

This leaves Professor Slate as our only truly bad pull from Blastenheimer and we can make it even better by drawing both of our copies of Teacher's Pet via Scavenger's Ingenuity beforehand.

I'm currently seeing if I can take this list from Diamond 10 to Diamond 5 and had a funny match last night where I beat a Control Priest who sent a friend request just to say that this was the "ugliest Hunter deck" he's faced before un-friending, haha XD  

Hello Hunters,

Playing Control was pretty rough before the recent nerfs, but fun is back on the menu with Maxima Blastenheimer and this Deathrattle deck that I took to Diamond 10 this month :D

Note - I've posted the most consistent shell, but I also run several iteration that increase the memes so if this looks too vanilla check out some of the alterations at the bottom of this guide!

Basic Strategy

• Control the board early via your cheap spells and Death's Head Cultist
      
• Use Tracking to search for Maxima Blastenheimer and otherwise draw one of your three 3-drops to increase your odds of a big Blastenheimer payoff
       
• Use Scavenger's Ingenuity to draw Teacher's Pet and play on curve if possible
          
• Use Sphere of Sapience to make sure one of your 5 big boys is still in your deck for Maxima - 2x Darkmoon Tonk, 1x Plagued Protodrake, and 2x Scrapyard Colossus
        
• Play a copy of Darkmoon Tonk on curve if you have board control to set up for a Turn 8 Jewel of N'Zoth which should rezz some taunts and Tonk
      
• Finish the game with your big deathrattles + Piercing Shot + Quick Shot

Mulligan

In general, we're looking for Maxima Blastenheimer or Tracking / Sphere of Sapience to look for Blastenheimer. 

We also want our 3-drop minons which are the other big targets for those cards (i.e. Death's Head Cultist and Professor Slate).

Otherwise our targets depend on the match-up:

Against Aggro/Fast Developing Decks: (Face Hunter, Token Druid, Murloc Shammy, Aggro Pally, etc.)

• Wound Prey
• Bola Shot
• Quick Shot
• Tame Beast (Rank 1)

Against Control/Slower Developing Decks: (No Minion Mage, Rush Warrior, Clown Druid, etc.)

• Scavenger's Ingenuity is the main target aside from Blastenheimer, our draw cards, and the 3-drop minions

Priorities Based on Opponent:

Wound Prey for Paladin (don't want to leave a minion on board for Hand of A'dal or Avenge) as well as Demon Hunter's Battlefiend and Token Druid's Gibberling

Quick Shot for Paladin (Aldor Attendant can snowball) as well as Priest's Sethekk Veilweaver, Face Hunter's buffed Intrepid Initiate or Wolpertinger, and anything running Far Watch Post like DR Demon Hunter

Deadly Shot and Professor Slate + Bola Shot are great for anything that loves to dump big minions all of a sudden like Rush Warrior, Libram Pally, and Clown Druid

Piercing Shot can be useful against Pally's Aldor Truthseeker, No Minion Mage's 5-drop generated from Apexis Blast, Midrange Demon Hunter's Bladed Lady, and Priest's Nazmani Bloodweaver

Additional Tips and Tricks

• Playing Professor Slate + Bola Shot at the right time against Rush Warrior, Secret Libram Pally, and Clown Druid can make all the difference so try to hold off until they've dumped a lethal threat
      
• Darkmoon Tonk punishes hard removal from the likes of No Minion Mage and Control Warlock so feel free to keep it on the mulligan if you have other early-round options or pick it from Tracking / Sphere of Sapience when you have the opportunity
      
• Baiting out Devolving Missiles against Mage via Teacher's Pet is strongly encouraged before dropping Tonk so searching for Scavenger's Ingenuity on the mulligan is especially important in this match-up
     
• Keep in mind that Teacher's Pet has the ability to generate deathrattle beasts and these can hurt your Jewel of N'Zoth later so try to remember what's been summoned.  Also keep in mind that the 3-mana Beast pool is pretty small at the moment so you actually have a good chance (~18%) of getting one of the 2 poisonous beasts which are great against Pally and Warrior...so feel free to play your Jewel of N'Zoth early in those match-ups even if you haven't played a big DR yet.
      
• Also remember that Wound Prey generates a 1/1 which you can kill with Piercing Shot to send 5 damage to your opponent's face for lethal
     
• And then there are standard rules like be careful of going too wide against Warlock and Priest as Hysteria is a real pain in the butt.  And your 2nd copy of Scavenger's Ingenuity will often be a dead card so use that to test for Counterspell and Oh My Yogg! when needed.
       
• You could increase the consistency of Maxima Blastenheimer by replacing Death's Head Cultist with another spell such as Demon Companion or Carrion Studies.  However, I like the Cultist as it really helps against things like Face Hunter and Token Druid while also increasing the odds that you'll have 3 DRs to summon on Turn 8 via Jewel of N'Zoth which can help set-up lethal when combined with some burn spells from hand + Hero Power.  Again, it's one of those cards you love to see early but hate to see/rezz late if you get into a Control match.  Speaking of replacements...

Potential Alterations

I personally run Shadow Hunter Vol'jin, Deathwing the Destroyer, and N'Zoth, God of the Deep when I want to increase the fun factor.  These obviously hurt your Maxima consistency a bit, but should be kept in mind if the meta ever shifts towards Control match-ups.  To fit these in I've been swapping out 1x Scavenger's Ingenuity, 1x Deadly Shot, and 1x Jewel of N'Zoth.

Shadow Hunter Vol'jin - Can be used defensively like normal; e.g., you can get rid of Paladin's infinite Libram shenanigans or pull out Tickatus the turn after they corrupt it.  However, you can also pull out your big Deathrattle cards by combo'n with Wound Prey as early as Turn 6!

Deathwing the Destroyer helps if you run into a fellow big minion player like Druid or Warrior.  Ideally you have some deathrattles on the board to get an extra value swing.  Deathwing can also set up some crazy lethals when pulled via Maxima Blastenheimer.

N'Zoth, God of the Deep is typically a win-more card in the current meta and Jewel of N'Zoth is more efficient at the moment.  However, we have a nasty beast, mech, dragon, and elemental combo to rezz if we're able to play them all before dropping N'Zoth.

Other additions I've considered include:

• Carrion Studies - can help you cheat out your big DRs from hand a turn early, but the extra DR minion dilutes the consistency of Jewel of N'Zoth
      
• There's the small beast deathrattle options like Zixor, Apex Predator, Bloated Python, and Augmented Porcupine which could replace some of the spells that control the early game.  You could then run cards like Mok'Nathal Lion, Teron Gorefiend, and Trueaim Crescent or Animated Broomstick as activators.  However, these hurt the consistency of Maxima as well as adding more randomness to your Scavenger's Ingenuity draws.
      
• Baron Rivendare is another possibility as there is the potential for a crazy combo on Turn 10 when played with Maxima.  However, that just feels too greedy and the card would probably fit better with the small beast deathrattle package mentioned in the previous point.
      
• Vectus is also a tempting card but just feels too slow in this version of DR Hunter.
     
• Claw Machine is an option for more draw but it hasn't felt necessary yet and I like a more consistent Maxima pool.

I'd be interested to hear what forms of Deathrattle Hunter have been working for y'all so feel free to leave your decklists in the comments below!  Until then...

Happy Hunting!