Hello Hunters,

If you're like me, when you saw Stormpike Battle Ram + Revive Pet your first thought was, how crazy can we get with King Krush?!  The answer is something close to an OTK even without Beastmaster Leoroxx (which I also tried in this deck with 2x Selective Breeder, but it was rarely needed).

General Gameplan

This deck is still a work-in-progress and I'd love to hear ideas but, the main goal is to play a discounted Krush and then copy him with Shan'do Wildclaw for lethal.  This provides 16 burst damage at a minimum, but we're really hoping to buff the beast king via:

• Scavenger's Ingenuity = 20 burst damage
• Doggie Biscuit, if you discount Krush twice = 20 dmg
• Scrap Shot = 22 dmg
• Nightmare from Archdruid Naralex = 24 dmg
• Obviously, you can stack these buffs to get closer to a true OTK

There are also two alternate win conditions if the game lasts longer:

• Sacrifice your Krush and then revive 2 copies via Revive Pet and copy one with Shan'do for a 9-mana 24 damage combo
  • There are only 3 beasts in this deck so you're guaranteed to revive Krush (Battle Ram and the Hyena from Wound Prey are the other 2).  However, this line will not be guaranteed if you start summoning Animal Companions from Beaststalker Tavish which leads to our other win condition....
        
• Roll Huffer from Tavish and then buff him with a Doggie Biscuit (or two) and/or Nightmare before copying with Shan'do.  This provides 8 burst damage at a minimum, but it can get up to 12, 16, 20, or 24 depending on the buffs you have.

Mulligan

If you go first:

• Our primary goal is Irondeep Trogg as it punishes Quest decks, demands attention/slows down your opponent's gameplan, and can also snowball into being your win condition if you buff it on Turn 2 (T2) with Doggie Biscuit.
       
• Mystery Winner is our other target as it provides a play on T2 and can value trade after a Biscuit buff.

If you go second, the targets are similar:

• Mystery Winner and Trogg are still kept, though I often save Trogg for T2 or T3
• Doggie Biscuit is now kept as the Trogg combo on T2/T3 is still a strong play.  However, if I draw a really bad curve, I'll also sometimes Trade the biscuit on Turn 1.
• Wound Prey and Quick Shot are also targets when facing aggro decks

Rationale for Rest of Deck

Devouring Swarm - certainly a target for replacement, but I've kept it in for the following scenarios:

• A few decks are running big taunts which are the bain of our combo.  With the buffs to Krush, we can often slam into a taunt via Swarm and still survive to charge for lethal.
• I also use it fairly frequently with Archdruid Naralex once he awakens from his slumber.  This gives you two more chances at generating Nightmare which is extremely helpful for getting lethal damage.

Professor Slate + Bola Shot - we can fall behind on board while trying to draw/buff our combo pieces and the Professor can provide a clean Slate for us to charge the face.  Keep in mind that you can also clear the whole board when combo'n with Ysera Awakens.

Scavenger's Ingenuity - helps draw our Rams and Krush.  Becomes a dead card after drawing all 3 beasts so you could replace with Warsong Wrangler, but I like Scavenger's as the cheaper cost allows you to play more cards on the same turn, as well as play the Ram on curve.

Barak Kodobane - guaranteed to draw Revive Pet and thin your deck.

Cornelius Roame - the other prime candidate for replacement.  There are times when you're just a Shan'do Wildclaw or Scrap Shot buff away from lethal so I like the idea of more draw, though Taelan Fordring may be the better value.

Other Gameplay Notes

If you can't pull off a Trogg + Biscuit combo on T2, try to the save the coin for as long as possible.  Being able to pull off your Krush combo 1 turn earlier has made the difference between winning and losing on more than one occassion.

To that end, get in chip damage whenever you can as getting them down to around 20 HP is enough to set up most lethals.  This is to say that weaving in a Hero Power or selecting Explosive Trap via Mystery Winner/the improved version via Tavish can be all you need for a two-turn kill.

In the mid-late game, Doggie Biscuit becomes the cherry on top for your Krush combo so don't hesitate to Trade it if you're still missing a key piece like Shan'do.

Other than the disruption traps (Explosive, Freezing, Ice), I really like Improved Pack Tactics from Tavish.  It can help you survive when combined with Misha and help set up lethal when combined with Leokk. 

• Going with both Improved Snake Trap + Improved Open the Cages can also be a nice combo as the former helps trigger the latter, which improves you odds of setting up a Huffer + Shan'do finish.

Changes I've Tested

Started with Armor Vendor instead of Mystery Winner, but giving your opponent 4 armor can make the difference between hitting your Krush lethal or not.

As stated at the top, tried out a Beastmaster Leoroxx package with Lorekeeper Polkelt to make Krush even more consistent.  However, I found Shan'do to be the better combo on Turn 8 (with 2 Ram discounts) and replaced that package with more survivability.

Tried swapping out Bola Shot + Professor Slate for another copy of Devouring Swarm and 2x Venomous Scorpid.  Scorpid is appealing due to the ability to find missing combo pieces or otherwise useful cards like Don't Feed the Animals.

• However, this change requires swapping out Wound Prey for Arcane Shot to keep the beast pool at 3.  I also ran Warsong Wrangler instead of Scavenger's Ingenuity to make sure I got what I needed at the right time.
• The biggest downside I found was that having another beast made playing Scrap Shot even more difficult if you wanted to guarantee that the buff landed on Krush.

An early version ran Mutanus the Devourer for the OwlTK tech and I liked the inclusion (didn't want to run Rustrot Viper for the same reasons as Scorpid above).  However, it didn't quite make the current cut as I've focused more on pure combo synergy.

I've also considered running Resizing Pouch for the high chance of Devouring Swarm + the versatility to become a win condition later in the game (e.g., high chance at Alex or Krush on T10).

That's all for now; I'll keep updating this list as it becomes more refined.  Please let me know if you're having success when any other versions!  Until then...

Happy Hunting!

- RD