N'Zoth's Smite

Hello Hunters,

My previous memes have been getting punished by the new meta so I went back to climbing with this simple N'Zoth deck I built after the Stormwind miniset.  It's been fun so far and offers a slightly different Control Hunter experience than the Vanndar Stormpike-style lists.

The only alterations I've made so far were to drop the old tech card (Far Watch Post at the time) and 2x Teacher's Pet for Beaststalker Tavish and 2x Mountain Bear...yeah, I went a little greedier.  While we can't quite compete with the swings of say Clown Druid, I've been able to out-value other popular decks like Libram Paladin, Freeze Shaman, and Quest Warrior.

General Gameplan

• Clear the board early and play on-curve minions
  • Ideally Armor Vendor or Mystery Winner on Turn 1 (T1) and then Doggie Biscuit on T2
  • Then you're looking for more on-curve plays, e.g., on T3 you're playing Death's Head Cultist against aggro and Mankrik against control (or combo)
• Start pressuring with your big boys late (i.e., Mountain Bear & Mo'arg Forgefiend) and then reload with Jewel of N'Zoth
• N'Zoth, God of the Deep can provide some lethal burst if you've previously played Mr. Smite and 1 or 2 Circus Amalgams as they can all go face

Mulligan

Almost always keep Mystery Winner & Armor Vendor

I'll also keep Doggie Biscuit if I'm going 2nd and then...

Against aggro:
Wound Prey
Quick Shot
Death's Head Cultist

Against combo / control:
Mankrik
Circus Amalgam and Rinling's Rifle if I'm going 2nd

General Gameplay Tips

Picking the right secrets from Mystery Winner, Rinling's Rifle, and Beaststalker Tavish can really swing a game in your favor.

• Explosive Trap & Snake Trap can be useful against aggro early, but aren't great picks in the late game
• Pack Tactics is always a decent pick if you think you can survive until the late game to combo with a big DR minion
• Ice Trap can help you stall against the likes of Ramp Druid and Ping Mage, but against 0-cost Librams it's not a great choice
• On the flip side, Freezing Trap can punish Libram Pally but can help the likes of Freeze Shaman and Quest Warrior
• Open the Cages finds value in the late game once you have the Tavish Hero Power and Mountain Bear is in play

Keep in mind that, aside from Beasts, our N'Zoth, God of the Deep is very consistent as you'll always rezz Death's Head Cultist, Circus Amalgam, Claw Machine, Mr. Smite, and Mo'arg Forgefiend.

Barak Kodobane is also pretty consistent if you keep track of what you've already drawn:

• 1-mana = Tracking & Wound Prey
• 2-mana = Quick Shot & Doggie Biscuit
• 3-mana = Mankrik's wife

Be wary of Devolving Missiles & Mutanus as they can really screw up your long game.

Potential alterations

As I mentioned at the top, Mountain Bear may be too greedy in which case we can swap back for Teacher's Pet.

We don't run an elemental so if we want to be even greedier we could include Lokholar the Ice Lord.  However, including any 10-man card would make Taelan Fordring not tutor N'Zoth and then we might consider Lorekeeper Polkelt instead.

Revive Pet could be run for even more value and the guaranteed draw from Kodobane if we drop Mankrik.  However, Mankrik has more value in the early game so I've left it in for now.  Devouring Swarm would also be nice to include to bounce back N'Zoth or one of our big DRs to hand, but feels too greedy at the moment (similar argument against Baron Rivendare).

Carrion Studies is tempting to get our deathrattles out earlier, but the downside is that it can clog up our rezz pool for Jewel of N'Zoth.  There are other deathrattles that are intriguing like Darkmoon Tonk, Scrapyard Colossus, Moonfang, and Korrak the Bloodrager.

Animated Broomstick is always a consideration when running N'Zoth, but I haven't felt the need as Doggie Biscuit fills some of that role.

Monstrous Parrot and Mok'Nathal Lion are also considerations, although our DRs themselves aren't the strongest.

I'll post some updates if I make changes as I climb.  Until then...

Happy Hunting!

- RD