Standard Memes

Submitted 4 years, 1 month ago by

Hi Hunters,

I've been looking to freshen up my Rexxar gameplay lately and was wondering what off-meta builds folks have been experimenting with in Standard these days? 

My main goal is to use under-played cards/synergies to generate novel problem solving opportunities for myself (and hopefully my opponent) in Casual mode (i.e. winrate <=50% is OK/expected).  Below are a few examples of what I've been tinkering with for the last couple weeks.  I'd love to see what people have theorycrafted for these type of archetypes as well as any other of your own crazy conctions!

Other builds I know I'll be experimenting with until the next expansion:

  • Typically try a couple Flark's Boom-Zooka decks - one with big beasts and revenge of the wild and another with deathrattle minions and Deathwing
        
  • I also really like the memes that Blatant Decoy enables with little-used cards like Colossus of the Moon, Big Bad Archmage, and Ysera
    • Unfortunately, when you combine the Decoy with Nine Lives it doesn't pull another minion from your hand.  Instead, it gives you another copy of Blatant Decoy and then pulls that new copy into play.  However, I've been meaning to try Nine Lives + Necromechanic to see if it will play the new Decoy and then pull a big minion from my hand.
          
  • And when I'm really burnt out I'll make a full Casino build featuring Drakkari Trickster, Mischief Maker, Transmogrifier, Wyrmrest Purifier, etc. 

It's kind of crazy that, although I've listed a bunch of under-used cards, there are still a number of fun-looking ones I haven't touched this season like Dread Raven, Chromatic Egg, Body Wrapper, etc.

Please share any crazy Hunter theorycrafts you've been testing below!!

"I hunt [memes] alone on Out of Cards!"
- Rexxar

  • RangDipkin's Avatar
    Rexxar 350 143 Posts Joined 05/30/2019
    Posted 4 years, 1 month ago

    Hi Hunters,

    I've been looking to freshen up my Rexxar gameplay lately and was wondering what off-meta builds folks have been experimenting with in Standard these days? 

    My main goal is to use under-played cards/synergies to generate novel problem solving opportunities for myself (and hopefully my opponent) in Casual mode (i.e. winrate <=50% is OK/expected).  Below are a few examples of what I've been tinkering with for the last couple weeks.  I'd love to see what people have theorycrafted for these type of archetypes as well as any other of your own crazy conctions!

    Other builds I know I'll be experimenting with until the next expansion:

    • Typically try a couple Flark's Boom-Zooka decks - one with big beasts and revenge of the wild and another with deathrattle minions and Deathwing
          
    • I also really like the memes that Blatant Decoy enables with little-used cards like Colossus of the Moon, Big Bad Archmage, and Ysera
      • Unfortunately, when you combine the Decoy with Nine Lives it doesn't pull another minion from your hand.  Instead, it gives you another copy of Blatant Decoy and then pulls that new copy into play.  However, I've been meaning to try Nine Lives + Necromechanic to see if it will play the new Decoy and then pull a big minion from my hand.
            
    • And when I'm really burnt out I'll make a full Casino build featuring Drakkari Trickster, Mischief Maker, Transmogrifier, Wyrmrest Purifier, etc. 

    It's kind of crazy that, although I've listed a bunch of under-used cards, there are still a number of fun-looking ones I haven't touched this season like Dread Raven, Chromatic Egg, Body Wrapper, etc.

    Please share any crazy Hunter theorycrafts you've been testing below!!

    "I hunt [memes] alone on Out of Cards!"
    - Rexxar

    1
  • ARES's Avatar
    Hungry Ghost 315 199 Posts Joined 06/01/2019
    Posted 4 years, 1 month ago

    Abominable Bowman works great in albatross hunter.. Nine Lives + Necromechanic for 2 birds is lovely.

    Edit- I just noticed it said standard.. I mostly play wild and I have only one mechathun deck  for standard. 

    ARES summons Erymanthian Huffer.

    ARES declares attack with Huffer .

    Adonis' hp reached 0. ARES wins!

    1
  • RangDipkin's Avatar
    Rexxar 350 143 Posts Joined 05/30/2019
    Posted 4 years, 1 month ago

    Thanks ARES!   

    For some reason I'd forgotten Necromechanic in my Albatross deck and have swapped it in for Revenge of the Wild which was underperforming; good call!

    And I like how you included an Arcane Fletcher + Halazzi, the Lynx combo in your Mecha'thun deck!  Subject 9 is a workhorse, but I always want more draw and have tried including Gadgetzan Auctioneer and Jepetto Joybuzz in previous seasons.  I've been focusing on Chef Nomi lately, but I think I'll give Mecha'thun another try starting with something like this.

    And no worries at all about the Standard vs. Wild distinction.  If you have any crazy combos you've been working on I'd be happy to give them a whirl!  For some reason, since Highlander builds returned to Standard I've played a lot less Wild (just for the Yogg, Reno, and The Marsh Queen nostalgia).  But I really should return now that I'm getting a little burnt out from Standard, and having a fun deck to test makes that even more likely!

    Btw, digging the new profile pic :)

    1
  • ARES's Avatar
    Hungry Ghost 315 199 Posts Joined 06/01/2019
    Posted 4 years, 1 month ago

    To be honest I was disappointed by hunter cards this expansion. Corrosive Breath looked awesome and seemed to hint towards some poisonous theme or something related to Emeriss..  

    Rotnest Drake is great and Diving Gryphon is useful but I really wanted an alternative Emeriss like what they did with Ysera and Alexstraza or I would've loved a legendary dragon with a fun effect but instead we got Veranus..  Equality on a stick! Yay!

    ARES summons Erymanthian Huffer.

    ARES declares attack with Huffer .

    Adonis' hp reached 0. ARES wins!

    2
  • Xarkkal's Avatar
    Servant of Illidan 910 1321 Posts Joined 03/29/2019
    Posted 4 years, 1 month ago

    Veranus is a very solid card. Better than Equality because it only hits your enemy minions. I will admit, I was disappointed when Veranus was announced, but now I'm very happy that he exists in the Hunter tool-kit. 

    1
  • RangDipkin's Avatar
    Rexxar 350 143 Posts Joined 05/30/2019
    Posted 4 years ago
    Quote From ARES

    To be honest I was disappointed by hunter cards this expansion. Corrosive Breath looked awesome and seemed to hint towards some poisonous theme or something related to Emeriss..  

    Rotnest Drake is great and Diving Gryphon is useful but I really wanted an alternative Emeriss like what they did with Ysera and Alexstraza or I would've loved a legendary dragon with a fun effect but instead we got Veranus..  Equality on a stick! Yay!

    Ugh, work suddenly classified OoC as a "gaming site" so it's blocked/I can't check in as often, but I definitely hear you on the fun element of this most recent expansion. 

    This may be selective memory on my part, but I honestly feel like there's been a noticeable shift towards more "useful" (in the sense of better synergies with competitive archetypes) but also more restrictive cards ever since they made that announcement of trying to build towards specific "class identities" (e.g. Hunters are bad at draw and healing).  However, the problem may go back farther as I'm still bummed we went from the unlimited memey possibilities of Stitched Tracker to the more useful/competitive possibilities of Master's Call.  MC made midrange beast Hunter super viable when released, but it wasn't flexible enough to enable anything other than the strongest of memes (e.g. Maly Hunter runs Master's Call).  Obviously, in terms of game design, they should probably build more cards like Master's Call than Stitched Tracker, but I do miss the ones oriented more towards pure madness/fun (...OK, they did make Puzzle Box of Yogg-Saron so I'm probably wrong, haha).  

    This is all to say that while I can see the usefulness in a lot of the of the DoD and GA Hunter cards, I can also see how you're having less fun with them.  Here's how I think about the cards through the lens of Standard:

    • Dwarven Sharpshooter - Fits nicely in ladder decks and also fits nicely into many memes as it helps you survive the early game to make it to your spicy combos (and can be part of spicy combos like Arcane Fletcher in Standard or Gahz'rilla in Wild)
            
    • Corrosive Breath - All forms of Dragon Hunter <3 this and I agree with you that a poison theme would've been cool, especially considering this next little guy...
            
    • Primordial Explorer - Love this card for both competitive and memey dragon synergies
           
    • Clear the Way - Helps make Quest Hunter ladder-viable before things like Springpaw rotate and is the better of the two side-quests, in my opinion, for meme builds that want extra mana via Licensed Adventurer or card draw via Questing Explorer.  However, the interaction with Swarm of Locusts is disappointing to say the least...
            
    • Phase Stalker - Fits nicely in ladder decks like Secret Highlander Hunter but also helps the meme folks thin their decks (and survive the early game)
           
    • Diving Gryphon - Helps competitive builds this season as card draw is always nice and there are strong Rush minions like Springpaw and Zilliax that you often want to run anyway.  Meme decks <3 card draw as well and I currently run this instead of Marked Shot in many builds...though a lot of Rush minions will rotate so this might not be meme-viable in the long run
            
    • Toxic Reinforcements - I can see the competitive appeal for face hunting, but this isn't a style that appeals to me so I never include it in memes
            
    • Stormhammer - Really strong in competitive Dragon Hunter builds and will hopefully help keep memey Dragon Hunters afloat once they get weaker on the ladder...not a fun card itself though
            
    • Dragonbane - Has found some value in competitive builds like Aggro Dragon Hunter and some Highlander builds, but I personally don't find mech builds all that fun meme-wise (i.e. don't see a lot of flexibility in how to build around the Mech tag) and I think this will get worse after SN1P-SN4P and Zilliax rotate
           
    • Veranus - Competitively useful in Quest and Highlander builds, but not great fun to play.  I would've loved a fun re-working of Emeriss!
           
    • Fresh Scent - Not sure if it's being used competitively at the moment, but I definitely think it'll be useful in a ladder-worthy Beast Hunter before it rotates.  I also think it has a decent chance of being a fun card for the simple fact that Hunter doesn't usually get buff spells and there are a couple ways to discount and charge with beasts
           
    • Chopshop Copter - THE ULTIMATE MEME MACHINE!  Doesn't look great for competitve play, but this card alone has caused me to dip into Token Mech Hunter with Witch's Cauldron and Cybertech Chip
          
    • Rotnest Drake - love this card for both competitive and meme Dragon Hunters

    Upon further review, I feel like most of this season's Hunter cards help fill out a lot of fun decks, but they don't generate a lot of fun in those decks themselves.  Whether this balance is more out of line than in previous seasons is a question for another 3-page essay ;D 

    1
  • RangDipkin's Avatar
    Rexxar 350 143 Posts Joined 05/30/2019
    Posted 4 years ago
    Quote From Xarkkal

    Veranus is a very solid card. Better than Equality because it only hits your enemy minions. I will admit, I was disappointed when Veranus was announced, but now I'm very happy that he exists in the Hunter tool-kit. 

    Given how useful Veranus is in practice, I wonder if there were earlier versions that sounded cooler but performed worse so they settled on the current version.

    I only bring this up becuase I remember an interview with Dean Ayala where he said that Reno the Relicologist went through several interations.  The earlier versions were more "fun" in the sense of generating crazy spells or higher variance outcomes, but they shipped the current version, which could be viewed as a little boring, because it more consistently regained the board in the midgame which was necessary if Highlander Mage was going to be a thing. 

    0
  • dapperdog's Avatar
    Dragon Scholar 1890 5543 Posts Joined 07/29/2019
    Posted 4 years ago

    Scarlet Webweaver + King Krush + Hunting Party with Zul'jin for the reload.

    This deck krushes nearly every slow control deck. It tends to die to nearly everything else though.

    0
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