Tonkrattle'n on a Budget

Update 2/6:  Forgot to post the final edits I made to this deck which I still play in Casual to warm up (alongside a super greedy Quest deck and a midrange abomination).

Anyways, I ended up going with more value in the form of 2x Pack Tactics and 2x Smug Senior.  Senior helps buy time for setting up your Tonk combos and provides a little more value than Khartut Defender.

These replaced 1x Mystery Winner (included the Pack Tactics I wanted), 1x Swamp Ooze (less need these days), and 2x Wandmaker (wasn't consistent enough).

The inspiration for this deck, sule, actually made his own budget DR Hunter which plays a little faster so I'd encourage checking that out too.

Update 1/6:  Swapped out 2x Novice Engineer for 1x Acidic Swamp Ooze and 1x Fresh Scent. 

Draw/hand size hasn't been a big issue so I wanted to tech in an ooze (for the likes of Evolve Shaman, Soul Demon Hunter, Pure Paladin, etc.), as well as some more midgame strength in the form of Fresh Scent.

I've been enjoying (and winning with) this deck a lot more than I thought and the outs created by Broomstick have been a pleasant surprise.  Your picks from Carrion Studies can also decide the game/your strategy and choosing Oblivitron has won me a handful with Tonk and Mok'Nathal Lion in hand.

The next card to be re-evaluated is Wandmaker, and I'm not completely sold on Fresh Scent yet either (including 2 copies felt bad, but 1 has been pretty useful).

Inspired by sule's new series spotlighting fun Budget decks, this is my attempt at a Deathrattle Hunter that only uses Basic, Common, and Rare cards.  I'm still tinkering with it and will update after more playtesting.

Deck Identity

Darkmoon Tonk and Bloated Python stood out for their Fun Factor and the deck employs Animated Broomstick and Mok'Nathal Lion as activators instead of more expensive cards like Maxima Blastenheimer, Oblivitron, Nine Lives, and Jewel of N'Zoth.

We tutor Mr. Tonk via Ursatron, the Broomstick or Lion via Diving Gryphon, and the Lion (Gryphon, Python, or Teacher's Pet) via Scavenger's Ingenuity.  

The other core part of this deck is card generation in the form of: Carrion Studies, Mystery Winner, Wandmaker, Marked Shot, and Teacher's Pet.  When my Hunter collection was sparse, I loved card generation as it gave you a chance to play with cards you couldn't afford yet and those highrolls were always memorable :)

• Carrion Studies - Enables drawing strong cards like Oblivitron, Zixor, Apex Predator, extra Tonks(!) or Teacher's Pets, Teron Gorefiend (combos well with Broomstick), and much more. 

There's also a crazy combo you can try for at Turn 10.  You play 2 copies of Carrion Studies on Turn 9 followed by a Turn 10 of Tonk discounted to 5-mana + 4-mana Mok'Nathal Lion + 1-mana Broomstick for a hopeful board clear into 16 face damage!  With 1 Carrion Studies on Turn 9 you can still play Tonk + Mok'Nathal for an immediate 8 damage.

• Mystery Winner - While this will often help you curve out/control the board, you can also search for Pack Tactics to combo with any of your deathrattles.
     
• Wandmaker - The Carrion Studies highroll is ideal, but all of the 1-cost spells synergize pretty well with the deck.  Tracking can find your combo pieces, the damage spells can play off Hunter's Mark, Bestial Wrath has 8 beasts to work with, and then Dwarven Sharpshooter works well with Toxic Reinforcements and we have 6 rush minions for Clear the Way.
    
• Marked Shot - Nine Lives, Jewel of N'Zoth, and Carrion Studies are the main targets, but there are a lot of other spells that are situationally useful like Fresh Scent and Kill Command.
      
• Teacher's Pet - The highroll is Zixor, Apex Predator, but Bloated Python and Augmented Porcupine combo well with Mok'Nathal Lion too.  Educated Elekk is also pretty fun and King Mukla is great value.

Mulligan

I typically hard mulligan for Dwarven Sharpshooter or Mystery Winner as they add tempo while giving you a Turn 2 play.  If I get either of these, I'll also look for Scavenger's Ingenuity in case my opponent doesn't develop on Turn 1.

Wandmaker and Diving Gryphon are the other cards I've often kept.

If I get Carrion Studies on the initial draw, I'll then search for Bloated Python or Ursatron for the Turn 2 tempo.

Odds and Ends

• Hunter's Mark was included for the synergy with Animated Broomstick and Dwarven Sharpshooter, as well as other low attack minions which may be on the board such as Mystery Winner, Bloated Python, and Novice Engineer + the damage spells generated by Wandmaker.  
     
• Novice Engineer was a recent replacement for 2x Tracking as I found myself churning through the deck a little too fast, but I still wanted draw for combo pieces and Loot Hoarder interferes with Nine Lives consistency in case you draw that off of Marked Shot.  However, I may try subbing this out for Fresh Scent as that would help push more damage in the midgame to set up for the Darkmoon Tonk finish.
     
• Speaking of anti-synergy, Hench-Clan Hogsteed wasn't included because it interferes with the consistency of Diving Gryphon and Scavenger's Ingenuity.  I also considered EVIL Cable Rat for the chance at a Rush lackey but it can similarly mess up your Scavenger's Ingenuity pull.

I'll update this deck as it gets more refined, but until then...

Happy Budget Hunting!