Thanks AngryShuckie! You were spot on in your analysis and I probably posted this too soon out of excitement, haha ;D
I didn't even realize how few Rogue cards made the cut, but I agree that that's a red flag regarding the archetype. In previous seasons I built around Anka, the Buried for Rogue quests, but most of the Rogue DR cards/activators are gone and I don't have Akama yet. As a result, Candle Breath caught my eye, followed by:
"Draw" search starting w/ class cards because they tend to be more efficient
Flik Skyshiv search because that card has crushed my dreams before and I wanted to be the dream crusher
Enthusiastic post on OOC hoping someone else had done my homework for me
This post where I realize that with a little reflection I could've saved the community some time, haha.
Anyway, thanks again for your response! I shall take your advice and use some version of this when I have Rogue quests, but I'll look into Paladin and Druid menagerie builds as well because I haven't really played those classes much this expansion either! (tend to main Hunter and mix in some Mage + Shaman)
I was just wondering if anyone has been playing around with Dragon + Murloc menagerie builds this season and would be willing to share their deck.
I had a Play 3 Rogue games quest today and decided to build around Candle Breath and Skyfin. It was actually a lot of fun, but my list felt pretty clunky. So I was wondering if anyone here had a build that they've been optimizing for a bit that I could try out? (not looking for a competitive deck)
My initial list was this (murlocs early and dragons late) and I only played 3 games against other memers so I didn't get a feel for what was weak/what worked (although drawing a murloc late felt really bad, as is tradition):
Unpopular opinion - Lackeys should've rotated at the end of Year of the Dragon, or maybe I've just played against too much Secret Galakrond Rogue today...
I think a contributing factor that hasn't been mentioned is the new and improved auto-complete deck algorithm.
This option is popular among my friends who have less time to play/don't enjoy deckbuilding, and I've used it many times myself when trying to complete a "Play 3 Games" quest with a class I don't normally run. The issue with this is that, even when you try to seed the deck with some memes to build around, the algorithm seems to favor the most popular aggro additions to fill out the remaining slots (e.g. I swear I was getting Mech Hunter suggestions, almost no matter the starting archetype, months after it was T1 and pretty much up until Face Hunter got popular).
I also think there's another factor worth mentioning related to the arms race in Casual that a few other folks commented on:
Because Tier 1 decks are pretty common in Casual, you usually can't run pure meme builds and expect to live long enough to play your cool combo.
As a result, you often have to include a meta shell to survive the early game (e.g. there have been a number of seasons where I've felt like I "had" to include a secret shell in my Hunter decks to survive).
However, because you're using a meta opening, that'll sometimes be enough to win the game and then your opponent never knows that you were trying to play a meme deck and his/her salt meter rises by a few grains.
After facing the "same" meta decks a number of games in a row (as inferred from their meta opening strategy), the opponent overflows with salt and plays Demon Hunter in the Kael'thas Tavern Brawl until they're so dirty the Roomba tries to scoop them up.
Personally, I'd love to see them do a trial run of including matchmaking in the Practice Mode for like 2 months. No gold for wins, no quest progression, just pure practice. I'm sure folks would still venture down with T1 decks to mindlessly troll, but I wonder if that would persist long-term. When I tank my Casual MMR so bad that I'm facing folks playing with mostly basic cards, I don't find those wins enjoyable after like the first game and am happy to rise up a bit in competition. Alas, we'll likely never know...
Kael'thas Sunstrider is a difficult one. It's obviously a huge problem, but the question is whether they want to hamper his combo potential or just tone down his overall usefulness. They can up his mana cost, which will axe Combo Demon Hunter (and presumably a bunch of other combo decks in the future) or they can nerf the mana cheating to (1) mana, which stops infinite cycles....or they just hardcap his effect to a once per turn, in which case they'd probably have to lower his mana cost though, because otherwise it wouldn't be worth it. Honetly I just want him to stop outclassing Ysiel Windsinger in every aspect.
This is what I'm hoping for/somewhat expecting - I heard they originally designed the card this way (not sure about the mana cost) so reverting it seems like the solution of least resistance/the one with the most prior test data.
Sorry for late reply, I'm grateful for your detailed answer!
Yeah, the same problems I stumbled upon with Dragon Hunter. Interesting idea with Rush package, too bad it hasn't worked out for you in the end. I'm now considering crafting Teron, seems like a good deal, and I like that new face deck :)
Surprising news: got Zixor from a pack today! I will test some ideas after all, will update if I get any good results. :)
I'd be curious to hear your experiences with Zixor as well! I played around with it the last couple days and really only found success when I devoted a lot of the deck to drawing and buffing him (as opposed to small packages added to dragon or highlander builds).
It really does feel like any type of midrange or slower Hunter will need a big burst and/or OTK package to compete this season (e.g. the Beastmaster Leoroxx + Krush combo or some sort of (buffed) Zixor + Scarlet Webweaver + Tundra Rhino combo). Though I guess this is the usual plight for those of us who dream in Control Hunter theorycrafts ;D
Yeah, but they also said that they werent going to to make this a weekly thing.
Next one is probably one month later.
I tried to bold the part about the show running monthly on Kibler's YT channel, but I agree I should've made this clearer as my title said the show was returning which implies a return to the old weekly release format.
But on a happier note, imo, they sounded more optimistic about the prospects of the show returning in this episode as opposed to the previous episode. And in the Q/A someone asked about setting up a Patreon account for the show and Frodan said they'd really like to avoid having folks donate which makes me think they have potential sponsors in mind (question gets asked around the 1hr, 49min mark).
Apologies if this is old news but, I just found out that the HS Podcast that used to be called Omni/Stone is back! Working title is Untitled/Stone ;D
I really liked the old content and it sounds like they'll be broadcasting monthly on Kibler's channel until they can get a regular sponsor (enjoyed the natural ad read for Nord VPN, haha).
Frodan also gives OoC a shoutout near the start of the show so you know he's a man of culture :)
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.
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
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!
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!
Off-meta Unseal the Vault Hunters - I wish Licensed Adventurer enabled more combos for Quest Hunter in the late game, but so far I've really only built around Onyxia as a new threat with the coin. However, being able to play 3x SN1P-SN4P + Hero Power on Turn 10 is also a nice change of pace.
Highlander Vault is pretty fun but Deathrattle Vault with Nine Lives and Deathwing is my pick at the moment.
Has anyone tried a Mech Vault build? I could see one with Chopshop Copter having a little spice to it.
Token Beast Hunter - A token deck without Quests so I don't feel pressured to play all the quest cards. Instead we pump up our tokens with Spirit of the Lynx, generate value from them with Witch's Cauldron (replaying the spells via Zul'jin later), and draw from them with Cult Master.
Bad Luck Albatross Stuffer - After feeling the salt from a series of Embiggen Druid match-ups, I made something that has no intention of winning...you just stall and hope to frustrate their draws with as many 1/1s as possible. Naturally, this invovles removal cards + Albatross, Nine Lives, Ramkahen Wildtamer, Dire Frenzy, Revenge of the Wild, and Zul'jin.
This deck also gave me the opportunity to play Tentacled Menace in the hopes of discounting two of my cards to 1-mana. As a result, I throw in a Colossus of the Moon for the super rare high roll.
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
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.
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!!
Update: Having a lot of fun with this list. Nothing like being sad about drawing your Maly, only to get a 0 cost one the next turn from the Dragonqueen. Opponents don't expect what is coming in your late game because they just assume you're a normal Highlander Hunter. I'm at rank 7 with the deck, and feel like I could probably hit rank 5 with this.
Sorry for the delay! But thanks for checking out the deck and I'm happy to hear you've been enjoying your return to Maly Hunter :D
I've only gotten Maly from the Dragonqueen like twice, but there was spectacular emoting from my opponent both times ;) And that's honestly one of my favorite parts of piloting it - that surprise moment when you drop the Jepetto and they realize what you're actually running. So I totally agree that the deck benefits from people assuming you're Secret Highlander Hunter so they feel safe when you mainly trade and they hover a little over 20HP.
And if you see this I'd be curious to hear how high you've been able to climb and if you made any substitutions on your journey. I had a rough mulligan streak at the start of this season and haven't played ladder since, haha.
I have tried your specific list yesterday with mixed results. Nearly every game that went the distance were relatively easy wins. However, nearly every aggro match-up is problematic. A well timed unleash or explosive might help you somewhat. Sathrovarr indeed was a good card in the deck, I did not try Vereesa Windrunner because I did not feel she could have won me any game I lost. The problem is that currently the meta is(not yet) suited for Malyhunter. This might of course change in time but I think there are not a lot of options to improve the aggro matchups right now.
Sorry for the delay, but thanks for trying out the list and sharing your experience!
I'm sorry you found mixed results, but in all honesty that was my experience as well and I think you're right that the meta just wasn't/isn't well-suited for it at the moment (e.g. I used to farm Quest Rezz Priests but there have been less of them in my ranks as Face Hunter has waned a bit). Thanks again though for brainstorming and trying out the Sathrovarr combo :D
And in case you play Casual, I've been working on a non-Highlander Vereesa Windrunner build that's not as powerful but still pretty darn fun. Tons of room for improvement though...
I don't think Frizz Kindleroost would be a good card in this deck as it is another card for the the Jepetto Joybuzz pool and you want as little as possible of those. Furthermore, with the amount of fast decks around these decks, I do not believe you would have enough time in most games to first play Frizz Kindleroost and then be able to combo your dragons with the necessary spells. That said, if you draw it before turn 4, it's obviously very good but that is not very often the case
Thanks for the Frizz suggestion as well! I was thinking along the same lines at the start of this expansion and used him as a replacement for Emperor Thaurissan. While he definitely softened the blow of drawing Malygos early (and enabled another strong Turn 7 play via Alexstrasza), I ended up cutting him due to a number of FeelsBadMan moments when I hit him with Jepetto. However, I definitely didn't play enough games to know for sure whether it was worth the drop in Jepetto consistency.
I've been playing around with it too the last couple of days. I am currently trying something close to the original build from Rise of Shadows with mixed results. Your build is probably(and at least had more of a back-up plan when you draw Maly). I think the deck will be in a better place as face hunter numbers currently are dwindling.
If I could make one suggestion it would probably be to replace Sathrovarr with Vereesa Windrunner as you're probably not gonna be able to have something on board to use it on and Vereesa is very strong when reduced to 1 mana. However, I'm interested in hearing what your results are with Sathrovarr.
I also would advise against putting in anti-aggro minions as they mess with your Jepetto pool and Hunters has plenty of options to contest the board with spells.
Thanks for your feedback! I agree that I should give Vereesa another shot and I think I'll try her in a non-Highlander build so I can double-up on the burn spells. Although I also agree that she's much better than Sathrovarr when played from hand so I'll re-think adding her to my Highlander build as well.
Thanks as well for you advice on avoiding anti-aggro minions, this makes sense to me and I'm glad others feel likewise.
My experience with Sathrovarr:
Most of the time it functions as another Faceless (i.e. you rarely use the card in hand or the one shuffled back in deck because you're going for lethal) but makes discounting "Faceless" more consistent and can be combo'd with a 5-cost Faceless if you hit either Malygos or Brann with your other Jepetto draw.
If you draw both Faceless and Sathrovarr with Jepetto you can still play them on a 7-cost Brann for 3x the King Krush which has won me a number of games.
The 9-cost Sathrovarr makes a 1-cost Zephyrs not such a bummer and I've also used it a couple times on the 0-cost dragons from Alexstrasza (or on a 1-mana Alexstrasza which is the other weaker Jepetto target). I've also hit both Sathrovarr & Zephyrs with Jepetto on occasion and even with 9-mana Zephyrs typically offers Tirion so you can play two 1/1s + two Tirions on Turn 10 (with another Tirion in hand) which isn't too shabby.
I just wanted to see how folks have been building around Malygos this expansion.
I've gone down the Highlander path (attached) because it was working last expansion, but I'm wondering if going spell/secret heavy and combo'n with Vereesa Windrunner is working better for anyone.
Even within the Highlander build I'm curious what techs folks have been having success with, e.g. I've been tempted to throw in a Zilliax, Bone Wraith, or Khartut Defender to survive all the aggro but have held off so far in favor of a more consistent Jepetto pool. Face Hunter is a particular problem and I considered Flare for a bit, but currently run Snipe instead as it has more universal use and can counter a Phase Stalker if you drop it going into their Turn 4 (or 3 if they have coin).
And to preempt any salt, yes, I know I could test out all these things myself. However, there are a lot of people more skilled than I on these forums (so I may not think of every change and my experience piloting them may not be indicative of their true power) and my time is limited these days so I tend to stick with safer builds.
Thanks as always fellow Hunters!
Malylander
A Highlander Hunter Deck created by
RangDipkin. Last updated 4 years, 4 months ago
Have been fiddling around with Quest Hunter by now.
Diving Gryphon is extremely valuable (as expected) and Veranus puts in some decent work as well (even if she is a bit clunky to get value from consistently)
This has definitely been my favorite build so far. I've been trying out the following DoD cards and was curious if you've had success with anything else.
1x Phase Stalker to thin the deck by pulling Snake Trap (and then often instantly trigger the trap as Stalker is a soft taunt)
1x Clear the Way to regain tempo early or activate Questing Explorer after quest completion. I don't feel like Toxic Reinforcements fits that well with the Vault quest but haven't tried it to confirm.
Thanks for sharing your Questlander build! I played the quest a lot before the Wild cards rotated in and like the idea of including a N'zoth package. I'm curious to hear more about your experience in the new meta; in particular, what have been your toughest match-ups and what have been the best and worst performing cards?
At first glance, I'm a little worried about the early game (my Malylander Hunter runs into similar issues) and wonder about the consistency of a few cards. For example, do you often find you're getting good value from Revenge of the Wild, Desert Hare, and Eccentric Scribe? I know they can be strong in certain situations, but I could also see them being dead cards or win-more cards more often than I'd like. I also wonder how Sea Giant has been performing for you as I was a little disappointed by its consistency in my earlier Questlander builds.
Thanks again for sharing your build! I think I'll try this out this week and will probably play around with swapping:
Desert Hare for another Unleash the Hounds as it has all the anti-aggro and quest progression perks along with synergizing nicely with Revenge of the Wild or Leeroy later. In general, I'm not too worried about adding one or two doubles to the list (in the previous meta I ran 2x Unleash and 2x Swarm of Locusts and it wasn't usually an issue).
If I stay fully singleton, I may swap Revenge of the Wild for Animal Companion or Bone Wraith to help against aggro.
Eccentric Scribe might be swapped for Nine Lives to get a better deathrattle late game or just Halazzi, the Lynx for quest progression.
Sea Giant will probably be subbed for one of the above or possibly Boommaster Flark for some refill late game (or even Call of the Wild...though I'd probably want to get Emperor Thaurissan in the deck too in this case).
Thanks AngryShuckie! You were spot on in your analysis and I probably posted this too soon out of excitement, haha ;D
I didn't even realize how few Rogue cards made the cut, but I agree that that's a red flag regarding the archetype. In previous seasons I built around Anka, the Buried for Rogue quests, but most of the Rogue DR cards/activators are gone and I don't have Akama yet. As a result, Candle Breath caught my eye, followed by:
Anyway, thanks again for your response! I shall take your advice and use some version of this when I have Rogue quests, but I'll look into Paladin and Druid menagerie builds as well because I haven't really played those classes much this expansion either! (tend to main Hunter and mix in some Mage + Shaman)
I was just wondering if anyone has been playing around with Dragon + Murloc menagerie builds this season and would be willing to share their deck.
I had a Play 3 Rogue games quest today and decided to build around Candle Breath and Skyfin. It was actually a lot of fun, but my list felt pretty clunky. So I was wondering if anyone here had a build that they've been optimizing for a bit that I could try out? (not looking for a competitive deck)
My initial list was this (murlocs early and dragons late) and I only played 3 games against other memers so I didn't get a feel for what was weak/what worked (although drawing a murloc late felt really bad, as is tradition):
2x Murmy
2x Toxfin
2x Bluegill Warrior
2x Dirty Tricks
2x Tasty Flyfish
2x Fan of Knives
2x Scalerider
2x Evasive Feywing
1x Frizz Kindleroost
2x Big Ol' Whelp
2x Skyfin
1x Waxadred
2x Candle Breath
2x Evasive Wyrm
1x Flik Skyshiv
2x Evasive Drakonid
1x Deathwing
Unpopular opinion - Lackeys should've rotated at the end of Year of the Dragon, or maybe I've just played against too much Secret Galakrond Rogue today...
I think a contributing factor that hasn't been mentioned is the new and improved auto-complete deck algorithm.
This option is popular among my friends who have less time to play/don't enjoy deckbuilding, and I've used it many times myself when trying to complete a "Play 3 Games" quest with a class I don't normally run. The issue with this is that, even when you try to seed the deck with some memes to build around, the algorithm seems to favor the most popular aggro additions to fill out the remaining slots (e.g. I swear I was getting Mech Hunter suggestions, almost no matter the starting archetype, months after it was T1 and pretty much up until Face Hunter got popular).
I also think there's another factor worth mentioning related to the arms race in Casual that a few other folks commented on:
Personally, I'd love to see them do a trial run of including matchmaking in the Practice Mode for like 2 months. No gold for wins, no quest progression, just pure practice. I'm sure folks would still venture down with T1 decks to mindlessly troll, but I wonder if that would persist long-term. When I tank my Casual MMR so bad that I'm facing folks playing with mostly basic cards, I don't find those wins enjoyable after like the first game and am happy to rise up a bit in competition. Alas, we'll likely never know...
This is what I'm hoping for/somewhat expecting - I heard they originally designed the card this way (not sure about the mana cost) so reverting it seems like the solution of least resistance/the one with the most prior test data.
I'd be curious to hear your experiences with Zixor as well! I played around with it the last couple days and really only found success when I devoted a lot of the deck to drawing and buffing him (as opposed to small packages added to dragon or highlander builds).
It really does feel like any type of midrange or slower Hunter will need a big burst and/or OTK package to compete this season (e.g. the Beastmaster Leoroxx + Krush combo or some sort of (buffed) Zixor + Scarlet Webweaver + Tundra Rhino combo). Though I guess this is the usual plight for those of us who dream in Control Hunter theorycrafts ;D
I tried to bold the part about the show running monthly on Kibler's YT channel, but I agree I should've made this clearer as my title said the show was returning which implies a return to the old weekly release format.
But on a happier note, imo, they sounded more optimistic about the prospects of the show returning in this episode as opposed to the previous episode. And in the Q/A someone asked about setting up a Patreon account for the show and Frodan said they'd really like to avoid having folks donate which makes me think they have potential sponsors in mind (question gets asked around the 1hr, 49min mark).
Thanks for sharing this, it was much later than I remembered!
Hi everyone,
Apologies if this is old news but, I just found out that the HS Podcast that used to be called Omni/Stone is back! Working title is Untitled/Stone ;D
I really liked the old content and it sounds like they'll be broadcasting monthly on Kibler's channel until they can get a regular sponsor (enjoyed the natural ad read for Nord VPN, haha).
Frodan also gives OoC a shoutout near the start of the show so you know he's a man of culture :)
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.
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:
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
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 :)
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:
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
Sorry for the delay! But thanks for checking out the deck and I'm happy to hear you've been enjoying your return to Maly Hunter :D
I've only gotten Maly from the Dragonqueen like twice, but there was spectacular emoting from my opponent both times ;) And that's honestly one of my favorite parts of piloting it - that surprise moment when you drop the Jepetto and they realize what you're actually running. So I totally agree that the deck benefits from people assuming you're Secret Highlander Hunter so they feel safe when you mainly trade and they hover a little over 20HP.
And if you see this I'd be curious to hear how high you've been able to climb and if you made any substitutions on your journey. I had a rough mulligan streak at the start of this season and haven't played ladder since, haha.
Sorry for the delay, but thanks for trying out the list and sharing your experience!
I'm sorry you found mixed results, but in all honesty that was my experience as well and I think you're right that the meta just wasn't/isn't well-suited for it at the moment (e.g. I used to farm Quest Rezz Priests but there have been less of them in my ranks as Face Hunter has waned a bit). Thanks again though for brainstorming and trying out the Sathrovarr combo :D
And in case you play Casual, I've been working on a non-Highlander Vereesa Windrunner build that's not as powerful but still pretty darn fun. Tons of room for improvement though...
Thanks for the Frizz suggestion as well! I was thinking along the same lines at the start of this expansion and used him as a replacement for Emperor Thaurissan. While he definitely softened the blow of drawing Malygos early (and enabled another strong Turn 7 play via Alexstrasza), I ended up cutting him due to a number of FeelsBadMan moments when I hit him with Jepetto. However, I definitely didn't play enough games to know for sure whether it was worth the drop in Jepetto consistency.
Thanks for your feedback! I agree that I should give Vereesa another shot and I think I'll try her in a non-Highlander build so I can double-up on the burn spells. Although I also agree that she's much better than Sathrovarr when played from hand so I'll re-think adding her to my Highlander build as well.
Thanks as well for you advice on avoiding anti-aggro minions, this makes sense to me and I'm glad others feel likewise.
My experience with Sathrovarr:
Overall, I've been pretty happy with Sathrovarr.
Hello Hunters!
I just wanted to see how folks have been building around Malygos this expansion.
I've gone down the Highlander path (attached) because it was working last expansion, but I'm wondering if going spell/secret heavy and combo'n with Vereesa Windrunner is working better for anyone.
Even within the Highlander build I'm curious what techs folks have been having success with, e.g. I've been tempted to throw in a Zilliax, Bone Wraith, or Khartut Defender to survive all the aggro but have held off so far in favor of a more consistent Jepetto pool. Face Hunter is a particular problem and I considered Flare for a bit, but currently run Snipe instead as it has more universal use and can counter a Phase Stalker if you drop it going into their Turn 4 (or 3 if they have coin).
And to preempt any salt, yes, I know I could test out all these things myself. However, there are a lot of people more skilled than I on these forums (so I may not think of every change and my experience piloting them may not be indicative of their true power) and my time is limited these days so I tend to stick with safer builds.
Thanks as always fellow Hunters!
This has definitely been my favorite build so far. I've been trying out the following DoD cards and was curious if you've had success with anything else.
Thanks for sharing your Questlander build! I played the quest a lot before the Wild cards rotated in and like the idea of including a N'zoth package. I'm curious to hear more about your experience in the new meta; in particular, what have been your toughest match-ups and what have been the best and worst performing cards?
At first glance, I'm a little worried about the early game (my Malylander Hunter runs into similar issues) and wonder about the consistency of a few cards. For example, do you often find you're getting good value from Revenge of the Wild, Desert Hare, and Eccentric Scribe? I know they can be strong in certain situations, but I could also see them being dead cards or win-more cards more often than I'd like. I also wonder how Sea Giant has been performing for you as I was a little disappointed by its consistency in my earlier Questlander builds.
Thanks again for sharing your build! I think I'll try this out this week and will probably play around with swapping: