The Comprehensive Fractured in Alterac Valley Preview

 

Bloodseeker

This turns into a sweet weapon if you can land a single honorable kill with it, though it is a significant condition and not guaranteed to occur in the early game. If you’re playing against a passive opponent that doesn’t develop the board aggressively, you will find yourself with a mediocre weapon. Still, we do like what it can do in board-centric matchups, and it gives the Hunter a way to fend off aggression and then counterpressure.

Score: 3

Ram Tamer

We’ve seen plenty of these cards over the years, and most of them haven’t made an impact. Still, this 3-drop is certainly pushed. A 5/4 3-drop with stealth can be quite threatening. The question is whether casting a secret on turn 2 will be something we’re happy to do to set up Ram Tamer. Usually, we don’t want to spend mana on secrets and Hunter doesn’t have a way to cheat them out super early. We’re leaning towards ‘bait’.

Score: 1

Mountain Bear

A big pile of defense and another ‘Hail Mary’ towards that fat, beasty, deathrattle Hunter deck that hasn’t panned out for what feels like forever. Mountain Bear is quite a strong standalone card. We’re looking at around 10 mana’s worth of stats in the vanilla meter, and 14 health in taunts. That’s a pretty good way to stabilize defensively, something this archetype tends to struggle with. We have also been given a way to play this on turn 5 as a follow-up to Battle Ram. We like it, but it still belongs to a sketchy deck.

Score: 2

Dun Balder Bunker

Huge draw engine for a Secret Hunter deck, this does offer quite a lot of fuel, but it is slow. If we’re committing to Bunker on turn 2, we’re led into a passive line of play that still requires us to spend mana on secrets every turn, which doesn’t feel too great for that efficient curve. This card also requires us to heavily commit to secrets in the deck building phase, but the payoff could be seriously worth it. The fact that some of the secrets help us in stabilizing (Freezing/Explosive) could make up for the initial investment, and this card can also thin our deck and help us find our biggest bombs more consistently.

Score: 3

Revive Pet

This might be the most intriguing build-around card given to Hunter, Revive Pet offers us some late game shenanigans centering around a shortlist of high-value beasts. Trampling Rhino, Moonfang and Mountain Bear come to mind as good Revive Pet targets that can wear down the opponent quite effectively, but it does come with some deck building limitations. Cards such as Wolpertinger, Adorable Infestation, Wound Prey and Ramming Mount have anti-synergy with it, as well as the newly introduced Beaststalker Tavish. If we’re playing a slower Hunter strategy, it’s probably worth building the deck around, but anything faster probably gives it the hard pass.

Score: 3

Stormpike Battle Ram

We wouldn’t even take a second look at this card without Mountain Bear being introduced in the same set. A 4/3 rush for 4 is awful, but the mana discount is a solid set-up to mid-game stability. The worst part about Battle Ram is that it’s a beast. We really wish it wasn’t.

Score: 2

Ice Trap

Probably the best Hunter secret in the format once it’s released. What makes Ice Trap good is that it forces a commitment of mana from the opponent, much like Oh My Yogg. Secret Hunter’s historical weakness is that its secret package exerts low pressure on the opponent. It’s very good at counter punching a proactive opponent, but it can feel very weak against an opponent that turtles up with removal and life gain. Ice Trap is highly disruptive for exactly that type of opponent, filling a gap in the Hunter’s toolkit. We obviously don’t play Ice Trap unless we have a good way of cheating it out, but it’s the first secret we put into any secret package.

Score: 3

Spring the Trap

This card is decent at its baseline, which is the most important thing to keep in mind. If we don’t find an honorable kill, dealing 3 damage to a minion while drawing and casting a secret is a reasonable deal for 4 mana. If we do land that kill though, this card becomes nuts. Unlike Bunker, we can see a world where Spring the Trap and 4-5 secrets go into a deck that isn’t Secret Hunter.

Score: 3

Beaststalker Tavish

Tavish seems like a strong standalone card that can either leverage pressure or help swing back against aggression depending on the flexible choice of secrets at your disposal. For example, an upgraded Explosive Trap is incredibly powerful against aggressive decks. At 6 mana, casting two cracked secrets and gaining 5 additional armor seems good. Our issue is the hero power. For Face Hunter, we think it’s a clear downgrade. You’re at a stage of the game where guaranteed direct damage is the most important thing, and Tavish also shuts down your Aimed Shot. It’s an awkward hero power with Revive Pet, and a bad fit for Quest Hunter as well. In theory, you want to run Beaststalker Tavish in a Hunter deck that’s a couple of turns slower than Face Hunter and cares more about grinding out the opponent than bursting them down. It can work, but it feels like we’ve been here before and we wouldn’t be shocked if this card, while strong on the surface, ends up not seeing play.

Score: 3

Wing Commander Ichman

We’ll be shocked if this card sees competitive play. For 9-mana, in the Hunter class, we better get something that’s stronger than Kathrena Winterwisp. This might be the most unplayable legendary of this expansion.

Score: 1

Final Thoughts

Fractured in Alterac Valley Set Rank: 8^th

Overall Power Ranking: 6^th

The power level of this expansion is high. Hunter is getting some very good cards, and even though they might not be the most obviously busted ones, the class received a lot of support for decks that aren’t Face Hunter.

Secrets is the cornerstone theme, and we like what we’re seeing. Ice Trap is going to be very important for the success of any secret package. Bunker seems a little bit slow but could make up for it with the secrets’ defensive inclination, helping us stall the game and reach our power spike. Tavish gives us an extremely powerful defensive play, and even though he could be a little frustrating in decks that run Revive Pet, he helps Secret Hunter a lot by increasing its threat density, something that the archetype tended to struggle with historically.

The big question is whether we will finally see a Beast/Deathrattle deck hit a competitive level. Mountain Bear gives us Voidlord vibes, and the archetype carries plenty of late game lethality and value. The mystery is whether it can survive the onslaught of aggressive decks in the first 4 turns before it can play a turn 5 Bear.

Face Hunter might not be getting much in this class set, but Irondeep Trogg looks like a hell of a 1-drop for the new Doggie Biscuit iteration of the deck. Quest Hunter should also get a nice boost from another damage dealing spell in Spring the Trap, and we think it’s very likely to run a small secret package for it.

So why do we have a small bit of uncertainty even though Face Hunter should theoretically do fine? Alterac Valley is bringing a lot of strong defensive tools to the format. There will be more healing and armor gain available to combat burn strategies, and Face Hunter struggles against that a lot. Its success does rely on these decks to not become overly prevalent. It could adjust in some ways, and its increased ability to snowball the board helps, but it would rather meet opponents of the more fragile kind. Quest Hunter could encounter a similar issue.

We expect Hunter to start strong, as it tends to do, but what will happen when the meta settles down? We’re hoping that finally, we will see more variety coming from Rexxar’s direction.