Odd Map
Discovering an odd attack beast is a clear supportive effect of the Hunter quest. Ideally, we play this at a later stage of the game and find the missing attack values needed to complete the quest.
However, Odd Map could find its way into a Discover Hunter deck too, as it is a cheap discover spell that helps us discount Alien Encounters and can be amplified by both Niri and Rangari Scout. We do not believe this is a particularly strong card, but it can be useful for multiple archetypes.
Score: 2
Cower in Fear
A removal spell that resembles Lunar Eclipse. Cower in Fear synergizes with beasts, which represent the main theme of the Hunter set. Both The Food Chain and Supreme Dinomancy encourage us to run decks with a high density of beasts, which would be able to utilize Cower in Fear at a greater consistency.
We are not too enamored with this spell though. The limitation of “this turn” means it is not easy to use in the early game, where cheating out removal produces the biggest impact. On turn 2, there are barely any beasts that Hunter can use with Cower in Fear. In that case, Cower in Fear becomes a generic minion removal spell that does not help us develop a body on the same turn. Only on turn 4 does it seem like a reliable tool to outpace opponents.
The availability of tutoring spells with Fetch might discourage its selection too. Could get better in future sets but we would not hold our breath. Hunter usually cannot afford to run removal spells with such restrictive conditions.
Score: 1
Dinositter
A weak initial body for a 2-drop, with an unreliable discount effect. We have seen plenty of these cards before and they usually do not see play. The problem with Dinositter is its randomness and how terrible it is past turn 2. Since it does not discount specific beasts reliably, we cannot count on its effect to plan for future turns. Cards that bank a discount are significantly stronger, such as Sea Shill.
The other problem is its usefulness past turn 2. Incremental discounts become less impactful when they happen later in the game, as it is more likely that our opponent will find an answer to whatever we managed to drop at a discount. A discounted 4-drop on turn 3 is much more dangerous than the same one dropping on turn 5.
Imagine drawing Dinositter off the top on turn 6. Sure, no 2-drop that is meant to be played on curve is amazing at that stage of the game, but there are levels of uselessness and Dinositter sits high on the list of cards we never want to draw past turn 2.
Score: 1
Story of Carnassa
It is hilarious to think how useless the original Hunter quest was. The effect is so weak that even when baked into an unconditional 2-mana spell, we are not interested in it whatsoever.
The main problem is that we are spending 2 mana to do nothing to the board, while arguably weakening our future draws. It is true that a 1 mana 3/2 that draws a card is strong when evaluated in a vacuum, but it is also true that having these minions in our deck does not help us win the game once we reach the later stages of the game.
Constructed decks need to leverage synergies to win. We want to find the most powerful cards in our deck to close things out. Diluting our deck with Raptors does not accomplish that. The Raptors are only theoretically strong when chained with Niri, a single legendary, or post-Dinomancy, which this card makes more difficult to find.
Score: 1
Grazing Stegodon
Grazing Stegodon’s ability can be slightly confusing, but its attack is effectively equal to the current in-game turn timer. It is most important to note its impact on curve. If we play it on turn 3, it will become a 3/5 at the end of our turn. On turn 4, it is a 3 mana Chillwind Yeti. It will continue to scale its attack throughout the game, whether it is on the board or outside of it.
Would we play a 3 mana 3/5 minion in constructed? When it comes to stats for cost, it can be considered above the curve, but not to an extent it is ‘unfair’ enough for constructed play. Its 5 health does make it hard to kill, and at some point, it gains an attack value that is threatening.
We can use Stegodon for quest completion purposes. On turn 4, it can be played as a 3-attack beast. On turn 6, it can be played as a 5-attack beast. We can even coin it out on turn 2 to play a 1-attack beast.
Ultimately though, this is a pile of stats and nothing else. If we are extremely desperate for quest completion consistency, Stegodon could make the cut. Otherwise, we do not see a pile of stats having a lot of success in constructed.
Score: 1
Pterrorwing Ravager
In a Beast deck, this is 4 mana 7/5 rush minion, which represents very strong stats for the cost. Ravager should be able to kill everything on that turn, while often surviving and threatening the opponent with its high attack value.
This attack value is particularly crucial for Quest Hunter, as 7-attack beasts are extremely rare. The only other beast with 7 attack is Toyrannosaurus. Ravager is clearly better for Quest Hunter, as it is far cheaper and affects the board on the turn it is played.
This minion is a mandatory inclusion for Quest Hunter, one that also greatly encourages the inclusion of Torga, to find it more consistently. May also see play in beast decks that are not quest reliant.
Score: 3
Ravasaur Matriarch
The second Kindred beast in the Hunter set, with another powerful ability that helps us respond to the board immediately. At its baseline, Matriarch’s Kindred ability deals 5 damage to an enemy minion. When paired with its 5/4 stats for 4 mana, this looks like a powerful card to drop on curve and kill every single minion the opponent can develop on that turn. The removal effect is worth 2.5 mana by itself, so we are getting ahead by playing Matriarch.
But Matriarch does not always deal 5 damage. If we buff its attack value, it will deal even more damage, turning into an effective removal for the largest threats in the game. A Dinomancy Hunter deck, for example, should be able to deal with large late game threats easily thanks to this card.
Good minion for any kind of Beast deck.
Score: 3
Supreme Dinomancy
Half of a Survival of the Fittest, for half the cost, affecting Beasts. Do not let your mind play tricks on you. This is not a handbuffing card. This is a card that also buffs our beasts in play, so it can be considered a win condition for a board flooding Beast deck. For example, R.C Rampage into Dinomancy is a legitimate 1-2 punch that the opponent must deal with or die.
Dinomancy’s impact on both the board and our resources makes it an extremely versatile card. Ideally, we would like to play Dinomancy when we have beasts in play, but its late game value potential is assured regardless. A Token Beast deck can suddenly scale to the moon with Dinomancy, helping it overcome defensive minded decks with strong removal toolkits. Every innocent early game minion suddenly becomes a fat threat that can put a lot of stress on the opponent.
Of course, Dinomancy’s potential as an out-of-board buff card is very high. In a deck with a high density of beasts, it should always be worth the cost, if we do not lose the game by spending the 5 mana required to cast it.
We believe this card encourages the utilization of beasts in the Hunter class more than The Food Chain does. A meta defining win condition.
Score: 4
Niri of the Crater
Niri amplifies the value of 1 mana cards. Doubling up the impact of a 1 mana spell is worth 1 extra mana. Doubling up the stats of a 1-drop is not always worth 1 mana, as the minion could be undersized with extra effects.
Niri is better with spells than it is with minions, but an easy way to judge whether Niri is powerful is to assess how many cards we can chain with it in a realistic turn. If we manage to play 3 spells with it, then its cost pays for itself. Playing two spells can be considered, but a single spell is borderline. Niri does have a decent amount of health, but we cannot rely on it to survive a turn.
Can a Hunter deck stack a critical number of 1-mana cards to make Niri particularly powerful? We are not convinced, especially when Niri is more of a value card than a threatening win condition. Its most powerful interaction might be with Raptors from Story of Carnassa, but this requires an optimistic set up.
We think it can be a decent card in a Discover Hunter deck. Would it be better than a Rangari Scout? Unlikely.
Score: 2
The Food Chain
This quest requires a very methodical shell of beasts with unique attack values, something that should limit its flexibility. We do not expect there to be much room to maneuver when it comes to card choices, especially when some attack values are extremely bottlenecked (1 and 7 attack). Spending mana on non-beasts also seems like a waste of time, as there is little point in playing this quest without trying to complete it as soon as possible.
Should we build a beast-dense deck with a good spread of attack values, we can expect to complete the quest on turn 6, or turn 7 at the latest, which is a good timing to start the next stage of our game plan.
The reward is where the quest disappoints the most. We get a big rush minion and a bunch of limited value at a big discount. The generation pool is not of great quality and has a high variance of outcomes. The discount effect is strong, but the reward does not strike us as something close to game ending. Not only is it not “lethal”, but it is also not particularly grindy either.
We suspect that a Beast Hunter deck has a better win condition in this set than The Food Chain. It is called Supreme Dinomancy. The deckbuilding effort and the sacrifice in early game consistency, required for a high variance reward that does not reliably end games, seems a bit steep.
Score: 1
Final Thoughts
The Lost City of Un’Goro Set Rank: 8th
Overall Power Ranking: 9th
Hunter is a competitive class currently, with Handbuff Hunter proving to be top tier, but the class remains unattractive due to its playstyle. The Un’Goro set is putting the Beast tribe back at the forefront of the class. All that is left to determine is whether this puts Hunter in tribal hell, or tribal heaven.
The Food Chain quest is not the card that convinces us about Beast Hunter’s competitive viability. It is a highly restrictive quest in the deckbuilding phase and does not provide us with a reliable reward when it comes to closing out the game. The true star in the Beast Hunter show, one that may render the quest as redundant, is Supreme Dinomancy.
Indeed, Dinomancy may prove to be the real quest reward for injecting a high density of beasts in our deck. Its versatility as a board buff and a late game scaling weapon should be highly valuable. It makes an aggressive Beast Hunter deck with a low curve potentially capable of overwhelming even the most defensively robust strategies in the format.
We would not be the least bit surprised if such a Beast Hunter deck becomes a top performer on ladder. The main question, as it often comes down to in the class, is whether players will care enough to play it. We are more optimistic about this case, since Supreme Dinomancy is not just a powerful card, but it is also very satisfying to play.
Other avenues are where we are less optimistic. A value-oriented Discover Hunter is unlikely to emerge based on the archetype’s ineffectiveness. Niri is an interesting legendary, but we do not think it is deck defining. Handbuff Hunter is already unpopular despite performing well. If it remains unchanged, it will likely be ignored.
For Hunter this expansion, it might be Dinomancy or extinction.
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