The Comprehensive United in Stormwind Preview

 

Aimed Shot

Hunter finally receives the 3-mana spell that’s worth running with Barak Kodobane, and it’s a doozy. This card is worth 5 damage, and all of it can potentially go face. It’s hard for us to envision a Hunter deck that passes on this card in the current climate. Face Hunter is all over this like a bad rash. It needs all the quality burn it can get, and much like Piercing Shot, Aimed Shot is flexible enough to affect the board.

Score: 4

Stormwind Piper

So, we’re playing a 3-mana minion with 1 attack, that needs to stick to the board for a turn and requires a board of beasts as a follow-up to be useful. Admittedly, the 6 health does make it likely to stick on-curve, but there is absolutely nothing that the Hunter can do on turn 4 to make it even remotely intimidating. Later, it’s far more likely to be value traded, removed, or generally lose whatever threat it may carry on 3. Just compare it to Rokara, and it looks so sad.

Score: 1

Rodent Nest

What is it with all of these backloaded minions? Have we learned nothing about Hunter? It does not want to play slow, clunky minions that cause it to fall behind. Its comeback mechanics are poor, and its ability to leverage tokens is highly questionable if Piper is our best option. Any Hunter deck that plays these kinds of minions is very likely to get rolled over by any opponent that excels at developing initiative.

Score: 1

Devouring Swarm

This card could be quite good. It reminds us a little bit of Raise Dead, though obviously, it’s a bit more difficult to pull off. Has great synergy with Venomous Scorpid in particular. We’re not sure this is good in Face Hunter because that deck does not appreciate situational cards that don’t develop threats or deal damage, and the fuel it can provide seems situational. A slower Hunter deck is more likely to make use of it, where it offers a reload/removal option. Interesting, but we wouldn’t be shocked if it ended up seeing no play whatsoever despite its strengths.

Score: 2

Leatherworking Kit

Memories of Master’s Call jump out as a comparison that makes this weapon look very weak. This is horribly slow, and very optimistic. Hunter cannot consistently activate this without completely depleting its hand or running terrible cards that make it lose the board beyond recovery. The best card that works with this weapon is Kolkar Pack Runner, but the 2-drop is very resource-intensive, and you don’t draw fast enough from the weapon to make up for the investment.

Score: 1

Ramming Mount

Much like other mount buffs, this one packs quite a bit of stats and power into its cost. It turns any early game minion you have into a board control threat that the opponent must deal with. The problem is fit. Ramming Mount belongs in a slower Hunter deck that isn’t quick to direct its attention to the opponent’s face, because going face doesn’t make use of the immunity. Face Hunter is likely to prefer Aimed Shot at the 3-mana slot, which means unless a Dire Frenzy Beast Hunter pops up, Ramming Mount is less likely to find a home. It is a good card though, so it’s harsh to give it the minimum score.

Score: 2

Imported Tarantula

Another card that has a mediocre initial body and tries to tempt you with whatever is to come the next turn or two. We’re not biting. Tarantula is either going to get ignored by opponents when there’s no threat it can be popped the next turn, or it will be cleaned up so that you can’t easily make use of its deathrattle. Meanwhile you’ve spent 5 mana on a 4/5 that doesn’t affect the board on arrival and doesn’t protect you whatsoever. Hunter can’t run Overgrowth, so Guardian Animals and Jewel of N’Zoth are just out of the question. It’s an upgrade for a janky Deathrattle Hunter deck that currently boasts a 45% win rate.

Score: 1

Rats of Extraordinary Size

Swarm of Locusts saw no play outside of Saviors of Uldum Quest Hunter. This card is significantly worse since the 1/1’s don’t even have rush, with the ‘upside’ that if you have minions on the board, you get to add a few oversized 1-drops to potentially play on turn 7. We’re spending 6 mana in Hunter to summon a bunch of 1/1’s that do nothing. Oh right, the Piper/Leatherworking Kit plan is all coming together now. This card is extraordinarily bad.

Score: 1

Defend the Dwarven District

We think the Hunter Quest has the potential to be an intimidating strategy carrying a lot of damage and inevitability, but there is one big problem that’s holding it back and preventing us from being fully on board. Hunter has very little draw and not much support to both complete the quest and fuel the reward. Building the deck to make sure it doesn’t get rolled over by aggression while also preventing it from gassing out is going to be a very difficult challenge. Hunter is notorious for being atrocious defensively as it is, so having one less card in the opening hand with its weak resource gathering tools doesn’t seem like a promising proposition when you’re trying to survive.

In the future, Quest Hunter could be a real thing, and it may still happen this expansion, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t happen right at launch.

Score: 2

The Rat King

The way we see it, a 5 mana 5/5 with Rush is nowhere near good enough to see play. This is far worse than Trampling Rhino. There is no chance Rat King can compete on that niche. So, for Rat King to be worthwhile, it needs to revive often in the average game. For it to revive, we need a horde of tokens to die. We’re talking about 5 minions starting from turn 6, in Hunter. Since we have zero interest in playing Rats of Extraordinary Mediocrity, we have zero interest in The Rat King. This goes straight into the janky Deathrattle Hunter deck.

Score: 1

Final Thoughts

United in Stormwind Set Rank: 9^th

Overall Power Ranking: 7^th

Hunter feels like it’s stuck in Groundhog Day. Every expansion, it gets a bunch of cards promoting new strategies, and every time, going face ends up being the strongest and solely viable option. Will it happen again at Stormwind? We think this is quite likely, because we’re not enamored by what Hunter’s been given, contrary to the hype surrounding some of the cards it has received.

We’re not convinced that Quest Hunter is going to be a thing. The comparison with Raza Priest just doesn’t fly. Raza Priest had insane defensive tools, great sources of card advantage, remarkable longevity, the ability to burst down the opponent from 30 life, and it didn’t rely on its combo to win most matchups. It also had an easier time fueling its damage since every card in its deck was a source of damage.

With Hunter, we’re looking at the worst defensive toolkit in the game, with the worst card draw and card generation options, inferior spells, and with not much in the form of burst. If we’re playing against a beatdown deck, we’re likely to get rolled over by their brute force and efficiency. Our ability to beat defensive decks is also questionable, considering the amount of life gain that is introduced in this set (there’s a lot).

The good news is that if Quest Hunter doesn’t work immediately, it will likely be continuously pushed by the developers until it does work, because it should become a favorite playstyle for many players.

When it comes to other avenues, we’re even more pessimistic. Deathrattle Hunter? No thanks. This deathrattle/token/rat package looks painfully slow and hard to execute.

Meanwhile, Face Hunter got the best card in the class’ set. Aimed Shot fits the strategy like a glove, and the deck might be interested in some other minor upgrades to its build as well.

So, Face Hunter should be fine and strong, but other strategies will have a lot to prove.