Not a lot of archetypes have been pushed as hard as Mech Hunter in the last expansions. Ever since the downfall of Hunter’s initial fantasy including a lot of face-damage, other themes tried to find a new Hunter identity. Mech Hunter looks to reinvent the weel by walking the line between being a power-spikey mid game threat and a defensive late game resurrect headache for its opponents.
Some mech minions like Spider Bomb and Zilliax have already seen play in Hunter’s most powerful archetypes, but Rise of Shadow’s Mech Hunter looks to shift gears and rebuild this machine-heavy archetype!
- 0Mech Deathrattle Hunter Theorycraft Deck List – Rise of Shadows – April 20191
- 0Mech Deathrattle Hunter Theorycraft Deck List – Rise of Shadows – April 20191
- 0Mech Deathrattle Hunter Theorycraft Deck List – Rise of Shadows – April 20191
- 0Mech Deathrattle Hunter Theorycraft Deck List – Rise of Shadows – April 20192
- 0Mech Deathrattle Hunter Theorycraft Deck List – Rise of Shadows – April 20192
- 0Mech Deathrattle Hunter Theorycraft Deck List – Rise of Shadows – April 20192
- 2Bomb Toss2
- 2Fireworks Tech2
- 2Venomizer2
- 3Nine Lives2
- 3Spider Bomb2
- 3Ursatron2
- 6Oblivitron1
- 10Zul’jin1
This iteration of Mech Hunter not only profits off of new Mech inclusions in Rise of Shadows but also other mech synergy cards that have been released with the Boomsday Project set.
However, the true innovation around this archetype will involve two new cards called Safeguard and Nine Lives.
One problem almost all Hunter archetypes suffer from is lack of defense in the mid and late game. Similar to Deathrattle Hunter in the Year of the Raven, Mech Hunter will have easy ways to set up taunt walls by playing and triggering Safeguard over and over again. Over the course of the game, Nine Lives may not always hit the 6-cost minion, but it should be fairly consistent overall, as you only play six Deathrattle minions in total.
Another new minion that complements this general game plan is Oblivitron. One can’t deny that its body is lackluster at best; however, Oblivitron should be seen as some sort of power swing card similar to minions like Silver Vanguard.
In addition, summoning a Mechanical Whelp and triggering its Deathrattle alone makes Oblivitron an auto-include in this decklist.
As already said, Boomsday cards will finally be able to get their hands dirty in Mech Hunter. SImilar to Oblivitron, Fireworks Tech doesn’t offer a very strong body, but it serves as another Deathrattle trigger and enables value trading with its +1/+1 buff.
Again, Mech Hunter solves problems: Card draw and value generation will be an issue without Deathstalker Rexxar in the Year of the Dragon, and Ursatron will help Mech Hunter with exactly that. As we know from the past, dishing out 3-cost 3/3s on curve is a perfectly fine play; sadly, it won’t return value instantly with the upside of double-dipping off cards like Fireworks Tech or Nine Lives.
And don’t forget about the Magnetic keyword! Venomizer, Spider Bomb, Zilliax, Wargear AND Missile Launcher all wait to melt into a hot amalgamation of mech value. Lifesteal, Rush, mass board clear, hard removal, all minions serve the greater good of restocking our mech supplies on the board.
The early game package of Springpaw, Tracking, Mecharoo and Bomb Toss should give Mech Hunter a decent amount of time in the early game to make decisions and draw the right cards to prepare for powerful mid game spikes. The Deadly Shot inclusion is the flex pick of this deck list; alternatives depending on the meta could be Animal Companion, Eaglehorn Bow or even Headhunter’s Hatchet.
Last but not least, value powerhouse Houndmaster Shaw and Zul’jin round out the Mech Hunter archetype. Houndmaster Shaw is a blessing in disguise for Mech Hunter who relies on flexibly and minion-heavy plays including the usage of the Magnetic keyword, while Zul’jin easily refills the board with a couple of Nine Lives and Bomb Toss cards (but don’t forget to count in the Tracking discard!).
The combination of Deathrattle-heavy mech minions and smart usage of Magnetic synergy cards will most certainly elevate not only Mech Hunter’s playability as a whole but also its power potential in a comparably weak early Rise of Shadows meta-game.
Why Zul’jin
10 mana: do nothing
See answer in other comments.
Update: Played from Rank 5 to Rank 4, went 8-3. Put in Hatchet for Deadly Shot.
Did great against anything aggro and mid range, had to play around lots of stuff against control (Shamans and Warriors mostly).
Very fun deck, we hope to do a in-depth guide wants the meta dust settles!
Is there a spot for BOOMMASTER FLARK in this Deck
Flark just has very few synergies with this deck. He’s not a mech himself, and he “only” summons Goblin Bombs, which when they die pollute our Deathrattle pool!
thx for replying.
I’m having a blast playing this deck.
I get the first point with Flark not being a good synergy with this deck, but regarding the second: I was under the impression that in HS the death pool was binary, and you’ve already potentially committed Goblin Bombs to the death pool as soon as you play Bomb Toss.
In other words, if you the only things that have died on your side were Whelps, Spider Bombs, Usratron, and Goblin Bombs, then Nine Lives will pick 3 of those 4 options and you always have a 25% chance that Goblin Bomb is the option that’s left out, regardless of how MANY of each minion have died so far. At least, that’s the way Priest resurrection spells and Undatakah seem to work. (I know Hadronix is different.) Am I wrong on this?
No, you are absolutely correct. However, there may be some games where you play Flark without having played Bomb Toss before.
I think that bomb toss should be removed from the list because it does not synergize well with nine lives. Just a thought though.
So does Mecharoo…
The thing about Nine Lives is that it’d discover, so you don’t have to run only cards that synergize with it. The deck plays two “bad” Nine Lives cards – Mecharoo and Bomb Toss (or Goblin Bomb to be precise). But even in a worst case scenario of getting those two options, you will still get a third one that’s better.
Not to mention that SOMETIMES picking Goblin Bomb to deal 2 damage to the opponent will actually be necessary for lethal.
It seems like the write-up for the deck may have been written for a previous iteration of the deck, perhaps, since it mentions that “the deck only plays 6 deathrattle minions” as a point in favor of why Nine Lives should be consistent on hitting Safeguard. In fact the deck plays 13 deathrattle minions, making it look pretty inconsistent. Given that Mecharoo and Goblin Bomb will generally be “bad” hits for Nine lives, Ursatron will usually be a middling result, Spider Bomb and Oblivitron will be situationally powerful, and only really Safeguard and Mechanical Whelp are universally strong, I would say this is not the best shell for Nine Lives. We would either have to accept that Nine Lives is a value card and not a game-breaker in this deck, or we should cut it. If we’re keeping Nine Lives I think Mecharoo and Bomb Toss have to go.
I now see that the author meant “6 different deathrattle minions”. However that doesn’t count Goblin Bomb – it should be 7. I still think Mecharoo and Bomb Toss should be cut so that the “worst” result for 9 lives would be Ursatron, Spider Bomb, and Oblivitron (two situational deathrattles and a generically good one). If another 1 cost Mech is needed, Skaterbot could be used instead to help enable instant use of Deathrattles, or the new Shimmerfly for value.
Im working on a silimar deck, but Im going to include Cybertech Chip. Its a good card to play mid game even if you cast it on one or two minions. When Zul’Jin enters the game, hopefully he will cast this after two “Nine Lives” and “Bomb Toss”. Of course RNG will will be an issue…
I used to play cybertech chip on spell hunter, and I often got my hand full of mechs, it was fun…
I am still not 100% on Zul’jin so could you explain his role in the deck in a little more detail please. It just seems a bit weak in this build in comparison to the likes of spell hunter (Maybe if you added animal companion…)
You basically hit the nail on the head already. 🙂 When I started with this list I had Animal Companion as the classic early to mid game board pressure tool which later got switched out for Deadly Shot.
As it turns out, Zul’jin doesn’t need to fulfill his Spell Hunter role as a ridiculous jack-of-all-trades power swing card.
In a best case scenario we cast Nine Lives two times, which nets us two minions on the board and two cards in hand, and double Deadly Shot. That way Zul’jin turns into a fairly decent and consistent hand refiller and board clearing tool, which gains us 5 Armor and a better Hero Power as well.
You can definitely switch out some of the more situational Mech minions for double Animal Companion; depending on the meta this make Zul’jin even stronger and more reliable in his role within the archetype.
I petition this deck be renamed “Death Magnetic.”
“PETITION APPROVED!” Tharid, Metallica fan