12 gm strk – Yogg n Load – Kraken Stndrd

The addition of Yogg-Saron, Hope's End has had me experimenting, and Lock and Load is a card that I’ve been trying to exploit for a while. WoToG didn’t offer much else in the way of spells (except for On the Hunt, which is a decent early turn play), but with yogg, there is now a purpose to expending all of your spells. 

The reason hunter is a good option for yogg is it’s ability to dig for it in the form of King's Elekk. With few minions in the deck, the probability of getting Emperor Thaurissan or Yogg-Saron, Hope's End is very high. King's Elekk is also a good early turn play, trading with the likes of tunnel trogg and most 2 drops due to it’s 3 attack. 

General gameplay:

Your goal is to contol the board using spells throughout the game. It’s actually surprising how well all of hunter AoE effects can combine together to really clean things up…Explosive Trap Unleash the Hounds Dreadscale Multi-Shot Explosive Shot all do a great job of taking down a solid board. And when you need a little bit extra to take out a bigger minion, adding an extra burn in Arcane Shot On the Hunt Quick Shot Eaglehorn Bow can really do the job. 

Ideally you don’t need to waste mutliple spells to have board control by turns 4-5. It is actually quite easy during these turns to have a very successful Lock and Load due to the large number of 1 cost spells (Arcane Shot Hunter's Mark On the Hunt Tracking, and works even better with the coin. The other thing that is actually quite important throughout the midgame is to pound that hero power if you don’t need to remove much from the board. I’ve had many games where I’ve been able to burn my opponent down without even getting to Yogg-Saron, Hope's End. 

Late game (turns 6+) hopefully looks like this : Emperor Thaurissan then Call of the Wild then Yogg-Saron, Hope's End. Usually quite doable to get to the late game with all your control spells. If possible, try to hold Deadly Shot Hunter's Mark for big threats in the late game, but if they had to be used, then so be it. 

Watching the fireworks of Yogg-Saron, Hope's End go off is one of the most fun mechanics in the game imho. Although it has some inconsistencies, it most often ends in your favour.