Big Guns BlastenHunter (Season 81 – Combo/Spell Hunter – Standard)

I pulled Maxima Blastenheimer as a Rewards Track legendary, so I put this together to grind the Darkmoon Faire XP Achievements for Hunter without having to craft anything. This is definitely more of a for-fun/achievement build than a serious ladder option.

The point of the deck is as follows:
1. Deal chip damage to face with your hero power and any weapon swings you don’t desperately need for removal.
2. Draw Maxima with at least one Tonk still in deck. Use your Heart of the Cards here.
3. Use Explosive Trap, burn spells and weapons to grasp at board control until your Maxima turn. Use Deadly Shot sparingly – you might need it to take out a small minion on turn 3, but a damage sponge played between your Maxima and your Nine Lives can ruin your entire day.
4. Play Maxima on turn 6 or as soon afterward as possible, against as light an enemy board as possible.
5. Play Nine Lives (preceded by Deadly Shot to clear damage-absorbing bodies) the next turn for lethal – face shots with Hero Power, Kill Command and even Arcane Shot can shore up the last few points. If you draw both Tonks before Maxima, um, I guess play one on Turn 7, then cast Nine Lives ASAP once it dies (if you haven’t lost outright in the meantime).

Desert Spear is the quiet star of the deck, fueling Kill Command for midrange threat removal or to push lethal, and (provided you’re both lucky and careful with your health) providing some hope of surviving to turn 6 against Face Hunter and Aggro DH.

Along with Spear, the Secret package gives the deck most of its (dodgy) survivability – Snake Trap is another tool against early aggression, and Open the Cages is included to generally not get triggered, as a standing activator for Petting Zoo. Even without a Secret up, a 3/3 for 3 off Petting Zoo, while terrible, is often going to be a better play than Hero Power and floating one mana. Optimal (read: flukey) Turn 3 plays, of course, are Spear, Animal Companion or Zoo with one Secret up.

Explosive Trap is the key anti-aggro tool – Rinling’s Rifle will, ideally, pay out more Explosive Traps and/or a Misdirection (a lucky one can absolutely steal a game from Demon Hunter – watching one go “face” for lethal, get Misdirected into a Darkmoon Tonk, kill it, and die from the combined body and Deathrattle damage was incredibly satisfying. Failing that, Arcane Shot can plug an early Intrepid Initiate, Battlefiend or Blazing Battlemage, giving you a better shot of staying in the game until you can at least play Maxima and tick a few more points of Tonk damage towards the XP Achievement.

Earlier versions of this deck had Yogg-Saron and C’Thun (individually and both at once), but the C’Thun pieces made it too hard to find Maxima, and every single time there were two Tonks and a Yogg in the deck, Maxima would launch Yogg for the instant concede on my part. Sphere of Sapience, on the other end of the cost scale, has been more helpful in that slot. Uses for the Sphere are obvious – put Tonks that would otherwise be drawn below Maxima, and fish for control tools against aggro.

I’ve been experimenting with Unleash the Hounds’ slot – so far it’s been more consistently helpful than Hunter’s Pack – you lose out on the extra Secret for Petting Zoo, but Hounds provides another possible tick or two of face damage and, more importantly, an instant enabler for Kill Command when you’re looking for lethal. Marked Shot was a failure, even though it was another possible Turn 4 play – Secret and Hero Power or Rinling’s Rifle are the ideal turn-4 choices most games anyway.

Final Note: If you are playing against another Hunter, and there’s a chance they might have Freezing Trap out, do ANYTHING you can to suss it out before you play Maxima. Maxima’s effect into an opponent’s Freezing Trap is an instant concede for this deck.