Dinosaur Frenzy Hunter feat. Kathrena Winterwisp, Charged Devilsaur and King Krush! (Season 49)

About this deck

This combo deck is the „spiteful summoner“ equivalent of the hunter class and can deliver combos that are in OTK range. My biggest issues with running spiteful archetypes is the huge loss in both tempo and value when not drawing cards in the right order; plus, even if you get out a minion, it is hard to say which. Consistency is always preferable. With this deck, I am trying to fix both of these issues while following a proper hunter theme. The main goal is to play SEEPING OOZELING on turn 6, using secrets and your EAGLEHORN BOW to survive up until that point. If it gets killed, you recruit your first big dinosaur which usually gives you a huge advantage but will at least reestablish parity and then go on to play your big minions. If it survives, you use PLAY DEAD and TERRORSCALE STALKER to recruit as many dinosaurs as you can early on and combo yourself to victory.

The early game

The early game is dominated by hero power, secrets, and EAGLEHORN BOW. Especially together with your Spellstone, you can set up a neat board parity or even clear for turn 6 or 7, where the magic happens. PROFESSOR PUTRICIDE is a kind of neat card that never really saw play. I like him in this deck, as he only costs 4 mana and will put additional secrets (of which you run plenty) into the battlefield. These can often be lifesavers early on. He can easily be replaced, though, should you not have him or just dislike him. I recommend going for a second DEADLY SHOT in that case, optimizing your chances to draw this invaluable card. If the meta is secret heavy, you can also use a copy of flare to replace him.

Turns 5&6

Once you reach turn 5, you will want to unleash your wolves, should you have drawn the card in time. This will mix up the board a bit and give you ample smaller minions to trade with the opponents remaining taunts and annoying minions.

On turn 6, you can hopefully start to combo it up, using the synergy between SEEPING OOZELING, KATHRENA WINTERWISP, SILVER VANGUARD, TERRORSCALE STALKER and PLAY DEAD, recruiting your big dinosaurs over the course of turn 7. CHARGED DEVILSAUR is a special case in this deck, as it does NOT have the new mechanic Rush „but in other words“, as it is often claimed! It actually has Charge, the fact it cannot attack heroes is merely its battlecry. This we circumvent by using the recruit mechanic. A successful early combo with the bow still equipped can net you up to 24 damage on turn 7 to the enemy hero that way, whom you will probably have damaged by around 10, give or take, at that point.

Turn 7 onwards

From that moment on, you can start playing SILVER VANGUARD and KATHRENA WINTERWISP themselves, should you have to break through walls of taunts or not have all cards you need to fully play out the combo to reliably keep up the pressure.

So what if you run out of Dinosaurs or have to play them from your hand, rendering the combo cards seemingly useless? There are only 3 with charge in the deck after all anyway? That really is an issue, but that’s where DIRE FRENZY comes into play. You will want to play it on one of your charge dinosaurs as early as possible. That way you gain 3 minions with 10/10 or even 11/11 and charge that will actually go back into your deck, waiting to be recruited! Together with KATHRENA WINTERWISP, this allows for an insane second round of combos.

SWAMP KING DRED, last but not least, might seem like an odd choice, as he does not have charge. But here’s the thing: you want to break through to your enemy as early as possible and also you will probably take around 5-10 damage against slow decks and 10-20 damage against aggro decks until turn 7 yourself. Clearing the board with your dinosaurs through the combo will leave them wounded and vulnerable to removals, which will effectively kill you. However, Dred forces the opponent to use high value spells on him instead of your other minions and basically blocks other minions from being played during this ciritical turn, should you have him in hand or recruit him. Taunt is also not an answer, as all taunt minions (sans the mammoth no one runs) are going to die to Dred’s attack, not costing you valuable attacks in your own round. Especially against cubelock, this counter hits hard. The surviving minions can then be copied with DIRE FRENZY next round or used with another instance of PLAY DEAD, should they be one of your deathrattle minions.

Additionally, SWAMP KING DRED costs 7 mana. Played from your hand as a protector, he can be combined with TERRORSCALE STALKER from turn 10 onwards – at that point in the game you will probably want to really hurry. So, if you just have TERRORSCALE STALKER instead of PLAY DEAD, you will still want to be able to put your guard up while recruiting more charge minions in the same round!

Have fun!

I played this deck in Standard Play and on the Ladder and it has, so far, an impressive win rate. Please either upvote or leave your improvements/suggestions!