JimmyRaynor’s N’Zoth Hunter Theorycraft – Doom in the Tomb

N'Zoth, The Corruptor is back for spooky season and he is looking to bring terror to the standard format! Being one of the most infuential cards in the history of the game, the god of death is not one to be ignored, since you can build your deck around some key Deathrattle effects, which you can summon again when you play him. Cards like Spider Bomb and Mechanical Whelp are a pain to deal with, while the also returning Sylvanas Windrunner is downright terrifying. Going above and beyond to include Deathrattle minions is not really needed, since those effects are powerful enough, that they can win you the game, in conjuction with Nine Lives and N'Zoth, The Corruptor.

The deck plays mostly like a normal midrange hunter deck, with the difference that it uses a couple of really powerful Deathrattle effects to control the board, Nine Lives to get more value and copies out of those powerful minions, then drops N'Zoth, The Corruptor as a win-condition, provided you have already forced your opponent to use most, if not all, of his board-clears and removals. The list includes two copies of Necromechanic that, although not necessarily needed, is a really good 4-drop on its own at 3/6, while also doubling your Deathrattles, which can be problematic for your opponent to deal with.

The deck’s early game is pretty standard, using staple Hunter tools like Springpaw, Explosive Trap and Animal Companion to transition to the mid-game, where Spider Bomb and Mechanical Whelp can take the lead and help you cement your presence on the board. Sylvanas Windrunner is another good tool at your disposal, but the real power comes with using Fireworks Tech and Nine Lives, as well as Necromechanic, to trigger some of those Deathrattle effects multiple times.

After forcing you opponent to find a way to deal with your Mechanical Whelps, while clearing his board with Spider Bombs, you transition to the late game, where you will look for a good time to drop N'Zoth, The Corruptor and let your board take care of bussiness. Even if you don’t win on the spot, the aftermath can leave your opponent without any answers for your Mechanical Dragons that your Mechanical Whelps will spawn, or any another threat you have left, so don’t despair right away.

The deck’s only real card draw is Tracking, which can accelarate the game and bring you closer to the cards you want to draw, since it essentially draws 3 cards from your deck (discarding 2 of them, but still). One thing to note is that you should be looking to pick Nine Lives out of Marked Shot‘s discover most of the time, unless you are in need of a specific answer to the game’s state in that moment.