LONG POST FOR THOSE WHO SERIOUSLY WANT HELP CLIMBING
I recently reached D5. It is the highest rank that I have attained. As such, this thread was not written for diamond+ players, but for those who want ideas to get past a difficult portion of the standard ranked ladder below diamond. More so, the coming nerf and priest-pocolypse will probably force changes, so here is a nerf-eve effort to help dedicated DH players get to D5 beforehand.
DISCLAIMER: Decks meant to counter DH will react to changes rather quickly, especially after the nerfs, since players will be anticipating power shifts. Therefore, all deck information here should be viewed as time sensitive.
BACKSTORY
Netdecking is not my thing. Sure, netdecks were proven by someone somewhere sometime, but I prefer to believe that there is always a better combination waiting to be discovered. Maybe it is merely better for my matchups. Maybe it is better for a pocket meta. Maybe it is better versus Priest. Winning matches is not all that makes me feel a sense of victory. Proving the superior value of what others overlooked or rejected is a skillful win well worth the time.
In addition, my collection is usually missing expensive cards. I am mostly a free-to-play player. Not just because it is free, but because earning cards and facing the greater challenge feels more rewarding. Near the middle of June I made a thread about a DH deck that did not use [Battlefiend], [Satyr Overseer], [Altruis the Outcast], and [Metamorphosis]. Some were probably in disbelief that it could survive without those staple cards. True, it was not a diamond capable deck. It quickly climbed to P5 where it hit the wall. It wrecked the class mirror matchup, but was too weak against Mage. What it did include: [Guardian Augmerchant], [Amani Berserker], [Bonechewer Brawler]; has grown in popularity even for netdecks and for professional players. I expect the same for cards in the deck presented here.
I felt stuck at P5. I made several decks as themes or variants of netdecks or the one mentioned above. All were beaten to the floor. P1 was reached a couple times. The deck above was actually one game away from diamond. The problem was eluding me. The effect of the coming nerfs worried me. Not because of the nerfs, but because of an expectation that Mages and Priests will inundate. Thus came the motivation for this deck. Considering different flavors of Warlock decks actually helped to change my perception about some neutral cards, making them seem viable for DH to counter Mage and Priest.
STATS
Before detailing the deck, results will show why this deck should matter to readers.
STANDARD
| Record | Change% | Cumulative Record | Change% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P10-D10 | 54:42 (56%) | - | 54:42 (56%) | - |
| D10-D5 | 15:7 (68%) | +11.9% | 69:49 (59%) | +2.2% |
Within the climb to D10 there were five changes to the starting deck. The stats were initially recorded every 20 games to alert to significant competitive decline. What is not shown in the table above is the 25% winrate decline between P6 and P3, followed by a 15% decline between P3 and P1; revisions, not the final version. The fifth revision broke through into diamond with a six game win streak. It went on to D5 fairly quick.
Here are the per class matchup results. “Proportion” is a percent of all matches, so it is a match encounter rate.
| Proportion | Record | |
|---|---|---|
| D. Hunter | 17% | 9:11 (45%) |
| Druid | 11% | 9:4 (69%) |
| Hunter | 10% | 8:4 (67%) |
| Mage | 13% | 8:7 (53%) |
| Paladin | 9% | 7:4 (64%) |
| Priest | 14% | 10:7 (59%) |
| Rogue | 11% | 8:5 (62%) |
| Shaman | 1% | 0:1 (0%) |
| Warlock | 8% | 5:5 (50%) |
| Warrior | 5% | 5:1 (83%) |
I had doubt about this cheap DH deck working in the wild format. I do not play wild normally, because all of the reasons for taking breaks from Hearthstone still exist there. The goal was to test up to platinum, but nah. Done with wild for now. Sorry. Stopped at G10.
WILD
| Record | Change% | Cumulative Record | Change% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B10-S10 | 15:2 (88%) | - | 15:2 (88%) | - |
| S10-S5 | 11:3 (79%) | -9.6% | 26:5 (83%) | -4.3% |
| S5-G10 | 14:5 (74%) | -4.9% | 40:10 (80%) | -3.9% |
Class matchup results.
| Proportion | Record | |
|---|---|---|
| D. Hunter | 4% | 1:1 (50%) |
| Druid | 4% | 2:0 (100%) |
| Hunter | 4% | 2:0 (100%) |
| Mage | 20% | 9:1 (90%) |
| Paladin | 6% | 2:1 (67%) |
| Priest | 22% | 11:1 (92%) |
| Rogue | 6% | 1:2 (33%) |
| Shaman | 8% | 3:1 (75%) |
| Warlock | 12% | 5:1 (83%) |
| Warrior | 12% | 4:2 (67%) |
THE DECK
20-07 New Tempo : Demon Hunter : Standard : Year of the Phoenix
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What this deck will lose against:
- DH Initiate with perfect draw
- Rogue Galakrond on curve
- Shaman battlecry
- Warlock Galakrond on curve
- wild, Mage Yogg Saron, if Yogg played, beware secrets delay
- wild, Warrior Dr. Boom, overly engineered as normal
- wild, Warrior taunt, better than standard
Let’s talk about cards.
Deck core cards; never changed during revisions
- 2x (1) Battlefiend
- 2x (1) Crimson Sigil Runner
- 2x (1) Shadowhoof Slayer
- 2x (1) Twin Slice
- 2x (2) Chaos Strike
- 2x (2) Kobold Sandtrooper
- 1x (4) Kayn Sunfury
- 2x (5) Glaivebound Adept
- 1x (5) Warglaives of Azzinoth
Cards removed but readded. Consider them core too.
- 2x (1) Consume Magic
- 1x (5) Warglaives of Azzinoth (who’da thunk? Cost raise to 6 will hurt)
Card replacements that passed the trial.
- 2x (2) Faerie Dragon (replaced Amani Berserker)
- 2x (2) Umberwing (replaced Imprisoned Vilefiend, removed, added again)
- 2x (3) Eye Beam (replaced Aldrachi Warblades)
- 2x (3) Fire Hawk (replaced Raging Worgen)
- 2x (3) Satyr Overseer (replaced Burrowing Scorpid that replaced Furious Felfin)
- 1x (4) Evasive Feywing (replaced Shattered Sun Cleric that replaced Cobalt Spellkin)
DISCUSSION
You might have noticed that class defining cards are missing; [Altruis the Outcast], [Metamorphosis], [Skull of Gul’dan]. Also, there is no [Frozen Shadoweaver] for the class mirror match. Ouch! This deck was built for speed and as an anticaster. Anything slow needed to go. Anything that could hold tempo through removal needed to be added. The filter is that this in an aggro deck. It shouldn’t exist past turn 10. It needs only enough draw to get the early wins, and the cards that draw needed to not steal tempo. All of the cards that draw also work to maintain tempo or swing back tempo favor. As an anticaster it needed to make their strength a weakness. Aggression to the face works. Wide boards work, sort of. Untargetability works very well. Secret weapons like [Fire Hawk] work.
The best way to understand this deck build is to play it. It works because it forces the opponent to use resources against minions you have greater control of. Enemy [Frozen Shadoweaver] can be delt with by [Eye Beam]. Hold on to that precious spell. When the opponent freezes DH to prevent certain death, it is also possible to destory [Kobold Sandtrooper] with [Eye Beam] to secure the win if the opponent has no more than three health. You will learn the psychological impacts of cards and combos. It provides multiple chances for skilled played, and causes moments of laughter too.
One last mention important to some is dust value of the deck. It is 3880, but the legendary [Kayn Sunfury] is free, basically, and the four epic cards, 2x[Eye Beam] and 2x[Warglaives of Azzinoth], were easy to find in AoO packs during June.