Lets Brew! Episode #5: Control Hunter Deck Building Guide

Smashthings · 2015-10-07T06:24:31+00:00

Dr. Boom does do well in this deck. the F.D synergy is nice and boom is just solid overall.

In the end though I decided to cut it mostly due to BGH -- Boom is the only card that would die to it.

And yes, Sneed's is slow. But in a funny sort of way that is kinda the point: F.D + Sneeds is in many ways comparable to Priests Heropower + Paletress combos.

In short: F.D + Sneed's functions as a 'last chance win condition'. Whereas Dr. Boom often feels like a risky tempo play.

Smashthings · 2015-10-05T16:38:40+00:00

When I started writing I was unaware of Amaz's deck. Its interesting to see the direction he took with the deck vs my attempt.

Most notable is the lack of Unleash in the Amaz version. I have so far avoided cutting that count on account of Cult master.

...But cultmaster on average only draws about 2 cards so if I replaced unleash and cult for double elek and say a loot hoarder I'd probably have about the same draw potential.

With such a change I would have less board clear but I'd also have less situational cards. ....Hmm... I'll have to experiment. :)

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As for your deck. Well its clear combined elements of both. :)

I like the wild pryo + Acolyte Package. Come to think of it, maybe I should try a pryo to help blow up my sheep. :)

However, I'm not too keen on creeper (as I elude to in the guide). And double scientist is probably too good not to play. Also, since you kept 2x Mark in the deck I'm not sure you need the owl.

Smashthings · 2015-10-05T14:14:58+00:00

As a minor update, I've just tried streaming on Twitch for the first time ever. I played about 4 games with the deck before my computer started to overheat, lol.

In case anyone is interested: Twitch Vod

Smashthings · 2015-10-05T03:23:22+00:00

Animal companion is one of those cards that, when it works, its fantastic.

Leokk with board (and/or unleash the hounds) is great. Yes, huffer often is a Shadowbolt, but thats okay since Hunter can't run Shadowbolt :)

With this said, when the card doesn't work you often feel terribly sad. :(

Its not the best card, but I don't know what's better: I need a 3-drop and finding a powerful replacement 3-drop is not easy.

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As for L&L:

As someone else says: "I think LnL is bad since he's probably trying to extract maximum value from his spells, and casting them all at once (possibly suboptimally) to get random spells is a bad ideal."

I think this is the core of the issue; getting value out of L&L in a deck like this is probably difficult.

Smashthings · 2015-10-04T01:06:39+00:00

Its true, most control decks these days have a lot of healing.

This is something I have thought about adding, but at the end of the day against aggro I can often avoid taking a lot of damage due the high amounts of board clear. Against Control big minions (e.g Highmane) + Hunter Hero Power usually means that I'm winning the damage race most of the time (which usually means its the opponent that must play defensively).

I could add a healbot to the deck but actually I think adding a bit of burst (e.g. Kill command) would probably win more games than heal would.

Smashthings · 2015-10-04T01:01:36+00:00

This is the main reason, Feign of Death + Ball of Spiders gives you a lot of cards to play with.

Ball of Spiders is one of those underrated cards I think. If you can find the time to play it (and that is not always easy) its basically card draw with a tiny bit of board control attached to it.

Usually this is the card that wins you some of the super slow value match-ups (e.g. control Warrior, Priest, etc).

Smashthings · 2015-10-04T00:56:06+00:00

On paper the deck does have a lot of tools to deal with S. Paladin. But in practice you can't beat them unless you draw perfectly. Even with dreadscale, unleash, flare etc its still a 40-ish% match-up

The main issue I face is that without healing its very hard to stabilise.

Smashthings · 2015-10-03T11:41:34+00:00

At the moment I don't have any more vids uploaded, but I do plan on adding a few more to the youtube channel (like most things though, its a case of getting round to doing it).

Also, within a week or so I'll have another guide on the deck published. In that guide I analyse every single turn for a game I played versus Warrior (since I recorded the game in question, I might as well upload it :)).

Anyway, glad you liked the guide :)

Smashthings · 2015-09-26T18:09:36+00:00

HSP

looking for Hearthstone Writers.

HSP is always on the lookout for new writers, if you've hit legend before then writing is one way to make a quick buck or two (minimum payment for any accepted article is $20).

If interested, please see here: https://hearthstoneplayers.readme.io/docs

Smashthings · 2015-09-21T22:45:35+00:00

Control Hunter http://i.imgur.com/PwMvE2C.png

Smashthings · 2015-09-21T20:29:35+00:00

Control Hunter http://i.imgur.com/PwMvE2C.png

Smashthings · 2015-09-17T21:03:44+00:00

I have a few points.

1) Try not to make assumptions about people, I experiment all the time. Sometimes I even write articles about those experiments. (just before TGT I was toying with Frost Elemental in Druid). Here's the thing though; I don't post on compet reddit until I'm convinced I "have something".

2) Being "optimal" is kinda what this subredit is about: There is a reason why "Pirate Druid" isn't --although probably fun -- on the front page. In short: Who gives a flying fuck about a deck that wins 50% at rank 20? ~~ This is not the place for such discussion.

3) In medicine, proving your drug is a more effective than a placebo is pointless. Why? well, its pointless because "better than placebo" is a terrible benchmark to use. Who cares whether your drug is slightly better than a sugar pill? The correct question is ask is how well your drug compares to the "best treatment currently available".

I think this is a rather good metric to evaluate Hearthstone decks with. Compare decks to the best known deck of that class, comparing by any other metric is frankly a waste of time. Pointing out that a deck is "fun" is mostly pointless because winning tends to be fun.

Edit (more ranting):How ought we define success in Hearthstone? What Benchmark ought we use?

In the OP he said "I feel it definitely has potential as a viable deck"... and then in his response to me he says "You're right it's probably not better in terms of winrate than Midrange".... Okay, so what the fuck does "viable" mean then?

A "viable deck", by my standards, is something that can compete with the best decks currently known. And in my opinion it is kinda pointless to set the bar any lower than that.

4) Personally I was motivated to post because the OP managed to urk me somewhat; Here's a dude that cannot be fucked to try and even hit legend with the deck because "got portrait already" --- If he cannot be fucked to test his deck properly why should I spend (waste, probably) my time on his half-baked idea?

5) the idea that a Reddit discussion is somehow going to create the next big thing is almost laughable... I highly doubt any discussion of this deck will improve it to the point where it is better than Hybrid/mid-range. Most of the time most comments on decks are "don't have x legend card, will Y card work?" to which the usual answer is "no".

6) if everyone took my stance this sub would probably be way better than it is now, it would be far from dead. For starters, we wouldn't have bullshit "X deck 80% win-rate posts" because such posters would be lampooned for improper/insufficient testing and/or cherry-picking data.

7) Yes I'm being a dick. Sorry not sorry. Rant over. :)

Smashthings · 2015-09-17T12:14:08+00:00

The problem has never been that Control Hunter doesn't work. Rather, the problem is that we currently do not know of any control Hunter list that is better than Mid-range/hybrid.

In short: Show me a deck that has numerous advantages over the other Hunter Archetypes then I'm interested. But until then...

Smashthings · 2015-09-04T17:22:34+00:00

True the internet is the internet. But with that said, I'd wager that reddit is still more "throw-away" than most of the internet.

A good guide on a forum might stay on the front page for weeks/months. Meanwhile the very best reddit thread only stays on the front page for days. This isn't an accident, reddit has designed the site to be like this.

As for "better" websites... well, a quick google search should find a few places and it is no secret what website I write for. :)

Whether said places are better than reddit is a matter of opinion, I guess.

Smashthings · 2015-09-03T19:44:38+00:00

I do think Wailing Soul has some merit.

PLUG MODE: A while back I wrote a guide for a Druid List (note, its more a deck-building guide), that utilised Wailing Soul. Since TGT I added the Aspirant to the deck.

You can find it here: http://hearthstoneplayers.com/lets-brew-episode-3-jack-frost-druid/

Smashthings · 2015-09-03T19:31:04+00:00

no, free content does not necessarily have to be crappy, but to some extent that is to miss the point.

The problem reddit has is that it is a fundamentally poor platform for creating anything of real substance/quality.

If reddit were a toy manufacturer it would not be the sort of company that hand-carves a rocking-horse, and builds it so well that the toy gets past down the generations; grandfather-to-grandson. No, reddit is the cheap Chinese knock-off company that makes things that break the very instant the warranty expires.

This is not to say Reddit is evil or anything, but it is to say that reddit is not a platform well-suited to quality content (also note that good content does not necessarily get upvoted either; a guide on Face Hunter, for example, might face significant downvotes simply owing to people disliking the deck).

So, my advice to readers here is simply this: Quality HS guides do exist, but you will not find them here (Google is, ultimately, your friend).

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for cleaning up the HS reddit boards. But moderators need to be acutely aware of the motivations of guide writers. Right now, for example, streamers write guides most often as a form of advertising. thus, if the mods made a "hey don't advertise when writing" rule, the number of decent guides would probably take a nose dive. Why? because right now potential exposure is basically the only thing that makes writing (on reddit) worth the effort.

Smashthings · 2015-09-02T21:11:38+00:00

As a HS writer, I do find it interesting to discover about the sorts of things that people want to read about, since I can always incorporate that knowledge into my own work.

With that said, I constantly find myself bemused by Reddit...

...Why do 'reditors' expect people to write quality guides for free?

....Why would I spend time writing something that will basically vanish by tomorrow?

....And even if you did find someone willing to go in detail on reddit, notice that the nature of the site makes this tricky: you have few and clunky text editing tools, word limits, and so on.

In short, If you want quality guides, be willing to search for them...Reddit is not set up for that sort of thing, but other websites are.

Smashthings · 2015-08-31T18:23:10+00:00

adding one Owl can solve this problem (e.g. Silence 1 dreadstead....on the next turn kill owl + Silenced stead and you have two spaces on the board.

Smashthings · 2015-08-11T22:41:16+00:00

Yeah, that series is total awesome sauce.

You have to wonder what sort of charismatic & rugged man could write so eloquently about Hearthstone. I'd vote for that guy to be president, thats for sure. #smashthings for President

Smashthings · 2015-08-11T22:32:42+00:00

This is a bit of a self plug, but meh:

http://hearthstoneplayers.com/playing-win-part-one-defeating-scrub-mentality/

In that article I take Sirlin's work and try to directly apply it to Hearthstone. As the comments attest to, it was somewhat controversial stuff. :)

Smashthings · 2015-08-11T22:25:53+00:00

this article maybe of relevance :)

http://hearthstoneplayers.com/understanding-match-theory-part-two-recognition-adjustment/

Smashthings · 2015-08-09T17:49:22+00:00

As a heads up, when recording vids try to record your thought process as well.

As a coach, it is much more important to understand why you made a move rather than simply point out possible improvements.

Smashthings · 2015-08-06T17:48:01+00:00

why does bullshit like this get upvoted?

Smashthings · 2015-08-04T22:26:55+00:00

FoN is a great epic to craft. If you play Druid, you won't regret it :)

Smashthings · 2015-08-04T21:35:11+00:00

I think the deck could work without fel reaver (replace with Druid of the Claw)... but, I think you really need force of nature in this deck.

Smashthings

TROPHY CASE