Duskhaven Hunter

Duskhaven Hunter Card

Duskhaven Hunter is a 3 Mana Cost Rare Hunter Minion card from the The Witchwood set!

Card Text

Stealth Each turn this is in your hand, swap its Attack and Health.

Flavor Text

After a short paws, she's back to herself again.
  • Mana Cost: 3
  • Attack: 2
  • Health: 5
  • Crafting Cost: 100 / 800 (Golden)
  • Arcane Dust Gained: 20 / 100 (Golden)
  • Rarity: Rare
  • Class: Hunter
  • Card Type: Minion
  • Set: The Witchwood
  • Mechanics: Stealth

Cards Relating to Duskhaven Hunter

Duskhaven Hunter (Worgen)
Type: Minion - Cost: 3 - Attack: 5 - Health: 2
Stealth Each turn this is in your hand, swap its Attack and Health.

Duskhaven Hunter Card Review

This isn’t really too exciting. The whole stat switching thing is not great, because you can’t control it. It’s not like Druid of the Flame, where you can pick 2/5 or 5/2 WHENEVER you want.

The thing about 3-drops etc. is that you want to drop them on, well, that turn. If it’s your only 3 mana play, or your best 3 mana play, you’re going to drop it no matter whether it’s a 2/5 or 5/2 – it’s random, you have no control over it. Yes, in the late game, you can often just wait one turn, but it’s not always possible. You won’t float 3 mana just because you wanted this in another form, it’s not going to work.

Most of the time, this card only gives you an illusion of control, but realistically it often might as well be “the form is picked at random”.

I don’t really like this card in Hunter. Not only Hunter already has lots of good 3-drops (even those that are NOT rotating out), but those are not Beasts. Playing a Beast on Turn 3 is quite important, as it sets up a Houndmaster, which is a card that is basically in every minion-based Hunter deck.

I think it’s safe to say that a 5/2 with Stealth is better than a 2/5 with Stealth. The 2/5 doesn’t really need Stealth most of the time, while high attack minions with Stealth make sense – without Stealth they would die too easily. But is the 5/2 with Stealth really better than Jungle Panther? You lose one stat, but you gain the Beast tag, which is very important in Hunter. I’d honestly rather play the Jungle Panther most of the time.

I don’t like this card, because you can’t actively control which form you play it in. I’d rather put a 3-drop that is more consistent and I can build a part of my game plan around, rather than this.

Card rating: 2/10

Leave a Reply

44 Comments

  1. not close buff hunter
    April 5, 2018 at 9:56 am

    If this was a beast = op
    Its not a beast so its just another meh hunter 3 drop unfortunately. hunter needs more reliability at the 3 drop spot over animal companion

  2. KaihatsuJai
    March 31, 2018 at 5:42 pm

    It starts at the right value, but punishes you for not playing it.
    And it’s not a beast like the druid choose one card, which was much better.

  3. dcknazz
    March 31, 2018 at 3:10 pm

    This with the Hunter legendary is a stealthed 10/4….

  4. Jaych
    March 31, 2018 at 11:42 am

    Do people just forget about new cards the moment they’re shown?

    This could be decent in a Baku Hunter. It’s certainly not garbage.

    3 Stars from me.

    • Soup And Salad
      March 31, 2018 at 8:24 pm

      It isn’t a bad card, but it is bad relative to the other three cost cards Hunter has access to like Eaglehorn Bow, Animal Companion, Bearshark, Kill Command, and Unleash the Hounds. There are some situations where it can be better than Bearshark, but Bearshark is a beast, which does matter because you’ll usually want to follow your turn three into a turn four Houndmanster in a midrange deck.

      If Cave Hydra, a card that a class like Druid would make love to, can’t see regular play in Hunter, it is unlikely this will unless there is a major shake-up in how Midrange Hunter operates.

      • Jaych
        April 1, 2018 at 2:40 pm

        Well what happens when you’re completely unable to play even-costed cards? No Highmane, no Flanking Strike, no Scavenging Hyena, no Crackling Razormaw, no Secrets? You need things to fill in the gaps. And here you go.

        • Soup And Salad
          April 1, 2018 at 7:34 pm

          You could also play higher cost cards like Bittertide Hydra, Nesting Roc, and Sated Threshadon instead of literally a dozen if not more three cost cards in what amounts to a midrange deck, an archetype that values playing on curve more than anything else.

          • Jaych
            April 2, 2018 at 3:02 pm

            Sated Thresadon? Seriously? In a Face Hunter?

            Face Hunter, the style of deck much more likely to use Baku, wants a greater abundance of cheaper cards. Granted, Baku is pretty expensive, but it’s only one card. Not to mention that Sated Threshadon is much more defensively statted than the deck wants.

            Besides, if Jungle Panther and Dire Mole have seen competitive play in Face Hunter, I see no reason why Duskhaven Hunter can’t see play as well.

          • Soup And Salad
            April 2, 2018 at 4:19 pm

            To Jaych

            Perhaps no in a Face Hunter, but I doubt such a deck will be possible with or without Baku when the set is released given the nerfs or usage restrictions on many of the classic face Hunter cards like Knife Juggler (nerf and can’t use), Hunter’s Mark (nerf), Arcane Golem (Nerf), Ironbeak Owl (nerf), Leper Gnome (nerf), and Abusive Sargent (nerf).

            Even outside of the classics, the class as a whole is losing Alleycat, Patches, and the easy use of Golakka Crawler. As it is right now without Cooridor Creeper as it was before its nerf, Face hunter is a fringe deck.

            If a Baku Hunter does emerge with the release of The Witchwood, it will most likely resemble Midrange Hunter as it currently is rather than the Face Hunter of Old.

      • Warptens
        April 3, 2018 at 8:17 pm

        If you try building a baku deck and think about how it’s going to curve out, you’ll realize that ~half of the list should be 3drops.
        So you put companion, Kcommand, bow, unleash, bearshark, and that’s 10 so it’s not enough.
        So you add… stitched tracker, wolfrider, … not very good stuff. a 3Mana 5/2 stealth should be playable.

        • Soup And Salad
          April 4, 2018 at 2:33 am

          Well, how many would be enough? Even the old Face Hunter decks from the Grand Tournament didn’t play more than about twelve three drops. I understand most of the good one cost cards hunter would want to use are rotating out and such a deck would be unable to use two cost cards, but a deck with twenty three drops sounds like it would have more fundamental issues than just playing bad cards.

          • Warptens
            April 4, 2018 at 5:43 am

            As I said, ~half the deck.
            Baku face hunter, if it works, is probably something like 14 1drops, 14 3drops, leeroy and baku.
            Such a deck doesn’t really have a problem curving out. It would have a problem sustaining, but it can use the hero power as a mana sink.

            I don’t really think baku hunter is going to be a thing tho.

  5. Anton
    March 31, 2018 at 10:37 am

    After seeing Those hunter cards, I think there will be a card, that will passively give minions +1 attack in your hand, that would mean, those rush dogs would deal 3 or 4 damage for 2 mana and those swapping minions would get stats in hand each time they tramsform. That means if you had +2 attack, on average they would get +1/1 every turn and then you could double the stats and get a 30 atk stealth minion. NO beast-tag, because 30dmg charge would be too good.
    Also pumpkin peasant would be es a be a er lifesteal minion for hunter

  6. Jonnychill1331
    March 31, 2018 at 7:18 am

    If it’s in your opening hand would it transform on turn 1, this is important because that would decide what form it will be in on curve

    • Amethonys
      March 31, 2018 at 12:18 pm

      If you get it on the mulligan yes. If you draw it turn 1 no. It’s like any of the other shifter cards where it doesn’t transform the turn it’s drawn.

      • Jonnychill1331
        April 1, 2018 at 7:35 am

        alright that makes sense thanks, that kinda makes it better because I feel like most times you want the 5/2 and keeping it in your opening hand will make it just that turn 3

  7. GlosuuLang
    March 31, 2018 at 2:08 am

    Look! It’s a Rogue card disguised as a Hunter card! Seriously though, where’s my Beast tag? How am I supposed to use this in Hunter without the tag or a useful ability like Houndmaster Shaw? I’m calling it a Pack filler. 1.5 out of 5 stars.

    • Anton
      March 31, 2018 at 10:23 am

      This is a real fine card, but as a beast it would have been too good.
      Also with the DK, stealth and then take the higher stats to go face.

      • GlosuuLang
        March 31, 2018 at 11:08 am

        Yep, this makes it worse than the Stealthed Tiger costing 3 because of thie lack of Beast tag. And that card doesn’t see much play nowadays. Having Bearshark and Eaglehorn Bow, not sure why any Hunter would run this card. It would have been good as a neutral, and would have fit another class better.

        • Warptens
          April 3, 2018 at 8:23 pm

          Cmon, a beast tag is obviously worth less than 1 stat.

          • GlosuuLang
            April 4, 2018 at 1:10 am

            Not in Hunter, ESPECIALLY in a 3-drop. Houndmaster is the best 4-drop in the game, but it requires that you have a Beast on the board. That’s why Bearshark (and, to a lesser extent, Jungle Panther – that’s the name!) are better than this dude. Also, you may think it’s good to have “flexibility” of Attack and Health, but this “flexibility” is actually a disadvantage, since you can’t control what form this dude will be in when you actually want to play him. This Worgen mechanic is bad and this minion suffers from it too. Still think this is 1.5/5 stars.

          • Warptens
            April 4, 2018 at 5:57 am

            Cmon, think a second.
            Is carrion grub better or worse than a 3mana 3/5?
            Is bearshark better or worse than a 3mana 4/4 with hexproof?
            Is wolfrider better or worse than a 3mana 2/1 beast with charge?
            Is piloted shredder better or worse than infested wolf?

            A beast tag is NOT worth losing 1 stat.

  8. Crapcrack
    March 31, 2018 at 1:41 am

    It’s ok but not good enough

  9. Organis
    March 30, 2018 at 8:10 pm

    …Anyone else realize that these first four hunter cards are all over the place and don’t support each other?

    Shaw is simply amazing in midrange deathrattle hunter. 4 Stars.

    The mutt is a flexible removal tool…but it still sucks unless there’s something to go with it. 2 Stars.

    The Dragon is a long shot. Complete trash if hunter doesn’t change…which it won’t, because it never has. 1 Star

    *Dust*haven hunter is just ice rager with stealth. Fine arena card, but doesn’t help win against cubelock. So trash constructed card. 1 Star

    • Saddened Hunter :(
      March 31, 2018 at 3:10 am

      Well if you check out the fifth card (toxmonger), the trend of all new hunter cards not supporting or relating to each other follows! Because I really hoped that the Toxmonger would support that fantastic deck of quest hunter!

    • Soup And Salad
      March 31, 2018 at 8:39 pm

      This card would be fine if it were in any other minion based class, like Druid, Shaman, or maybe a tempo Warrior. In Hunter, there are just too many other better three cost cards for this to see play.

      Also, judging a card by how well it can or cannot play against Cubelock by itself will usually result in a lot of disappointment. Silence, weapon destruction, direct spell damage, and transforming removal are the only things the deck tends to be weak to.
      The deck will be weaker than we currently know it, not by much perhaps. It will be a lot more difficult for the deck to continue into the late game against other control decks without N’zoth and the loss of Mistress of Mixtures will hurt its early game and general ability to heal by at least a notable amount.

      There are also other decks in the format at the moment this can be strong against. It can trade into all of the two health minions Paladins spit out right now. It can’t instant kill the Righteous Protectors, but it’s at least something.

  10. Matt
    March 30, 2018 at 6:16 pm

    Meh, stealth in a taunt meta.

  11. Lucasato
    March 30, 2018 at 5:53 pm

    Just to done the 3 mana curve this minion is pretty good:have flexibility cause you can decise what form you want and if you can the 5/2 form to try set letal you just play other card and in the next turn you play that,if you want set a minion kill in early game you just shouldnt draw it in turn 2(or wait turn 4,its already pretty nice)secondly that it have 7 status points and stealth in a 3 cost,is very nice to find a minion that have fair and good stats to the cost like that and…stealth!!…and is that one of the better cards to put in a midrange,a good stats minion that have habilites that guarante tempo or flexibility…or both…

  12. Soup And Salad
    March 30, 2018 at 5:35 pm

    A 3 mana 2/5 has seen play in Hunter before, Carrion Grub, but that was in part because it was a beast and flowed nicely into Houndmaster. The stealth might be able to make up for that during the turns it’s a 2/5.

    2/5 for 3 is a pretty decent statline in general since it can trade nicely into 3/2s, but there aren’t as many 3/2s anymore. 2/3 has become the default statline for 2 drops.

    Putting an extra stat on Shadow Rager doesn’t make it seem any better, but Jungle Panther has probably come and gone in Hunter now and again, probably because it was a beast though.

    With all that, it probably won’t see too much play just because Hunter’s 3 drop slot is packed with good cards. If this were a beast in at least on of its forms, it could’ve seen play, likely replacing Bearshark. It is an above average card pushed out by all of the good 3 drops Hunter has gotten over the last year and in the classic set.

    On a lighter note, I am surprised it took about 40 cards before we saw another Worgen card. I hope this mechanic won’t be as underwhelming as the unidentified mechanic from K&C. I see a lot of design space that can be experimented with it like swapping Taunt with Divine Shield along with the stats.

    • Lucasato
      March 30, 2018 at 6:14 pm

      It have their advantages as a 3 mana drop:have two possible stats,and youre sure about what you get from that,and have stealth that are probly even better than “cannot be targeted by spells” hability cause it will survive im board even if opponent has minions…i wouldnt consider the fact that itsnt a beast,its a “hability” that would be veeery rarely important to you really gain important tempo in board,maybe one in one hundred times you would lost the game just cause you cannot comb that with houndmaster to kill a boring minion for example(and would lost another ten games cause they kill your shark with their minions)is a pretty good card to waste just cause isnt a beast!!

      • Soup And Salad
        March 30, 2018 at 6:26 pm

        There are more beast synergies than Houndmaster. There’s Crackling Razermaw, Scavenging Hyena, Kill Command, and Tundra Rhino, and it will matter more than 1 in 100 games with all of those synergy cards.

        This is not a bad card by any stretch of the imagination. If it were in Druid, Shaman, or Warrior instead, it would likely see competitive play. However, there are too many other good 3 drops in Hunter for this to definitely see play. If it does as a Hunter card, it will push out Bearshark or maybe Unleash the Hounds in Midrange decks.

        • Lucasato
          March 31, 2018 at 8:10 am

          Put It in a midrange dont mean push out the another 3drops,bear,animal companion,the bow and that would 8 possible 3 nice drops to guarantee that mana curve

          • Soup And Salad
            March 31, 2018 at 8:24 am

            Right now a full third of Midrange hunter decks are three cost cards. The last thing they need is another one. The only other deck that has play more cards of any mana cost than that deck is Kelseth Zoo Warlock, which would play about 15 one drops. It made sense in that deck since they would draw a crap ton of card with the hero power alone and Mel’s Imp and they couldn’t play two drops.

            Midrange Hunter plays as many three cost cards as they do not because they want to but because they have to. Hunter has so many good three cost cards, they overshadow most of the four and some of the five cost hunter cards.

  13. Superaaron14
    March 30, 2018 at 5:19 pm

    Icy stealth rager

  14. iZnorU
    March 30, 2018 at 5:09 pm

    Turn 2. Coin summon stealth 5/2. Good against them tar creepers…i guess?

  15. OhlienUFZ
    March 30, 2018 at 5:04 pm

    Why would u play this card

  16. Pindead
    March 30, 2018 at 5:03 pm

    Pack filler