Combo Midrange Hunter

Midrange Hunter is one of the most popular archetypes in the history of Hearthstone. Rexxar was a very popular meta choice in the Whispers of the Old Gods and Karazhan sets, but he nearly disappeared from the ladder with the last expansion. It seems like 4 months is long enough break and the deck is back on the ladder, serving as one of the dominating forces in the meta. With all the new tools and a variety of different tech cards available, Midrange Hunter has carried multiple pro players to high Legend ranks already.

Higher Priority (keep every time):

• Alleycat – Best 1-drop against Aggro. It has two bodies, so you have more flexibility when it comes to trading. It also means that at least one of them should survive until turn 2, so you can Adapt it with Razormaw.
• Jeweled Macaw – While weaker than Alleycat, you still want to open with a 1-drop against faster decks. You won’t likely run out of cards anyway, but the extra beast might come in handy – e.g. if you get a Taunt.
• Crackling Razormaw – Really good 2-drop, especially if you open with a 1-drop. Even if you don’t, you should be able to stick some Beast eventually and buffing it or giving it Taunt can be solid. Worst case scenario, it’s a 3/2 for 2, which might be playable in some scenarios.
• Kindly Grandmother – Might be the best 2-drop, especially if you have no 1-drop to play Razormaw on. The 1/1 can trade into a lot of the aggressive 1-drops and it’s sticky for the sake of Beast synergies.
• Scavenging Hyena – Generally it’s worst of the 2-drops in fast matchups, because it’s very unlikely that you will get a lot of value out of it. Most of the time it’s just a 2/2, which is still better than passing a turn, but the other two are probably better.
• Eaglehorn Bow – It’s a weapon, so you can get some early board control with it.

Lower Priority (keep only if certain conditions are met):

• Crabs – Hungry Crab and Golakka Crawler – In the matchups which they’re meant to counter. Hungry Crab against decks running Murlocs and Crawler against decks running Pirates.
• Animal Companion – Getting Misha is a dream, but Leokk should be able to trade with the 4 health and Huffer is okay-ish if your opponent has a minion you can trade into already. But you want to keep it only if you have a 1-drop or 2-drop already, because those are much more important.
• Rat Pack – Rat Pack is really good, but slow. You keep it if you have a curve already, e.g. a 1-drop and 2-drop.
• Houndmaster – On Coin, with a sticky Beast like Kindly Grandmother. T2 Grandmother into T3 Coin + Houndmaster is a really powerful tempo play.

VS SLOW DECKS

Higher Priority (keep every time):

• In slower matchups, curving out is most important. Having 1-2-3-4 curve often wins you the game by itself.
• Alleycat Or Jeweled Macaw – Most important thing in the slower matchups is a great curve. If you play something every turn from 1 to 6, you win 90% of the games. So opening with a 1-drop is solid. I think that in slower matchups it doesn’t really matter which one, Alleycat is probably better on turn 1, because it puts on a bit more pressure. You prefer Jeweled Macaw a bit later when you’re running out of steam.
• Crackling Razormaw or Kindly Grandmother or Scavenging Hyena – Razormaw and Hyena are better if you have 1-drop already, especially if you’re also going first. Kindly Grandmother is a safer choice, which is a bit slow, but still a great 2-drop.
• Animal Companion or Rat Pack – Keeping 3-drops is also good in slower matchups. Animal Companion is better in a vacuum, but Rat Pack should be stronger if you have Houndmaster in your hand already.

Lower Priority (keep only if certain conditions are met):

• Crabs – Hungry Crab and Golakka Crawler – In the matchups which they’re meant to counter. Hungry Crab against decks running Murlocs and Crawler against decks running Pirates.
• Houndmaster or Infested Wolf – If you already have a solid curve. E.g. I’d keep it if I had 2 -> 3 already, I think that solid turn 4 is more important than opening with a 1-drop. Houndmaster gets a higher priority if you have Kindly Grandmother or Rat Pack – one of them will surely stick for turn 4. Wolf is better if you have a more vulnerable hand, e.g. Razormaw into Animal Companion.