Legend Deathrattle Hunter with Umbra (Season 54)

Is the deck good?

Yes. Yes it is. (image cropped to protect the innocent)

But why Umbra?

    It turns out that a card which synergizes with nearly a third of your deck, and the important third at that, is pretty good. I used to say Umbra was another Houndmaster Shaw, a 4
drop that gets you absurd plays if not immediately dealt with. This is
true. But what I missed was that Umbra also allows for surprisingly fast
late game value plays, making it often a better Deathstalker Rexxar. The common plays are:

• Bare Umbra on 4 (or occasionally 3 with coin). Huge target for any deck and if unanswered can lead to absurd plays on 4/5.
• Umbra plus Devilsaur Egg or Spider Bomb in the midgame. Mostly powerful against other midrange decks, but can still be solid against control or close out a game against aggro.
• Umbra plus Carnivorous Cube in the lategame. If the cube targets an egg you just put out a 3/4, a 4/6, and two 5/5s, and two eggs, and if you get cleared you still have two 5/5s and two eggs.

Umbra plus cubing a Kathrena is backbreaking.

But how do I play this deck?

    Lets go over the mulligans first, then cover what’s left.

Essentially, the aggro classes. Keep one each of:

• Candleshot to control the early game as much as possible.
• Tracking to find the stuff that combos with what you got in the opening hand or helps you stay alive.
• Prince Keleseth
• Devilsaur Egg if they clear it you get a 5/5 and soaked 3 damage, if they don’t you get to abuse it.
• Spider Bomb surprisingly effective at controlling the early game on its own, if you get a trigger effect it’s amazing.
• Terrorscale Stalker because a 3/3 is better than nothing.
• Hunter's Mark if you have Candleshot against rogue and mage. Can clear early danger like hench clan thug or Mana Wyrm.
• Play Dead if you have Devilsaur Egg or Spider Bomb. Obviously good with them, but dead without.

Warlock is the tough one. You have to try to hedge against zoo and even at the same time. Keep one each of:

• Candleshot helps control zoo, with Hunter's Mark can clear a Mountain Giant.
• Hunter's Mark to clear a Mountain Giant.
• Tracking to find the stuff that combos with what you got in the opening hand or helps you stay alive.
• Devilsaur Egg if they clear it you get a 5/5 and soaked 3 damage, if they don’t you get to abuse it.
• Spider Bomb surprisingly effective at controlling the
  early game on its own, if you get a trigger effect it’s amazing. Also clears Mountain Giant. Possibly worth keeping two.
• Flanking Strike if you have Hunter's Mark to clear a Mountain Giant, even then you probably want the coin as well.
• Prince Keleseth if you have a Spider Bomb or Candleshot plus Hunter's Mark.

All The Rest

Here’s where you get to play the game you want. Keep one each of:

• Play Dead to activate Devilsaur Egg or possibly a later Carnivorous Cube.
• Tracking to find the stuff that combos with what you got in the opening hand.
• Prince Keleseth
• Devilsaur Egg to play on 3. This is the backbone of the deck.
• Terrorscale Stalker if you have Devilsaur Egg. The reduced flexibility means that unlike play dead it’s not worth keeping alone.
• If you have both Devilsaur Egg and Play Dead you can keep Flanking Strike, Houndmaster Shaw, Spiritsinger Umbra, Carnivorous Cube , or a second Play Dead. You can also consider tossing Tracking.

So how do I play this deck?

    First, we have to talk about tracking. You may have noticed this is a card you keep in every mulligan. That is because in this midrange combo deck, using the combo, and thus having the pieces, is paramount. There is one rule for here: know what you want before you play tracking. Importantly even if tracking misses you just got three cards closer to what you were looking for.

    You probably also noticed that Play Dead and Devilsaur Egg you likewise always keep. Egg and an activator (Terrorscale Stalker is more awkward but will do in a pinch) are your ideal plays for turns 2/3/4 depending on how your curve and activators line up. This means that tracking on one to find the other combo piece, or at least get closer to one, is a fine play. In fact against anything but aggro it’s a better turn one play than Candleshot.

    For the rest of the game tracking is less of a sure play, so be sure to remember that you don’t just play it randomly when you have a mana to spare.

Okay, but how do I play this deck after tun 4?

    Against aggro (aluneth mage, odd paladin, odd rogue, zoo) simply play for tempo and avoid taking as much damage as possible. Eventually either they kill you or you overwhelm their board and win with inevitability. Always cube an egg over a 5/5 unless you can activate it that turn. If you manage to cube and activate with Witchwood Grizzly that will pretty much shut things out. Deathstalker Rexxar can be a useful board clear, but avoid building a beast if possible.

    Against midrange (other hunters, taunt, token, and spiteful druid) you’re still mostly playing for tempo, though you can afford to do things like hold a cube for an extra turn to play it in conjunction with play dead. If possible late game hold onto umbra and cube for the backbreaking play. Giggling Inventor prevents your opponent from trading efficiently and can be used as an opportunity to stop trading and get some face damage, if even for a turn. Deathstalker Rexxar is mostly played after an opponent’s giggling, but don’t build a beast until you’re running out of more efficent plays in the late game. Mossy Horror is of course anti-giggling and Spreading Plague tech, though the deck is already surprisingly good against both.

    Against control or combo (big spell mage, odd warrior, shudderwock shaman, maly or togwaggle druid) the goal is to have in the late midgame a board with around 15 attack that if they clear still has about 15 attack. Once you have this it’s fine to stop playing cards (Deathstalker Rexxar and/or building beasts is still good).

Do I cube the egg or the devilsaur?

    In a lot of games this is the major decision point. Against aggro always cube the egg unless you can pop it that turn after getting damage in (don’t forget Houndmaster Shaw for this). Against midrange early game cube the egg, lategame it depends on the board state and activators. Against control/combo an early cube of the egg is okay, though with an activator in hand waiting a turn and getting the devilsaur is often fine. Lategame avoid cubing without an activator.

    Against druid specifically try to cube the egg unless you have Mossy Horror in hand, this helps prevent bad Spreading Plague.

How do I play Deathstalker Rexxar?

    As a 2 damage board wipe.

But isn’t it the best value in the game? You take it off tracking, right?

    If it isn’t the best value in the game it’s close. But this deck almost never wins by value, it wins by midgame tempo plays that are impossible to clear. Tracking to look for rexxar is usually a terrible idea. The games where the value would come into play the most it puts you three cards into fatigue. If you draw into it naturally you might build a few beasts in a control or combo matchup, but this is never plan A.

So what about the Kathrena package? How do you play that?

    You just play her for tempo. By turn 8 you’ll often have drawn two of the four beasts in the deck, so trying for extra activations on here is moot unless you really need something out this turn. King Krush you generally try to hold until you have lethal or are out of better plays, but Savannah Highmane and the Witchwood Grizzlys can just be played out as appropriate.

Any other general advice?

    If you have Umbra or Shaw and no other turn 4 play, don’t be afraid to just run it out. If you tracking late game do it for a big play (or mossy), ignore keleseth and take an immediate tempo swing over rexxar.

Just who are you anyways?

    I’m schwal, I’ve been playing since just before BRM, and have hit legend several times, though never this early and high. You can find me hanging out in various hearthstone podcast discords.