Hey guys, I'm Jawbone71. Been playing since GvG and finally hit legend this season. I've played on-and-off over the years. This season was my first back after an 8-month hiatus. I climbed to D5 with a bunch of different decks - Tempo DH, HL Mage, Bomb and Enrage Warrior, and HL Hunter. After sitting at D5 for a little bit I hit a wall at D2 and kept going back and forth. Then twin slice got nerfed and the DHs suddenly disappeared.

I feel like this was amazing for Hunter as DH was by far the worst matchup for the deck. Long story short, I ended up going 12-3 for D4 to legend in a couple of hours of playing HL hunter. I learned a lot about the deck when I really stopped and focused. A lot of these things may be quite obvious but they were misplays I was making before the hot streak to legend.

Proof of legend: https://imgur.com/a/NCpmPeA

Record for D4 to Legend: https://imgur.com/a/LcDMQdj

Stats Throughout the entire season: https://imgur.com/a/CTLGhKG

Decklist: AAECAR8etQPhBJcI2wn8owPkpAOmpQPypQOEpwOKrQOLrQOOrQP5rgP8rwP rwOHsAPnsAP/sAOHsQORsQPYsgOvtwODuQOiuQP/ugP7uwPWvgPXvgPevgPtvgMAAA==

I'm gonna go through the mulligans, matchups by class, and my takeaways from finally hitting legend.

General Mulligan:

On turn: Any of your one-drops (throw away Guardian Augmerchant if you don't have another 1 drop), Bonechewer Brawler, Faerie Dragon, and Zephyrs. Keep Corrosive breath if you also have Faerie Dragon or Primordial Explorer. Stormhammer ONLY if you have faerie dragon AND a 1 drop.

On coin: Generally the same just don't be afraid to keep 2 and 3 drops if you don't have a one drop. If you're facing a slower class (druid, warrior, mage, maybe rogue) it's fine to skip turn 1 or even coin a 2 drop into a 2 drop.

Matchups

Demon Hunter: 9-2 (4-1 post nerf)

I don't really understand why this matchup was so unfavored pre-nerf and still a 50/50 post-nerf. This match feels amazing. Your main goal is to get early board control and not letting them snowball their early game to the point where you can't come back.

Key cards to look for:

General mulligan and Frozen Shadoweaver - this girl basically shuts down DH for a turn. playing it on 5 or 6 when warglaives or glaivebound come down is delaying their gameplan by a whole turn!

- on the coin: General mulligan Desert Spear and frozen shadoweaver are really good keeps. DHs minions are generally low health (1-3 health in the early game) so 6 pings great for board control. Also, one of your rush beasts (Gryphon and Zixor).

Druid: 8-6

I faced mostly spell druids and 2 minion cheating druid (sidequest and imprisoned guy). The spell druids are super easy if you curve out really well but can be very difficult if you miss your first couple turns because that's when you'll get most of your damage since they are drawing and ramping on turns 1-4. The sidequest druids similar just less powerful IMO. If your hand is really heavy, don't be afraid to Zephrys for a wild growth on turn 2! A great combo for a big mountseller board is Veranus Unleash.

Key cards to look for:

Maiev Shadowstrong is the MVP vs. Druid. Save it when they play their 4/8 taunt on turn 6 and keep hitting them in the face. Besides Maiev, refer to the DH mulligan. Although, your early game should be more aggressive - throw away Desert Spear and Augmerchant if you have them.

Hunter: 4-3

It's really whoever curves out better. My final boss was actually a hunter mirror. I won by just hitting him in the face. I had a better/more aggressive curve. The match is basically 50/50.

Key Cards to look for:

I'd look for early board control tools and some good early game minions. Sharpshooter is really good as it's awkward to remove in the early game and its effect is great for controlling the board. Don't focus too much on board control tools as if you're too passive, they will end up chipping you to death.

Mage: 4-2

Mage has trouble dealing with 1-2 midsize minions every turn. Play it slow, but if you sense weakness go all out and kill them - meaning if you've played minions for a few turns and they're struggling to keep up, don't be afraid to commit another big minion to the board.

Key cards to look for:

General mulligan. Try to keep it on the aggressive side of things. You really want to kill them before they can start cheating out big spells.

Paladin: 2-3

You won't see many Paladins... if you do, it's either pure, libram or murloc. If Libram/Pure has a god-curve, you're not winning. Murlocs have slowed down so you need to outpace them and don't let the murlocs snowball.

Not really any key cards to look for. Look at the general mulligan. If it's murlocs, play aggressive. If it's libram/pure, be the aggressor but try to maintain board control.

Rogue: 5-1

This matchup is really good. Keep up with their onslaught of lackeys and you should be fine. Also, I can't stress this enough - if it's later than turn 5, prioritize killing lackey's if you haven't seen Togwaggle already. Even if it means leaving a stronger minion alive. Drawing 3 cards all costing 0 mana can swing the game into their favor.

Refer to the general mulligan. Desert spear again is good as they are playing lots of 1/1s.

Warlock: 0-0

Haven't faced any but according to HSReplay, from D4-D1, Hunter is 58% favored to win. I won't touch on this matchup at all since I have zero idea what to do. All I'll say if refer to the general mulligan.

Warrior: 3-0

Hunter has always been favored vs. Warrior. The midrange-y builds Hunter brings out is too much for Warrior to handle. Play this match on curve and weave in hero powers when possible - the damage will add up.

Few under-appreciated cards in this deck:

Evasive Feywing and Faerie Dragon - These cards are fantastic. Aggressive stat-line and can't be removed with targeted spells. In this meta, with the removal that is present, these are awkward for so many classes to deal with in the early/mid-game.

Dragonbane - Very powerful card that has pseudo-taunt. Left unchecked can deal massive damage if you can cleanly get the effect to hit face.

Nagrand slam - Has won me a couple of games before. Yes, it's a little RNG on a board with minions on it but you're getting a lot of stats with this 1 card. 4 3/5s with charge is ~18 mana worth of stats. Whether you play this to clear the board or to hit face, it's really good.

My takeaways from finally hitting legend:

I already had what the community refers to as ladder anxiety. I worked hard to get my rank and then didn't want to keep playing because I was afraid to lose my rank. I'd try my best to forget what rank I was and how many stars I had. I finally broke through and hit legend. I think the key was not caring about the rank and just having fun. Once I stopped caring about the rank I was at, everything just clicked and it happened.

I didn't choose Hunter because it was the best deck to play at the time (even though it was), I chose it because I was in the mood for that style of play and genuinely enjoy playing the deck. So when choosing what deck to play, don't go based off of stats or what is considered the best deck, go with what is fun for you.

Anyways, that's it for my first guide. Some constructive criticism would be appreciated. I hope you guys enjoyed it! :)