A few weeks back, the first blog I wrote as a featured blogger was my version of Marksman Hunter. I think I was maybe a little too eager to blog and didn’t test the deck as thoroughly as I should have.
My first build of Marksman was a little rough and was very susceptible to rush and didn’t fair too well versus Runetusk. The deck was cool and the ability to pull out a Rapid Fire combo made the deck playable but maybe not viable for a constructed tournament.
I went back to the drawing board. I addressed the weakness to rush by adding allies of my own. Fight fire with fire, right?
I tested this build out against many different builds and have found much more success with Ver2.0. For those who are interested, the list:
HERO(1)
Ona Skyshot
QUESTS(15)
3XFinkle Einhorn, At Your Service
4XTorek’s Assault
4XInformation Gathering
4XOne Draenei’s Junk
ALLIES(21)
3XTatulla the Reclaimer
2XJon Reaver
4XKagella Shadowmark
2XBhenn Checks-the-Sky
4XVoss Treebender
4XBloodsoul
2XFury
ABILITIES(16)
4XFeign Death
4XSilencing Shot
4XRapid Fire
4XRanged Weapon Specialization
EQUIPMENT(8)
4XSkyfire Hawk-Bow
4XBlackcrow
SIDEBOARD(10)
1XJon Reaver
1XTatulla the Reclaimer
2XAimed Shot
3XTerror Pit Girdle
2XBlastershot Launcher
1XBurn Away
There are a few specific things I want to address. First the ally curve.
I didn’t want to be without a 1 drop so I’ve included 8 of them. Bloodsoul is pretty standard but honestly Voss was a card I had to dust off. I find him necessary in today’s protector heavy environment. I can’t afford to be slowed down by a turn 1 Antikron or a turn 2 Xanata. Voss doesn’t eliminate the threat but he can usually neutralize it for at least a couple of turns.
Kagella is a standard 2 drop ally and the Bhenn’s are in to sidestep a large threat or an annoying protector. The four drop slot is split between my hate cards, Tatulla and Jon Reaver. Playing against Tatulla the last few weeks, I can’t begin to tell you how annoying he(or she?) can be. The fact that she’s not targeted removal is very rarely a problem.
I have room for 2 Furys in the maindeck and they are to serve a couple of different purposes. They can smack through the last few points of damage to finish an opponent off or to kill Myriam Skycaller. The deck is pretty tight but I’d like to add a least one more Fury if I could.
I changed the equipment for this build. Last time around I used the Blackcrow in conjunction with Blastershot Launcher. One thing that testing had shown is that often time games stalled vs. a control build and that often forced me to combo them out for the win. Blastershot Launcher with a Ranged Weapon Specialization out still costs 1 to swing. I replaced the Blastershots with Skyfire Hawk-Bow for two reason—it comes online on turn 4(and can swing immediately if you dropped Ranged Weapon Specialization on turn 3) and with a single copy of Ranged Weapon Specialization it swings for 4 damage at not cost, which allows for a combo as soon as turn 6 or 7. I reserved the Blastshots for the side as it’s still good vs. an ally heavy deck and I’ll often side them in on games 2 and 3.
Speaking of sides, I still found the deck had a weakness to a protector heavy deck that hides a Myriam behind a wall of beef. Terror Pit Girdle is probably one of the best options for Myriam, forcing your opponent to destroy your Girdle or have Myriam reduced to a 3/4 Untargetable with useless text. As turns progress, you’ll usually be able to pull a Rapid Fire and wipe out their protector wall.
The deck plays pretty straight forward. Early turns you’d like to get what damage through that you can. An ideal hand will have a Ranged Weapon Specialization and a bow. Turn 2 you can continue the ally assault or if you’ve got the Ranged Spec. then by all means drop Blackcrow for a free turn 3 swing for 3 damage after you drop Ranged Weapon Specialization.
The deck’s ability to be competitive relies on the combined effect of Rapid Fire and Ranged Weapon Specialization. Making your bow swing for free and making then hit for 3 or 4(depending on the bow you’ve got in play) allows you to combo out with Rapid Fire as early as turn 6 or 7. That’s a vast improvement over older version of Rapid Fire combo decks which wouldn’t be able to come online till at least turn 9 or 10.
The sideboard has some pretty standard sideboard hate. The Terror Pit Girdle is for the Myriam Skycaller/Protector as noted above. I added two copies of the Blastershot Launcher to the side if you’re facing down a lot of equipment hate from your opponent’s side of the board. The Aimed Shots can snatch a victory from an unsuspecting opponent or kill a troublesome ally. I like the card but there’s a lot of Untargetables and Counter cards out there and nothing
I’d changed the side a bit to accommodate certain meta-game calls. I’d throw some Shattering Blows in the side if Great Sword is still popular(at the expense of Tatulla and Jon Reaver). I add in additional copies of Fury is there are a lot of protector heavy decks swimming around.
Overall, Marksman Hunter is a fun deck to play. I question its ability to perform in the current metagame but I have the deck together to play in my group’s gauntlet. I think combo decks can always have a good shot at winning and I’m waiting to see how future sets could stand to improve this build. As always, comments can be directed below or via email to borbwab@gmail.com
