Hello everybody, I am Matteo Ghisoni and I love Reno Jackson decks. Sorry Hunters! This article is the third installation of a series focusing on different Reno builds. What I will do is: build a deck, play 50+ games with it and write about the experience. The article should not be seen as a guide but as a discussion about deck-building.
The Idea
To find a Reno Hunter deck-list which I was happy with I had to spend more than an hour in the deck builder swapping cards in and out, as the archetype can be built in numerous ways. I decided to settle with a two Old Gods build as both N’Zoth and Yogg’Saron are powerhouses which are playable in the class. I thought that if I could get away with running 2 win conditions it would help the consistency of my deck. Additionally in a Reno Hunter deck you want to absolutely run Tracking, the card thins out your deck whilst drawing you a card, the problem is by itself the card isn’t great. This means that having Yogg’Saron, Lock and Load and other cheap spells in the deck could potentially help me get more mileage out of my cards. Another thing to state is that a lot of the Hunter spells which help you control the board are low costed and only effective against small minions, thus you can never go for the with the complete control game-plan. This is why I geared my deck to be a Midrange build with a strong late game plan. I thought Yogg’Saron wouldn’t be enough to consistently close out game, so given the insane Deathrattle arsenal at Hunter’s disposal I thought wise to push in a N’Zoth. In this deck. Reno Jackson should be seen as an equivalent to what Healbot and Lay of Hands were for Midrange Paladin, cards which are useful but not required in order to win.
All in all it was the start of the season (all the games were played between the 1st and 2nd of August) and as usual if I got 50% win-rate I would be happy. The deck surpassed my expectations in the 50 games I played (56% win-rate, more detailed statistics below) and thus here I am giving you all you might want to know about this strange but functional deck-list!
The Core of the Deck-List
In the 50 games I played I maintained the same deck-list throughout to have a decent sample size when analysing the cards. I consider the following cards the core of the deck: Reno Jackson, N’Zoth, Yogg’Saron, Deadly Shot and Hunter’s Mark. On Reno Jackson I don’t really have to spend too much time, he is the reason you want to build a highlander deck in the first place! I already said why I wanted to build the deck around the Old Gods, both provide insane potential for finishing the opponent and I wanted a slightly more top heavy midrange deck. One can see that both Gods do not have the full support as if you were playing a deck fully centered around them. In the deck there are 13 spells, meaning that on average your Yogg’Saron will cast 6 spells. This is not great but I found it is consistent enough to get some decent enough value for the 10-mana cost. The same applies to N’Zoth, the deck has only four Deathrattles. If one looks at these cards though one will notice the quality of these cards is very high, meaning that getting back 2 is usually enough to gain mileage out of N’Zoth. Hunter’s mark is really solid, even after it was nerfed to 1 mana it still provides huge tempo swings when you are able to hit a big minion with it. Additionally it is one of the best removal spells hunter has access to, basically it is an auto-include in any controlish Hunter deck. Finally Deadly Shot is the best single target removal Hunter has at its disposal, it needs to be played in a Reno deck.
Bloodmage Thalnos, Tracking and Azure Drake can also be all considered core to the deck. These cards all cycle through the deck meaning that when they are played you are one card closer to Reno. Tracking especially is insane as it can cut 3 cards of your deck making the chances you get Reno substantially higher. Throughout the games I never felt I was missing too much card draw, especially because sometimes I could just tap like a madman with Finley. Overall though I could see it making sense adding a couple of cantrips, making the deck more consistent. Keep in mind King’s Elekk also serves as a cantrip most of the time, the card drew for me more than 65% of the time I played it.
The Rest of the Deck
Arcane Shot: In general a card which deals two damage for 1-mana is not very good. On the other hand the fact you play Yogg’Saron and that Hunter does not have too many early spells, makes it so the card is not to be analysed in a vacuum. Additionally since Lock and Load has a place in this deck, playing Arcane Shot makes it so that it is easier to pull off a strong combo turn with the card. All in all Arcane Shot is not the strongest card in the deck by far, but since it hits most of the breaking points for early minions it usually will trade one for one. Lastly with the inclusion of Bloodmage Thalnos sometimes you can make it so that your Arcane Shot hits slightly harder, even if this is rarely essential.
On the Hunt: On the hunt is a strange version of Elven Archer which produces a Beast, not the greatest of cards. Given the fact we play Yogg’Saron and Lock and Load, On the Hunt can be cycled for another card and an additional spell from the God. Additionally it also has to be considered that even if not great this card does enable you to get on board early game in order to make some trades. Lastly Hunter doesn’t have the best way to deal one damage thus On the Hunt can provide utility when coupled with Hunter’s Mark.
Sir Finley Mrrgglton: This deck is an attempt at a Controlish Hunter deck, consequentially dealing face damage is not the first priority. What this means is that whenever Sir Finley is played there is a 100% chance of increasing the utility of your Hero Power for the game. In no game I played him I was unhappy about the fact I didn’t have the ability to deal 2 damage a turn since I had other ways to push for lethal damage by controlling the board and using big swing turns. One last thing I wanted to add is that Sir Finley can interfere with the King’s Elekk Battlecry sometimes, when this happens I will admit it is pretty annoying.
Acidic Swamp Ooze: I think in this metagame if you are playing a Reno Jackson deck you have to play weapon removal, Shamans and Warriors are rampant on ladder. The choice was between Harrison Jones and Acidic Swamp Ooze, I chose the latter because Ooze is more flexible as it can be played alongside other cards. Overall it is very close between Harrison and Ooze, but I think Ooze’s flexibility makes it potentially better by enabling to set-up decent tempo swings.
Bear Trap: This trap is OK, it helps in establishing some sort of board presence on turn two. Additionally, given early on very rarely you will have board control it should be more consistent than Snake Trap in order to grant yourself some minions. Also to consider is the fact that you can usually bluff a Freezing Trap and impede you opponents attack (I pulled it off a few times), making it useful for preserving your life total. Last consideration is that all the traps help make Lock and Load more consistent as they are low cost spells which can be played alongside the 2-mana by turn five. Overall the card isn’t great but I think it is solid enough to run, a 3/3 for two is decent value.
Doomsayer: This card is really good, it enables you to survive the early game against aggressive decks whilst also providing late game utility by potentially having the ability to deny key turns if the timing is guessed right (for example a Gadgetzan Auctioneer Conceal turns). Also take in consideration that against control decks you can potentially make them waste resources if you play Doomsayer when the opponent has 10 cards in hand, this will force a discard. In general it is very important to learn to play this card correctly, it one of the most powerful tools in the game if timed correctly. I think I would never consider taking this card out of the deck since it performed amazingly well in all aspects of the game.
Explosive Trap: The Hunter class doesn’t have access to very much AOE, so Explosive Trap is one of the only cards which falls under this category. The card is very useful against a wide array of aggressive decks, it is usually possible to set up a board so that it will die to the 2 damage AOE. Like Bear Trap it can also be used to bluff Freezing Trap, in my experience people very rarely play around any other trap. In some situations I could see substituting Explosive for another spell, this is if there are not many aggressive decks, but as of now we do not live in that kind of metagame.
Freezing trap: I think this is probably the strongest trap Hunter has access to for board control decks, given no charge minion you can usually guarantee hitting the minion you want. Additionally most of the time it makes it so that the card which goes back to hand will become unplayable, the 2-mana increase is a big deal because the opponent will lose a lot of tempo if he decided to replay the card.
King’s Elekk: If it draws you a card King’s Elekk is probably the best 2-drop in the game. In the deck we have five 3-mana or less creatures, two 4/5-mana creatures and six 6-mana or more creatures. What this means is that if we have not drawn any other creature we have 6/11 (54.5%) to nearly guarantee a draw and 8/11 (72.7%) to have a good shot at it. Usually though you want to keep in the opening hand your low drops, meaning that your odds of hitting a high cost minion are even higher than the ones stated above. I will say that Sir Finley did ruin my plans a couple of games, but overall I found that the card drew me consistently enough to guarantee it a spot in my deck.
Lock and Load: The card performed decently, most of the time I could cycle two or three spells. I found this to be enough value. A couple of times I managed to pull off a really big Lock and Load turns, but certainly I cannot say that this happened very often. Since compared to normal Yogg and Load Hunter you run only half the low cost spells and only one Lock and Load, you won’t be able to pull off the effect as consistently. Overall I feel that if you want to run Yogg’Saron you have to run a few of the low cost spells and this should already provide enough basis to include Lock and Load in the deck.
Quick Shot: In 50 games I have never drawn once from Quick Shot, the only reason it is in the deck is for removal purposes. A dark Bomb is not exactly the most appealing of cards for a Hunter deck, on the other hand there aren’t that many tools in the Hunter arsenal to control the board early. I feel Quick Shot is needed in the deck even if most of the time it will just be used as a defensive Dark Bomb.
Animal Companion: This card is all around good. Firstly it is a spell so it is a 3-drop which does not interfere with your Elekk. Secondly every option is fine: Huffer is usually a Shadowbolt, Misha is a very solid wall and Leokk is slightly underwhelming but can trade with 2-drops. In general since you can make use of any of the options you will never be sad when you have this card in your hand.
Dreadscale: This card was very underwhelming in the deck, whilst it can be situationally awesome most of the times it was a dead card in my hand. Additionally the stats are very easy to deal with, two health nearly guarantees the opponent will be able to deal with it. The synergy to consider is the one with Hunter’s Mark, the kill is very clean when these two cards can be comboed. Overall I think this can be relegated to a Zoolock tech, since I didn’t face that many Zoolock’s, so the card was mostly useless.
Eaglethorn Bow: Given that I run 3 traps in the deck including Eaglethorn Bow is a must. For one the card is really solid early game giving you the possibility to go 2 for 1 most of the time. Additionally the fact it can gain charges means that the mileage you can get out of this card can be much above its mana cost. In my experience most of the time you will use the two charges in order to fight for the early board control game, this though is enough for the mana cost you pay for it.
Kill Command: You don’t run many beasts and I found that most of the time Kill Command was just an over costed Quick Shot for turn 3. The card wasn’t great but it was helpful to be able to transition from the early game to the mid game, I cannot complain too much about it. I think it would be interesting trying substituting in some other spell removal in place of Kill Command in order to see if it would perform better.
Powershot: This card was surprisingly good, usually it basically served as a consecration for 3 mana. Against Zoolock it is the only match-up where it is never equal to the Paladin staple, the board is usually really wide. Running spell power besides this card also makes the card substantially stronger, 3 health is the breaking point you really want to hit against Shamans (Flame Tongue, Tunnel Trogg, Spirit Wolfs, Mana Tide Totem). Overall this is another unsubstitutable piece of removal!
Unleash the Hounds: Unleash is one of those cards which you are always happy to see when facing a token heavy deck, it is usually a life saver. Additionally the card is not bad if the opponent has at least 3 minions on board, three 1/1 minions with charge can be equated to a Wolfrider you can split. Overall since the card acts as removal in a deck which really needs removal I think it is safe to say it is nearly unsubstitutable, this is unless the metagame becomes so that there are never more than two minions on board.
Infested Wolf: Infested Wolf is a pretty solid Deathrattle, given we play N’Zoth it seems a pretty straightforward choice. 3/3 in stats is kind of weak for a 4-drop, but the fact that there are annoying 1/1 minions left behind makes it so that it is usually hard to clear. Overall the card is just solid enough given the fact we play N’Zoth, by no means though I would consider mandatory to play it in the deck as other Deathrattle creatures can fill the same spot as Infested Wolf.
Emperor Thaurissan: I think Emperor is a perfect fit in this deck for multiple reasons. Firstly it enables you to unclog your hand and make it so you can set-up high tempo turns. Secondly it is a threat your opponent has to absolutely deal with, the card can snowball easily out a game. This means that if you Emperor turn six into a Call of the Wild turn seven the opponent will rarely have clean answers to both. Additionally it makes it easier to pull off the Lock and Load as you need only a couple of discounts to really go crazy in value. I think I would never remove Emperor from this deck!
Savannah Highmane: One of the best 6-drops in the game (if not the best one) and it has Deathrattle, it would be crazy to not play it in a N’Zoth deck. Additionally even if N’Zoth brings back only Highmane, this is already valuable enough for the ten mana you spent. Overall even in a more control Hunter builds it would be silly to not play Savannah Highmane, the card is just that powerful.
Sylvanas Windrunner: Basically the same reasoning as Savanah Highmane with an added twist. With the advent of standard and silences being rarer, Sylvanas is usually a pseudo board clear which allows to come back from difficult board states. This alone makes it an excellent card as the deck really lacks board clears. Additionally getting it back from N’Zoth is usually enough for N’Zoth to get value, you really don’t need much more.
Call of the Wild: Everybody knows how powerful this card is, by itself it makes it so that Midrange Hunter has a place in competitive play. The card is busted, not playing it would be a mistake!
Cards to Consider
Flare: This card provides a cantrip, always useful in Reno decks, whilst countering secrets. Flare also synergises well with Yogg’Saron and Lock and Load. The card nearly made it in the final 30, I decided to not included as Secret classes are rare on ladder thus often it would just be a card draw. I could see it being played if Mage and Hunter become very popular on ladder.
Snake Trap: If you already have board presence Snake Trap could make the board even harder to deal with. The problem with this card is that currently Warriors infest the ladder, Ravaging Ghoul is a really clean answer to a popped Snake Trap. On the other hand if one was to amend the deck a bit there is a really cool combination of cards you can add: Houndmaster, Tinkmaster Overspark and Snake Trap. Tinkmaster Overspark can transform minions into beasts, what this means is that it can provide more consistent targets for Houndmaster to hit. Additionally Snake Trap makes it so that half the time if you play a Tinkmaster Overspark on the snake board you will get a 5/5 beast! Overall though I think this is thinking way too much into the best case scenario, I doubt this combination will ever work.
Snipe: Very rarely people play around Snipe thus it will probably surprise your opponent most of the time. Additionally if you are facing a lot of Worgen Warriors it can potentially block their whole combo if you time it correctly. Overall I feel that whilst it might shine every now and then the other traps I included in the deck are probably more consistent overall.
Loot Hoarder: Including this card in the deck would give you the possibility to add more consistency, you would have more draw, as well as another turn 2 play you could keep in your hand. On the other hand I find most of the time it is enough to have tracking in order to find Reno, I never really felt I was lacking draw in my deck. I won’t consider the card being brought back with N’Zoth because an additional 2/1 will very rarely make the difference.
Huge Toad: It is a Deathrattle, potentially giving your N’Zoth more targets to revive. I decided to discard this card last minute because I said to myself I would rather have one more trap rather than a minion which will only trade one for one most of the time, at the time I felt I needed more spells in the deck. All in all, this is not the worst choice you could make but consider that it does make your Elekk less consistent.
Acolyte of Pain: More draw is always welcome in Reno decks, the problem of Acolyte is that in Hunter except for On the Hunt and Dreadscale there is no good way of activating the draw more than once. If you look at the decks which play the card you will notice there is always some combo potential: Paladin runs Humility type effects, Warrior has Whirlwind and Priest couples is with Pyromancer. I think a Loot Hoarder would be better for this build.
Brann Bronzebeard: Brann is always good if you build your deck to include more Battlecry type effects. In this deck running good Battlecries wouldn’t harm the build, cards such as Defender of Argus and Earthen Ring Farseer are all usable. Additionally you could include Tomb Spider and potentially Jeweled Scarab, both provide more Beast Synergy and more value. The problem I see with including Brann is that the idea behind this deck-list wasn’t to have a value oriented deck but a more Midrange deck built for the late game. It seems to me the Brann game plan doesn’t seem to be in line with the N’Zoth and Yogg one.
Harvest Golem: The reasons you would run Harvest Golem are similar to the reasons you would run Huge Toad, a Deathrattle for the early game. The pros of Harvest Golem are that most of the time the card will trade well against early enemy minions, you should always go at least 1 for 1 with the potential of going 2 for 1. The cons are that it comes one turn later and on turn 3 you usually want to Animal Companion or Eaglethorn Bow. Lastly it has the Mech tag instead of the Beast tag, obviously the latter is better in hunter. Overall if one were to consider Huge Toad it is probably also worth thinking about Harvest Golem.
Mindcontrol Tech: Reno Jackson decks very often run this card as it can provide huge swing turns whilst answering large boards. Mindcontrol Tech is basically a removal for wide boards. The main problem with playing it in the current state of the metagame is that since Dr Boom is gone, wide boards with 4 or more minions are rarer. On the other hand Mindcontrol Tech being rarer means players will play around it less often, making the card potentially more valuable. It has to be emphasized though that most of the time around the midgame you will want to be proactive on board making Mindcontrol Tech hard to pull off consistently.
Elise Starseeker: Control Warrior is an awful match-up for this deck, you lack the pressure to be able to finish them off before they get crazy amounts of armour. Elise could potentially help you in that match-up making it possible to just steal a win thanks to the Golden Monkey. The problem with this plan is that against C’Thun Warriors most of the times the Golden Monkey will be useless, you will never be able to play it before C’Thun comes down. Additionally in other match-up you really do not need a third win condition as N’Zoth, Yogg and Reno should be enough to end any Midrange deck.
Refreshment vendor: It provides a 4-drop and some heal, it is not the worst card you could think of including. The problem I have with it in this card is that I think you would rather have a proactive card to play rather than a defensive one for turn 4, cards like Tomb Spider or Houndmaster would probably on average do better.
Houndmaster: Before Turn 4 there are only 4 beasts you can have in play, what this means is that usually you won’t have a beast for Houndmaster on board by the time you want to play the card. Additionally in total in the deck you have only 8 beasts, and the opponent will remove them most of the time from the board anyway making Houndmaster just a vanilla 4/3. I think the card would be too inconsistent to play in the deck.
Tomb Spider: This card would be an excellent fit in the deck even without the Brann package (even if I feel in the Brann package it really shines). A 3/3 which cycles itself for another Beast is not bad at all as it provides a good amount of value for a deck which wants to control games. Additionally the card is a Beast so it could make Kill Command slightly more consistent. Also to consider is the fact that it can potentially find you more Deathrattle minions in order to make N’Zoth even better. I think it was wrong to not include this card in the deck as it has a lot of potential!
Spell Breaker: Running this card could be ok if there is something in particular in the meta you wish to silence, but with Naxxramas and Goblin Vs Gnomes gone from standard most of the Deathrattles which are worth silencing are also gone. If Control Paladin becomes a prevalent deck in the meta I would consider putting Spellbreaker in the deck as Paladins run many targets worth silencing, including: Sylvanas Windrunner, Tirion Fordring and Carine Bloodhoof. The card overall is not bad but needs a specific metagame in order to be played.
Infested Tauren: A more defensive Deathrattle to substitute Infested Wolf, I really don’t like stat distribution on this one. A 2/3 will trade with nothing most of the time, the 2/2 minion which spawns from it will probably have the same fate. I think Infested Wolf is just a better option when compared to Infested Tauren, on the other hand there could be some other slot in the deck (e.g Dreadscale) Infested Tauren could fill.
Explosive Shot: It is removal, in certain conditions it can be the best card in the game! The reason why I didn’t play it is exactly that, most of the time it will just be a worse Fireball which does nothing to improve your board state. I think a good summary of Explosive Shot is the following: if I get the card from Lock and Load I am pretty satisfied, but I would never waste a slot in the deck for it.
Ram Wrangler: The reason I decided to not include this card are similar to the ones for Houndmaster, it would just be an inconsistent card. I want to also add Ram Wrangler has an added problem, super high variance inconsistent effect.
Ball of Spiders: Drawing 3 random beasts is great! The problem is the cost of the card! At 6 mana summoning 3 1/1 minions is less than ideal, most of the time they will just do nothing. On the other hand it does add a spell for Yogg and it is a great tool against Control decks which try to run you out of resources. I think I would consider subbing in this card if ladder for some reason was filled with control decks, as of now it will just grant more time to the Dragon Warriors and Agro Shaman to end the game.
Cairne Bloodhoof: Cairne is not a bad 6-drop, especially since N’Zoth is in the deck but I think it is too slow for the curve. In this deck you don’t need to get huge value from N’Zoth as usually you will have pressured your opponent enough that getting Sylvanas plus Infested Wolf will be the game closer. If on ladder there were to be a lot of Control decks then running Cairne would probably be the correct choice as you could actually have the time to develop it, against aggressive deck playing Cairne turn 6 will probably guarantee you will lose the game.
Baron Geddon: If there are a lot of token decks this card could find a lot of value. The problem I see is that usually as a Control Hunter you still want to have at least some board presence as you do not have too many tools from hand to control the board (you really lack hard clears). Thus I think that you could run Geddon but most of the time it will probably do you more harm than good given the aim of the deck.
Gladiators Longbow: This card can provide pretty good value whilst preserving your health total. The 5 damage break-point is pretty important as card like Sylvanas and Emperor are prevalent in this metagame. The main problem is that paying 7 mana for a weapon which clears only two minons is bad. On average the minions which you will get to clear won’t be Sylvanas an Emperor but lower cost cards, the metagame is full of more aggressive decks which try to end the game fast. Against a Zoolock or a Shaman, Gladiator Longbow will be a dead card for most of the match-up, you cannot afford this. Probably in a more midrange metagame running this Gladiators Longbow could be viable.
Ragnaros, the Firelord: He is the God of flame and he has been a decent card to play since the start of Hearthstone, whenever you don’t know what to put in a deck you can always put Ragnaros. I decided to not include the card because I believe Ragnaros is better in mid-range decks which want to pressure on the board and close out games rather than decks more geared towards the control playstyle. Whilst Ragnaros could potentially provide more removal, it is in the form of unreliable eight damage that could go face and do very little. Overall though Ragnaros is not a bad choice at all for a Reno Hunter build.
King Krush: As a finisher the king isn’t bad, 8 damage is nothing to laugh at. Additionally the card is flexible as it can always be used as very expensive removal if needs be, even if this is not ideal for sure. The reason I decided to not include it in the deck is that I already had a high cost finisher in N’Zoth and thus thought it was probably overkill to add another win condition. Additionally only against C’Thun warriors I really felt handicapped by the fact I could not deal enough damage, in every other match-up I never felt I needed an added 8 burst to finish the game.
Statistics
Matches Played:
W/L= 28/22 (56% win-rate)
Representative Data (no data about match-ups which I faced less than 4 times):
Hunter 2/3
Tempo Mage 4/1
Control C’Thun Warrior 1/3
Face Shaman 5/2
Deathrattle Rogue 2/3
Tempo Dragon Warrior 4/1
Zoo Lock 2/3
Midrange Shaman 3/2
Tempo Mage, Face Shaman and Dragon Warrior all seemed insane match-ups looking at the statistics, part of the merit though I have to attribute it to the fact players were misplaying hard against my deck. Obviously if you are a ladder player and you see a Hunter you will play as if he is playing Midrange Hunter not N’Zoth and Load Reno Hunter. Overall though I felt that given a decent draw and the ability to find Reno most of the times you should be able to survive the match-ups.
Control C’Thun warrior was an awful match-up, I have to say every game felt nearly impossible to win. The problem with this match-up is that if you cannot out pressure the C’Thun warrior in the first 10 turns they will snowball out of the game with the huge health gain. The one match I won was thanks to the God curve, and even there I won thanks to a lucky Quickshot top-deck.
Zoolock, Midrange Shaman and Midrange Hunter all fall under the same category of match-up, if you manage to stay on board you should be able to play it out but you cannot beat their God curve. A particular thing to note is that against Zoo I feel it is nearly mandatory to find either Unleash the Hounds or Explosive Trap, if not you will just be left like a sitting duck with your face being hit.
Lastly Deathrattle Rogue (there were a few, I know weird), the race was to N’Zoth and obviously they were faster thanks to the draw the deck runs. The games I won were thanks to either the Rng God, Yogg, or the fact I managed to out pressure the Rogue.
I did face a couple other match-up but after only 1 or 2 games I didn’t feel I could comment too much on how good or bad the match up was, I will expand my general thoughts in the next section.
General Match-up Thoughts
Against Control decks it should be pretty hard to win, you are a greedy midrange deck with not much burst potential. Every now and then Yogg’Saron or Emperor into Call of the Wild will provide with the pressure required to close out games, don’t expect too much success though. Adding Elise Starseeker could potentially make the match-up more bearable and probably win you some games. The problem I see is that today’s metagame control decks tend to have big threats like C’Thun and N’Zoth, meaning that if the other person knows how to play he will stall his threat until you will play the Golden Monkey. Overall you can win the control match-up if you make the deck much greedier, probably even taking out Tracking as the card burns too many resources in a resource war. If I were to tech the deck for control I would switch in Ball of Spiders in exchange for Tracking, on the other hand ladder is mainly midrange and agro as of now.
Against some decks you can actually grind out every single threat the deck has without dying. I managed to do this both against a Patron Warrior and three Tempo Mages. Against the Patron I just kept my resources and got really high value trades, with N’Zoth acting as a finisher. In the Tempo mage match-up I just removed every threat and got armour up from Finley, what this meant is that I could out heal any damage they inflicted since I also had Reno. I found that against aggressive decks you have to really think your Finley choice, very often Life tap is not the best one. Additionally usually you will require Reno in order to stabilize as we all know how explosive a Tempo Mage start can be. On the other hand if you are facing Patron Warrior you can only do one thing: get creative!
Aggressive match-ups can be won on the back of Reno Jackson most of the time. A Reno Jackson into Ooze will make most aggressive Shaman concede instantly (and that is the reason why I play Ooze instead of Harrison). Additionally since we play decent curve threats, with only turn 5 plays severely lacking, sometimes we will just out race some aggressive decks. Overall since people don’t really know what you are playing most of the time you can trick your opponent into a misplay.
Combo decks should be really tough, I won both my Worgen Warrior games just because both times I got Snipe from Lock and Load and timed it correctly to kill the Worgen. The instant concede was glorious! The hidden Snipe is the deadliest! Overall I didn’t find any Malygos Rogues or similar on ladder, the archetype is dead at the moment. Overall though I imagine they should be really tough match-ups as your Reno will count for nothing.
Overall when I look at my deck-list I always wonder how in the world I managed to win even one game, but I did. I think given the metagame as of now you should have a decent fighting chance thanks to all the aggressive and midrange decks, you should be able to give them a fight for their money.
Concluding Remarks
I think the deck-list, even if weird, has a decent shot against decks across the board. The main thing about this deck, and most of the Reno decks I build in general, is that you need to get creative to win. What I mean is that I like to include a few win conditions in my builds, I want to feel as if every game is a different adventure, thus sometimes you will find yourself fatiguing your opponent whilst other aggressively hitting face. Overall to I wouldn’t say this is the most consistent list to ladder with, a meta decks will probably serve you better, but if you are bored of the old same decks this list should be consistent enough to not make you lose too many ranks in the meanwhile. One last thing to say is that the new card from Karazhan “The Curator” can be a really good inclusion in this deck as you run a Murloc, a Dragon and Beasts! I hope that if you try the deck you will have success, happy hunting people!