Barbed Nets
This is an Arcane Shot that can double itself to another target when you play a Naga. If Arcane Shot is good enough to be a core card in Quest Hunter, this certainly is, perhaps with a small Naga package. But Barbed Nets could potentially be a great fit for an aggressive Hunter deck too, and there are plenty of other cards in the set that encourage this direction. Very likely a staple.
Score: 4
Conch’s Call
Conch’s Call is nice because it can tutor specific cards in your deck, but also because of the inherent synergy between Nagas and spells. Very often, the cards you draw are going to be able to activate each other. It’s a consistency boon that’s tempting. The problem is whether we want to spend 3 mana to draw 2 in Hunter. In both Face and Quest Hunter, this is questionable.
Score: 2
Azsharan Saber
The initial body on this card is very, very weak. Clearly the purpose is to: A. Equip Harpoon Gun on turn 3. B. Play Azsharan Saber on 4 and run it into something. C. Swing with Harpoon Gun and dredge Sunken Saber. D. Play Sunken Saber on turn 5, run it into something and cheat out a big beast. So, we played a Fiery War Axe and a couple of Rabid Worgens to maybe, hopefully, cheat out a game winning beast. This is the best-case scenario where we draw both Harpoon Gun and Saber. This play gets worse later because out opponent has more mana to deal with whatever we’re cheating out. That’s a yikes from us.
Score: 1
Harpoon Gun
This is a decent weapon for Big-Beast Hunter, even without any sunken synergies, but does it help the deck become more than just a fringe ladder performer? Probably not. Since we’re not too interested in sunken synergies stemming from Azsharan Saber, we’re not too high on this card either, but it could go into a more aggressive Beast Hunter deck too if we’re okay with playing a Fiery War Axe.
Score: 2
Naga’s Pride
The base version of this card isn’t quite good enough to be constructed worthy. There have been plenty of 3-mana spells that summon a couple of 2/2’s that fell through the cracks, even when some synergy was available. For Naga’s Pride to be strong, it needs to be a Double Agent consistently on turn 3, which means we need an early curve of Naga’s to proc it. The neutral set has some early support for Naga’s Pride, but whether it’s enough to offset its weakness later in the game is something we’re less sure of. Coining out Murkwater Scribe on turn 1 into turn 2 Naga’s Pride is the dream.
Score: 2
Twinbow Terrorcoil
This card is interesting. For spell slinging decks, the immediate thought is Quest Hunter, but it’s unlikely that Quest Hunter will want to spend a significant amount of mana that doesn’t progress its quest or activate its hero power after completion. For the more aggressive Hunters, Terrorcoil is in direct competition with Drek’Thar in a world without Trampling Rhino. A 4 mana 4/4 that doesn’t immediately impact the board is a tough sell, but Wrangler didn’t do that either. There’s some burst potential with Piercing Shot and Aimed Shot as follow up, so we don’t want to disrespect it. This could end up replacing Wrangler in the deck.
Score: 3
Urchin Spines
Professor Slate in spell form. The cheap cost makes it easier to use even though it’s a temporary effect. Possible card for Quest Hunter, but we don’t expect it to be utilized simply because it doesn’t progress the quest and Bola Shot is gone. It’s a very fringe option if there’s a need to deal with big threats, but even then, we probably pass.
Score: 1
Emergency Maneuvers
This secret is slow, as it’s only strong if you develop relatively bigger threats on the board. We don’t completely hate it for a Big-Beast archetype, but faster Hunter decks will always prioritize disruption over it.
Score: 1
Raj Naz’jan
Some players are losing their minds over the potential of this card in Quest Hunter, but the card probably doesn’t even make the cut unless we’re running Drek’Thar. The damage potential is nice, but Raj is not a damage dealing spell, so it can’t be as good as people think it is.
Where Raj is likely stronger is Face Hunter. A 2 mana 2/3 that must be removed immediately on-curve or risk a Ramming Mount or Doggie Biscuit follow up sounds very strong. It’s also a 2-drop that scales later in the game as a burst finisher. Probably too good to pass up.
Score: 3
Hydralodon
The coolest Colossal from a thematic perspective. Hydralodon is worth a lot of stats for 7 mana. If you can run the two 3/1 heads into the opponent’s board, you get to develop four additional heads. The additional heads will not have rush since Hydralodon’s effect is a battlecry rather than a persistent effect, so the swing isn’t “infinite”. But a 5/5, 2 3/1’s with rush and 4 3/1’s is pretty loaded for a 7-drop. Good support for Big-Beast Hunter but wouldn’t make it elsewhere since it’s quite expensive and not as effective when you’re playing the beatdown role.
Score: 2
Final Thoughts
Voyage to the Sunken City Set Rank: 9th
Overall Power Ranking: 8th
We’ve got a long tradition of underestimating Hunter’s power to an extent, but also knowing what it’s capable of doing and not doing. We wouldn’t be surprised to see Face Hunter dominating the win rate charts during the first week of the expansion. We also wouldn’t be surprised to see Quest Hunter produce some good results. We would be surprised if anything else came up.
Face Hunter is losing many important cards, but we can identify a way in which it can move forward with a similar game plan of snowballing 1-drops with buffs and shooting the opponent in the face with direct damage, only losing Trampling Rhino as a unique gameplay element of the deck. That direct damage could be amplified as compensation thanks to Terrorcoil.
Quest Hunter got Barbed Shot. This card can act as additional copies of Arcane Shot and it will be one of the strongest cards in the deck. One mana spells that proc the quest are all this deck wants. The addition of Marked Shot to the core set could also help.
Big-Beast Hunter is where things become shaky. Jewel of N’Zoth is gone. Guardian Animals is gone. Even Petting Zoo is gone. For this archetype to become competitive, it will have to milk Harpoon Gun and Hydralodon for all they’re worth. Good luck.
So to conclude, Hunter will be fine, but may feel shockingly similar to what it’s doing now.
