Introduction
First and foremost, I did not make this deck. This was made by redditor AbarHS, who also streams. I’ve been playing his list all day, and I quite like it. It’s a take on the familiar Yogg-n-Load Hunter that was popular for a while. Basically you load your deck with Hunter spells, as well as Yogg-Saron. However, this list doesn’t even run Yogg! Instead, it runs a much more reliable two card combo, Barnes and Y’Shaarj. The deck was only made recently, and has undergone a few revisions, but it plays quite well! If you’re looking for a different take on the typical Hunter deck, this is quite fun, and effective.
Barnes Hunter Decklist
As mentioned, this decklist was created entirely by AbarHS. In earlier versions, he had Lock and Load, which seemed to work well. He also tested Ball of Spiders, but that is simply a dead card in many matchups. It also makes Quickshot very difficult to use efficiently. If you feel like putting Yogg in, it could help, even with Barnes only at 50% power. Play around, it’s a new decklist!
Playstyle
Obviously the goal of this deck is to play Barnes and pull Y’Shaarj. Their abilities synergize perfectly, they were made
However, this deck is not a one trick pony! Because Hunter spells are so strong, you aren’t running at an extreme disadvantage for not playing minions. In fact, you can easily make minions with most of the spells anyway. Combine these spells with your hero power and you can easily win even without drawing Barnes. Call of the Wild is your big win condition if the game goes on that long. Playing two Call of the Wilds back to back is something very few decks can handle. This deck also excels at stalling, so getting to turn eight is fairly easy usually.
Good Matchups
This deck is still fairly new, so these matchups are not set in stone. However, this deck tends to do quite well against fast decks. This is largely due to the traps being able to slow down your opponents so much. Unleash the Hounds also does a good job of stalling your opponent, while you continue to hero power them. Deadly Shot can be difficult to use in this matchup, but if you can isolate priority targets the game is basically won. You can definitely lose to crazy aggressive starts, but there’s not much any deck can do about that.
Bad Matchups
Control decks can be quite difficult to contest. If you are able to take the board early, you have a good chance. However, you don’t have many tools to do this, and they have a lot to slow you down. Playing a long, slow, hero power game doesn’t work against Priest or Warrior. Even Paladin can stop you with Forbidden Healing. Making use of Cat Trick can be a huge deal in all of these matchups. Playing Cat Trick and then Animal Companion almost certainly allows you to get damage through. Just keep up pressure wherever you can, it’ll be tough but possible. Obviously Y’Shaarj on turn four makes a big difference and tilts the match in your favour.