Haunted Highway (Rank 34, Jan 2019)

Why do I love this deck so much?
I joined Eternal Card Game in September 2018. My first serious deck was Stonescar Aggro, which I piloted to master after playing this game for 3 weeks. That time, I crafted 8 copies of legendary cards, 4 Bandit Queen and 4 Vicious Highwayman. I really like the style of finishing off the opponents using Bandit Queen, fast and fabulous! I was never a big fan of fatties such as Sandstorm Titan and Worldbearer Behemoth, as I found them dull and boring. Sadly, as I was getting more better and better in this game, I felt that Stonescar Aggro is a not a good deck. I still tried to hit master with it as it has Bandit Queens, then switch to Skycrag Aggro for the rest of the month. Then, the Reunion tournament hit and Haunted Highway was brought into the spotlight. Finally I have something to put my Bandit Queens and my Vicious Highwaymans into good use. Since then, I have been doing really well with it. Up until now, it was my forth time hitting master with Stonescar charging duo, and I made into 2 times top 100 with them (Petition, player name: goaychanhong).

Why the deck is good now?
Honestly, the deck has never been bad since Reunion. The only time it was not well position, before balance patch 1/17/19. The balance patch changed many key interactions for this deck. Firstly, every single of our charge unit take down Howling Peak on the its own (Champion of Fury fully turn on) as the Howling Peak was changed to 4 health. This is super huge as Peak are almost impossible to keep alive against Haunted Highway, a 2 cost Champion of Furry taking out a Peak from full health is really huge tempo swing. Secondly, both Red Canyon Smuggler and Hidden Road Smuggler can no longer safely trade with Crunch, the Hoarder. Back when the Smugglers were having 3 health, I considered Gorgon Fanatic to be a much better card than Crunch as the overwhelm on Crunch is not relevant, and Gorgon Fanatic is a much better scream target, thus we can force a trade by swinging into smugglers with it then use scream next turn. Now, Crunch is back to be a better card again due to the overwhelm damage will push through a 2 health unit. Thirdly, random lockout by Avigraft is less common now, it was rather devastating to have all the good scream targets shutdown by this curse. All these changes combined, have pushed Haunted Highway back to being a tier 1 deck.

Now, lets start with the real talk. How to pilot the deck. The deck requires certain amount of practice, it is not a deck that you can pick up and immediately do well. But, even for an experience pilot, he (or she) can still do mistakes. I will try to break down the choices (case by case) and explain them. However, sometimes the correct play might change depending on the rest of your hand as well, which might not be fully cover in this guide, and might even be opposite of what I just said. So, do not expect this guide to cover every aspect of decision making. Practice is your best friend, the more you play the better you are. I will not talk about what hand to keep as it is quite obvious once you are familiar with this deck.

Charging Champion of Fury VS securing shadow influence on turn 2
Let's think about this, you already have Fire Primal (influence) and a diplomatic seal in hand with no other way to gain shadow influence for now, assuming your other power cards in hand are either Skycrag Banner (FP) or Crest of Furry (FP). It can be very tempting to play your Diplomatic Seal to gain fire influence and play your Champion and beat for 3 damage. To me, this is very risky especially if you have any shadow cards in hand. Even if you have no shadow card in hand right now, drawing into any shadow card means that the card is immediately dead weight until you draw into your shadow power. Thus, it is better to hold your champion attack and play it as a 2/2, but have your shadow influence secured.

Charging Champion of Fury VS Dusk Raider on turn 3
On turn 2, this is no-brainer as playing a Dusk Raider is always better than a 3/2 charge (noted that it is impossible for you to fully turn on your champion on turn 2 and still have undepleted power to play it). On turn 3, it can be tricky as 4 damage to the face is really attractive. To me, the Dusk Raider play is still favored due to Dusk Raider is only good on first few turns while Champion of Furry is still a good card later on. In late game, the Nightfall can really be a drawback due to your opponent drawing 2 cards before you especially your opponent is playing a midrange/control deck. You are an aggro deck with lower curve after all, you cannot beat 5, 6, 7 drops in value game.

Bandit Queen VS Highwayman
Many people will try to put Highwayman in play first to have Bandit Queen's buff on him. However, for many match-up it is always beneficial to keep your Highwayman unless you have no other good play. I have been in a situation that I play my highwayman and immediately regret next turn. The fact that Highwayman ping can remove aegis is often overlooked. If you suspect Jotun Feast-Caller coming down next turn, just keep your highwayman so that you can ping away aegis then use Permafrost on Jotun Feast-Caller. If you suspect Vara Coming down next turn and you have a Torch in hand, keep your Highwayman. You can then feed something to Vara when she comes down to keep her as 3/4, then immediately use Highwayman's ping plus Torch to take her down, profit! In the mirror, it is even more important to hold your highwayman, as at certain time in game, your opponent is gonna summon Kerendon Merchant. Highwayman takes down Kerendon Merchant is actually a super huge tempo swing in the mirror. Bandit Queen to get Crunch through is also an obvious play that need no explanation.

Power level ranking of turn 2 play
Grenadin Drone plus Shakedown is actually very strong play on turn 2, probably just behind Dusk Raider. Thus, if your hand guarantees that, you should aim for it. Sequence your power in a way that you can play both of them in turn 2. Generally, Dusk Raider > (Drone + Shakedown) > 3/2 Champion of Furry with charge > others. Part of it is because as I mention, Champion is always relevant, (Drone + shakedown) and Dusk Raider lose part of their effectiveness later in the game, thus we should always sequence our play that our threats are summoned when they are still super effective.