By David “Dog” Caero of compLexity Gaming
Hey everyone, since I had a good response to my handlock write up I decided to give rogue a shot. I’ll be providing a list I’ve been using for a few weeks now. I’ve gotten #2 Legend solely with this list and have gotten legend this season with it.
The list :
(I did not make this list, someone who got #1 Legend did named Xolpher)
Summary:
Kind of like the old miracle rogues you used to see but with some minions thrown in. The kill potential may be a tad lacking but the win condition is just strong board control. This deck is very good against aggro and i suggest it for climbing (although it is a tad lacking against the facerush hunter).
Matchups and Mulligans:
Hunter: I would say this matchup isn’t too difficult. The most important thing is to look for something to deal with an Undertaker, because if that Undertaker grows it’s very very hard to deal with. Other than that once you get board you should be able to maintain it for a bit. You are favored against hunters that do not use wolf riders, you are not against the ones that are all herpy derpy.(although it’s still not a terrible matchup).
Hunter Mulligan: Look for Prep / Backstab / SI:7 Agent (you can keep fan if you have prep, keep farseer if you have backstab and SI)
Hunter rant: What this matchup mostly comes down to is killing the undertaker so mulliganing super aggressive for backstab is very important. I like to keep preps against almost every aggro deck because if things get out of hand you can usually just use it for tempo and get something out (think they play webspinner leper gnome – prep fan clears +you save 3 mana so you can combo si or pretty much anything). Don’t proc traps if they have a weapon and you are not pushing damage either, you are just feeding them more damage and you only have a limited amount of life (if you have a unit on board and they have bow+trap up, usually is incorrect to attack, best to develop another unit). Not much to say about this matchup, treat it like they are an aggro deck and just try to get board early.
Paladin: You are exceptionally good against Paladin, You can out value them and clear their units with a lot of ease (think fan for muster, shiv backstab for mini bot). But you can still lose to tirion and dr boom. Most of this matchup comes down to getting board around turn 4-5 and keeping it so they can’t develop tirion.
Paladin Mulligan: Fan / Backstab/ SI:7 Agent / Violet Teacher / Farseer (just make sure you can do stuff that will affect the board 2-4, develop Teacher on 4 or try to get board on 3 with SI/Farseer)
Paladin rant: Most games will look like this,
Turn 1 – nothing, yours – nothing,
Turn 2 – Minibot, yours – ping Minibot with dagger
Turn 3 – Muster, yours – Fan of Knives finish off Minibot
Turn 4 – concede, yours – idk some funny line or salt reference
The only thing difficult about this matchup is the swing turn where you get board, generally I like to keep Teacher and maybe a Preparation so i can have that swing turn set up for me. Some Paladins have been running Equality so committing the perfect amount to board is important (3 units isn’t even over committing because you should always have something to play). I would also try to keep Coin unless you can get amazing SI value on turn 2 to 3 (he plays Juggler, you play SI and kill him). Also note, you should never run out of cards with this deck. There is just too much cycle to be concerned with it.
Warlock: You are highly favored against Zoo with all your massive AoE and things like that, Against warlock it is always correct to mulligan for Zoo (unless you know otherwise)
Warlock Mulligan: Backstab / SI:7 Agent / Prep / Fan (only if prep) / Thalnos (if Fan or Prep)/ Flurry. Farseer is okay to keep if you have other backstab or coin into SI
Warlock rant: This deck is really really good against zoo, the only way I ever lose to zoo is if they get two Doomguards and I don’t have board for some reason. The mulligans should be pretty straight forward, just all the anti-aggro stuff. The reason this is one of the easier matchups is because Spell Power plus Fan/Shiv does so much work. Even setting up a turn 5 Fan+Spell Power can do so much against a board of Knife Jugglers, Flame Imps, Undertaker and Haunted Creepers. It is obviously beneficial to get coin against Zoo, because Backstab SI becomes that much better. The Handlock matchup is a tad different. Usually against Handlock you can deal with 1-2 threats of theirs and just begin to lose if they have anymore. There are a few important things to note with this matchup though… Because you run Geomancer and Thalnos you can get 3 damage Fans and 4 damage Backstabs, dealing with giants later in the game isn’t the worst thing in the world. Warlocks lack a decent amount of burst now so you can get to ~ 10 hp and feel really safe, trading a bit of HP early to finish off a Giant or Drake is usually fine. Preps should be used for big swing turns or to draw with Sprint. Don’t be afraid to leave a drake up, it’s only 4 power and you can just hide behind a Belcher (think he plays drake on 4, you drop belcher on 5). I’m not going to go through every combination of spell power and things like that, just be cautious of Moltens and try to clear as often as possible – remember you do NOT have that much burst in this deck so saving Eviscerates while you can could be the difference between killing him or him bustin out 2 8/8’s on your face. (generally i build up board and go for the kill)