Rank 5 Mill Rogue - 73% Winrate
- Last updated Dec 31, 2017 (Kobolds Patch)
- Edit
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Wild
- 10 Minions
- 18 Spells
- 1 Weapon
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Mill Rogue
- Crafting Cost: 6420
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 12/18/2017 (Kobolds Patch)
- OzzyHS
- Registered User
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- 14
- 39
- 63
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Battle Tag:
Ozzy#1977
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Region:
US
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Total Deck Rating
607
Edit (12/31/2017):
Changed the deck list to what Dog is currently running.
Hello! I have been a Rogue player for around 2 years now, primarily Miracle, Oil, and Mill. I enjoy decks that require some sort of brain power to pilot, and not just "punch face, trade this" etc. This is currently the deck I have been using that has allowed me to reach rank 5 within a few days of play.
This deck may look familiar, as this is the same deck that Dog was able to pilot to rank 1 legend. I felt like this deck hasn't garnered enough attention, so I wanted to give it some!
Here is proof of my stats:
Mill Rogue Guide - by OzzyHS
Hi everyone! You may remember me from not too long ago when I released a deck that reached the front page of Hearthpwn: http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/927961-legend-highlander-priest-90-wr. After I made that deck, I took a little bit of a break but now I'm back! So just a little background, I've been playing hearthstone since the release of Naxxramas. To give some perspective, that's 3 and a half years ago! However, I never really touched ranked until around GvG. I originally loved Ramp Druid. Now, back in the day, that deck was actually not awful like it is right now. Keeper of the Grove, Shade of Naxxramas, Ancient of Lore, and old Force of Nature all made this deck really great at the time. I got golden druid in about 3 weeks (grinded 30 wins a day) and proceeded to find another class I enjoyed. I messed around with post-wild Freeze Mage and loved the concept of combo'ing and using your resources to stall the game out so you could get a big finisher. Freeze Mage, however, felt very one dimensional in most situations, and I wanted something a bit more. Well, that's where Rogue came in! I started playing Oil Rogue and instantly fell in love. I knew that this was the right class for me. I played that and reached rank 12. Yeah yeah, not that great, but I was proud! Eventually, Oil Rogue faded and a new deck emerged; Mill Rogue. I've been playing Mill Rogue on and off for the past 2 years, with some Miracle Rogue sprinkled in there. Mill Rogue is my all time favorite deck in Hearthstone, and I think it has some serious potential to be strong this year.
Deck Synopsis
So if you don't really understand Mill Rogue, here's the basic idea; get your opponent into fatigue. Simple as that. Stall out the board with early removals and stalls such as Vanish, Doomsayer, Sap, Blade Flurry, and Kingsbane.
Playing Mill Rogue
Now, playing this deck to perfection is nothing to scoff at - It's a very difficult deck, if not the most difficult deck in Hearthstone (just my opinion). The reason why this deck has such a low winrate on statistic sites, is because many players don't know how to play this deck.
I can't really give you a straight forward answer on how to play this deck, simply because every single situation is going to yield different results. Should you play Coldlight Oracle? Should you play Doomsayer? Should you Vanish? Every single play is going to require a read on the meta. You can't simply read a guide and be perfect at this deck, and that's just the cold hard truth. This deck will take many games to become good with. Now, if you're still reading this far and haven't been turned away by that, then I applaud you! I can give some general tips on how to play this deck, but as I said, these tips won't be 100% accurate simply due to the fact that every game is different.
The basic idea is that you want to survive. Simple as that. Use your clears as you see fit. For example, your opponent is a paladin going into turn 4 with a 2/1 and a 1/1 on the field. Is it a good idea to play Doomsayer? Yes. It is. Reason being is because the current Paladin deck in the meta is aggro. On turn 4, the Paladin has the option of either playing Call to Arms, Blessing of Kings, sometimes Corridor Creeper, or a mix of random cards. So the only answer that he will have for Doomsayer is Blessing of Kings. If he Blessing of Kings'd, then that saves you 7 damage that would have otherwise been going towards your face. As I said earlier, your objective is to survive.
It's really hard to explain how to play this deck simply through text, which is why I plan on making a video explaining every play I make. Only thing I can really say is that playing this deck comes with a lot of trial and error. If you do however, have any specific questions and game play decisions, feel free to leave a comment and I will try to reply to it.
Card Choices
- Kingsbane: This card is what made Mill Rogue viable again, no questions asked. Being able to get a 9 attack (that's on the low side) weapon with life steal and infinite value is just insane. Another thing which makes this card so incredibly powerful in mill, is that you can play the game so you never take a point of fatigue. It's quite simple too - Break Kingsbane with 0 cards in deck -> Draw Kingsbane -> Play it, attack -> Play a second copy of Kingsbane via Valeera the Hollow's passive -> Play the drawn Kingsbane next turn (the original one). This combo alone has won me so many games that I could've lost simply due to the fact that the opponent cannot keep up with this cycle. They will eventually lose to fatigue no matter what.
- Doomerang: Some of you may be confused as to why Doomerang is in this deck. It seems so odd considering you want to keep your weapon in play at all times. Well, Doomerang synergizes with Kingsbane in a really strong way. Firstly, the Doomerang will apply your lifesteal from Kingsbane to it's target. Secondly, Doomerang will not break Kingsbane and put it in your deck like you might suspect, it actually brings it back to your hand. Why is this so good? Well, you can essentially get 2 hits in 1 turn, as well as retain some durability. If you play Doomerang when your Kingsbane is on 1 durability, it will hit the target, possibly healing you, then come back to your hand on 3 durability. You can then play it again the same turn and get a second hit in.
- Valeera the Hollow: Pretty much a staple in any rogue deck now. It works even better in Mill because you can do a multitude of things with her passive. Double Coldlight Oracle, double Deadly Poison, double Doomsayer, double Kingsbane as explained above, double Southsea Squidface, etc.
- Elven Minstrel: With the introduction of this card, you no longer need to play The Curator like old Mill Rogue used to. Not to mention, you can run 2 copies! This just allows you to get your Coldlight Oracles faster, as well as allowing you to find your Cavern Shinyfinders, thus getting your Kingsbane into action earlier.
- Edwin VanCleef: Now, this card isn't SUPER important like all the others, but it is good nonetheless. Basically gives you a 3rd win condition (mill, Kingsbane, and this) if your opponent can't handle it. Generally speaking, you can get a 6/6 or an 8/8 Edwin VanCleef super easily.
- Blade Flurry: This card hasn't really seen play since it's nerf back in early 2016. It does hold a really nice spot in this deck though! Rogue is notorious for not having the greatest of board clears. With this aggro heavy meta, you pretty much need board clears in order to survive. Although this weapon doesn't apply the life steal effect, it is still very powerful. You can very easily make this card a 5-9 damage AoE. If paired with Cavern Shinyfinder, you can get your weapon back after you destroy it.
- Cheat Death & Evasion: The new rogue secrets are still somewhat up in the air in terms of viability. They do work really nicely in this deck though! Firstly, Cheat Death. This card ensures that you can play a Coldlight Oracle without fear of not being able to bounce it back. If they do kill it, you get it for 1 mana! If they don't, you can possibly Preparation into Vanish the following turn (if the board allows for it, naturally). Also, Cheat Death ensures your opponent cannot play an AoE very efficiently. This is exceptionally great vs Control Lock and Dragon Priest, as they sometimes run Abyssal Enforcer and Duskbreaker. As for Evasion, this is basically just a stall card. Let's say you're on turn 8 and your opponent has lethal on board. You don't have an answer. You play Evasion and can live another turn. Turn 9 you can play Valeera the Hollow, stalling for another turn and healing 5. This gives you 2 draws that could save the game for you.
Mulligan
Generally speaking, you really want to mulligan for your early survival cards. Cavern Shinyfinder, Doomsayer, Backstab, Kingsbane, Deadly Poison (only with Cavern Shinyfinder or Kingsbane in mulligan), Leaching Poison (only with Cavern Shinyfinder or Kingsbane in mulligan), Elven Minstrel (if starting with The Coin), Evasion (if fighting a very aggro heavy deck (Paladin, Hunter, Mage)). You almost never want to keep Coldlight Oracle in your starting hand unless you are 100% certain you are fighting control and anticipate them drawing cards in the early game.
Closing Out The Game
So you survived the onslaught of cards from your opponent and are now in fatigue. What now? Well, now you equip your (hopefully) huge Kingsbane with lifesteal, and swing face. Don't forget to duplicate the Kingsbane as I explained earlier. Hopefully you were able to keep some of your clears (Vanish, Sap, Doomerang, Blade Flurry) and can keep your opponent's board squeaky clean. You should just be able to win after you hit the fatigue, simply due to Kingsbane being so incredibly powerful.
Video(s)
Submitted by @kiwiinbacon
Submitted by @daaannnnaaaaaaaa
Submitted by @Kadakk
MORE COMING SOON
So this was my guide! I hope you learned something and if you have any specific questions, drop them in the comments. You may have noticed that I didn't include replacements or matchups in this guide. Reason being is:
1. I don't like limiting players collections, and I want you guys to experiment and figure out what works for you. If you find that certain cards aren't working or you don't own some cards, go ahead and replace them to your own judgement. If you still do have questions about replacements, let me know!
2. The meta is so messy right now and frankly I don't know the statistics at the moment. I'd prefer to not give false information and confuse you guys. If the meta calms down, I might add a matchup guide. Don't count on it though.
Can you please organize the Mulligan? Too many Colors and parentheses. :) I got confused.
7 games - 7 losses....Unlucky with cards or I just dont know how to play it? unlikely. sorry m8.
You definitely don't know how to play it lmao... Don't think this kid has ever played Mill Rogue before.
Is it crazy to think The Darkness would work in this deck? i mean you are already milling your opponent or is adding 3 cards and dropping a 4 drop that does nothing to much of an obstacle to overcome?
you could burn one of the candles then its just worthless
I thought it too and tried: it is such a pity that Darkness Candles from The Darkness get milled and do not get casted... I honestly do not understand why since it says: "cast this when drawn".
It would be such a great upgrade to the deck
This deck is very fun but I am still prone to misplays. Being at a journeyman level in HS, this deck is definitely one that takes a little time to really get down, especially if you don't play rogue often (like me).
Hello
Put together this deck a few weeks ago with a few minor changes . have had alot of success not having to deal with big minions and just vanish plus getting a big weapon with life steal has won me many games also with the card draw you are pretty much granted the cards you need. well most the time :P Here is some gameplay of the deck in action
I really like this deck. It’s really fun but difficult. I have extremely low win rate and those I win have often conceded because the think I’m in a better position than I am. I realise that it’s mostly my learning that’s lacking. There are however some things I really don’t undestand how you should get by (besides aggro).
I have a very tough time stalling the game to the point where I’m actually able to set up any kind of combo. It’s seems most deck don’t care very much if they get milled since their hand always have something useful. I really would like this to work but as of now, it’s working very badly. I simply never get the chaance to do anything until the game is over. Gonna need some help with this one. :)
I havent played since TGT, was R7-8 with ice mage and oil rogue. Craft this deck legendaries and epics in gold, coz i love concede rogue.
Sometimes im just playing badly and i know it. First 4 games = 3-1: against cubelock (fatigue his last 15 hp in 2 turns), razapriest (burn his raza, shadowreaper and like 6 other cards and win hitting his face with kingsbane), jadedruid (kill him before he growths his jades and one lose vs fatigue warrior (my bad). I was surprised that deck work so nice, even at r18, because games were interesting and opponnents played smartly.
And then 5 losses in a raw. 1 time i played badly (new to meta and dont expect dk pally and his weapon smashing me). 4 other losses - i understand when Ozzy says this deck difficult. But sometimes i have 0 draw and hand like prep,prep, oil, leaching and 4cost pirate. And things dont get better. Literally unplayable. I had to draw using oracle (not in my starting hand) 2 games against agropally, coz they just killing me and i had nothing but literally disjointed combopieces. My early minions ez removable, small kingsbane cant help against multiple targets (pally things).
Im exepted that it will be success if i reach r10 with it in two months:)
I would really appreciate if somemone who playing this deck adds me EgoManiac#2447(edit: EU) and let me watch and learn.
Love playing this deck against Warlock, its usually easy win, one of the best matchups for sure. I cut Edwin and play Geist instead. I had a lot of trouble with Jade Druid and with them not running Jade Spirit, this improved the matchup for me significantly. And being able to eat one mana Priest Spells gives you some chance to survive the OTK combo, eating the Dark Pact so your opponent cannot destroy his own is also nice. Just dont play before Deadly Poisons, but this is no issue for me as I play it usually when Im close to fatigue.
When I started playing this deck, I sucked! My win rate was < 50%. Then I spent hours playing and now is 65% (but it can be improved). It's a deck of skill. It have 0% RNG (the only RNG are the draws, but you have many ways to draw cards) and you must not make mistakes or you'll die easily.
Most people do 2-3 matches, they think the deck is bad because they lose and the overall winrate remains very low.
I play it with -1 Evasion -1 Fan of Knives -1 Leeching Poison, +1 Backstab +1 Vilespine Slayer (very useful in many situations) and +1 Cheat Death.
If you want to see some nice matches with this deck, here are my gameplays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf-uGyCWcvU&list=PLNe5f403_9_S7DjanwE82zfM4x3E231Yy
Good plays but I somehow can’t even get close to winning. I hardly ever get the cards I need and matches are over way before I can do anything. Against aggro it’s over before turn 8, often before I even see Kingsbane or Oracles or anything. I just can’t get this deck to work no matter how I try. I just don’t see how you are able to stall the game long enough. Even a control deck (like priest) get me down to like 10 health and with no weapon and no Leeching, it’s rather hard to do anything.
I think it's a matter of time and experience. If you like the deck, don't stop playing it. You'll get better and better with it, but it can take some time.
I still feel there are too many situations this deck simply can’t handle. It has too litle margin for both errors but also bad draws. There are so many time I’ve been sitting with dead cards in hand while my opponent just fills the board or smorcs me down. When this deck works, it works wonders but it feels other decks have far more room for error and bad draws. I really hope in the future a deck like this can work but I just can’t see how it’s viable in this day, age and meta. I’m still going to play it because I love the concept. Just can’t see it work very well.
Sadly, I agree. You must make absolutely no mistakes only to have a decent win rate. A little more in the next expansion and this could be a real competitive deck. I also hope for a Corridor Creeper nerf. That would be nice!
I have this deck but made some changes that helped me more.
I replaced both elven mistrel with 2 sprint, evasion with fan of knives and 1 preparation with backstap (because I only have 1 preparation)
I'm learning how to play it and its really fun :) here an example
https://hsreplay.net/replay/4vDYiBsSMozAF94V7ESPGi
I think 2 sprint is overkill. I've tried with 1 sprint instead of 1 elven minstrel but it was kinda hard to make it viable simply because sprint doesn't give you the key cards like cavern or the pirates. I've lost a lot of games simply because I had too much of "useless" cards like prep, shadowstep, doomerang, bladeflury, backstab and poisons when I didn't have the weapon.
Anyway, there's nothing wrong with running a variant of this deck. Some people run it with 2 doomerang, some with 0 evasion and 0 cheat death, some with 2 leeching poison (I know I am, it just sucks to have to mill that card in the bottom of your deck), some with 2 naga corsair instead of southsea squidface (I can understand why they'd want to do that. It's kind of useless to have a weapon with +20 attack if you can't hit the minion without being killed for example).
Dog is currently running it without evasion, -1 Fan of Knives and -1 doomsayer, +1 Captain Greenskin, +1 backstab and +1 naga corsair.
Nice deck against priest and warlock,ty for that.But if you dont get oracle u have 0 draw and really low chance against other classes.
Made them a few weeks ago :)