Hearthpwn

Background 

Hello, everyone! My name is Jordan Lowe (AKA Booshka) and I am an avid, legend level HearthStone player who loves to spread my knowledge to the community and my fans! I live in Oregon (US) and I am a full-time streamer. I Just began streaming very recently and I have a small fan base who I can't thank enough for supporting me! I main miracle rogue and I would consider myself a veteran miracle player (golden valeera). If you would like to check me out you can see my stream @ http://www.twitch.tv/hsbooshka I help veteran and new players alike by explaining all of my plays! I also love to interact with the chat! So drop by and say hi if you get the chance! =D

Check me out @ http://www.twitch.tv/hsbooshka Hope to see you there! =)

Highlight of one of my streams! - http://www.twitch.tv/hsbooshka/c/5342858

Video Deck tech! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZIhuUro3Tk&feature=youtu.be

Lets take a look at the different variations of Miracle!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z0-7LU-y0A&feature=youtu.be 

 

Deck Introduction

Hey, everyone! Booshka here! Many of you remember me from the last article I wrote on hearthpwn on my first rendition of defias miracle. Well, I'm back with yet another version of the deck, one that packs a little heat by using none other than, Alexstraza! This isn't super unusual in miracle lists since there have been some tourney lists that have run our dragon friend,  however this list is 100% ladder viable and I believe that it is viable at any point of the ladder as well! Now, you may be wondering why I made such a big change to the original list. Well, this is not because the old version was worse by any means (I think the old version is awesome!), but because in the top few ranks of ladder when I was running into hoards of hunters the deck fell to a 25% win rate against hunter. I'm not sure if this is due to the fact that the quality of the players was just better, or that I kept getting dead hands in the first few turns of the game. But, I knew if I wanted to take this deck further I would need to make a few adjustments!

Some of you are wondering why I might be running Alex. Well, lets start from the top and check out the differences between this version and the last! We still have all of the combo enablers from our last version (except sinister strike), but we decided to take out the sinister strike, deckhand and loatheb in replace of X2 zombie chow and alexstraza. Now some of you will be like... "Dude this is the exact same deck as the last one, noob!" While it may be very close to our last list, I assure you that it plays much, much differently! In my last article I claimed that zombie chow would never work out in miracle due to giving your control match up an extra 10 health over the course of the game. Well I found a creative solution to this by using Alex! You may not need her in every game, but even when her battle cry is useless or sub-par, she is still and 8/8 and after warrior control has busted out all of his removal against your other threats he/she may not have an answer for her and just simply lose. First up, I will cover zombie chow and his uses in the deck!

Nom-Nom Zombie!

When I first began to try out the different versions of miracle, I noticed that aggro hunter and aggro in general was just running me over like a bulldozer. I knew I needed to make some changes and I tried out many different cards. One of these cards was zombie chow (AKA Nom-Nom zombie)! When I originally played this card I loved it in the aggro match up due to the fact that it completly destroyed their early game plays (undertaker). However, he completely stunk against control because all he would do is run up to my opponent, give him a big hug and assure him that everything was going to be okay! But, all jokes aside, giving your control opponent 10 health is just too devastating for a deck that wants to burst your opponent down. So, I scrapped him and moved on. But, after sitting down for hours thinking about how to utilize our zombie buddy I remembered an old tech card, Alexstraza! This was zombie chows's saving grace! So, I tried them out together and wow did it work well! I am actually to the point now where I love it when I see that dirty little hunter portrait! >_< Another wonderful thing about this card is that it is a 1 drop and it easily helps us combo out our defias ringleader. Speaking of defias, many of you who hasn't checked out my last article might be wondering why the heck defias ringleader is in a miracle list, well lets dive right into the methods of my madness!  

Defias Ringleader

Many of you might be confused about this card, especially in miracle. Well, it all started when I was brewing around with miracle (about 3 weeks ago) to try and find a proactive solution to all of the aggro on the ladder. After looking through nearly every 1 through 3 drop in the game trying to find a jewel, I found the diamond in the rough! That is, Defias Ringleader! If you are able to combo this guy out by at least turn 4 against aggro, you can completely slow down and nullify their early game pressure allowing you to have a smooth transition into your 5 drops and combos. The other detail about defias in miracle rogue is that you have a plethora of spells/minions to use to get him out early on! One of the main keeps for your starting hand against aggro is preperation (more on this later), and this card makes it a breeze to combo defias out. This is also where zombie chow comes into play, by making an insane turn 2 or 3 (depending on if you have coin) play and using both zombie chow and a comboed defias you can take the early game by storm! Another wonderful thing about this card is that against control/midrange he he can easily trade up with a 3 or a 4 cast minion (especially when combined with your daggers). He is also a 4 power threat that your control opponent must deal with. On this note, one argument against playing defias is that your opponent (mage and druid) will just simply use their hero power to kill the token, making defias a 2 for a 2/2 and no more. Well, I believe that this is a bit off base for a couple different reasons. First off, if you played your defias early in the game (turns 1 through 4) against a midrange deck and they use 2 mana to kill the token, they just wasted at least half of their turn only dealing with one half of your card. Remember, we don't depend on defias for damage, he is just a threat and an annoyance that our opponent must deal with by wasting their precious mana crystals in the early stages of the game. This also slows down your opponents game plan and can really throw a wrench into their plans. This all goes without saying that he makes two bodies that can utilize your cold bloods later in the game! Next up is our other big change, Alexstraza!

Alexstraza

This card has already proven itself to be a great card in miracle rogue (especially against control), and that is no exception here. Her primary role in this deck is to nullify zombie chows draw back (giving your opponent 10 extra health over the course of the game), however, this only scratches the surface of what this girl is capable of. First of all, it even has its uses against aggro. I can't even recall how many times I have been sub 10 health and have used Alex to come back and win the game against hunter and zoo. This was actually one of the original issues that  had with my first list, that is, the lack of a heal in the deck. There wasn't (and still isn't) room in the deck list for earthen ring farseer. But, with Alex and many ways to draw into her in the later stages of the game it is very easy to bring yourself up to a comfortable life total. On top of these other pros that Alex brings, she is of course an 8/8 body which is a pain for people to deal with, especially after using their precious removal on your gadgets and drakes. Next, we will talk about some of this deck's common match ups and what to mulligan for/keep!

Mulligan/Match-up Guide

(Cards you are keeping are in bold)

Hunter (60/40) (undertaker decks in general): Ladder's #1 menace!  This match-up really depends on how strong of a start that the hunter gets. Keep in mind that there will be games where they get double undertaker and 3 one drops making it impossible to win. We just have to accept this fact and move on. However, if you can get even a single zombie chow out, you can completely change the course of the entire game. Hunters best answer to chow is their eaglehorn bow. The way we deal with this is to fight for board control with other minions like defias and SI 7 agent. It is very difficult for them to deal with both a zombie chow and a comboed defias. Generally my wins against hunter consist of my playing zombie chow into either defias or SI 7 agent and then using either fan of knives or blade flurry to clear their board. I would only keep fan of knives with preperation, however because your early game minions are just too important. Always aggressively mulligan for backstab, SI 7 agent, zombie chow defias ringleader and sometimes fan of knives. Another good keep, especially going turn 1, can be preparation. I will often keep a prep with defias because I know that I have so many spells that I can combo prep with that keeping it isn't a big deal at all. Another thing that prep does is that it creates early tempo plays like prep, SI 7 agent into fan of knives to clear the board on turn 3. These early tempo plays are key to winning many of your aggro match ups. This is one of the few match-ups where (depending on the other cards in my hand) I will combo out defias with coin on turn one. 

Shaman (75/25): Defias, zombie chow and SI 7 agent work wonders here! This match-up is all about controlling the board. You don't even want to leave them with a totem on the board! Always go for trading in this match up over dealing damage (unless you are setting up for lethal the next turn). Because if you can get early board control against shaman you will win most, if not all of your match ups. The one card that they have against our early game board control is lightening storm. But, in my experience, if even one of my minions live to my turn then they get so far behind by having 2 less mana the next turn and they eventually just run out of cards. Another key card in this match-up that I will always keep is deadly poison. This card trades extremely well with feral spirits and is an important card for helping you regain board control by using it in conjunction with blade flurry. If you get early board control and can get a decent gadgetzan combo off you will win 75 to 80% of your games!

Control Warrior (~50/50): This is yet another game where getting your early game threats out can run them out of answers and make your transition into your drakes and auctioneers a piece of cake. However, this is a match-up where you want to mulligan for your drakes and gadgets very aggressively. I will even pitch backstab in search for them. This match is an arms race from the get-go. You try and slap down as many threats as you can and the warrior digs for answers for every threat you have. Your goal in this match-up is to exhaust the warriors resources and then go for the win with things like alex, auctioneer, drake and cold blood. Early in the game you want to be slapping down threats and drawing as many cards as you can with things like shiv and fan of knives to dig for your 5 drops. Probably the most important thing that you must do to help secure your win is to have an effective way to deal with their acolyte of pain. This is their number one threat because it draws them into their removal. Think of acolyte as their auctioneer, this card must be dispatched as efficiently as possible! The best way to do this is typically using a deadly poison, but if you need to use an eviscerate then go for it! You will want to save your saps for their sylvanas and sludge beltcher to help you achieve lethal. Lastly, If you can get an auctioneer to stick (conceal), even for a single turn more often than not you will win the game due to having a grip of threats for the next turn! 

Deathrattle Priest (80/20): In general this is usually just a free win for you, against deathrattle priest if you get any kind of board control lead it is nearly impossible for them to get the board back. The other great thing about this match up is that they usually can't afford to use their cabal shadow priest against one of your little minions because when you do get board control you are able to push lots of damage with cards like cold blood which means if the waste their turn using cabal they could end up just losing the game the next turn. The only card that you want to be careful of getting stolen is your blood mage. Because when they steal him they are denying you damage and a card draw which can be pretty devastating depending on what stage of the game that you are in. My advice for this match-up is to mulligan for early board control cards, use your bloodmage wisely, and be patient with your auctioneer combos. The times I have lost in this match up was when I busted out an early auctioneer (I was being impatient) on turn 5 with prep and he got killed the next turn and I spent the rest of the game playing from behind and eventually running out of answers and then losing the game. BE PATIENT! 

If you like what you have seen so far, or have any questions, give me a shout out in the comment section and give the deck a try and let me know what you think! =)

-Booshka http://www.twitch.tv/hsbooshka