Hearthpwn

This is a detailed guide for the mill rogue deck and how to get comfortable with it. I created it because I feel with the new range of controlling dragon and non-dragon decks, it would get popular despite the fact that a lot of people don't play it properly.

 

To clear things up:

Why you want to play mill:

• It crushes control decks.
• If built properly it can destroy aggro decks.
• It often causes the opponent to play badly due to panic
• You can brag about hitting legend with mill rogue.

Why you don't want to play mill:

• You have no idea what you're doing. It's OK. It took me a while too. That's why i made this guide.

 

 To get something out of the way: You always mulligan for Coldlight Oracle, Eviscerate, Backstab, Deadly Poison and Deathlord if you run it.

 

The core of the deck is simple enough. You always clear the opponent's board without ever attacking face. You fill his hand with Coldlight Oracle, Dancing Swords etc. to make Sap better, and you watch his cards burn away as he runs into fatigue. Despite what a lot of people think, this is the same strategy you will use against face and aggro decks, although the approach is very different, relying more on heals and AOE than card draw and hard removal.

 

Before i continue i would like to make something very clear. The decklist to your right is not mandatory. It is simply the version that I'm running (card inclined). Below are all the cards you can use in mill rogue as replacements or simply to fit your style better. NOTE: The mandatory cards are 2xBackstab, 2xColdlight Oracle, 2xDeadly Poison, 2xShadowstep, 1xSap, 2xEviscerate and 1xVanish.

 

Fan of Knives

Thanks to Gang Up, this card can now be used in mill rogue again. It works well against face hunter and quartered paladin as well as other aggro decks in synergy with Bloodmage Thalnos. That brings me to:

Bloodmage Thalnos

This card buffs all of the removal in this deck and is also a source of draws, which sometimes run scarce, since the goal is for your opponent to draw-not you. It's important it's only played as a removal card, rather than a regular minion.

Deathlord

Great against aggro-terrible against control. This card is not to be put in lightly simply due to the fact that it can backfire severely without you having a real response. It's often found in place of Dancing Swords, but i replaced it since i had bad luck with it.

Youthful Brewmaster

Provides extra bounce which can help greatly in accelerating and deccelerating the game along with shadowstep. In some matchups it can even be played as a regular minion.

Ancient Brewmaster

Works similarly to youthful, although it is more costly. I would strongly recommend running only one of each.

Sludge Belcher

To be used against all decks for stopping power. This card holds a lot of balance with its stats and can remove several minions before dying in aggro matchups. The reason I'm not personally running it is because i like to be more oriented toward draw and removal

Dark Iron Skulker

The new Blackrock card provides a great extra source of AOE against aggro decks, but doesn't really translate that against control and midrange. I can definitely recommend the card, but i wouldn't run 2 of it. 

Doomsayer

This is a lifesaver to all fatigue decks. Each one often buys you an extra 2 turns of safety if played properly. Strongly recommended if you are more focused on removal.

Sabotage

You can run this with, or instead of Assassinate. It's great in a control meta, but often performs badly against aggro decks.

Tinker's Sharpsword Oil

This is a card that Kolento ran 2 copies of in his mill deck. At first it's not obvious, but gap closing is actually important in this deck, as is having a good weapon. Despite what i said about Kolento i would only run 1 copy of this in a deck since the second one often feels like a dead card,

Earthen Ring Farseer

This provides an extra heal and is the ONLY card that can heal your minions. For that reason i would recommend it against aggro and control decks. In midrange it tends to be iffy.

Mechanical Yeti

It's to be used in decks that focus more on burning the enemy's cards than getting him to fatigue. One of the few cards you can actually play as a regular minion.

King Mukla

Works similarly to the yeti, except it's AMAZING when the enemy board is clear. Watch out though. It has a high rate of backfire

Trade Prince Gallywix

In more control oriented decks this card can be a miracle worker, getting fireballs and swipes left and right, and can often be played as simply a big body on the board

Sylvanas Windrunner

This is a card that can take out quite a few minions in the midrange/control meta, but sucks against aggro. Use it for any amount of value. Don't worry if the minion you get is bad. It doesn't have to be good.

Troggzor the Earthinator

Since you're focusing on getting a clear board, Babe Ruth's crackhead cousin can be a very nasty minon to drop midway through. If you can get it out, it's basically a win condition.

Ragnaros the Firelord

Can be used as an extra unit of hard removal, although you need to keep in mind that it's the only BGH target in the deck, meaning it will often kill 1-0 minions before it dies.

Sprint

Sometimes Coldlight Oracle isn't enough draw. Okay-OFTEN coldlight oracle isn't enough draw. Thanks to Gang Up you can play this without actually worrying  about overdraw, since you'll still be 2 cards ahead of your opponent.

 

Matchups: (Excuse the bold font. There's a glitch)

Mages:

• Freeze: Always look for ways to burn the topdecks. Once you burn enough key cards from their deck they tend to concede. Even if they don't they no longer have a win condition and all their cards are draw.
  
• Grinder: They run Chromaggus now. HA! Coldlight Oracle along with a good use of removal tends to break these decks in half, especially because Duplicate becomes either bad or useless.
• Mech: This is a struggling matchup, but if you can use your removal properly you will not run into anything you can't handle. Always keep wary of Dr. Boom and Archmage Antonidas since they tend to finish you off. Assassinate sparingly.
• Jeeves: The trick is to take out everything while keeping Jeeves alive. You can often take care of any damage you take by ganging up an antique healbot. They think they have the advantage. They don't.

Priests:

• Vanilla: Act like you don't care about Northshire Cleric. That really is about it. Most cards are easy to take out. Assasinate on Sylvanas windrunner, BGH on Ragnaros the firelord. Vol'jin is useless. You really just need to mill.
• Resurrect: This matchup is tricky since it involves a lot of legendaries. Control inclined decks have a tendency to win, but the main point is still getting that early coldlight and burning the first few topdecks. There are cases where you will win, but only if you can make them draw faster than they can make you die.
• Shadowform: A lot of the enemy's cards will be dead in this matchup, especially in draw inclined decks. The thing you really need to worry about is the shadowform. Since this is mill vs mill that hero power can and will kill you making this a much more complex matchup than you think.

Paladins:

• Control: If you can get early AOE this will be an easy matchup. If you can't-dead. It's that simple. No amount of luck can save you from quartermaster followed by tirion fordring. However, if you can burn his tirion, it's basically a won game.
• Shock: Decks with big minions tend to win against this one. Keep your AOE ready and have your ganged up healbots handle the midgame. 

Shamans:

• Bloodlust: Take out the side cards with spells keeping Mana Tide Totem alive at all costs. This is where draw inclined shines. 100% winrate
• Overload: Use your removal sparingly since they hold a lot of big minions. After those are out of the game you're pretty much safe.

Rogues:

• Mech: Always clear everything. Keep 1 Backstab ready for Iron Sensei. The only other card that's going to cause a problem is Piloted Sky Golem, since BGH handles Dr. Boom.
• Oil: It's a fairly simplistic mill the opponent, take out the small minions, vanish the big ones type matchup. 100% winrate
• Mill: Your opponent will accelerate. It's your goal to slow him down. Minion inclined decks tend to do well here since the opponent will eventually run out of removal. Other than that try to not use sprint. Decks that run Troggzor the earthinator will have a 100% winrate. No exceptions.

Druids:

• Ramp: Minion and removal inclined decks tend to do well here since they either put up enough pressure or mill the opponent with a clear board. If you're draw inclined like me you might run into some trouble, but a good use of removal goes a long way.
• Combo: Emperor Thaurissan has made this matchup a nightmare. You'll want to always watch your health and have taunts up so decks with Earthen Ring Farseer, Deathlord and Sludge Belcher tend to do well. You can make this easier with a well timed Vanish.
• Mill: Leave the drawing to the druid. This is a pressure game. They always run out of cards first, and when they do you can heal and start damaging. This is one of the few matchups where Coldlight Oracle is not key.

Warriors:

• Control: Every card in your deck takes out a card in their deck. Acolyte of pain becomes a nightmare for him as they lose every important card in their deck. The card you Gang Up is always Coldlight Oracle.
• Math: They focus on having minions. Don't let them have minions. That really is about it. You'll want to have your health above 10 in case of Grommash Hellscream.
• Patron: They focus on having minions. Don't let them have minions. That really is about it. You'll want to have your health above 10 in case of Grommash Hellscream. Yes. I copy/pasted that. It's the same deck.

Hunters:

• Face: Dark Iron Skulker does miracles in this matchup. Always gang up antique healbot and try to keep yourself above 15 health (common lethal range). Decks with Deathlord and Sludge Belcher have 100% winrate against this from what i know. 
• Midrange: Concede. I'm being serious. I got nothing.
• Feign Death: They rely on combos. Vanish does miracles. All versions of mill rogue have the same chance of winning (About 70%)