Dreadmaker's Spellsword Rogue
- Last updated Mar 24, 2014 (Live Patch 4973)
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Wild
- 19 Minions
- 9 Spells
- 2 Weapons
- Deck Type: None
- Deck Archetype: Unknown
- Crafting Cost: 5040
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 3/15/2014 (Live Patch 4973)
- Dreadmaker
- Registered User
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- 2
- 7
- 14
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Battle Tag:
N/A
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Region:
N/A
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Total Deck Rating
125
Update: March 24, 2014:
So, I did some fairly major playing around with this deck over the weekend and some innovating with it, And after changing out a lot of it and experimenting, I've come up with a deck that is different enough that it merits its own deck topic. So, if you like this deck, and it's been helpful to you, head on over to my new one and tell me what you think!
http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/39938-dreadmakers-nightblade-rogue
Alternately, here's a link directly to my overview video for the new deck!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TucW9lRE9tg
Thank you all so much for your support!
Update: March 23, 2014:
This makes me really quite sad to do. But:
- 1 Malygos
Even though it's the theme of the deck and all, Malygos just isn't consistent. Wins with him are probably some of the most fun I've ever had in hearthstone, but it's rare that he sticks around long enough to have an effect. In the end, Ragnaros is just more consistent, and has an immediate effect on the board when played; most of the other cards in the deck are like that, and so it only makes sense for its legendary component to play the same.
Update: March 21, 2014:
New video! This is just another laddering session, featuring the change to the Big Game Hunter. Moreover, I also made another change after the first game, just to try it out. But, since I'm not fully committed to it yet, it's a secret! You'll have to watch to find out!
I also tried to may some attention to questions people were asking - how to mulligan, for instance. If you have questions for me about strategy and that sort of thing, go ahead and ask in the comments here or on the video, and I'll be happy to answer them in my next video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvQnCKc7C-E
Update: March 20, 2014:
Deck Changes:
- 1 Violet Teacher
+ 1 Big Game Hunter
The violet teacher was a good idea, but in practice, it just wasn't equaling game-changing effectiveness. Tonight, on a whim, I gave the BGH a try, and I'm thrilled with it. Perhaps it was just the matchups I had, but in matches I had traditionally had difficulty with, like handlocks and control warriors, this has made the difference. Tonight, I played against three different control warriors and a handlock (foolishly off-camera! d'oh!) and beat them all, and in every game, the BGH played a significant role in the victory. So, for now, my deck list is semi-permanent; there are no immediate other weirdnesses to address. More videos to come soon!
Other news:
Hearthpwn featured this deck in a deck spotlight! Site admins, thank you so much!
Update: March 19, 2014:
Deck Changes:
- 2 Faerie Dragon
Well, those were short lived! I didn't get rid of the Faerie dragons because they were underperforming - rather, I think in the current meta, the Ooze is just the better choice. Warriors and Hunters are very, very popular, and both rely to an extent on weapons to make their rush strategies work. I've included a more detailed reasoning for the inclusion in the larger description below, which has been updated.
Other news: I've made a new video of me laddering with this deck, which reflects the new changes. I also tried switching out the Violet Teacher for an Abomination during that run, but it underperformed quite a bit, and so I won't be sticking with the change.
Videos:
I will be *semi*-frequently be posting videos of me laddering with this deck and trying out different combinations to see if we can improve it. I've just posted a new one, right here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXhGqNuB_Oo
In future, I'll post new video links at the top of this post, like this, rather than collecting them all at the bottom. As always, though, the fastest way to get new content about this deck is to head over to my youtube channel and subscribe!
https://www.youtube.com/user/dreadmaker
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Update: March 17, 2014:
Deck Changes:
+ 2 Faerie Dragon
- 2 Shiv
Why the change? One of the worst things about this deck as it stands is early-game consistency. If it can go into mid game at no disadvantage, it's strong, but sometimes, it had trouble getting there. So, to remedy this, I've swapped out 2 shivs for 2 faerie dragons. My hope is that this change will make more a more manageable and consistent early game, and so far, in my limited testing of the changes, it has. Also, I've updated the explanation below to reflect the change!
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Update: March 16th, 2014:
Added 2 videos to the end of the explanation; hurray for verbal tl;dr! The first is a deck overview, the second is a longer video with me laddering with the deck.
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First off: This deck has about a 65-75% win rate in and around rank 10; my win rate is quite positive at the moment, and so it will see some testing at higher levels soon enough!
Premise: This deck was made as a means of trying to fight back against the current meta. In my experience, it does reasonably well against most things, but doesn't specialize against anything in particular. With a good draw, it's quite good against aggro (bloodmage + fan of knives will ruin most aggro decks handily) and it has a lot of excellent removal that scales well into the late game because of all of the spell damage. It can play fast if you get a good draw, and it can also play slow if you're in a control war. I think this deck works as a strong counter to a lot of popular meta decks at the moment, and more importantly, is really, really fun to play!
Basic strategy: There's no one strategy. This is a deck that is reactive to the meta, and so you should play reactive to your opponent. Facing aggro? Hoard up your spells and control like crazy. You have a ton of early removal for exactly this purpose, and because there are a good deal of card draw mechanics in there as well, you'll likely still have a hand when the aggro deck runs out of steam, and you can just take it from there. Against control? Aggressively put down creatures in the early game and control them right back. Don't be afraid to use your weapons on the hero, although I do like to save my perdition's blade and si:7 combos for clearing the board. The real trick to playing this deck well is in understanding when to use removal and when not to. Once you have that idea down (for the different sort of decks you face, because it definitely changes), you'll do well.
Card explanation:
Backstab: This one's obvious, but is worth noting that it's good to play along with Thalnos or even larger spellpower creatures later in the game to get it to hit for 3 or more, rather than just the 2.
Argent Squire: Nice, sticky 1 drop. Hard to remove immediately, and combos very well with the Blood Knight.
Bloodmage Thalnos: Wonderful card for a deck like this. They drop a tazdingo on the table? Thalnos + eviscerate and continue on with your life. You should never play this card on its own as a minion; play it instead as surprise spell damage. The bonus is the card draw; if you don't have this guy, a Kobold Geomancer would serve the same purpose; he's just generally better in what we want him for in this deck.
Eviscerate: such amazing removal, particularly with spell damage. with even one spell damage on the board, a tazdingo or a fire elemental is gone for 2 mana. Excellent value, and very versatile.
Sap: I chose sap over Assassinate. Why? It's much cheaper for essentially the same effect, as well as being more versatile. Against a handlock, it's true, you really do want the assassinate. But I just find that most of the time, forcing an expensive card back to their hand cuts their tempo way down, forces them to make tough choices next turn, and can remove more than one card at a time if you plan it well. Druid just double innervated out a yeti? No problem. Sap it! it doesn't even get to attack, and you wasted both innervates for 2 mana and killed early-game tempo advantage. Paladin just got silly and put blessings on a creature the same turn they played him? back to the hand. Big fat taunt minion (I'm looking at you, tirion) getting in the way of lethal or close to lethal? You get a turn of free board control. To me, assassinate is useful, but this is much more versatile.
Acidic Swamp Ooze: Hunter rush decks are everywhere these days. Everywhere. One of the primary ways in which hunter rush tends to kill you very quickly is by equipping an Eaglehorn Bow and using secrets to extend the duration and hit you for a lot of damage over time. This card is a solid 2-drop minion that can easily trade up, but it can also occasionally provide much, much more value. And, far from only being effective against hunters, it is very effective against warriors (both control and aggro), Paladins (EVERY paladin runs 2 truesilvers) and to a lesser extent, rogues and shamans. The 2-drop minion slot is always a tough competition in every deck, because there are so many comparable and equitable choices; however, I feel that in the current meta, for this deck, this one will work the best. I'm still actively testing this out, though, and so it's definitely subject to change.
Blood Knight: This is a weird one. I have it in here for two reasons. First: the more 'sticky' minions of this deck are scarlet crusaders and argent squires, both of which have divine shields. Also, in basically all rush decks these days, for the same reason we have argent squires, they do too. There is nothing that slaughters an early game rush worse than coining out a turn two 9/9, if you both had turn 1 squires. It is both an adaptation to the meta of everyone loving squires at the moment, as well as a nice little combo to get out an early huge threat by using only your own cards.
Fan of Knives: Anti-aggro heaven. Any additional spellpower is amazing with this, and it's another card in hand. If there's anything that beats aggro, it's AoE and card draw, and this is all of it rolled into one. Even against control, if it's hitting 2 creatures for 2 damage (if any spellpower is on the board) and drawing a card, you can think of it as a more efficient forked lightning, multi-shot, or cleave, with the added bonus of not being limited to 2 creatures!
Headcrack: This is your insurance against big taunts or anything of the kind. Rather than daggers, your hero power becomes an upgraded steady shot. if you have any spellpower, it's amazing, and you can use it to provide a constant, non-removable threat throughout the game. Just add Malygos, and this thing becomes your win condition. Why not two? Because you just don't need it. 3 spare mana per turn is already a good chunk for something that doesn't affect the board (note: only use it with SPARE mana; do not sacrifice board control to use it!), and 6 is ridiculous. It keeps coming back; you don't need more than one.
Perdition's Blade: Why Perdition's over Assassin's? It's a matter of taste. But in my opinion, this allows for much better combat against aggro and still excellent general control. You can get it out much earlier (indeed, if you really need to, you can coin it on turn 2!), it is guaranteed to do damage immediately, and it's less likely to have lost value if someone oozes it - if you use it properly, they only get rid of 2 potential damage, instead of 9 from the Assassin's blade. You want to use it like you would use an SI:7 agent - do your best to make the battlecry kill something, rather than just hit the enemy hero or ding something you can't kill. This card can easily be 3 for 1; try to get the most value out of it!
Scarlet Crusader: This is the same deal as the argent squire. Sticky minion, good value, and synergizes nicely with the blood knight.
SI:7 Agent: So much value. This card will typically go 2 for 1, if not better. Always try to be smart about its battlecry, and do your best to not play it without using it. The deck has enough low level spells that comboing isn't too hard. If you have to use it without, though, don't be afraid to; just be smart with it.
Ogre Magi: 4/4 for 4 with +spellpower? That's exactly the sort of thing this deck wants. Fine value on its own with a little bonus that makes all of your spells amazing.
Big Game Hunter: This is our defense against late-game control decks, and it works wonderfully. Without this card, games against decks like the handlock and the control warrior are generally quite close; with it, I've found that it tends to tip the scales in our favor. If you notice that you're playing against aggro, or something that doesn't tend to have big cards, it's not a dead drop, either - it's a 4/2 for three, which certainly passes the vanilla test, and remains useful as a minion even without its battlecry.
Azure Drake: Doesn't need much explanation; card draw and spell power and a 4/4 body. What more is there to say?
Gadgetzan Auctioneer: This isn't a miracle rogue deck, and you aren't trying to draw into combos. That said, card draw is obviously still very important, and having this guy in there will make your card draw go nuts for the turns he's alive. He, much like the teacher, will draw all sorts of removal, which is almost always something you want. If you get even one card with him, he's essentially recovered his value, so anything else is a bonus, and drawing any hard removal is a huge plus.
Malygos: The big guy. The funny thing about Malygos is that it's often a win-more card, rather than a game-changer. He will immediately draw removal, as you'd expect, but you have enough scary looking minions lower down that often you'll have drawn out your opponent's removals already. Moreover, Rogues don't tend to run huge minions like this, so people are happier to poly/hex/siphon the auctioneer, for instance, or even a drake, rather than holding them for this. It's inefficient, as any 9 mana card is, because you can rarely make use of him immediately (except, perhaps, with a 7 damage backstab). However, if he stays out for even a turn, you win. Headcrack now hits for 7, eviscerate 9, shiv 6, fan of knives 6 to everything. It's obscene. And that's assuming that you have no other spellpower on the board. Because of what I've said here and how the deck is set up, as you might be able to guess, he doesn't really have a replacement; there's no good sub-in for 5 extra spell damage. Ancient mage just generally is sub-standard, but might be something; I'd be more inclined to do something like Rag, an ogre, or an argent commander, or something to that effect.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask, and I'll try to answer them. This is a really fun deck to play, outside of being fairly effective, and so I hope that you use it and enjoy it!
Video Explanation:
Putting the deck through its paces:
Congrats on the Leeroy! I have to say, he's a card I have yet to acquire myself!
I'm glad it worked for you, too. I have to say, though, one of the reasons I'm not a fan of including him into the deck is that it seems as though basically every rogue deck relies on Leeroy to win these days. It's not a bad card - hell, it wouldn't be so incredibly popular if it was. But, this deck is pretty different from the tempo or the miracle rogue archetypes, and I think I'd like to keep it that way. But that's me! If you find Leeroy effective, absolutely use him! I'm glad it's been helping.
As to videos, I've been very busy the last day or two, but my hope is to put up a new one featuring the BGH change in the next day or two. After that, I may well give something other than Malygos a try, for science (perhaps rag). Stay tuned!
It's definitely a possibility, and something worth experimenting with, but as of now, I just don't feel the minion is valuable enough on its own to warrant it. 2/5 for 4 doesn't pass the vanilla test, and its value relies on having other minions on the board, which isn't a guarantee. It fits the theme, but every other creature in the deck is valuable on their own - everything can be played onto an empty board and still be worth it, even if their effect doesn't activate. Ancient mage doesn't fit that criteria. That doesn't mean he wouldn't work at all, but in my eyes, it definitely does make it a weaker choice.
I didnt even realise this was a deck.using it for a while .I run blade furry x 2 because blade furry and deadly poison is 6 dmg plus clears feild when blade furry when used.3 mana for 3 dmg + 3 dmg everything.I will normal save the last charge just for max value on swarms.
vanish sap spam very good fore delaying game buying time for turn 10.vanish and sap is no very good vs charge. Awesome vs druid and slow decks.
Also i run conceal 2 protect malyigos for 1 turn which basically protects him the turn he is set.
coneal shadow step jenkin.or thalnos shadowstep
just a few idea for you.
Which rank did you hit with this deck?
Why no ringleader ? It seems to be the best turn 1 in rouge. Bread and butter and also wine
In short, it's mostly because there's only really room for 1 2-drop minion in here, and I feel that the acidic swamp ooze is more effective than the ringleader in the current meta. That's all; in a lot of ways, it's a preference thing. If you prefer it, you should try it with the ringleader in there instead and let me know how it goes!
I run a similar deck, but - 2Sap( I just dont think they are that usefull in most of the situation, yeah sometimes sap is much better than just killing a minion, but most of the times assasinate is better imo), + 2 Preparation, so it allows me to play a spell the same turn as malygos, and it can get you out of some sticky early game situations, + Assassinate. I also don't run cards with divine shield and bloodknight instead I have Nat (who's usually good as a lure for opponents early game removal), Cairne (which alsways trades well) and some minions that I think are better suited for controling the board.
Anyway thanks for the deck and explicit info about it, gave me some good ideas!
Hi there Nygenn,
Thanks for the feedback. To be honest, though, I believe you're constructing a very different deck from mine! It may be effective as well, but to be honest, I dislike a number of the changes. Here's why:
First, on the Violet teacher replacement - you're right. That needs to be changed, and I'm looking for something there. I've been playing with a Big game hunter in that slot instead, and it's actually been winning me a LOT more games. It's had a noticeable impact on the control warrior and handlock matchups, and has kicked my winrate up substantially (hopped on today for a quick few games and went 6-0!).
Removing the ogre magi is a mistake, I think. 4/4 for 4 is a fine deal, and it's amazing how often the spell damage helps. You're also missing something - it isn't just eviscerate and backstab, but fan of knives as well (as well as headcrack). Although there are better 4-drops in a vacuum, I just don't believe that the Yeti is more effective than the magi here. Although the one extra life is helpful in trading with similarly priced minions, I don't believe it's worth it.
I also disagree with you about the scarlet crusader - I think it's a pain to remove, and it gives you more board presence than something that is easily removed with any spell. Whereas some 'stronger' three drops like the injured blade master or raging worgen (there are many others, too) would die to a single, lower-priced card (frost bolt, lightning bolt, etc), the scarlet crusader generally requires 2 (except in the case of earth shock, although you'd much rather a shaman burns his earth shock on this than something more important, like malygos, your drakes, or Thalnos!). The crusader trades very well, and typically goes 2 for 1, which can't be said of many other 3 drops. Additionally, it has the synergy with the blood knight, which provides flexibility.
Sinister Strike, in my eyes (as I've mentioned before), is not a good card, even for this deck. yes, with Malygos 3 damage to the enemy hero is 8, but for the rest of the game, it just isn't that effective outside of a combo starter (which we generally don't have problems with). I'd much rather have a card like shiv, which both draws a card and allows me to do damage wherever I'd like on the board, rather than just the enemy hero.
I dislike Novice engineers - I find them to be almost entirely outclassed by loot hoarders. Now, that said, if you're running shadowstep, that's a different story, but I wouldn't advocate that either.
Finally, I don't really like the Faceless in this deck either - you rely entirely on your enemy to provide fodder to copy, because outside of Malygos, this deck doesn't have anything above five mana for the Faceless to profit from. since half of the decks out there are rush decks right now anyhow, the value of faceless in the current meta just doesn't measure up, in my opinion, unless you're running some huge things yourself.
So, I guess by means of a summary, I think your changes really do change the nature of this deck fundamentally. You've taken out most elements of the blood knight combo, which tends to win games, in my experience, and you've also gutted a big part of the spellpower - the ogre magi and the headcrack. I don't think your changes are *bad*, per se, they are just so different that it breaks a lot of what my deck is. They make sense together - if you take out the blood knight, for instance, the intrinsic value of the crusaders and squires goes down a bit (although I still like them both, even without it), and so looking for other 1/3 drops makes sense. Additionally, if you take out the magi, it starts to look a lot more like a standard rogue deck; 2 azure drakes and thalnos aren't so foreign to the standard rogue experience; malygos is only a cherry on top. I think your changes may well be effective; you'd have to test them to find out. But, I must say, for my deck and the way I play it, I don't agree with your substitutions. I would be curious to know how you end up doing with your modified list, though; keep me posted!
I find there is a couple problems with this deck.
The blade is basically not that good.Sure the 2 dmg combo is nice but if using to clear a creature you are taking damage back as well.So it is like allowing the opposing creature to hit you without actually attacking you.The only value i see is IF you get it really early to remove and get in a couple hits.If you draw it round 4+ i don't see it's value.
The main problem now....
The decks purspose is to rely on keeping a creature on board if no creature then the spells are very weak.IMO this deck is not playable if you do not have the Thalnos which MANY people do not have.Kobold is not sticking around and if you have to wait say turn 3/4/5 to utilize him you are already way behind in board control and not doing any damage yet.So turn 4/5 you drop a Kobold then a spell your only clearing 1 maybe 2 but only having a kobold yourself is not doing anything to start doing your own damage.
Argent does not synergize with this deck aside from pumping up Blood knight.The problem is that it is not removing many creatures and definitely never doing any damage because you have no buffs for it which is the main reason OTHER decks are using it.Of course it can trade with a low health early card but it is not doing anything for tempo or creating your own damage.EVERY deck has some strong removal even early so if you do get out a Blood Knight he has to wait a turn and most likely is dead and thta is IF you were able to keep shields on your other cards and IF they were on board already.
I think what often happens is people don't realize that their opponent is like you relying on a lot of LUCK on the draw.I make this point because often times people see success versus a certain deck not realizing their opponent had a terrible luck/draw so really was a fake result.
My synopsis on Rogue is it relies like many decks a LOT on Legendaries.The reason Hunter decks are so strong is they do not rely on Legendaries they have MANY cards that everyone has and are great combos and powerful.I don't see any deck over Hunter right now which is sad especially considering some of the nerfs which did nothing to balance the game.
Hey snootzh, thanks for the questions; I'm glad, too, that this concept has helped you rank up so fast! Glad to hear it.
Rag is a decent replacement for Malygos, yes. It changes how the deck plays a little in the late game, but it's also a very efficient minion, and you're right, rogues are excellent at getting rid of the enemy board, so Rag is all the more effective.
To me, Shiv instead of perdition's blade not a good deal. If you don't have them, that's fine, but they might be a good thing to craft, if anything. They are, in my opinion, absolutely needed here (and in my opinion, in a lot of rogue decks) because they just have such excellent value. If you want a good example of why I find them so, so good, watch the second game of my first 'trials' video (second video posted at the bottom here). That game against the murloc deck is a wonderful example of how with 2 cards, perdition's blade being one, I could clear three different creatures easily and completely clear the board. I absolutely love perdition's blade. Shiv on its own isn't so bad, But I think that there are potentially better things you might use to fill the slot, like another 2 drop minion (maybe loot hoarder?)
Sprint instead of violet teacher isn't so bad, although you might consider an assassin's blade instead, since you don't have the perdition's. Blade flurry, generally, I dislike. It is affected by spellpower, which is great, but in this deck with no deadly poison, and especially for you with no weapons, doing 1 damage to everything just isn't worth the card. For something like that, I'd prefer betrayal, even. Blade flurry is meant for weapons-heavy builds, and this is not one of them.
For the deck itself, I'm not sure 2 blood knights is best, although for you, since you don't have some of the important cards included here, I would say it might well be worth a try. It really is a great card; in a worst case scenario, it gets its value - in a best case scenario, you get an incredible deal. It's certainly won me a fair share of games.
I'm glad you've been doing so well with it!
Dealing with rush when you don't get a good draw is difficult regardless of what deck you're playing. In your opening hand, you have to mulligan very aggressively for creatures, or a perdition's blade, and you want to ultimately control the board as hard as you can. If a warlock is rushing, and you know that he won't have any huge creatures to back it all up, sapping a flame imp may be a good play. If it was me, I would still rather save the sap for something else - a buffed creature, a taunt - but if nothing has shown itself and you aren't desperate (i.e., the board is neutral or in your favor), sapping a flame imp may not be a bad play. The extra three damage is nice, and, of course, it prevents three damage to you for another turn.
Hi there Arkenstone; thank you so much for this detailed comment; I'm glad you enjoy playing the deck so much! One of my favorite things about it is just how fun it can be to play. You're right - there is absolutely nothing like sapping an Earth Elemental! And, you're also right - sapping a Doomguard is almost more effective than assassinating it, in some cases; they have to blow even more cards, and they have a harder decision-making process in either case.
You are also entirely correct to point out the weakness against hunters. When I said in the description that the deck is good against most rush decks, I wasn't wrong; with proper draw, I tend to find it has a excellent win rate against warlocks in particular, and very much against any sort of other rush (paladins, shamans, that sort of thing). However, as has been pointed out earlier, the deck tends to have problems with consistent early-game draw. That's why I swapped out the Shiv for the Faerie Dragons, but perhaps that particular change could be used to affect the hunter matchup more specifically. For instance, instead of a Faerie Dragon, a Mad Bomber to deal with the array of x/1 minions. Or, as you suggest, an Acidic Swamp Ooze. Running a pair in place of the faerie dragons may well be the best bet against the current meta, because it would help a good deal against Warriors, and in particular, it would help against the particular type of hunter deck you're talking about. I'm also very willing to experiment with the Violet Teacher; perhaps swapping it into a lower taunt (Ironfur Grizzly, maybe?) might be more effective, even though it does have good synergy with the deck as it stands.
I find myself at about 50-50 against hunter rush, but more like 65%ish against almost everything else (with some variation; closer to 50 with handlocks, closer to 100% against shamans, etc.). In almost any other instance, I'd be willing to say 'it's just a bad matchup - deal with it and enjoy success in most other matchups,' but that's difficult to say when hunter rush is one of the prevailing forces of the current meta. Things like an Sunfury Protector or something of that flavor (hell, maybe even - gasp - a Shieldbearer!?) would be useful, but you're right - they may sacrifice a good deal of the potency against other decks by taking things out to include these. I think that a change in the 2-drop to the Acidic Swamp Ooze would be perhaps the most effective, and then we have to just hope for a good draw. Every deck has its bad matchups, and despite this being one of ours, We can still win if we draw well. I'm certainly willing to talk about changes, and crowdsource some solutions, but as it stands, I don't want to change everything to make it an anti-hunter deck and lose its effectiveness everywhere else.
(Especially because, as a bit of a teaser for things to come, I'm currently working on a deck that I specifically intend to be anti-meta. Stay tuned in the next week or so; it needs a bunch more testing before I put it out there for review!)
I love spell damage rogue decks! Have you considered sinister strike in this deck? I might try it out for that Malygos + sinister strike 8 damage game ending combo. Thanks for the deck post
Hi adroberts!
Yes, I thought about sinister strike, but to be honest, I think it's just not an effective card. Sure, it's got great synergy with Malygos, but if you save it for that, you've got potentially two dead cards in your hand that don't affect the board in any way. I would rather include cards that can be used to affect the board or the enemy hero. That's my two cents though; including it could also result in a stolen victory or two on turn 10! I would encourage you to give it a try if you're interested, but I don't think I'll end up adding it into the main list.
Real cool concept Dreadmaker, I definitely give you props for trying to get Malygos because he/she/it (i dunno lol) is so under utilized. I think your tempo is a bit awkward going into late game though. I feel like there's not consistent transition between turn 6-8 to improve your board. Maybe you could use 1 more sticky minion there, like Cairne (or even Sunwalker if you dont have him.)
Rag would be amazing in this deck to at the least bait a removal, I guess the hidden text with this deck would be:
"8/8, use a +6 spell damage Headcrack or randomly use a 2 Eviscerates on a Minion." LOL
Thank you for the comment! I agree, I definitely wanted to try to make Malygos work - he's just so damn cool! haha.
I agree with you, though, that a late-game card to fit between Malygos and the Auctioneer might be a good addition. I've just updated the early-game of the deck a little, and so before I do much more, I'm going to play around with that a good deal more to see whether it's any better for consistency. After that, though, I may very well take out the violet teacher, or something of that nature, and pop in something a little higher up, since she's the card I think I'm most dubious about in the mid-late game. So, check back in a few days, and I may well have made more changes. Thanks for the feedback!
Thank you so much for your feedback! You've pointed out at least a few of the insecurities I have about it myself. Let me speak to them a bit:
The more I think about Malygos, the more I dislike him. The worst part is that I really do like the flavor of Malygos - He's a rare card, he makes really fun things happen, but as with any 9 drop, he's inefficient, he's often a dead card, and I really am starting to feel as though there are better options out there. I'm working on this and thinking about this some more.
To the matchups: Against Rogues, I'm not sure I agree, but I'm also not sure I disagree. I've not had a whole lot of mirror matches to test this with, but my experience has been positive; you could well be right.
As to Shamans, I have to disagree. I've actually played a lot more shaman than rogue - it's sorta my main thing, and so I know how to beat them, I guess. As long as you keep their board clear, their tools are largely meaningless; they need board presence to win, and rogues in general are very strong at killing board presence, so to me it's a pretty easy matchup. That one I'm pretty clear on; in my experience I have an almost 100% win rate against them. I will agree though that the guy I played in the video clearly didn't have it together - he must have been testing a deck or something, you're right.
The biggest issue is the card draw one, you're absolutely right. I'm not entirely sure how to fix it. I suppose I can put in a few more early creatures to sacrifice a few early spells, but that's a tough call. Shiv, FoK, Thalnos, Drakes, and Auctioneer are in there to draw you lots of cards quickly for the purpose of negating at least some problems with bad draws, but it doesn't wholly solve it at all. If you have ideas on this, I'd be happy to hear them; otherwise, I'll keep thinking about it and perhaps propose my own solution in a while.
Thanks once again for the feedback!
Do I need Malygos, or can I replace him with something like Leeroy? I'm probably not the only one that doesn't have him that would like to build some variation of this! :)
Also I think I'd rather run Vancleef over Blood Knight and replace scarlet crusader with harvest golems. edit: I actually replaced the Scarlet Crusaders with Questing Adventurers, and the argent squires with preparations. Doing well.
There's no real replacement for Malygos, I think, but I think other things certainly could be acceptable. Leeroy's one option, although I don't have him, so I can't really test with him. Ragnaros might also be good, or Ysera; I feel the best option might be a big late-game one. This deck, although it's made of low mana stuff, scales really well late because of the spellpower, but I think it still needs a big late-game threat. The beauty of malygos is that it turns your early game into that threat, but in lieu of him, I'd say you want a big late-game threat instead.
Also, Vancleef over blood knight may be fine. Like I said, blood knight is in response to the current meta - a LOT of decks run an early argent squire, and in my experience, the blood knight is a fantastic way to throw a massive early threat on the board and steal any tempo they have on the go. Vancleef would be more consistently good for dropping a threat, and he scales well, but he doesn't steal tempo like BK does. So, I think it's in the air as to which is the better option here. Also, I originally had harvest golems in here, but I actually replaced them with the scarlet crusaders in the end for the extra BK synergy, so I think if you don't have the BK there, than it makes a lot of sense to go back to the harvest golems.
Thanks for the comment!
To be honest, I don't think it fits well in this deck. Yes, it would be a good combo with Malygos, but as I already said, Malygos is a 'win more' card, rather than a game changer, and so generally speaking, I don't think it's worth trying to make him into something else. The other things I don't like about preparation here is that it's never really useful outside of that particular context. It isn't a miracle rogue deck, and even with the auctioneer out, it isn't really worth the card. One thing I like quite a bit about this deck is that most of the cards are intrinsically full of value, and having even one spellpower on the table makes that intrinsic value skyrocket; Preparation doesn't gain anything from spellpower, and to me, is too situational for this deck.
If it interests you, though, it might be worth throwing in and doing some testing with; perhaps I'm wrong in my assumptions, but I just don't think it makes the cut here.