Hearthpwn

Update: March 29, 2014:

So, I took this deck into the 23rd Managrind open, and I ended up coming in second! I was recording the entire thing, so I've uploaded them all to youtube. Here's the playlist with everything in it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTOA1iCujZQ&list=PLRDlkj_YLxjMsEwmgZP5_SPPWYMGhba1m

For those of you wondering whether or not this deck can compete at the highest levels - it seems like it can!

Update: March 27, 2014:

Many people have been explaining that they want to build this deck, but they lack the legendaries and the Epics. All three of these cards are amongst the best in the game in their class, and so they are certainly worth crafting if you'd like to work towards that; however, in lieu of this, I've provided an update below in the individual card guide where I've put in a few words that speak to possible substitutions for these cards.

First, the thing you really want to know:

So far, this deck has a winrate for me of about 75%+ at rank 7-8. Check out the Trial video at the end of this post; not only is it proof of said winrate, but it's also a good example of how to play the deck! The first game especially is an excellent representation of many of the capabilities of the deck.

Premise:

This deck is a product of playing around with variations on my Spellsword rogue deck (found here: http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/37766-dreadmakers-spellsword-rogue) and a few other concepts that I wanted to experiment with. The purpose of this deck is to control the early game with cheap, efficient minions and spells, and then after doing continual incidental damage throughout the game, to burst them down at the end. I've found that the deck is exceptional at clearing the enemy's board, and is generally quite effective in most matchups. The hardest ones tend to be the hardest ones for any rogue deck, namely things with a lot of heavy taunt or very, very aggressive rushes. However, this deck can be quite effective with the right draw against both of those archetypes, and certainly has a chance to win no matter what.

Playstyle:

In the early game, you want to sit back and control. Do your best to put minions out and take board control yourself, but your prime directive in the early game is to make sure your opponent doesn't have a board. This varies a little bit - against aggressive decks, you want to do this even harder, but against control decks, you should try to be quite aggressive yourself (which this deck can certainly do). Going into the mid-game, try to damage your opponent incidentally where you can. Often, you'll be able to clear their board and keep board presence yourself with only spells, which means you can often hit them for 3-6 a turn without a lot of problems. This is where we can start to use Deadly Poison with Blade Flurry to melt the opponent's board and really take control.

Win Conditions:

In the late game, after you've clearly established board control, one of your easiest win conditions is the leeroy combo.  However, this isn't your only win condition at all! Often, you can just burn down your opponent with spells, direct damage from creatures, or help from a deadly poisoned assassin's blade. Sprint can also win games for you by providing you with combos when you and your opponent are top-decking. There are a lot of ways this deck can win!

Mulligan Strategies:

It's impossible to account for all possible mulligan strategies here, But we can certainly talk about a few. Generally, if you have a perdition's blade or an SI:7 agent, you should keep them, particularly if you have backstab (but even if you don't). Keep bloodsail raiders, loot hoarders and your abusive sergeant. Otherwise, you generally want to get rid of everything else; most of your spells (except backstab) are overkill in the early game, so there's not a lot of reason to keep them around. Bigger creatures, too, or the assassin's blade, won't be playable for a long time, so you generally want to mulligan towards a faster start.

 

Individual Card Guide:

Backstab: This should be in every rogue deck. Not a lot of things to say about this; One thing to keep in mind, though, is that it's a great combo starter, so if you can save it to use with perdition's blade or the SI:7 agent, all the better!

Shadowstep: This is a weird one. It's in here for use with essentially 3 cards. It's an obvious combo with Leeroy, but the others are worth talking about. Handlocks present a problem for this deck (as with any rogue deck - too many huge taunts!), but you can mitigate that by shadowstepping a Big Game Hunter. This is a 4 mana solution that can take out 2 taunted giants! this is also a great trick against control warriors. Finally, it can be used in a bind with the SI:7 agent to provide an additional 2 damage for 1 mana at basically any point. Another additional combo is to use it with the Azure drake if you're hurting for cards.

Deadly Poison: Great card for its synergy with the weapons in the deck, but especially with blade flurry - even if you only use it on your default daggers, you can make blade flurry more effective than a Consecration for less mana!

Abusive Sergeant: Wonderful 1-drop, not only for the fact that it's great to play on turn one, but because it never becomes useless. You can play it at any point in the game to make trades more efficient, or to get a little extra damage out of an attack. it's also a great combo starter.

Blade Flurry: In some ways, the real crux of this deck. It's a very efficient card, and if you can get spellpower into it from the Drakes or Thalnos, all the better. Don't be afraid to use this card early - it hits the enemy hero, too, so it's a good deal in basically all circumstances!

Eviscerate: No real need for explanation; use as you would in any other rogue deck.

Sap: This is better than Assassinate for this deck (and I think in general) on a few levels. Sap requires the enemy to make decisions much more than Assassinate does, and frankly, the likelihood of them slowing their own tempo down so much in order to play the same thing as last turn is low. It's great for postponing having to deal with tough minions for another turn and a better card draw, and also for pushing through a taunt. It's also cheap enough (unlike assassinate) that you can push through even more damage or minions on the same turn you play it.

Bloodmage Thalnos: Excellent card for rogue decks. Spellpower to help with blade flurry and all of the other spell damage cards, as well as card draw. Don't ever play him on turn 2 or on his own, unless you're hurting for cards; try to save him for when you can get more value out of your spells with him. Substitute for Thalnos: Kobold Geomancer.

Bloodsail Raider: This is an incredible card for the rogue. In a weapon-centered deck like this, you'd be crazy not to have it. Even with the Rogue's basic hero power, this becomes a 3/3 for 2 mana, which is a deal you can't get anywhere else, and when deadly poison comes into play, or the Perdition's blade, or the Assassin's blade, or any combination of those things, she gets to be incredible. Good card in its own right AND it synergizes brilliantly with 5 other cards in the deck and the hero power. Excellent, excellent value.

Loot Hoarder: We need card draw in this deck, and here's one of our solutions. I'm not entirely sold on this, and indeed, it could turn into an Acidic Swamp Ooze in time, but as of right now, it's working well.

Perdition's Blade: Such incredible value. Almost always a 2 for 1 card, and sometimes a 3 for 1 card, it is completely fundamental to early game board control. It's also great in the late game for damaging your enemy over his taunts, if you're close to victory, and it's great for a blade flurry deadly poison combo.

Big Game Hunter: This is our defense against control decks, and a great one at that. It has decent value on its own, but if it saves you from a giant, which are becoming increasingly popular in the current meta, all the better. Against warriors and handlocks, the value only increases when using it with shadowstep. Substitute for Big Game Hunter: There really isn't an exact substitute here. If you feel like you need the late game control, swap it out for an Assassinate. If you feel like you want some interesting flavour, try a blood knight. If you can't have the BGH, you should supply whatever card you'd like that you think would go well here or that is a personal favorite of yours. That said - the BGH is a great neutral epic to craft, and he fits in most non-rush decks (and even some rush decks!). So, if you're looking for something to craft, this certainly isn't a terrible option.

SI:7 Agent: This should be in all rogue decks; not a lot of explanation needed. If you have nothing else to play on turn 3, don't worry about playing it without the battlecry. Generally, though, you should try to make it work to get the most value out. Great to combo with backstab, especially against aggressive decks.

Leeroy Jenkins: This is one of the several win conditions in the deck, and it does a great job at it. Almost never a dead card. With this deck, it's also quite playable even when it won't immediately win you the game - you can use blade flurry immediately after you play him to clean up the whelps he spawns. Substitute for Leeroy: If you want to keep the spirit of the deck, an Arcane Golem is probably your best bet. Reckless Rocketeer is another option, though probably the inferior of the two, because if it's cost. Otherwise, like the BGH, this can be flavor - it's up to you! my inclination might even be a Gadgetzan Auctioneer, if I didn't want the charge-based victory condition.

Sen'jin Shieldmasta: Anti-aggro card, and a solid 4 drop in its own right. Much better than a yeti in the current meta, I would argue - that one extra damage isn't going to save you in 90% of cases, but the taunt most certainly can.

Assassin's Blade: I only have one of these in there because you simply don't need more. It has 4 durability, and it'll be a rare game that you'll use up all four charges before you blade flurry with it. Great finisher, and a great pressure card.

Azure Drake: Very useful to most rogue decks; card draw and spell power, with a 4/4 body. What more could you want? Also fairly useful in combination with shadowstep to save it from death or simply to get another card.

Sprint: Finally, your get-out-of-jail-free card. This will win you the game in a top-deck war, and it will also give you plenty of options as long as you have board control. Not great when you're very behind, but if you're moderately behind, or neutral, it'll often save you. It can also be great to draw into the victory, if you get a combo like deadly poison/assassin's blade flurry, or shadowstep/leeroy.

 

If you have any questions or comments about the deck, feel free to put them here and I'll respond as quickly as I can. This is very much a living deck that I play with regularly and make changes to; This page will be updated frequently as the deck develops!

Video Guides:

Deck Overview:

Deck Trial: