Hearthpwn

Hello everyone, my name is Daniele (Ormone#2887), from Italy, and i achieved several times the Legend rank using off-meta decks (like overload Shaman with double earth elemental during the secret paladin era). The thing about hearthstone that i mostly enjoy is the creation of decks based around particular synergies and concepts, and yes, i also enjoy the struggle to bring these decks to Legend. However, the last metagame was terrible, there was no space for off-meta decks and i lost my appetite (i completely agree with Lifecoach about the state of the game). But still, i decided to have faith in the next expansion, and the release of the legendary quest The Caverns Below for Rogue ignited my passion again. This is my first theorycrafting contribution, and i hope you will find it interesting. We still don't have all the cards from Un'Goro, but this deck is a first attempt to create a viable Rogue quest gameplay. The purpose of this article is to create a discussion about an interesting design and about potential viability of cards and synergies. So, let's begin, i introduce you the mighty Neanderthal Rogue!

I decided to cut the Gadgetzan Auctioneer package (coins) because i think it will be too slow in order to complete the legendary quest. The viability of this deck depends on how quickly you are going to finish the quest, so it is better to start early.

The two minions that are worthy being bounced back during the early game are, according to me, Novice Engineer and Earthen Ring Farseer. Novice Engineer because we are cutting auctioneer, and  Earthen Ring Farseer because of fast decks and health in general. Rogues really appreciate healing, even when they aren't facing aggro decks, because of trades with their hero power. Bouncing back a couple of Farseer in the early game should help to stall the game, getting closer and closer to the quest reward.

Hard mulligan for Novice Engineer, Shadowstep, Gadgetzan Ferryman, Youthful Brewmaster, and Earthen Ring Farseer against aggro/fast decks. I believe brewmaster is better than ferryman, but i think both will be necessary for consistency, you don't want to play a "naked" novice engineer without bouncing her back. Keep away from hand Preparation, Violet Teacher, Shadowcaster, Thistle Tea since these cards are required later in the game. Backstab is always good in the opening hand, but as a general rule you should try not to use it, when possible, in order to combo with violet teacher. The same reasoning is applied in the auctioneer miracle deck, since if you can keep backstab for the auctioneer it gets insane value. Of course, if you see a Tunnel Trogg you should still stab the fucking back out of it, what i am trying to point out is that there is some relevant decision making component in this game, whenever you are not being overwhelmed by a bunch of pirates in the first three turns.

But lets move on! (Hopefully also from pirates decks, ehm). The general gameplan is: turn 1 play the quest, turn 2 novice engineer, shadowstep, turn 3 engineer+ferryman/brewmaster. At this point you need only another one bouncing, or the second novice engineer, and you reached this point cycling 3 times so it is not an unthinkable condition. Of course it all depends on having the novice engineer in the opening hand, but hey, this is hearthstone and we will always be slave of the opening hand.

The deck needs hard removal in order to stall until the quest is completed, and for every game in which you can't draw novice or farseer, and this is why i think both Shadow Strike and Eviscerate are necessary. Aoe would be nice, but i don't like Fan of Knives without spelldamage and we are losing Azure Drake anyway. If Flamewreathed Faceless (or other overstatted early minions) are going to be played in the next meta, we can make room for Sap as well.

Once the quest is completed, Violet Teacher can snowball the game (keep Preparation, Backstab and cheap spells for the combo, if possible). In case you are asking yourself, yes, it has been confirmed that the tokens from Violet Teacher will be 5/5 after you complete the quest. Moreover, Southsea Deckhand becomes a 4 mana cheaper, and better Leeroy Jenkins. Our favourite pirate comboes very well with the remaining bounce cards and with Shadowcaster and it can be a solid win condition. Onyxia is here for the big push against slower decks like jade druid. 

What about Thistle Tea and Mimic Pod? Since we are not playing auctioneer and we still need to cycle a lot, this is the only solution. With novice engineer being bounced back, hopefully, the card cycle should be enough. The doubled (or tripled) cards of this deck belong to three categories: Removals, Win conditions, combo pieces. 

Removals: double or triple Eviscerate is always good. Shadow strike, not so much, but against jade it can be good.

Win conditions: more Violet Teacher, or double Onyxia? yes please. Also triple southsea deckhand is the dream!

Combo pieces: Shadowstep, Ferryman, Novice Engineer, Farseer, Brewmaster, these are premium target to double/triple. Also doubling Thistle Tea or Mimic pod helps to cycle, but at this point having Preparation in hand is mandatory. Shadowcaster is a little bit heavy when doubled, but against slower decks it can reach huge value. Gotta shadowcast dem southsea deckhand, son! As far as Preparation is concerned, i have mixed feelings. When you have thistle tea and mimic pod in hand it is obvioulsy good, but in other cases it's the worst thing to double in the entire deck.

What about possible inclusions/replacements? I can definitely see a Edwin VanCleef here, it has been confirmed that after the quest he starts as a 5/5, instead of 2/2, and he keeps growing as usual. The issue i have with him is that when you have him in opening hand, you are tempted to play your shadowstep shenanigans, but when you create a big vancleef you obviously don't want to bounce it back again. You are using shadowstep on a target that will keep your quest counter to one and one only, but a big early vancleef wins a lot of games on his own. Other possible inclusions are Sap, Fan of Knives, Bloodmage Thalnos, all meta-dependant solutions. As far as replacements are concerned, one copy of Gadgetzan Ferryman is definitely on the list, baybe also one copy of Mimic Pod and/or Thistle Tea. If the meta is fast, then also Onyxia will be useless. One copy of Shadow Strike can be considered as well.

Edit: i added the pirate package, it is too consistent. In this deck, if you draw Patches the Pirate early game it can act as a third 5/5 charge minion for mid/end game (after you complete the quest). Swashburglar is a good bounce target as well, but still the priority goes to novice engineer. It is better to draw from your deck, than drawing from a semi-random pool, but swashburglar adds consistency  when you have your hand filled with bounce cards without having bounce targets. And of course, played early game with patches hepls controlling the board/pushing cheap damages. I removed one copy of thistle tea, one of shadow strike and one of shadowcaster. Preparation can also be considered as a 1 of, but i like its interaction with Crystal Core. Sometimes a 5 mana spell without any board interaction can be really heavy, Preparation helps smoothing the situation.

The last consideration that i want to make, is that this is a heavy-skill deck. There is a lot of decision making, in when and what to bounce, when to start a bounce chain instead of removing threats, using patches to ping a dangerous target or wait a turn and attack again with hero power (and then, booom, feral spirits and you lose :D). If you want to have a practical idea about the playstyle, search for some video of reynad or firebat playing C'Thun Rogue, that deck has the same "novice engineer-bouncing " core and they always point out how difficult is the decision making of every turn.