Hearthpwn

Hey everybody. I've been experimenting a lot with the new rogue quest, The Caverns Below. I essentially started with something along the lines of Dog's decklist, but I felt some changes were definitely needed.

The first thing I did was cut his Violet Teachers and Moroes. I felt that the two cards were really clunky to play when you're trying to complete the quest as fast as possible. I originally didn't cut Moroes, but it turned out that he was always a win more card, only really being helpful after the Crystal Core was played. He was easily removed by AOE and he couldn't be bounced to complete the quest.

Edwin VanCleef became a lot worse when I cut the 2 copies of Backstab, but if you decide to add them back in, he might be a good fit. The reason I cut the backstabs was so I could take 2 copies of Glacial Shard. This adds another 5/5 to your deck, in addition, it helps far better against aggro decks than Backstab, which was what I was mainly using it for. Although the shard is less good with combos, we don't have Vancleef, so it turns out we don't need combos as much.

Instead of Violet Teacher, Edwin VanCleef, and Moroes, I'm running the elemental package instead, Fire Fly and Igneous Elemental. One of the problems with Dog's old deck which he mentioned was how the deck ran out of fuel. Turns out, 5/5s that add more 5/5s to your hand gives you a lot of fuel. In addition, the elemental package gives you loads more consistency. It's maybe only 1 out of every 20 games that you can't complete the quest by turn 6. In addition to that, Fire Fly is actually a very good card against aggro, like pirate warrior. If you follow up your quest with 2 1/2s on turn 2, trades are a little bit awkward for 1/1 pirates.

With these changes, I think I've increased the winrate vs aggro by a lot. It's about a 50/50 on if you succeed or fail against aggro. In addition, I believe you can also more consistently complete the quest before other rogue lists out there right now. Currently at rank 8 and climbing. Pretty happy with it so far.

(Update: 4/10/17) - I've been facing quite a lot of scary minions pre-Crystal Core and decided to cut my Eviscerates for Saps. This allows for better survival in certain matchups, allowing you to remove large minions temporarily from the board. This can be used against Mountain Giant, Humongous Razorleaf, Edwin VanCleef, and just general scary early game minions. It still works well in the pirate matchup if you're facing against a Frothing Berserker or Bloodsail Raider. It's also much better against quest warrior as well. Turns out, in this deck, that just delaying the game, not necessarily efficiently removing every single minion, is important for the end game of the archetype.

(Update: 4/10/17) - I've been suggested some changes that I tried out. For one, I've been testing out x2 Bilefin Tidehunter in place of the Swashburglars and I'm pretty happy with the change so far. The aggro matchup is a bit easier and it also helps you catch up in the mirror match as well. I've also been trying out Vanish, but I'm not 100% sold on it yet.

(Update 4/11/17) - You're probably wondering "What in the world is Stonehill Defender doing in this deck?" Well, here's why. Thinking about it, the card isn't that expensive, only 3 mana, and it works pretty well against aggro for delaying the game, but it also gets value against control decks as well. The card is weak, so it likes to get buffed by the Crystal Core. In addition to all that, it can sometimes discover itself about 10% of the time, more likely in rogue than in almost any other class. It's a great Shadowstep target. I still haven't played against any aggro decks after adding the card, but I'm 99% sure that Stonehill Defender works great in that matchup.

(Update 4/12/17) - Played some more games with Vanish and I think it's worth running at least one copy. Not sure about two copies yet.

(Update 4/17/17) - Currently running this iteration which Kycoo got #2 legend with. I actually really really liked this version of the deck. It's not running any Saps, Eviscerates, or Backstabs at all, just double Vanish. I still think Stonehill Defender might be better than Swashburglar, but I decided to run with an unedited version of the list since I know it works. Probably not updating this list any further. Happy to have been a part of this journey, trying out different ways to build the deck, but I think it's up to the top players out there to find the best possible refinements to the deck, not me.

Good luck and have fun in the tavern. If you try out this list, let me know what you think of the changes I've made.

[My Current Thoughts on the Future of the Deck]

I've been trying out Vanish and I think the card might see play. I've been running it in place of one Fan of Knives so far and it seems fine. I'm just concerned about quest decks and charge minions taking advantage of the vanish. Almost seems better to run another Fan of Knives if you're facing a lot of those types of decks.