Hearthpwn

Hey man, any updates for the new expansion? I think Sonya actually deserved a spot, probably in the Vilespine slot. But apart from that I've not seen any other interesting option.. did you? Maybe Zola, but I really can't find a slot for it.. and for being really strong I think Bran should be added back too, so that would mean 2 slots actually.

EDIT: in the end I've crafted Sonya too, and tried to fit both Zola-Sonya-Brann in. I feel like I need the 2 Loot Hoarders, so I pulled out the Azure Drakes. Works pretty well, but decks such as aggro paladin and ESPECIALLY cube lock seem just too overpowered to beat in any setup.. also tried to pull out Sludges for more aggressiveness and cycling, or Nzoth/DK for more tempo, but it just doesn't work against those.. however other matchups are playable: I've even been able to outvalue and beat a Big Priest going something like 5 Ragnaros (and all the rest..), ending with brann/shadowcaster infinite combo, infinite Ayas and mistress of mixtures for my healing, 13/13 jades and  even more ready to come before he just conceded :)

I've also seen people playing Umbra-Cube combos in Jade Rogue (running Piloted Shredder), but it feels a bit clunky

 Have you considered hemet jungle hunter

I'm playing a similar list, and I've got some questions for you:

- did you tried Spirit Singer Umbra? Unfortunately after the October patch it doesn't trigger Raptor anymore, but it's still really powerful, especially if you run Sylvanas

- I can see the reasons to drop Hoarder for Novice (better against priest, and also yelds more powerful N'Zoth), but doesn't that make Raptor a bit too weak, especially on curve? That's what my tests found out, at least. Otherwise, with that spellpower, I would see Shiv better than Engineer anyway

- do you find Fan of Knives actually useful? I see you used to have them even without Azure Drakes. With Drakes they surely have a point, but without I feel like Mimic Pod would have been far superior

- why did you drop shadowsteps? They are so full of targets, especially if you run Novices and Drakes (and double Vilespine! But double vilespine without shdowsteps is probably not worthy)

- how do you feel about running powerful cards like Sylvanas and Bonemares, which are incredibly strong (the latter especially if you run shadowsteps), but that costing more than 5, they aren't really good with the DK?

Thanks for your interest and input :)

There is nothing wrong with playing Unearthed Raptor on curve, or ever, even without a target. 3/4 on turn 3 is great, especially against aggro.

I like your idea of Shiv in place of Novice Engineer. I had considered it before. Don't recall why I chose not to. But the deck has a way of getting board locked. And as you observed, with the spell damage, it's going to often be better.

For this reason, I was surprised you don't find value in Fan of Knives. It is true that 50% of the time, I cycle it, which would make Mimic Pod better. But against aggro, it can be quite useful. I just hate how often it draws into Backstab lol.

I have Sylvanas Windrunner in my deck already. I also use Bonemare in my standard list. I don't use it in Wild, not for the DK, but because the deck is quite strong without them. Choosing to not include a card just for the DK I don't think is wise. Though costing 5 or less is certainly a consideration.

I would love to include a Shadowstep. I used to have some insane value games back when I had it in the deck. Aya Blackpaw becomes 4 cost, which allows you to Shadow Reflection her. Good times! Or how about making N'Zoth the Corruptor 8 cost, allowing you to cast him and Gang Up on the same turn? I guess that's the reason it's no longer in: I was often too greedy with it.

I've played a list much more similar to yours in these days, so I can add more feedback based on experience

- I really liked the fan of knives with some added spellpower. What I did not like about FoKs was running them without the drakes. That's where I think mimic pod could be better, as single ping around the board was often not much useful. But with added spellpower, I really liked them

- ..and I really liked shiv too: they often beneft from the spellpower, and give immediate draw. However I felt like the less Raptor consistency was working against me, so I put Hoarders back. But if you prefer not running them, and you are fine with less consistent raptors, go shiv all the way, it's great!

- talking about hoarders and targets for Raptors: it's true that a 3/4 on curve isn't bad on its own. But the issue is that it seemed to me that if raptors don't get to copy a "Jade" or "draw" deathrattle, I often end up with not enough tempo/resources, that's why I got back into using hoarders

- I can see what you mean with "too greedy with shadowstep". There are awesome combo you can make (nzoth shadowstep above everything else), but it's easy to fall into the trap of shadowstepping a minion immediately, just to get the battlecry again, and a reduced cost. You lose both card advantage and tempo by doing that.. even bouncing nzoth may not be optimal, if you are fighting for board, until it has at least attacked another minion first. I always fall into the "danger of cool things" with shadowstep, failing to use them at the correct time, but if your opponent is smart, it may prevent you from having chances of using it at the correct time. So part of me would love to run them, but the tests seem to prove that I'm better without, acually ;)

- I love to run Brann: often it's just a way to double a single battlecry, but there are times where you can chain multiple Raptors (especially with DK and Shadowcasters), and get up to 8x Jade deathrattles just on the last one! Plus, in long games you can also get the infinite minion combo: either with double Shadowcaster, or SC + Valeera, you get a 1 mana SC, than you go Bran+SC+SC and get multiple 1cc Brans and Shadowcasters, and you can get infinite copies of any of your minions. That works better with Shadowsteps and Vilespines/Bonemares as targets, but still with your current list can give incredible value, and I find it really useful in long games, especially against Jade Druid

I wanted to check in and say thanks for the Shiv recommendation. With the spell damage in the deck, and the way the board gets minion clogged, I'm embarrassed I didn't put them in sooner!

Brann Bronzebeard, followed by a pair of Unearthed Raptors is a very fun meme. You can check out my youtube channel for various highlights; I've executed that a few times. The problem is that you get board choked and are unable to make full use of it. The Dane infinity loop can be a lot of fun. But with Valeera the Hollow you can already accomplish it.

I used to run Brann Bronzebeard. He's not bad, he just doesn't make the cut in my current list.

Have you seen some of the Kobolds and Catacombs reveals? I'm pretty excited about Sonya Shadowdancer. Zola the Gorgon looks interesting, but probably won't make the cut for me.

Glad you liked shiv! :)

Yeah, noticed both cards, but I'm not particularly thrilled. They may still be worth a test, but I feel like Shadowcasters are better than both of them, and I don't feel like I need "more" shadowcasters in the deck anyway.

Let's look closer: in this deck what we really like are the battlecries rather than the base stats, so I would rather shadowcaster an Aya for a 1/1 costing one, than Gorgoning for a 5/3 costing 6. Sure, I could cast Aya and Zola the same turn, but so I could if I shadowcasted another shadowcaster before than..

Talking about Sonya instead: the need for the minions to die may be a big issue. First of all it can't be comboed with that minion in the same turn you play it, so it's definitely slower than shadowcasters. It's stronger if you have some good minions from the previous turn AND you have enemy minions to trade in (well, you could kill your own minions with some spells maybe, but I feel like it won't be the better choice usually). Since running shadowstep, I've noticed that opponents are really scared about me bouncing and copying battlecry cards, so they usually kill them on sight: I feel like I can't really trust on having good minions to trade on my turn. Sure, it can also seem very nice behind a Sludge Belcher, but a 2/2 is very weak to any sort of removal anyway.

I agree that Zola the Gorgon will not make the cut. However, I'm also certain that Sonya Shadowdancer will. Yes, she's conditional. So are Unearthed Raptor, Shadowcaster, and even N'Zoth the Corruptor to some extent. But for every time she's a dead card in your hand, there's going to be X times where she catapults your winrate.

Sometimes you draw Valeera the Hollow after N'Zoth is dead, and every Jade card has been played. You still put her in the deck.

I think contending speculation is very healthy. It will be interesting to see who is correct. Or if there's not an (in)correct at all and it's just a matter of taste. I just saw that Elven Minstrel is a thing, and am wondering if/how that will fit into the deck. Or if the secrets will be worth playing. That said, going by my current deck list and the current meta, I'm reasonably certain that Sonya will be worth the include way more often than not.

Even though Shadowcaster is a thing, I still see people not killing Aya right away for example. If face decks start board controlling to prevent the possibility, then Sonya existing will benefit the deck even if you don't include her!

Has anyone tried making a Standard version of this? Might be difficult to replace Sludge Belcher, it's so good against aggro!

Sorry that I did not see your post sooner. Starting a couple days prior to the patch, I tweaked the deck to be Standard compliant. I toyed with the list a bit and have finally settled on a list I'm very comfortable with. You can find it here.

How does this do against reno priest? Seems to be hard matchup and it takes up a large share of the wild meta. 

So far, this deck has been a lot of fun. I'm 7-0 with it from rank 20 to 15. I managed to beat a jade druid who ramped up and played Ultimate Infestation on turn 5. Admittedly, my opponent was playing poorly, but this shows just what this deck is capable of. Check out the replay here if you're interested: https://hsreplay.net/replay/iDJmDkkFVmHMCgQnmeDScf

I've never had Roll the Bones in a deck before, but it's only drawn me one card once so far, and often draws me three cards, which is awesome! If it fails to perform in the the future, I'll toy with the idea of replacing it with Mimic Pod, or perhaps going for one of each, but so far, I'm loving it.

I'm really happy to hear of your success! Thanks for sharing :)

I'm proud that the deck has been able to out-jade Jade Druids from even before KFT.

I wanted to reply to let you know that I've been tweaking the decklist for awhile now on my stream. I've finally reached a list that feels very well refined. It has no Roll The Bones or equivalent, but still seems to draw everything right on time. This is due in part to upping the mana curve a bit.

I've edited the deck on this page, my description of it, as well as the link to a video. Be sure to check the changes out and let me know what you think! Awesome replay too!

So I've been playing a variant of your deck that's been working really well for me so far. It's nearly the same deck, but with a few key differences:

I kept the 2x Loot Hoarder you used to have over Novice Engineer, since having even more Turn 2 deathrattle minions into turn 3 Unearthed Raptor synergy is so powerful. Also, having N'Zoth bring back card draw minions can win you the game later on. I also put in 2x Piloted Shredder over the Azure Drake, because Shredder is one of the best 4-drops ever printed, and you get more Raptor targets and a board that's even stickier.

Finally, I took out 1 Mistress of Mixtures, as I think it's really only good for the early game, and this deck is pretty decent at keeping the early game board already. In its place, I added Cairne Bloodhoof, another sticky deathrattle that's really tough for most decks to deal with.

What happens most games is that I gain the board early, keep the board, and as my opponent frantically tries to remove everything, I just keep building the jade counter and duplicating deathrattles. He'll get a big board clear, and find a bunch of big jades staring him in the face, then concede. It's incredibly satisfying.

I really appreciate the feedback!

It's no secret that Priest is a dominant class right now. Loot Hoarder is weak against Potion of Madness, while Azure Drake is strong against Dragonfire Potion.

My other reservation to these alterations is that the deck already risks a diluted deathrattle pool, as well as fatigue.

All that said, the point of the deck is to have fun. So if that is fun for you, then I'm glad to have been a part of that :D

Another tweak has been made to the deck: I've removed Shadowstep, Gang Up, and 1x Stonehill Defender for 2x Shadowcaster and Sylvanas Windrunner. Full explanation of why can be found in part 16 of my Wild N'Zoth Jade Rogue series here

Deck has been updated in the form of Brann Bronzebeard being replaced with Gang Up. Full explanation of why can be found in part 12 of my Wild N'Zoth Jade Rogue series here.

First name doesn't happen to be Eliza, does it?

This deck really showed me the potential of Valeera the Hollow! Just as I was beginning to regret crafting her.. I took out two Roll the Bones for two Mimic Pod as I felt they gave better value. All in, really fun deck! Great results too!

Quote from SleepyBear_113692 >>

This deck really showed me the potential of Valeera the Hollow! Just as I was beginning to regret crafting her.. I took out two Roll the Bones for two Mimic Pod as I felt they gave better value. All in, really fun deck! Great results too!