Tempo Rogue is back!

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Random raging opponent: "Your deck sucks! What was that, midrange rogue? Nobody plays that S**t!!!!

Mplp1927: "I do"

 

Hi, my name is MPLP1927 and this is my Post-Naxx Tempo Rogue. This is my first guide and I'm currently at rank 4. ATM my Win-rate with this deck is roughly 70%, I'll break down the specific matchup rates in the Matchup Tips section.

I made this deck cause I wanted to bring back the Tempo Rogue archetype which has been around since the beginning of Hearthstone but lately it kinda disappeared from ladder, leaving its place to other more popular tempo based decks (I'm looking at you, Zoolock). It may look a little odd at first glance and you could ask the question "if it's a tempo rogue, where are the weapons?" but the answer is really simple and I'll explain it better later on.

Deck Concept

The idea behind this deck is to gain tempo early on, and maintain it throughout the entire match controlling the board almost exclusively using your minions and spells. The reason I chose to run no weapons (and therefore no Deadly Poison and Blade Flurry) is that in the current meta I felt like Rogue cannot really afford to invest too much health to keep the board nice and clean. The majority of classes I faced since the beginning of the season was  hunters, followed by zoo lock (at lower ranks) and warriors/priests (at higher ranks) and in all this matchups your health is an extremely important (and scarce) resource, cause Rogue can't shield or heal up and since this is a Tempo Rogue you will tend to play more often as "control" against classes which can afford to be more aggressive like hunter and lock.

So, why choose Rogue as your class if you wanna play Tempo when there are other classes which can play good Tempo decks? Answer: cause Rogue is imho THE BEST Tempo class. There's no need to explain spells like Backstab or Eviscerate or my absolute favourite minion in the game, the SI:7 Agent. These tools are pure Tempo gold and there are really few class cards in hearthstone that can be compared to them. Not to mention Sap, one of the most undervalued cards in the game at the moment (Yes, SAP!)

That being said, let's take a look at the main theme of this deck: Deathrattle. Right now, Naxxaramas has completely changed the meta (as expected) and the new cards fit really smoothly in the Tempo archetype. Ladder is flooded by Haunted Creepers and Sludge Belchers because they are just THAT good! It's like having a ton of new Harvest Golems, arguably the best Tempo card in the game, so it was a pretty obvious choice to brew a deck revolving around this concept.

Card choices

Backstab: your best starting hand choice, you never mulligan this beauty out. 2 dmg, 0 mana, enables combos and benefit from spell damage. Could you ask more?

Eviscerate: play your Creeper and get rid of this annoying Misha on turn 4, boost it with Thalnos or Drakes and wreck that Cabal Shadow Priest, double face it for sweet 8 dmg on 4 mana. I'd run 6 of them if I could.

Sap: this card, my friend, is INSANELY good if used properly. Yes, you can use it to bypass an Ancient of War and swing for lethal (which could be enough to justify using it) but it really shines used as a pseudo-removal. You've got board control, on turn 6 your opponent finally drop his Savannah Highmane and you just send it back a turn later, swinging another time with your poor little Damaged Golem, maybe buffed up with a provvidential Dark Iron Dwarf. Next turn your opponent will have to choose between just replaying it wasting one mana crystal (giving you yet another turn to properly take care of it) or play other stuff (and in that case you're happy cause that scary lion will not pest you for a while). This card scream value. Don't underestimate it!

Edwin VanCleef: Keep that in mind: you're not a Miracle Rogue. You don't need to save 23 cards in your hand for the entire match just to pop out a really expensive soon-to-be Sheep. Your best time to play Mr. VanCleef is on turn 2 with The Coin or turn 3 with a Backstab, as a nice and solid 4/4 body. That Priest is going to uninstall hearthstone after that, I promise! You can't find it in your starting hand? No problem, he will be a juicy 6/6 for mid to late game. You have plenty of cheap minions and spells in this deck so you will always get good value from this guy.

Fan of Knives: You need AoE damage, that's for sure. While the classic Blade Flurry can be slightly more effective if you have a Deadly Poison or an Assassin's Blade (which we don't), the knives cycle themselves and you will always find a good moment to use it, especially in this meta filled with zoo locks , hunters and the occasional shaman. Add Spell Damage to the recipe to have a 3 mana Consecration.

SI:7 Agent: Best minion in the game PERIOD

Undertaker: In the Good ol' days, this slot used to be taken by Argent Squire which was, and still is, a very good Tempo minion. Main problem with it, is that if you get it later in the game, tends to be an almost irrelevant drop 90% of the times. Undertaker solve this problem cause it can work well both in the early game (it will either eat a good removal like a Wrath or a Slam, or trade at least 2 for 1 when buffed up) and later as the match progress, since there's a lot of deathrattle minions in the deck.

Bloodmage Thalnos: ...aaaand here's the first one! this card has always been a mandatory card in Tempo Rogue so the deathrattle theme of this deck just add another bit of value. Use it to buff an Undertaker, keep it for a turn four comboed Eviscerate or just draw a lot of cards when Kel'Thuzad is out and this little guy keeps running into your opponent minions just to come back as soon as you pass the turn. Absolutely good.

Haunted Creeper: It's a deathrattle deck, this guy is a 2 mana golem, the opponent won't bother killing it early so it will stick around and help you trade efficiently saving your health points (you don't really need that dagger dude). A must-have.

Loot Hoarder: Not much to say, it helps you drawing, is a deathrattle minion but it dies pretty quickly. Just one is enough.

Harvest Golem: Same as for Thalnos. This guy is THE Tempo card, has always been there and it will always be. Deck's theme just buff up it's value. We love you Golem.

Shade of Naxxramas: You saw this card and you raised your eyebrow. I know it. And I understand you. This card could seem not to really fit in here. It doesn't have a deathrattle, you can't buff it up with Mark of the Wild or Blessing of Kings so why the hell should you run it? The truth is, you don't really have to. I like it cause it's a 3 drop, so if you don't have your golems you wanna play a body on turn 3 to mantain Tempo and you don't really wanna go for that uncomboed SI:7, do you? 90% of the time I'll just pop it out on turn 4 to trade or even go face but there are also a lot of situations in which you wanna keep it stealthed. Wait until it's a 4/4 against a priest, or wait until it's a 5/5 to kill a Loatheb or a Savannah Highmane. It may even force a Hunter to use a mana crystal to play Flare, screwing his Tempo for the turn. I like it, it helps me a lot, but if you don't think it belongs to the deck, feel free to swap it out. Check the "Card replacement" section for suggestions.

Dark Iron Dwarf: Remember what we said in the beginning? We don't run any weapon, so we'll use our minions in order to control the board. This little guy helps you trading efficiently, is a solid anti-priest 4/4 body and it can be played alone on turn 4 with no regrets. Tempo efficient, cost efficient, sounds good to me.

Defender of Argus: Extremely powerful card in any Tempo deck. Saves your butt from Leeroy Jenkins lethals or buff up your small minions in order to trade efficiently. Can't go without it.

Gnomish Inventor: This card is currently in the testing phase so I'm not sure it will always be in here. Mainly it's purpose is to help maintaining a good curve and provide drawing power. It can also become a Sen'jin Shieldmasta with a nearby Defender which is not bad at all. Anyway this is not one of the "Core-cards" of the deck, so it can be replaiced if you feel so!

Azure Drake: This is a classic Tempo Rogue must-have. Solid body, draw a card, spell damage. Pre-Naxx it used to be the best 5 slot minion in the game (remember Sylvanas nerf? I do!) but now there are fortunately other good choices like...

Sludge Belcher: One of the best new cards from the Floating Citadel! Extremely sticky, this guy will laugh at any Force of Nature + Savage Roar combo, it will save you from Leeroy Jenkins and will buff up your Undertaker on turn 6. Absolute MVP if it survives turn 7 and Kel'Thuzad comes in.

Cairne Bloodhoof: The Yeti-into-Yeti bad guy. It fills your 6 drop slot nice and tidly, it synergizes with basically every card in this deck, it will eat silences and removals saving your KT and it will taunt Garrosh for the lolz. Don't have it? Craft it! You won't be disappointed.

The Black Knight: It's a Tech card but boy, is a good one. In this meta, everybody run taunts. Hunters do, same as Warriors, Shamans, Locks and even Tempo priests. Not to mention Druids... Good 6 spot filler, good 4/5 body, use it to stab that Tirion Fordring and move on. I find it extremely useful but he can be swapped out for other cards. Check the dedicated section!

Kel'Thuzad: Ok, I'm not gonna lie. This guy is the reason why I made this deck. I wanted to play him so badly in constructed and I thought this deck would have been perfect. The old Tempo Rogues sometimes could have had serious problems lacking powerful finishers so, they started running Ragnaros the Firelord. While the burning hot giant elemental surely is a really powerful card, I felt him to be a little bit less consistent in this meta filled with creature-popping minions. Hitting that Slime for 8 dmg would be a waste, wouldn't it? So here it comes the Lich! It synergize amazingly with this deck's multiple little sneaky minions, you can kill a Molten Giant just smashing into it your Spectral Spiders, Loot Hoarders, leftover Defender of Arguses and so on, just to make them come back all together. And you will benefit even more from it for all your good deathrattles. Last thing, did I mentioned it's a 6/8?

Card Replacement

You may not have all the cards in the decklist or just not like some of them. While I strongly recommed to keep the "Core-cards" of the deck, here are some valid alternatives for the others:

Edwin VanCleef: Not everybody like this card and since it's a legendary, not everybody own one of these. Good cheap alternatives could be a second Loot Hoarder or an Ironbeak Owl (Thanks to WildxStar for the suggestion in the comments). Another good one would be the Nerubian Egg cause, beside the obvious deathrattle interaction, we have some kind of activator in the deck, like Defenders and Dark Iron Dwarf and given the actual Hunter-heavy meta, it can just be a good response to a possible Explosive Trap. When the meta shifts toward a more heavy aggro envinronment, another interesting choice is Betrayal (nobody expect that). I don't recommend running a second Shade cause I feel having 2 of them could slow down your game too much. If you don't agree with me, feel free to give it a shot anyway.

Shade of Naxxramas: Since the purpose of this card is mainly to give you a playable body on turn 3, if you don't like it I'd suggest to try out a Shattered Sun Cleric which is good for Tempo or an Earthen Ring Farseer to give you a little bit more survivability. If you wanna go more "Zooish" this is a good spot for the Nerubian Egg as well, for the same reasons i mentioned in the Edwin replacement tip.

Gnomish Inventor: You wanna have a decent 4 drop, so obvious alternatives are a second Dark Iron Dwarf (definitely recommended if you go with the Eggs) or one between Sen'jin Shieldmasta and Chillwind Yeti. I'm currently testing another 4/4 body for 4 mana which you won't see being played in constructed so often: the Master of Disguise. I see some potential in this card cause it can restealth a shade after you used it to attack, or maybe just an Undertaker if you have some more deathrattl minion to follow up in the next turn. But I think it could be really good also in the late game to stealth your KT, leaving him safe and concealed into the shadows. Just an idea, I'll run some tests and I'll update this section accordingly to the results.

Cairne Bloodhoof and The Black Knight: I'll cover these two cards together cause, even if they have different purposes, they're both legendaries, have similar stats and fill the 6 mana slots of the deck.

Cairne is one of the Core-cards but you may not have it. However, if you do have it, I recommend to keep it in. There's no really budget alternative to Cairne but you should try to replace it with a 6 drop minion. Argent Commander is a solid Tempo card for relatively low dust cost. Loatheb is another really good Tempo card and it's likely for you to have it in your collection. Anyway, if you have access to Sylvanas Windrunner, that's definitely your best choice.

TBK is a Tech card, as I said in the  description, so I would probably replace it with another Tech card like Harrison Jones if the meta is weapon-class heavy, or just go with Sylvanas Windrunner / Loatheb if you run Cairne. The best budget alternatives are Argent Commander or the even cheaper Assassinate.

Matchups Breakdown: Mulligan, Strategies and General Tips (coming soon)