Hearthpwn

Updated list;

• Converted the invoke package into a new pickpocket package with 4 rush cards, giving the deck significantly better tempo, and unpredictability.
• Added Whelp to the Deathrattle pool and Necrium Blade for more deathrattle/tempo abuse.
• Added Faceless Corruptor because WOW.  Especially with Warbringer buffs.

If you want to run recruiter, I can easily see it in place of Bloodmage.  The extra Deathrattle is really uneeded.

As far a s sequencing your draws goes... you don't really care about trying to go Uber with as many deathrattle triggers as you can.  Just one Anubisath Warbringer trigger is more than enough to swing the game for you, additional ones are pure luxury.

I have not run Faceless yet, but I will give it a try.  I can see the appeal, but I'm not sure where I would fit him in.

This is a midrange deck looking to abuse the Deathrattle trigger on Necrium Apothecary.  In addition to the Apothecary/Anka engine, we are also running Galakron the Nightmare.  We are not actively trying to abuse Galakrond, since his invoke cards can be poor tempo, even though the "G"-man and Kronx are worth running on their own.  Instead of the invoke package, we are running a small selection of Pickpocket cards along side Underbelly Fence and Vendetta to help with our tempo plays.

For the early part of the game you will likely be playing tempo/board control, looking to set up Necrium Apothecary if you can. Even if your sequencing is off, Anka, the Buried can still convert your 9-drops into 1 drops if they are clogging up your hand.  This gives you multiple opportunities to set up some massive hands and boards , without giving up as much tempo as you might think.

Sound fun?  It is... and also devastatingly effective.

• 2x (0) Backstab-- Tempo control, 0-cost helps with early Apothecary trigger
• 1x (0) Wisp -- 0-cast option for triggering early Apothecary, or for setup with Faceless Corrupter
• 2x (1) Dragon's Hoard -- 1-drop that enables Vendetta and Fence, and usually finds a high quality minion.
• 2x (2) Belligerent Gnome -- Small taunt that can help that helps with aggro decks early, and a cheap mid sized ward later if buffed.
• 1x (2) Clever Disguise -- 2-for-1 card generator that activates Vendetta and Fence.
• 2x (2) Underbelly Fence -- Early tempo card, that gets better if you have pickpocketed a card from outside the class.  Handbuffs only make him better.
• 1x (3) Fan of Knives -- Card draw with small AoE.  Not spectacular, but can help in odd situations while drawing a card.
• 2x (3) Necrium Blade -- Weapon that's good for tempo, especially if you can time it with one of your deathrattles. Fits perfectly with a T4 Apothecary.
• 2x (4) Hench-Clan Burglar -- Solid Body and card generation that triggers Vendetta and Fence.
• 2x (4) Necrium Apothecary -- Busted deathrattle enabler letting cheat some of the best effects into the game early while drawing you a card.
• 2x (4) Vendetta -- with 7 Pickpocket effects in the deck, you shouldn't have much difficulty using this as 0-cost removal.  Great for tempo.
• 1x (5) Anka, the Buried -- 5 mana for 5/5 that converts your expensive deathrattle cards in hand into cheap activators.
• 2x (5) Bazaar Mugger -- Rush follower that helps control the board and pickpockets for Vendetta and Fence.
• 2x (5) Faceless Corruptor -- Strong Rush follower that converts little stuff into big board control... absolutely stupid when buffed by Warbringer.
• 1x (6) Kronx Dragonhoof -- Can be played for tempo to draw Galakrond, or saved for the post-Galakrond effect.
• 2x (6) Mechanical Whelp -- Strong Deathrattle for Apothecary ... unfair when cast from hand after getting buffed by Warbringer.
• 1x (7) Galakrond, the Nightmare -- Even without his invoke cards, Galakrond is a strong play, offering Lackey Generation and a card off the top - converted to 0-cost.
• 2x (9) Anubisath Warbringer -- This is the Big Boy.  His deathrattle buffs your hand to absurd levels. Usually cheated out with Apothecary or Anka, but it is not unheard of to just hardcast hims sometimes.
  
  

Please comment with your insights or questions.  I can happily provide a more in-depth review if there is enough interest.

I think you are trying to hard to be fair.  The only Higlandercard in the deck is Zephrys.  Aside from some odd tempo plays vs murlocs, or a suprise boardwipe every 20 games os so, you are better playing a more centered list with tools you need for specific things.

It could be tempo, or theif, or pirate, or whatever.  Play a normal game, gain a tempo advantage, whilch is what Rogue does best (at least temporary tempo advantage) and then throw Myra's Unstable element if you think you have a good enough position to snowball the game.  I am willing to bet you won't even need him most times, but he can still come in handy if your opponent pulls something out of his ^^^ DECK at the last moment.

So I have been tooling around post nerfs looking for a fun deck to take people by surprise on ladder.  Most people know what to expect from Quest Druid by now: either Malygos burst, or big board buffs.

But I wanted to push the deck further and see if I could amplify the things that made the concept great, and maybe even shore the deck up versus some awkward matchups.  As a bonus, I was able to squeeze in some Highlander cards to really throw off what your opponent THINKS you can do.

But how?  Quest Druid relies so much on its high value CHOOSE BOTH effects, it should be impossible to play the deck effectively as a highlander deck.  But therein lies the devil of your endgame.  By amping up the DRAW effects in the deck, you get to the end of the deck much quicker psuedo-miracle style.  Once you have drawn your whole deck (or at least one copy of all your duplicates), your Highlander cards activate and the real options open up.

Early game, we have a smidge more tempo to help us with aggressive decks, as well as ferocious howl as a draw effect to give us more padding to weather our low-tempo turns.  Keeper Stalladris also lets us double up on key spells to help us draw more, heal more, and snipe more -- OR if he goes unused till late game, he can help us build a hand of BIG spells for King Phaoris to play with.

So what do we do with our Highlander options?

Well, as we know by now, Zephrys gives a deck extraordinary reach and utility, esepecially at full mana.  He can net you a savage roar or better if your opponent stalls vs your full board - Mass Dispel vs lots of buffs/taunts or Twisting Nether in case of Emergency - or even sometimes a Gorehowl or Leeroy for the final punch to the face.

Elise the Enlightened hits the other side... offering double the value of anything in your hand when you play her.  Setting up a hand with 2x Nomi, 2xFloop, 2xZephrys, 2xPhaoris... etc etc etc.  You should have some healing to survive a few turns of fatigue - meanwhile your opponent should be hard pressed to costantly clear your Raw-Value boards... and once you are within striking distance, Zephyrs can seal the deal if you need that extra little tap.

Card Choices

• Crystal Power -- A touch of extra healing, if you need to activate Stagg, small removal otherwise.  Great to use with Stalladris -- be mindful though, you only get one target. If your quest is active, you will do 2 damage and then heal for 5, so don't use as CHOOSE BOTH removal unless the 2 damage will finish off the kill.
• Untapped Potential -- The main plan: the myth, the man, the Quest.
  Worthy Expedition -- Lets you discover bonus options for some RNG goodness.
• Crystal Merchant -- Low tempo bard presance that DOES actually help trading early vs aggro.  The more cards he draws you, the closer you are to the end of the game.
• Keeper Stalladris -- be very careful about playing this guy early. He is great versus aggro if you have a couple removals to pick off key targets, but he can flood your hand if you just use him to generate value for no purpose.  Late game he can split your bigger spells for hits with Phaoris, or even just Mass Healing or duplication of Starfall if neccesary.
• Wrath -- Easy creature removal, best if used to draw cards, but sometimes you just need to tap for 3. Best case, finishing the quest gets 4 AND a card.
• Zephrys the Great -- If you REALLY need to tempo him out you can... especially vs aggro.  But he is mostly here for the late game once we have cycled through most of our deck to activate him.
• BEEEES!!! -- 4 damage for 3, leaves excess damage behind on the board.
• Ferocious Howl -- Draw/Cycle, that turns cards in hand into Armor, giving us lota of padding to survive to the late game and even soak some fatigue.
• Wardruid Loti -- Swiss army knife Creature, that you often want to play proactively for the stealth/spellboost if you can count on him not getting hit by AoE
• Flobbidinous Floop -- A copy of anything you want.  Best used late game as an extra Phaoris, Nomi, Zephrys, or, anything really.  But you can use him on stagg, surger, or defender early if you need to extra help vs aggro
• Swipe -- Multi-use AoE, if for some reason you have them left over at end game, you can also go face with them.
• Anubisath Defender --"Free" ward for turns where we drop a big spell.  Don't be afraid to hard cast him if you have no better options however.
• Crystal Stag -- Basically Surger #3.  You need to heal 5 to get the duplicate, but sometimes you-re okay with just playing him for 4.  Having an extra wide option that is relatively inexpensive does help to recover the board after our low-tempo early game.
• Elise the Enlightened -- Doubles your hand. simple as that.  Once you are setting up to close the game, gives you a nice burst of VALUE for whatever you have left to worth with.
• Oasis Surger -- Best when used after the quest is complete, he helps you retake boards that are overfulf with minions that have gotten fat from a free lunch.
• Starfall -- usually used as a Giant SWIPE with the quest active.  Helps to recover problem boards.
• Hidden Oasis -- Heal or taunt, usually played for both with active quest.  You might try to save or stockpile this (with Stalladris) for Phaoris however.
• Nourish -- Cards and/or Draw.  If I am getting handcloged with 2 of these early I will cast the first (sometimes with Coin) just to get my mana up and my hand size down.
• Chef Nomi -- Post Fatigue BOMB.  Better with Duplicates.  How many Nomi can YOU kill in consecutive turns?
• King Phaoris -- Kind of a Duplicate Nomi... I actually treat him more like a PRECURSOR to Nomi -- dropping big value and forcing responses before even bigger guns come down.
  
  

Honorable Mention:

• Voodoo Doll -- If you are having issues with Tall/Single targets consider bringing in the Doll, maybe even with an extra Crystal Power. Just Set him up and pick him off with Wrath or Crystal Power (or a copy from Stalladris).

This modification can sub up to 3 cards:

1. Crytal Stagg for Voodoo Doll #1
2. Worthy Expedition for Voodoo Doll #2
3. Hidden Oasis for Crysal Power #2

Significant improvements to the build.

• Dropped the Eggs in favor of Temple Berserker -- the Reborn Mechanic has natural synergy with the deck, and getting the berserk effect on a reanimated body ends up being much more aggressive and tempo positive.
• Brought in Hellfire for the dearth of aggro decks running around in the meta.
• Voodoo Doll can deal with additional single target problems without having to lean on a sole Copy of Siphon Soul, and it works great with multiple Lackeys (in addition to other cards).
• Dropped situational Deathrattles and pushed all-in on Anubisath Warbringer.
  • Lifegain effects are plentiful enough without needing Deranged Docter
  • Mechanical Dragon was decent but often left us with awkward tempo decisions.
  • Anubisath Warbringer makes our hand MONSTEROUS when/if they clear the board after a plot twist -- further straining with our opponent's ability to cope with follow-up board states.

Follow-up notes:

Elysiana and Hakaar were removed to test viability without them. They often complicate hand-sculpting and effect sequencing. -- especially since most games don't even need them to close the game.  They may be needed again in the future if the meta shifts further toward control.

Significant improvements to the build.

• Dropped the Eggs in favor of Temple Berserker -- the Reborn Mechanic has natural synergy with the deck, and getting the berserk effect on a reanimated body ends up being much more aggressive and tempo positive.
• Brought in Hellfire for the dearth of aggro decks running around in the meta.
• Voodoo Doll can deal with additional single target problems without having to lean on a sole Copy of Siphon Soul, and it works great with multiple Lackeys (in addition to other cards).
• Dropped situational Deathrattles and pushed all-in on Anubisath Warbringer.
  • Lifegain effects are plentiful enough without needing Deranged Docter
  • Mechanical Dragon was decent but often left us with awkward tempo decisions.
  • Anubisath Warbringer makes our hand MONSTEROUS when/if they clear the board after a plot twist -- further straining with our opponent's ability to cope with follow-up board states.

Follow-up notes:

Elysiana and Hakaar were removed to test viability without them. They often complicate hand-sculpting and effect sequencing. -- especially since most games don't even need them to close the game.  They may be needed again in the future if the meta shifts further toward control.

"Lackey's in the Twist" is a new take on Plot Twist warlock, featuring cards from the latest expansion, Saviors of Uldum.

The Basic Premise is to use lackey effects to control the tempo of the game long enough to fire off massively game-warping tempo swings.  Whenever we spin to win with Dorian or Bertrug  we get value from various reborn minions and deathrattles including hits on Anubisath Warbringer which delivers whopping buffs to the creatures we have in hand -- Including our wonderful little Lackeys!  Not only does your opponent have to deal with the board you just created... but also the supersized minions you can drop from your hand.

Some games you will win on tempo alone.  Others will be hard fought nail biters, down to the last point of health.  All combined, It has tools to vie versus most of the decks in the Meta:

• Lackeys, AoE, numerous Taunt minions, and plentiful restore effects make the deck extremely resilient to aggro decks
• Strong Curve play, tempo variety, and incidental costs and card/effect generation make this deck versatile versus midrange decks.
• Huge Value generation, and hand-sculpting, give the deck the reach to take on heavy control based matchups. (Hakaar and Elysiana can easily be subbed in if you are facing more control matchups)

The deck is extremely fun, challenging, and rewarding to play well, Making it a strong contender for both high-level and casual ladder play.

Card Choices

• Plague of Flames × 2 -- Converts lackeys and tokens into mass board wipe... often with mana to spare for follow up plays on the same turn.
• Sinister Deal × 2 -- Easy lackey generation, allowing you to pick which one you get.
• EVIL Genius × 2 -- Preferred method of Lackey generation. Converts excess bodies in play to effects in hand.
• Plot Twist × 2 -- Primary Value Generation of the deck. Allows you to eat lots of damage and re-use Broodmaster for tons of healing; Used with Dollmaster Dorian or Fel Lord Betrug to create massive effects. Sometimes even just used to pitch your hand and redraw if RNG is giving you a completely crap hand.
• Temple Berserker -- Surprisingly good 2-drop that reanimates itself with Reborn  The Berzerker effect is just added value, especially when he is resurrected.
• Sense Demons × 1 -- There are only 3 demons in the deck: Two copies of Aransai Broodmaster (used for healing and taunts), and Fel Lord Betrug for Value Plays. Sometimes you use this to Heal, sometimes you try to dig for Betrug, sometimes you shuffle it back into the deck with plot twist and save it for the recycle.
• Voodoo Doll -- Tech card that targets single diffecult to deal with creatures.  Usually combo'd with a Lackey or some other Sacrificial effect for immediate use
• Bone Wraith × 2 -- All-star taunt versus aggro decks. Reborn not only gives him added stickiness to the board but also nets a body if copied by Dorian or Betrug.
• Hellfire -- Medium range AoE that works well versus boardspam decks, and can even combo with a Voodoo Doll, or burn face for the last few points
• Dollmaster Dorian × 1 -- "Early game" Value generation that lets you convert draw power into small bodies on board... preferably with powerful deathrattle effects.
• Rotten Applebaum × 2 -- Additional ward that helps you stabilize by gaining life on deathrattle... especially when copied by Dorian or Betrug.
• Aranasi Broodmother × 2 -- Converts draw power into healing if you keep cycling her in the deck. Decent sized Ward if you need to protect face.
• Cairne Bloodhoof × 1 -- Simple yet effective body and deathrattle effect for the cost. Nets value if copied by Dorian or Betrug.
• Khartut Defender × 2 -- Yet another ward. Reborn gives you 2 wards in one, and his deathrattle helps you stabilize or stay healthy.
• Siphon Soul × 1 -- Sometimes you just need one thing dead. The life gain is nice too.
• Lord Godfrey × 1 -- Mass staggered AOE for Board Clear
• Fel Lord Betrug × 1 -- Late Game value generator that converts draw power into bodies on board with RUSH. Crushing advantage with strong deathrattle/reborn effects.
• Anubisath Warbringer × 2 -- Surprisingly strong deathrattle effect, giving a huge buff to minions in hand. As clunky as he looks, just one is enough to put a cramp in your opponent's ability to keep up with newly supersized minions coming out of your hand... and beyond gamewarping if you get the extra value from copies by Dorian or Betrug.

How to Lackey

Generally speaking, your Lackeys are here to protect you from early game focused decks and smooth out your tempo while you ramp up for the big value plays. This doesn't mean you can't use them for tempo and play aggro yourself -- but you should always remember their primary uses so that you can plan accordingly and still try to keep an ace in the hole versus expected plays. In general I will tend to hold lackeys in preparation for plays with Plague of Flames or Voodoo Doll. However they do have some other uses, especially if it doesn't seem like you will need to plague in the near future. Holding on to unused Lackeys can even benefit from Anubisath Warbringer triggers... but be careful about shuffling them back into your deck with Plot Twist.

• Ethereal Lackey -- The #1 spell you can discover with Ethereal is additional copies or Plot Twist. Spot removal or additional AoE can be good as well. Another copy of Sense Demons might be okay if you really need the healing / protection
• Faceless Lackey -- I generally hold Faceless as a 2-for-1 setup for Plague of Flames. You can use the extra Body Generation for tempo, but don't shoot yourself in the foot to do it. You have plenty of body generation tools later to want to overextend for a 2-cost body for no reason.
• Goblin Lackey -- Helps to Swing tempo by giving something RUSH. Great easy activator for a Voodoo Doll.
• Kobold Lackey -- A more direct way of playing tempo as removal. However, it also moonlights as a sneaky way to pop Voodoo Doll as well.
• Witchy Lackey -- Not a Lackey I like using very often. still has uses in upgrading/healing minions used for trading. Sometimes you use it to fish for something needed on the transform.
• Titanic Lackey -- So far this is the least useful Lackey, since a considerable portion of our deck has taunt already. Still it can be used to trade up on the board, or provide another ward in a pinch... or even force your opponent to break a deathrattle for you.

Mulligans

Generally, we are mulligan to find our Lackey Generation, AoE's or other low ish drops.

Plot Twist in the opening hand can be awkward but it usually worth it. It is one of the most important parts of the deck, and even if your deck draws like trash, you can use it without the extra value to try to reset your hand.

Bone Wraith and Dorian can be nice to keep in the opener. Applebaum is awkward but a passable keep if you have nothing else useful to start with, since he is both a ward and Life gain.

Anything 6+ cost needs to go back into the deck so you don't throw the game completely to tempo. This includes Khartut Defender -- he's a good card, but you can't afford for him to be your first relevant play of the game.

Notable Cards that got Cut

• Supreme Archaeology -- Just.... No. It is a dead card in the opening hand, and you will lose to tempo before you ever get to do anything relevant with it.
• The Soularium -- Tempting to use especially with Dorian, but we are playing for BIG value. However, you won't often have space in hand for the extra cards, and you don't want to discard something you might need later in the game. It was just a dead card in hand in 99% of the games I tested with it.
• EVIL Cable Rat -- Yes we are using Lackeys however, we are only using them as a form of control and we can only fit so many in the deck without diluting out other gameplans. Rat got cut, mainly because 2 mana (+1 to cast the lackey) was sometimes too much to squeeze in 1 turn of clutch tight mana plays. Sinister Deal does the same thing, and gives us a choice of lackey for one less cost.
• Spirit of the Bat -- In smaller versions of this deck, Spirit was a decent way to generate "Keleseth" -esque Value by sacrificing tokens and building a big hand. We really don't need that effect so much any more and can get more from Anubisath Warbringer, with much less setup and wasting of resources.
• Void Analyst -- See Spirit of the bat. Sometimes I will take this card from Dark Possession, however.
• EVIL Recruiter -- While we ARE using Lackeys for a significant amount of play, this card created a conflict between using lackeys to control tempo versus using them to generate value. In the end, we have more than enough value generation, and are better off saving our Lackeys as our thin line of defense until the big guns come online.
• Rafaam's Scheme -- Lackeys and eggs ended up being better... in this deck. Trying to use this with plague can be very problematic if your deck doesn't give you cards in the right order, and you don't have time for it to charge up. in a more control oriented list this might be okay, but in THIS deck, the tools we already have will do the job, without trying to cram another card in and force our sequencing.
• Dark Pharaoh Tekahn -- Same as EVIL Recruiter. Also, the effect is redundant/cannibalistic to Anubisath Warbringer. Makes sense in a Lackey/Tempo/Zoo build, but it is win/more in this deck, and takes card slots away from more needed effects.
• Dr. Morrigan -- There are some unique plays that Morrigan offers this deck, but the same effect that makes her enticing can backfire if she pulls the wrong thing out of your deck at the wrong time -- Especially Elysiana.
• Arch-Villain Rafaam -- The effect is only really relevant for destroying Corrupted Blood in our deck. Could replace Elysiana if you are teching for more control matchups.

Closing

So that's all for now... Thank you for reading this far!  Please comment if you have any questions about the build or would like to see additions to the guide.

I am glad you are enjoying it!

I have previously tried Azerite, and found Ancient Mage to work in a similar place.  I could see him in tandem with Ancient, but I don't tend to have a big issue with the late game grinders, rather the token/zoo/murloc decks.  I will say he is definitely something to put in our pocket depending how the meta swerves.

Quote from Pookie >>

He stealed your deck aswell then:

https://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1270798-spell-damage-rogue

 

We aren't talking about a metadeck which is going to be tightly hashed with thousands of people hounding the "perfect build".   This is a true "rogue deck" where the key lines aren't as obviously spelled out.  There are key cards that were included (and discluded) that make it painfully suspect where the core list came from.  The OP list has a deviation of approximately 4 cards with a total of 3 cards that were never in my build with no other deviation in the main.

Your second example is actually what I would expect from a more experimental list.   It features 9-10 deviant cards, misses some critical tech, and is instead working with a completely different aggro skein.

Error post

Hearthstone doesn't have the ability to replay my ranked games, and I am not a dedicated streamer with the wherewithal to record and encode every game I play.  The video was created on day 1 or 2 of RoS to give players an Idea of what the deck looks like and how it function.  It was never meant to be a fully functioning guide to the meta decks (that hadn't even been fully fleshed out yet).

If you want to create a better one, I would happily post it in my write-up.

My list is in deckbuilder and the forums.  Hence why it has both a straight link and a thread.  And no, many of the harder to figure out corner-tech cards are not as obvious as they might seem at first blush.

That said, I couldn't care less that someone else made front page with my deck.  in fact that's why I posted it in the first place -- to get more people to try it.  I just find it rather shotty to cut and paste someone else's list, throw in a few random off cards, and then downvote the guy who made the original.

You can downvote me all you want.  Check the dates, read MY guide (which is more than 5 sentences begging for upvotes).

Shitposting my reply doesn't change the fact that someone else is getting credit for my deck.