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Weapon Rogue: The Legendary Kingsbane's Influence on a Powerful Class

Alongside Highlander Priest, Jade Druid, and Big decks, Tempo Rogue dominated the latter part of the Kingdoms of the Frozen Throne meta. Using pirate synergies to take the board, tempo plays to snowball it, and Cobalt Scalebane to buff it turned out to be a sound strategy. Add Prince Keleseth buffing the deck (sometimes twice or three times) and you had not only a win condition, but a means to inspire early concessions from your opponents.

For many reasons, it worked. And yet, Rogue received some of the most powerful cards from the new set. Lesser Onyx Spellstone hasn’t seen much play, but the likes of Elven Minstrel have worked surprisingly well. Others, like Fal'dorei Strider, were not a surprise at all. Beyond their power in isolation, the cards Rogue received in Kobolds and Catacombs play to the strengths of its typical draw-heavy gameplan. The result? Rogue seems poised to compete on the Standard ladder a while longer, now in as many as four manifestations: Mill, Miracle, Tempo, and Weapon Rogue.

The Weapon that Won't Go Away

Which new card is best? It’s an inevitable, worthy discussion each time an expansion renews creativity, spurs fresh decks, and changes the meta. There’s simply no debating Kingsbane’s spot among the top contenders. For good reason, the new legendary weapon has been included in Miracle and Mill decks. It even inspired a variant heavy on weapon-buffing pirates and enchantment spells that perhaps warrants its own name: Kingsbane Rogue.

Whether you consider it merely an addition to an existing archetype, or cause for new classification, Kingsbane seems to make every Rogue deck that wants to draw cards better. The gameplan for most Rogues (Tempo Rogue excluded) is to cycle through the deck, and so there’s natural synergy with a weapon that returns to the deck after being destroyed. But as Kolento proved, Kingsbane performs well in a tempo deck with Captain Greenskin and his ilk. This makes it perhaps now the most flexible tool in the Rogue set. So rather than focus on one deck, let’s dissect how the new weapon has both revived archetypes that fell off after Kingdoms of the Frozen Throne, and influenced how they’re played.

Miracle Rogue: The Old Favorite

Next to Mill Rogue in the top tier of difficult decks to pilot well, Miracle Rogue makes a triumphant return after Kobolds and Catacombs. Miracle Rogues aim to draw the majority of their deck through various means, while using resources like SI:7 Agent and Backstab to maintain board control. Ideally, our removal will exhaust the opponent of answers by the time we can play Arcane Giant for little to no mana, and draw Spiders from Fal'dorei Strider. Of course, Kingsbane helps. But the most important tools for resurgent Miracle players are the new Fal'dorei Strider, Elven Minstrel, and Cavern Shinyfinder, the latter two of which draw specific types of cards for you, in turn making it more likely to draw Spiders from the former. As part of a deck that already relies on Gadgetzan Auctioneer to cycle to their win conditions, they make a good deck great.

RDU’s Miracle Rogue uses just two Deadly Poison to buff Kingsbane – which is plenty, to be honest. Even just a 3/3 weapon helps a lot, often preserving your board as you contemplate important late-game Gadgetzan Auctioneer plays. Kingsbane allows you to save cheap spells you’d otherwise use for removal, so you can draw cards with your Auctioneer. The potential for chip damage, cycle, and reuse when it’s destroyed make Kingsbane a great resource – well worth its one-mana cost a couple times over.

Weapon Rogue: Something New

The excitement surrounding Kingsbane left us with no shortage of Rogue decks going all-in on weapon synergy, and Kolento’s is the best I’ve seen. The tempo nature of the deck makes it relatively straightforward to play. Operating like Tempo Rogue at the start, this deck grabs control of the board early with pirates, Backstab, and the Rogue hero power, leveraging that advantage to either find Kingsbane organically or with Cavern Shinyfinder, the new common two-drop whose Battlecry guarantees you draw it. From there, you fill your board with mid-game threats that buff Kingsbane, trade as efficiently as possible, and, if all goes well, overrun your opponent.

Barring some fringe scenario, like the opponent destroying Kingsbane with Acidic Swamp Ooze and then milling it with Gnomeferatu, the weapon is indestructible. This can lead to some interesting decision-making in the late-game. Sometimes, for instance, it can be correct to attack your opponent’s hero with Kingsbane and trade with a minion, especially if you have Cavern Shinyfinder and can swing again next turn. Doomerang can trade your weapon with a minion and trigger a combo with Vilespine Slayer or Eviscerate in one turn, leaving Kingsbane in your hand to trigger another combo the next. In this way, careful consideration of your remaining health, of your next turn, and of your win condition will influence how you choose to use the weapon.

I recommend including two copies of Corridor Creeper in this list, too. Kolento built the deck for day one of the expansion, and this giant worm has been the sleeper hit of the expansion. After a couple turns in your hand, you can play it for little to nothing – providing a massive tempo swing and potential triggers for Edwin VanCleef and Eviscerate.

This isn’t a cheap deck, but if you’ve got the pirates, it’s a lot of fun to play. Its dedication to weapon buffs in lieu of the more common Miracle strategy make your plays harder to anticipate, too.

Mill Rogue: Head Games

The diversity of Rogue decks is good news for all its players, since the element of surprise can muddy the waters of the opponent’s mulligan and opening turns. This benefits Mill Rogue in particular, preying on sub-optimal plays. When control opponents confuse a typically slow Mill Rogue start, for instance, with a bad Tempo start, players can capitalize and burn key cards at best, and valuable resources at worst. In a meta still influenced by Highlander Priest, this seems pretty good. Mill Rogue excels against control decks, so if you encounter Highlander Priest and Control Warlock often, this could be your counter.

However, it's notoriously difficult to play optimally, so you would do well to watch Dog play on stream. He created the deck we're featuring and recently piloted it to rank 1 Legend. But the general strategy is to use Kingsbane in tandem with Doomerang and Blade Flurry to mitigate damage, burn your opponent's cards when given the chance, and use the lifesteal enchantment provided by Leeching Poison on a huge Kingsbane to heal out of lethal range. You don’t even have to worry about fatiguing yourself. Using your hero power, you can put Kingsbane back into your deck and draw it the turn after, swinging again and perhaps setting off a combo. Valeera the Hollow’s Shadow Reflection cards make crazy things possible as your opponent nears or goes into fatigue. Wins with this one are immensely satisfying, especially if you manage to do it with little more than some card-draw trickery and a one-mana, 15-attack weapon.

A New Rogue Era

Secrets, a legendary blade, and a diversity of gameplans to keep your opponent guessing? Rogues have never lived up to their theme quite so well. Moreover, their success will likely translate going forward, at least until the next Standard rotation forces popular Rogue decks to find replacements for Arcane Giant, Counterfeit Coin, Patches the Pirate, and Swashburglar. Until then, we think Rogue will be a force – thanks in large part to one of the the best legendary weapons in the game.