Hearthpwn

Edit (12/31/2017):

Changed the deck list to what Dog is currently running.

Hello! I have been a Rogue player for around 2 years now, primarily Miracle, Oil, and Mill. I enjoy decks that require some sort of brain power to pilot, and not just "punch face, trade this" etc. This is currently the deck I have been using that has allowed me to reach rank 5 within a few days of play.

This deck may look familiar, as this is the same deck that Dog was able to pilot to rank 1 legend. I felt like this deck hasn't garnered enough attention, so I wanted to give it some! 

Here is proof of my stats:

Mill Rogue Guide - by OzzyHS

Hi everyone! You may remember me from not too long ago when I released a deck that reached the front page of Hearthpwn: http://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/927961-legend-highlander-priest-90-wr. After I made that deck, I took a little bit of a break but now I'm back! So just a little background, I've been playing hearthstone since the release of Naxxramas. To give some perspective, that's 3 and a half years ago! However, I never really touched ranked until around GvG. I originally loved Ramp Druid. Now, back in the day, that deck was actually not awful like it is right now. Keeper of the Grove, Shade of Naxxramas, Ancient of Lore, and old Force of Nature all made this deck really great at the time. I got golden druid in about 3 weeks (grinded 30 wins a day) and proceeded to find another class I enjoyed. I messed around with post-wild Freeze Mage and loved the concept of combo'ing and using your resources to stall the game out so you could get a big finisher. Freeze Mage, however, felt very one dimensional in most situations, and I wanted something a bit more. Well, that's where Rogue came in! I started playing Oil Rogue and instantly fell in love. I knew that this was the right class for me. I played that and reached rank 12. Yeah yeah, not that great, but I was proud! Eventually, Oil Rogue faded and a new deck emerged; Mill Rogue. I've been playing Mill Rogue on and off for the past 2 years, with some Miracle Rogue sprinkled in there. Mill Rogue is my all time favorite deck in Hearthstone, and I think it has some serious potential to be strong this year.

Deck Synopsis

So if you don't really understand Mill Rogue, here's the basic idea; get your opponent into fatigue. Simple as that. Stall out the board with early removals and stalls such as Vanish, Doomsayer, Sap, Blade Flurry, and Kingsbane.

Playing Mill Rogue

Now, playing this deck to perfection is nothing to scoff at - It's a very difficult deck, if not the most difficult deck in Hearthstone (just my opinion). The reason why this deck has such a low winrate on statistic sites, is because many players don't know how to play this deck.

I can't really give you a straight forward answer on how to play this deck, simply because every single situation is going to yield different results. Should you play Coldlight Oracle? Should you play Doomsayer? Should you Vanish? Every single play is going to require a read on the meta. You can't simply read a guide and be perfect at this deck, and that's just the cold hard truth. This deck will take many games to become good with. Now, if you're still reading this far and haven't been turned away by that, then I applaud you! I can give some general tips on how to play this deck, but as I said, these tips won't be 100% accurate simply due to the fact that every game is different.

The basic idea is that you want to survive. Simple as that. Use your clears as you see fit. For example, your opponent is a paladin going into turn 4 with a 2/1 and a 1/1 on the field. Is it a good idea to play Doomsayer? Yes. It is. Reason being is because the current Paladin deck in the meta is aggro. On turn 4, the Paladin has the option of either playing Call to Arms, Blessing of Kings, sometimes Corridor Creeper, or a mix of random cards. So the only answer that he will have for Doomsayer is Blessing of Kings. If he Blessing of Kings'd, then that saves you 7 damage that would have otherwise been going towards your face. As I said earlier, your objective is to survive.

It's really hard to explain how to play this deck simply through text, which is why I plan on making a video explaining every play I make. Only thing I can really say is that playing this deck comes with a lot of trial and error. If you do however, have any specific questions and game play decisions, feel free to leave a comment and I will try to reply to it.

Card Choices

• Kingsbane: This card is what made Mill Rogue viable again, no questions asked. Being able to get a 9 attack (that's on the low side) weapon with life steal and infinite value is just insane. Another thing which makes this card so incredibly powerful in mill, is that you can play the game so you never take a point of fatigue. It's quite simple too - Break Kingsbane with 0 cards in deck -> Draw Kingsbane -> Play it, attack -> Play a second copy of Kingsbane via Valeera the Hollow's passive -> Play the drawn Kingsbane next turn (the original one). This combo alone has won me so many games that I could've lost simply due to the fact that the opponent cannot keep up with this cycle. They will eventually lose to fatigue no matter what.

• Doomerang: Some of you may be confused as to why Doomerang is in this deck. It seems so odd considering you want to keep your weapon in play at all times. Well, Doomerang synergizes with Kingsbane in a really strong way. Firstly, the Doomerang will apply your lifesteal from Kingsbane to it's target. Secondly, Doomerang will not break Kingsbane and put it in your deck like you might suspect, it actually brings it back to your hand. Why is this so good? Well, you can essentially get 2 hits in 1 turn, as well as retain some durability. If you play Doomerang when your Kingsbane is on 1 durability, it will hit the target, possibly healing you, then come back to your hand on 3 durability. You can then play it again the same turn and get a second hit in.

• Valeera the Hollow: Pretty much a staple in any rogue deck now. It works even better in Mill because you can do a multitude of things with her passive. Double Coldlight Oracle, double Deadly Poison, double Doomsayer, double Kingsbane as explained above, double Southsea Squidface, etc.

• Elven Minstrel: With the introduction of this card, you no longer need to play The Curator like old Mill Rogue used to. Not to mention, you can run 2 copies! This just allows you to get your Coldlight Oracles faster, as well as allowing you to find your Cavern Shinyfinders, thus getting your Kingsbane into action earlier.

• Edwin VanCleef: Now, this card isn't SUPER important like all the others, but it is good nonetheless. Basically gives you a 3rd win condition (mill, Kingsbane, and this) if your opponent can't handle it. Generally speaking, you can get a 6/6 or an 8/8 Edwin VanCleef super easily.

• Blade Flurry: This card hasn't really seen play since it's nerf back in early 2016. It does hold a really nice spot in this deck though! Rogue is notorious for not having the greatest of board clears. With this aggro heavy meta, you pretty much need board clears in order to survive. Although this weapon doesn't apply the life steal effect, it is still very powerful. You can very easily make this card a 5-9 damage AoE. If paired with Cavern Shinyfinder, you can get your weapon back after you destroy it.

• Cheat Death & Evasion: The new rogue secrets are still somewhat up in the air in terms of viability. They do work really nicely in this deck though! Firstly, Cheat Death. This card ensures that you can play a Coldlight Oracle without fear of not being able to bounce it back. If they do kill it, you get it for 1 mana! If they don't, you can possibly Preparation into Vanish the following turn (if the board allows for it, naturally). Also, Cheat Death ensures your opponent cannot play an AoE very efficiently. This is exceptionally great vs Control Lock and Dragon Priest, as they sometimes run Abyssal Enforcer and Duskbreaker. As for Evasion, this is basically just a stall card. Let's say you're on turn 8 and your opponent has lethal on board. You don't have an answer. You play Evasion and can live another turn. Turn 9 you can play Valeera the Hollow, stalling for another turn and healing 5. This gives you 2 draws that could save the game for you.

Mulligan

Generally speaking, you really want to mulligan for your early survival cards. Cavern Shinyfinder, Doomsayer, Backstab, Kingsbane, Deadly Poison (only with Cavern Shinyfinder or Kingsbane in mulligan), Leaching Poison (only with Cavern Shinyfinder or Kingsbane in mulligan), Elven Minstrel (if starting with The Coin), Evasion (if fighting a very aggro heavy deck (Paladin, Hunter, Mage)). You almost never want to keep Coldlight Oracle in your starting hand unless you are 100% certain you are fighting control and anticipate them drawing cards in the early game.

Closing Out The Game

So you survived the onslaught of cards from your opponent and are now in fatigue. What now? Well, now you equip your (hopefully) huge Kingsbane with lifesteal, and swing face. Don't forget to duplicate the Kingsbane as I explained earlier. Hopefully you were able to keep some of your clears (Vanish, Sap, Doomerang, Blade Flurry) and can keep your opponent's board squeaky clean. You should just be able to win after you hit the fatigue, simply due to Kingsbane being so incredibly powerful.

Video(s)

Submitted by @kiwiinbacon

Submitted by @daaannnnaaaaaaaa

Submitted by @Kadakk

 MORE COMING SOON

So this was my guide! I hope you learned something and if you have any specific questions, drop them in the comments. You may have noticed that I didn't include replacements or matchups in this guide. Reason being is:

1. I don't like limiting players collections, and I want you guys to experiment and figure out what works for you. If you find that certain cards aren't working or you don't own some cards, go ahead and replace them to your own judgement. If you still do have questions about replacements, let me know!

2. The meta is so messy right now and frankly I don't know the statistics at the moment. I'd prefer to not give false information and confuse you guys. If the meta calms down, I might add a matchup guide. Don't count on it though.