Rank 5 Mill Rogue - 73% Winrate
- Last updated Dec 31, 2017 (Kobolds Patch)
- Edit
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Wild
- 10 Minions
- 18 Spells
- 1 Weapon
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Mill Rogue
- Crafting Cost: 6420
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 12/18/2017 (Kobolds Patch)
- OzzyHS
- Registered User
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- 14
- 39
- 63
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Battle Tag:
Ozzy#1977
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Region:
US
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Total Deck Rating
607
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.
you just steal the deck from rage and dog ? O_0 no shame
YES! EXACTLY! you need more upvotes so everyone can see this! not even a credit given!
Come on man. At least read what I wrote before making false claims...
are you real? so put it in the start and mark that! and put it in the name of the deck!
for me you just take credit of a deck that rage build and you don't even mention him and you think its ok ? this is a joke
if you think its ok to make a guide of a deck and not even give a credit for the man that build the deck (the name of the player is rage) i dont know what wrong with people in here that think its ok... and i dont talk about the guide itself the principle of doing something like that is not ok... and if i will talk on the guild is not 100% accurate but i dont want to get into that
Why don't you get into it? Please do. You seem very passionate about Mill Rogue, so why not share?
I agree with Ozzy. No hate Jeeb, but please share your knowledge. This guide is very here or there... It's hard to say anyone could just pick this deck up and run with it based on what's written here to be entirely honest. It basically states and yes I read it all, "Run this or whatever you feel works for you. It's not easy, so play 50 games with it to get a feel for what you're doing, and to replace whatever you wish on whatever you wish, it's not set in stone." So it's a bit rough to understand how to begin after building the deck xD
No offense but some of those videos were clear as day playing the deck wrong, I'd argue all of them played the deck wrong to be honest, and I accept my downvotes for saying that, but I'm just agreeing with you, that people clearly have no idea how to play this deck lol Not saying I do, just saying that not even your videos give much direction.. I love the idea of the deck! Just honestly if lil penguin dude here has a better idea on how to pilot this deck, please share, or anyone for that matter. I do happen to kind of agree with the penguin here.. Dog did get to Rank 1 legend with this deck, but he didn't really share it or explain how to play it of course.
None of the decks posted are actually made by myself. They're all fan-created videos. I don't really have the time to make a full fledged video explaining this entire deck, unfortunately. I would If I could, but with Christmas and such, I just don't have the time. Also, writing a guide for a deck that has no definite decisions is very difficult. I could've easily just wrote, "Okay, play coldlight, shadow step the coldlight, play coldlight again, mill your opponent and make sure your hand isn't full." but frankly that's just not an accurate guide nor what you want to be doing all the time. Every single play you make is different per situation. Generally speaking, if you write a guide telling you to do a certain thing 100% of the time, lower ranked or more inexperienced players will take that to heart and do it 100% of the time. I wrote this guide to give players more flexibility.
I don't like writing guides that are 100% this way or that. It ingrains a bad habit into people's minds, and they won't play the deck to the fullest. Making people actually PLAY the deck and learn from their mistakes is a much better way to train someone on how to play something. They will figure out "Oh hey, my Valeera The Hollow passive just made me mill a card. Better think about that the next time I play." and will (hopefully) not make that mistake again.
I've trained people in many computer programs (Photoshop, After Effects, Vegas, Illustrator, etc) and that personally has always worked the best for me - trail and error. If someone messes something up, you can help them get onto the right track, but don't lay everything out in front of them.
This is just my philosophy for things, you may not agree, and that's okay. You don't have to agree. However, if you plan on ever playing this deck to it's fullest, a guide will never teach you everything. It's your job to figure out whats working and what's not, and work with it. A rank 20 player can read a guide and go nowhere. However, another rank 20 player can put in the time and effort to learn, and climb.
how can I counter this deck?
Your profile picture makes this recommendation 1000 times more powerful. Well played, sir.
u play aggro.
I cut the secrets for two Fan of Knives. Feels better against the aggro.
any replacement for edwin?
Anything actually. Edwin is a nice card to add the deck but not necessary
I lose when Lifesteal is not drawn. Playing 2 seems more stable, but instead of what ?
Playing 2 is good if you're fighting aggro (which seems to be a lot of the meta at the moment). I would recommend replacing a Cheat Death. You don't need it if you're dying before you can pull the mill off, and now that people know rogue secrets, it's quite often countered.
I am at 68% win rate on this deck from rank 7 to rank 4. If you suck on this deck you will lose, thats why the 40% win rate on hsreplay, a lot of people just copy-paste the deck without any idea of how to play it.
This deck is SO FUCKING FUN THANK YOU
MY B
Interesting how on the first paragraph he says its Dogs list and he feels it hasnt gotten enough attention.
As well as posting videos of Dog playing the deck.
Pay attention :P