Hearthpwn

 

Please provide feedback with a comment along with your rating. It's really hard to weigh what needs to be fixed in people's opinion when its just in un-likes and dislikes!

New: Hey guy thankyou for the continued viewing and support of the deck my apologies for being inactive on it for the last couple days I've been working on some non-budget standard lists- I'm now working on updating the match-ups section (starting with druid) to include a heap of new match-ups that see much lower play-rate and also include replacement cards if you're queueing into that match-up a lot and have the cards available to you, take a look at druid for now- let me know if you'd like more spoilers within the spoilers for the card replacements. And upvote or downvote my comment in the comments section if you're interested in watching me try to get as high of a rank as possible with this deck on twitch. Enjoy!

Explanation: This deck was created for brand new players, it only costs 80 dust and is always craft-able after disenchanting the cards from two packs. it's easy to see that just by looking at the list however; it has the potential to beat decks far beyond it's cost given that the pilot of the deck is competent. For new players I am going to delve into the strategy behind this deck, existing players will already understand why Hench-Clan Thug can be such a swing card.

Piloting the Deck: The deck's strategy relies on playing a 1 cost minion and trying to get it to stick or having your opponent use their turn removing it, on turn two you'll want to look to hero power and use your minion (if it's still alive) and Backstab, as well as a charge of your Wicked Knife if necessary. On turn three you'll want to play Hench-Clan Thug and attack with your Wicked Knife to buff Hench-Clan Thug, if the minion stays alive until the next turn, look to protect it with cards like Shattered Sun Cleric, Ironfur Grizzly, or Sen'jin Shieldmasta; or alternatively, look to keep the opponents board clear with Backstab, your hero power and Deadly Poison, Sap, or Assassin's Blade. You'll want to continue hero-powering and attacking each turn to continuously buff your Hench-Clan Thug. Try to keep track of your weapon charges and which turns you'll need to hero-power on and play with two mana less, as well as trying to remember to hero power if you have excess mana and have already attacked that turn. The deck is filled with burn cards that deal damage to your opponent to help close out games if your Hench-Clan Thug is removed, you should consider whether your opponent is low enough to stop using your weapon on the opponents board and start hitting them in the face and playing your Wolfrider or Nightblade. In the case that you don't draw Hench-Clan Thug- don't panic, the players at low ranks wont have refined decks and if you trade properly and try to use up your mana efficiently each turn you can still pull out a win. Remember that Voodoo Doctor, Darkscale Healer and Shattered Sun Cleric can be used on your Hench-Clan Thug as well.

Mulligan(Cards you should and shouldn't keep in your opening hand); Your opening hand is diverse, other than looking to guarantee a Hench-Clan Thug early there's not much you're looking to keep. Try to avoid keeping cards that cost more than three or cards that cost 2 as you'll want to be using your hero power on the second turn. Keep cards like Backstab, Goldshire Footman, Murloc Raider or Voodoo Doctor especially if you already have a Hench-Clan Thug, consider mulliganing all of your cards away to search for hench-clan and if you already have a 1-drop card and hench-clan start looking for cards to support Hench-Clan Thug whether it be through removing boards or putting up taunts.

 

Replacements (For when you gain more cards in your collection; or if you're not a new player); 

• • Goldshire Footman - Can be replaced by Fire Fly, Dire Mole or Argent Squire
  • Murloc Raider -  Can be replaced by Southsea Deckhand or Acherus Veteran
  • Voodoo Doctor - Can be replaced by Glacial Shard
  • Sinister Strike / Deadly Poison - Can be replaced by Cold Blood and any of the 1-drops above you couldn't include.
  • Sap - Can be replaced by Dire Wolf Alpha, Bloodsail Raider, Ravasaur Runt, or an Acidic Swamp Ooze if you're facing lots of Cubelock- alternatively if you have Prince Keleseth run no two drops and another 1-drop such as Abusive Sergeant or another three drop such as Edwin VanCleef or Blink Fox
  • Fan of Knives - should be replaced by Marsh Drake, Kobold Apprentice, Blink Fox, Vicious Fledgling or Ironbeak Owl if you find yourself in need of a silence!
  • Ironfur Grizzly -  can be replaced with Tar Creeper
  • Shattered Sun Cleric - can be substituted with a Fallen Sun Cleric, Mad Hatter or Fungalmancer
  • Sen'jin Shieldmasta - can be subbed out for Saronite Chain Gang or a Tar Creeper if you don't have any included yet- or Spellbreaker if you find yourself in need of a silence
  • Assassinate - should be replaced with Vilespine Slayer
  • Assassin's Blade - usually only gets as much value as Shadowblade and should be subbed
  • Nightblade - can be replaced by Leeroy Jenkins, Dark Iron Dwarf or Cobalt Scalebane 

  If you're interested in a list entirely made of common cards- scroll down below and click on Budget Tempo Rogue, it includes many of the same replacements

Matchups

Druid

• • Spiteful Druid - Try to out tempo them early. This is your most difficult druid match-up its hard to compete with Spiteful Summoner on turn 6, even if you've had tempo leading up to that point- I recommend including a Vanish or two if you find yourself running into this matchup too often- or if you have him include a Mind Control Tech or two. Important cards to mulligan in order to deal with spiteful include, Sap and Assassinate by turn 6/7
  • Tech Cards: 2x Shattered Sun Cleric - 2x Mind Control Tech: After they play Spiteful Summoner druid often ends up with 4 minions and despite running two, they don't often play around Mind Control Tech as they're looking to put as many stats on the board as possible usually behind a Crypt Lord 2x Nightblade - 2x Vanish: Although returning a Spiteful Summoner back to their hand is terrible, often you will have the tools to deal with the 4 health summoner and Vanish acts as a 3rd and 4th sap for the large minions they summon from spiteful2x Sinister Strike - 2x Spellbreaker or Ironbeak Owl: Silence can be very powerful vs spiteful Druid, it can prevent Crypt Lord from soaking damage, deny a mana crystal from Greedy Sprite, remove a Fungalmancer or Cobalt Scalebane buff and it has the potential to make your opponents Tyrantus target-table with Assassinate if they high-roll their ten-drop.

  • Taunt Druid - Look to be as aggressive as possible. As long as you're playing to your decks strengths and getting out a lot of early tempo while Sapping their taunts this matchup shouldn't be much of a problem and you should be able to burn out taunt druid before they get to their late-game value, in the case they are getting to that point including Vanish [/card]or silences like [card]ironbeak owl or Spellbreaker can help this matchup even further 
  • Tech Cards:
  • 2x Fan of Knives - 2x Vanish: Vanish is your only real option once your opponent manages to kill Hadronoxso don't forget to include these if you're expecting the match-up.
  • 1x Ironfur Grizzly - 1x Tinkmaster Overspark: try to ensure that this cards effect lands on one of your opponents minions, it will always create a beast and after destroying the beast, their Witching Hour has a 50/50 chance to summon a Devilsaur/Squirrel instead of the desired Hadronox
  • 1x Ironfur Grizzly - 1x Skulking Geist: Skulking Geist removes their Naturalizes so that they can't play Hadronox and destroy it on the same turn, having a silence ready the turn after and destroying it ensures they don't get it off that time, polymorphing it is much more desirable so they can't get it back from Witching Hour however.
  • 2x Sen'jin Shieldmasta - 2x Spellbreaker or Ironbeak Owl: It's important to silence Hadronox if they reach that point of the game in this match-up, the wall of taunts it creates can be game sealing and a silence can win you the game in the right situations, can also just be used to get through some of their other taunt minions. I recommend killing Hadronox after you silence it to ensure your opponent doesn't use carnivorous cube on it.
  • TogWaggle Druid - Togwaggle druid is very rare to run into that said if your opponent is playing naturalize and they aren't spamming the board with taunts every turn they're probably playing togwaggle druid rather than taunt druid, the goal of their deck is to fill your hand and give you a useless or empty deck to work with after they make you overdraw King's Ransom from King Togwaggle The deck usually wont be able to sustain up to this point and usually relies on twig of the world tree to use their combo with azalina soulthief to deny you from getting your deck back so just use acidic swamp ooze to deny them the combo. Try to ensure your hand isn't close to full near the later turns so they can't mill the king's ransom. Togwaggle druid is far too slow vs our deck and wont usually make it to the later turns, play the match-up aggressively. 
  • Tech Cards:
  • 2x Iron fur grizzly - 2x Acidic Swamp Ooze / Gluttonous Ooze / Corrosive Sludge: Any of these will effectively deny your opponent from using twig of the world tree gain the mana necessary on their turn to play King Togwaggle and Azalina Soulthief on the same turn. Use them when the weapon has two charges left.
  • 2x Vanish - 2x Sen'jin Shieldmasta: You can vanish to deal with Spreading Plague which is common in this deck. 
  • 1/2x Skulking Geist - 1/2x Voodoo Doctor - Skulking Geist removes Naturalize so that they can't make you overdraw King's Ransom as easily. 

  • Token Druid - Look to out-value trade them, and play for tempo. This matchup boils down to board control and due to token druid being able to create such a wide hard to remove board and our only removal being Fan of Knives it can be a tough matchup and usually results in a 50/50- try to play for board control and hit face whenever you can
  • Quest Druid - far too slow of a deck vs us, usually results in a win even if you draw or play poorly 80/20 match-up, just play aggressive and buff up your hench-clan thug

   

Hunter

• •  Aggro/Face Hunter - You'll want to mulligan for early game tempo so preferably a 1-drop like Goldshire Footman, Murloc Raider or Voodoo Doctor and a Backstab if possible, weaponing up on turn 2 is important for removing diremole with a Backstab and weapon charge or Jeweled Macaw - sometimes you'll have to use both weapon charges on a minion like Scavenging Hyena if you don't have Backstab in hand. Try and have your Hench-Clan Thug in play when you're using your second weapon charge so you don't fall too behind on board. Overall this match-up should be about a 50/50 just play around Explosive Trap and maintain board to the best of your ability- watch your hp though and consider using Voodoo Doctor on your own face.

  • Odd/Baku Hunter - The match-up is very similar to playing against aggro hunter however; because of the opponents restriction to odd cards your card quality should be slightly higher than theirs allowing for an easier time maintaining tempo and board, they can't run Houndmaster or Crackling Razormaw so the only reason to be afraid of leaving up a beast is Kill Command, keep an eye on your health total as burning you out is their only win condition in this match-up and you're favored 55/45.
  • Spell Hunter - This is one of your hardest match-ups, don't panic just look to be aggressive and burn out your opponent, their deck doesn't run any healing but they have an easy time clearing any boards you can make with Grievous Bite, Unleash the Hounds, Explosive Trap, Flanking Strike and even more removal stacked up- its best to try to establish a board early and get in damage while you can and then look to finish off your opponent with a weapon like assassins blade with Deadly Poison or the damage from Nightblade, The match-up is about 35/65 and is one of your worst match-ups. Including Chief Inspector for their secrets or vanish for after they play Lesser Emerald Spellstone can help the match-up a bit.
  • Recruit Hunter - Usually far too slow, keep up tempo early and get in damage as soon as possible and it should be an easy win- if they get to the point where they're recruiting Witchwood Grizzly your only option is to burn them out with Sinister Strike and Nightblade or use Sap 60/40 match-up.
  • Quest Hunter - I haven't run into much quest hunter but your weapon and Backstab easily deals with the 1-drops they spam and you'll usually out tempo them prior to completely their quest should be a free match-up 80/20

   

Mage

• • Big Spell Mage - I find this deck has too many board clears to win against consistently, so your game plan is going to be setting up an early board and getting in damage before they reach their dragon's rage on turn 5, from that point on you'll need to try and burn the opponent out; mage has armor gain through Arcane Artificer and if they get theirFrost Lich Jaina on turn 9 it's probably not winnable
  • Tempo Mage - This deck will try to burn you down before you get the chance to burn it down, try to maintain board and tempo vs it, use Backstab and a weapon charge to deal with Mana Wyrm on turn 2 and remember to use your weaker minions to play around Explosive Runes, and Sinister Strike or Backstab for Counterspell - you should be slightly favored in this match-up as long as you can maintain board and conserve your HP total

   

Paladin

• Even/Odd/Murloc Paladin - All of these match-ups are fairly bad for you, you'll want to look to clear their board early with Fan of Knives, Assassinate larger minions like Sea Giant, The Lich King or Tarim the sunkeeper and consider including Ironbeak Owl, Mind Control Tech or Spellbreaker for their buffed minions. Try to be prepared to deal with a Call to Arms on turn 4 from even and murloc paladin and try to remove all of odd paladins Silver Hand Recruits before they can useLevel Up!

   

Priest

• • Control Priest - Another difficult matchup, but winnable. Obviously priest is packed full of healing so setting up lethal is usually more difficult due to divine hymn their early game board presence is sufficient vs this deck as they have Northshire Cleric on turn 1 and Duskbreaker to clear your board on turn 4, you'll want to be as aggressive as possible to put pressure on the priest before they can clear your board and then look to burn them out with the rest of your cards in hand. This deck tends to run some weapon removal so be wary of that
  • Spiteful Priest - This match-up isn't as bad as spiteful druid due to different minions but the premise of the match-up is still the same, you'll want to be prepared to Sap the minion they get from Spiteful Summoner on turn 6 and value trade into the Spiteful Summoner with your buffed weapon or minion. The deck usually runs Spellbreaker so try to play around it if you're running Cold Blood make sure you can attack the turn you play it. 
  • Combo/Resurrect Priest -  Both of these decks play far too little tempo and are too slow vs your deck, just play for tempo and on curve and they should prove to be fairly easy matchups.

   

Rogue

• • Odd Rogue -  Odd Rogue is fairly difficult to play against, although they don't have Backstab to help answer your Hench-Clan Thug but they will almost always have a 1 drop that will outperform your 1 drop, and their weapon makes clearing your minions quite easy for them. Play this match-up for tempo and board- don't expect to out value their hero power and don't get down on yourself for losing this match-up it's a tough one with this deck
  • Quest Rogue - Usually your deck is fast enough to kill quest rogue before they finish their quest or at least put them in a situation where they die shortly after, aim to be as aggressive as possible and clear any minion that you think they might bounce back into their hand- needless to say sap is bad in this match-up so you'll want to avoid using it.
  • Pick Pocket Rogue - Due to the slow nature of their deck, only being able to gain a tempo swing on turn 8 with Tess Greymane you should be able to out-tempo this deck and close out the game before they reach their goal, similar to quest rogue but even more in your favor.
  • Tempo Rogue -  Generally people wont be playing the same budget version as this deck, so you wont be very favored at all in this match-up. Try to focus on your normal win condition of getting Hench-Clan Thug as large as possible as they usually run Prince Keleseth instead of Sap and try to out-race your opponent.

   

Shaman

• • Shudderwock Shaman - Shudderwock shaman is another slow combo deck, and as long as you have plays available to efficiently spend mana each turn, along with playing aggressive this match-up should be a free win. In the case they get Shudderwock off and bounce it back into their hand- unless they're within the burn threshold of cards in your hand you can just concede.
  • Even Shaman - The most difficult shaman match-up since they run spellbreaker and hex they usually have an easy time dealing with a buffed up hench-clan thug and your early minions wont stick if they draw Murkspark Eel - its best to just try to be aggressive early and then burn out your opponent with Sinister Strikes and Nightblades
  • Elemental Shaman - Elemental shaman can out-value you later into the game so look to play for tempo and board early and then close out the game when they try to gain value with their elemental cards since Servant of Kalimos doesn't have taunt, be wary of Kalimos, Primal Lord if they played an elemental on turn 7 and Hagatha the Witch on turn 8 as they can both wipe your board and extend the game if you over commit minions.

   

Warlock

• • Cube/Control Warlock - Defile makes it relatively easy for warlock to clear your board, and Possessed Lackey with Dark Pact into Voidlord stops this deck in it's tracks- if you have Sap, Sap the Voidlord and continue playing but outside of that circumstance you should just concede. including Acidic Swamp Ooze vs cubelock helps the matchup as well as Ironbeak Owl and Spellbreaker but they are still very difficult
  • Zoo Warlock - Zoo warlock has a fairly easy time creating a large board, so look for Backstab and Fan of Knives vs them, they generally wont have an easy way to clear your board unlike the other warlocks with Defile and Hellfire so look to clear their board, establish a board and value trade into any minions they play until you've outvalued their deck and they're left topdecking with Life Tap down to the HP total you can burst down with Sinister Strike and Nightblade

   

Warrior

• • Control Warrior - Control warrior is an okay match-up primarily due to the fact that they tend to run Dead Man's Hand and very little early game other than Drywhisker Armorer, occasionally they will run a Fire Fly or Armorsmith but some games you'll just be able to establish a free board presence early on- it's important to play around whirlwind effects from Warpath and Blood Razor so keep that in mind when you're choosing which turns to drop Murloc Raider or Voodoo Doctor. Try to trade with minions that aren't Hench-Clan Thug and keep him undamaged so he can't be executed, I find usually Control Warrior can't gain enough armor to avoid being bursted down by Sinister Strike and Nightblade + whatever board you've established so this match-up is in your favor.

  • Whirlwind Warrior - This is another warrior list that runs little to no early game threats, you can feel confident making a board early just play around Whirlwind effects as this decks runs a lot of them to combo with Rotface and Blackhowl Gunspire- I find the match-up plays out very similar to control warrior, they have trouble gaining enough tempo and armor to stay alive early however if they get to the point where they have Rotface and several large taunts out the game's probably over for you.

  • Rush Warrior - Due to this decks ability to have a play on almost every mana cost it's very difficult to get ahead on tempo vs them, and usually they'll have a trade ready with a rush minion whenever you try to reclaim board so don't expect whichever minions you put on board to just trade with whatever minions are on their board after playing them, the upside is other then single target rush removal the deck runs little to no removal especially if it's the Spiteful Summoner list that just runs Lesser Mithril Spellstone so if you establish a wide board it will be very difficult for this type of warrior to clear, all of that being said the tempo this type of warrior keeps outperforms this deck and usually ends up making the match a 50/50 if you're unable to finish them with burn.

  • Quest Warrior - Quest warrior's abundance of taunts makes this match-up very difficult, you'll need Sap, Assassinate or a very buffed up Hench-Clan Thug to get through their later game taunts so it's best to try to focus on creating as large a Hench-Clan Thug as possible early on of course continue to play around Execute as this deck runs at least 1 copy. I find the taunts too difficult to get through to get enough damage in to close out the match so I believe this match-up is unfavored for rogue

  • Odd Warrior - Since they tend to run many taunts, and the rush package along with an upgraded hero power- this match-up feels very difficult it's hard to maintain a board without having it rushed down or Brawld and you really need consistent damage on board to match their hero power Tank Up! Due to these factors I believe this match-up is the worst warrior match-up and if you get caught playing it try to establish a board to put in damage every turn to outdamage their armor don't expect to be able to burst them down with Sinister Strike or Nightblade if you're passing the turn back to them.

   

• Scrapped changes

 

Final Note: I would like to wish new players building this deck the best of luck with it, hope for the best but don't expect to hit legend with this list any time soon. Even playing perfectly and with some luck will only land you at rank 15-10 at best so don't get yourself down, try your best have fun with it and go for the season chest. Make sure to update your list as you get better and better cards, take a look at this list if you enjoyed playing this archetype of rogue

Budget Tempo Rogue Tempo Rogue Deck by BaggedMilk - May 1, 2018 View Deck String Export to BBCode Export to Cockatrice Export to MarkDown Export to Html Clone this deck
Minion (20) 2x Southsea Deckhand 1x Spellbreaker 2x Blink Fox 2x Bonemare 2x Cobalt Scalebane 2x Fire Fly 1x Fungalmancer 2x Glacial Shard 2x Hench-Clan Thug 2x Marsh Drake 2x Tar Creeper	Ability (10) 2x Backstab 2x Cold Blood 2x Eviscerate 2x Shadowstep 2x Sap
Loading Collection