NEW Spirit Prince Rogue [Post-Cold Blood Nerf]
- Last updated Feb 7, 2019 (Level Up Nerf)
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Wild
- 26 Minions
- 4 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Tempo Rogue
- Crafting Cost: 11560
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 2/1/2019 (Level Up Nerf)
- GamerPanda
- Registered User
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- 9
- 44
- 39
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Battle Tag:
GamerPanda#11334
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Region:
US
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Total Deck Rating
762
OVERVIEW
Prince Tempo Rogue has been my favorite viable Rogue class for a long time. With the announcement of the mana cost of Cold Blood moving to 2-cost from 1, Prince Rogue can no longer include Cold Blood, which I see in virtually every Tempo deck list. One might still get the effect from Crazed Chemist but the cost is much greater.
The top performing Tempo deck right now utilizes a pirate package, and so I incorporated a small Captain Hooktusk + Crew pack. The card is just good, board refill and deck thinning works well with Fal'dorei Strider as well.
This new Prince Tempo version takes advantage of Spirit of the Shark to get powerful effects from battlecry and combo minions:
Fire Fly adds 2 1-cost cards to assist with combos.
Prince Keleseth buffs the deck +2/+2, +4/+4 with Shadowstep combo
SI:7 Agent becomes Combo: Eviscerate.
Edwin VanCleef can become insanely huge with double trigger.
Elven Minstrel becomes: Combo: Sprint (essentially)
Fal'dorei Strider shuffles 6 4/4 Spooders.
Fungalmancer becomes: Give adjacent minions Blessing of Kings
Captain Hooktusk could potentially draw 5 Pirates with Rush.
Volcanosaur (which I removed but is worth mentioning) becomes a near-Galvadon.
Other synergistic cards that are not in this deck at the moment would include Saronite Chain Gang, Lifedrinker, Volcanosaur, Bonemare, Gurubashi Hypemon, Mind Control Tech, Seaforium Bomber, Myra Rotspring, Former Champ, Sonya Shadowdancer
1-2 tech cards would also be nice to include. I also see the Zilliax/ Corpsetaker/ Windfury Harpy or Stormwatcher combo in many deck lists. Fan of Knives might be a good idea until Odd Pally dies.
So far it's been bringing fun back to HS for me as I was in a bit of a rut. Love being able to use both Fal'Dorei Strider and Hooktusk, both super fun cards. Being able to keep Prince is just icing on the cake.
---------------------------------------------------- UPDATES & SUBSTITUTIONS
Update 2/7: I added the 2nd Spirit of the Shark back, just to keep the theme of the deck. I still think having 2 in hand is not a great situation. You can still get great value from 1 Spirit when played at the right time. I am running 2X Tar Creeper and seeing if it helps vs aggro or more aggressive midrange decks. I am still considering Mojomaster Zihi in place of something as well to assert dominance in control and OTK matchups.
68% WR on Hooktusk when played, btw! Hoping to bring the WR up a bit. I dabbled with -1 Ticket Scalper but it hurt the Captain Hooktusk recruit a little too often. I easily made it to Rank 9-10 today, hope the climb continues for y'all.
**** PIRATE PACKAGE can be subbed out as follows:
2X Southsea Captain --> 2X Hench-Clan Thug
2X Ticket Scalper --> 2X Saronite Chain Gang or 2X Lifedrinker
2X Cursed Castaway --> Sonya Shadowdancer and Mojomaster Zihi
1X Captain Hooktusk --> Your choice! (Pick Volcanosaur....you know you want to...)
User Jsnep7's list is in the comments and User KiwiinBacon made a video of my initial list (posted above, includes Volcanosaurs that don't see play).
---------------------------------------------------- MULLIGAN
Obviously keep Prince Keleseth. Only keep Shadowstep with Keleseth. Keep Fire Fly and Backstab. Keep SI:7 Agent with The Coin. Edwin VanCleef is a keep with Backstab and Coin, could keep with coin. I would also keep Fal'dorei Strider. Spirit of the Shark, although the centerpiece, may not get full value without more mana to spend after playing it, so I typically won't keep it unless I have Coin and Fal'Dorei Strider.
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VS. AGGRO
This is a weakness for the deck as there aren't many 3-drop plays that can contest an aggro board. Keep Tar Creeper and Zilliax in the mulligan to slow down and heal into the mid-game where you need to take board control. The win condition here is survival until your board can overtake theirs through trades, Backstab, SI:7 Agent, Fire Fly, Hero Power, Vilespine Slayer if you survive that long. Spirit of the Shark is way too slow in this matchup. Without Fan of Knives Odd Paladin is oppressive, maybe the worst matchup.
VS. CONTROL & COMBO/OTK
This deck is a little slower and you will encounter board wipes, but that's OK for us because you should always have a way to present a threatening board- that's basically our win condition. We can refill more than they can wipe. Getting Leyline Spiders going will help if you're hand is a bit small. Take full advantage of Spirit of the Shark combos- Shadowstep can be amazing for 4X battlecry triggers. Bait big removal on Turn 7 and Captain Hooktusk on 8 to refill- Hooktusk can turn a lost mid-game around and draw you cards. If they have no other AOE it might be GG. I have played this deck against several Odd Warriors and won by the refill potential of the deck.
Leeroy Jenkins - Shadowstep - Leeroy Jenkins is 12 damage burst for 8 mana so hold that 2nd Shadowstepif you can. You could also get multiple Eviscerate effects off of SI:7 Agent + Shadowstep with Spirit on board.
If you're losing to OTK, consider adding Mojomaster Zihi to delay big clears, death knights (looking at you, Frost Lich Jaina), and the combos themselves.
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I think that pretty much sums of all that's necessary for now. Please let me know if you need more info- Kiwi pilots the deck well in the video if you're looking to see it in action. It's the last month before Keleseth rotates so enjoy it as much as possible now!
Yeah taking out the 2nd Spirit, I can understand that sentiment. I might switch it back if I find the 2nd Creeper isn't helping enough against aggro.
Hey panda, just a thought. What about Southsea Deckhand? Another pirate, a combo activator, early removal, and a nice cheap pair with the shark and Fungalmancer to get a 6/5 with charge. You could even play the shark, the deckhand, and fungalmancer together on turn 10. With a Bonemare, you could get a 10/9 with charge on turn 9 if the shark is already out.
I guess he dilutes your Hooktusk draw, when you probably want the other pirates. On the other hand, there are probably times you can't get a full draw with Hooktusk if you've already drawn the other pirates.
Just a thought. I don't have the pieces to try it out.
Hey, I'm really trying to avoid the baby pirates just because of Hooktusk. I'm not usually starving for an activator but yeah it would help in that area. You could totally mod the deck and try it those combos. 6 Pirates definitely minimum for a relatively consistent Hooktusk draw. If you're finding success let us know.
Lifedrinker is huge in this deck.
Yeah I would like to try Lifedrinker but hard to decide what to replace!
Lifedrinker fixed the deck for me. I removed x1 Elven Minstrel and x1 Vilespine Slayer and it worked perfect!
I think I am going to try this as well.
This deck is fun, but I lost a lot with it to Odd/Aggro Paladin and anything that has consistent board clears
Yes, Paladin is the worst matchup for it, sorry you happened to hit a lot of it. Consistent board clears however shouldn't be killing you unless you run out of refill. I'm usually getting at least a decent refill from hand + Spiders + Hooktusk in the later game. Big spell and odd warrior probably have the most clear but my tracker shows favored for both except when Jaina comes online and I can't make a fast kill. I try to get as many spiders in the deck as I can when I know they have a lot of AOE. What rank are you playing at? I'm nearly at 9 and thinking I might be stagnating, but then again others have reported passing 5 with it.
Tried the deck and it's an absolute blast !
After some games tho, I took one Spirit of the Shark and a Ticket Scalper (since there already is card draw with the minstrels and the card feels dead without Captain Hooktusk) and replaced them by another Tar Creeper and Mojomaster Zihi (to counter the OTK decks).
Thanks again sharing the list !
Hey! I have been thinking of doing something similar. I wonder how the -1 pirate will impact Hooktusk pulls... Let us know how your version has been doing. I was worried Mojomaster might inhibit our own power plays.... has it ever hurt you?
Hey!
I'll let you know for the -1 pirate for sure, just need more data, haven't time tout play much today.
And for the Mojomaster, it has never been a problem for me, it actually granted me wins against really control decks, of course it stays a dead card against aggro strong body but still...
Really interesting take on Tempo Rogue here! Played some games with the deck, check them out;
(Games start at 2:55)
Love Hooktusk in this deck, really gives you some mid-late game power! Thanks for sharing the deck <3
Hey thanks for playing my deck/making the video of it! :) Those Hooktusk plays really turned those matches in your favor, love her! On HSReplay it ironically shows that spirit is one of the weakest cards unfortunately and I agree at least 1 might be better replaced with something else. Hard to let them go since the deck was designed around it. Some more early game would help survival bc mid to late game the deck can really turn up. I'll post your vid too I appreciate showing the loss w the wins :)
I hardly ever post comments on these, but I have to say, without making any substitutions on this deck, I've absolutely thrashed people with it.
If you "Semi-commit" to a full board, you're going to have a lot of Priests scratching their heads as to when it's the right time to Psychic Scream or not. Even took out a spell hunter after a poor opening and mid-game. It's a lot of fun to play this, and you'll find that a lot of people just don't know what to expect here.
I've been playing this without the pirates for a while, and it's both strong and fun. I use chain gang, blink fox, and bonemare instead of pirates. That gives room for more removal eviscerate/vanish as well. Also, I'd use stonehill denfender instead of tar creeper since there is battlecry synergy there.
This is really about the shark/battlecries, so I don't think the pirates are necessary. There's already a lot of card draw without them, and it frees up room for more synergies/removals.
Hey I'm glad you're seeing success with an alt. package. I just love Captain Hooktusk so that's really why I run the pirates. On HSReplay it's one of the best cards in the deck as well. You mentioned Eviscerate but it can't be run with Keleseth. I like the Stonehill over Tar idea but to get the battlecry effect with spirit you'd probably already be past the point of survival vs. aggro. Is the stonehill enough for you to survive? I'm not likely to change the list at this point- just a good base for people to modify as they see fit. If I find that a card is performing really poorly on replay I might change it up, though.
Oh, I forgot, I'm free to play, and I don't have Keleseth. I would obviously include him if I had him. But eviscerates are not a bad consolation.
vs Ress Preist rank 4
I'm jealous! I can't seem to get back to rank 10 yet with it :( Once the nerfs hit tomorrow it might be smoother
Edit: I went 14-8 today, so I guess that's not too bad. Lost mostly to paladin, as expected, and surprisingly Priest and big spell mage. Really need constant refill to beat these major control decks. Jaina is too much!