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Pogo-Hopper Rogue Defeats Lich King [NEW! 2021]

  • Last updated May 10, 2021 (Forged in the Barrens)
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Wild

  • 10 Minions
  • 20 Spells
  • Deck Type: PvE Adventure
  • Deck Archetype: Tempo Rogue
  • Boss: Lich King
  • Crafting Cost: 3260
  • Dust Needed: Loading Collection
  • Created: 4/18/2019 (Rise of Shadows)
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  • Battle Tag:

    LeoKing#21786

  • Region:

    EU

  • Total Deck Rating

    19

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Welcome to Icecrown, Lich King's home! This is a guide on how to defeat the last encounter against Lich King on the Rogue class.
This guide will showcase a different take from your standard Murloc Rogue decks. O theory crafted that a thin deck would encourage a Pogo-Hopper Rogue, which would snowball similarly as a Jade Druid, if not faster. 
I dropped 2x of each Pogo-Hopper and Lab Recruiter into a fresh new deck and started to experiment how I can make this deck superior and somewhat consistent. After a couple of hours of trial and error, I came up with the following conclusions:

  • the deck needs good neutral Taunt cards that can slow off the Lich King;
  • the deck needs good Healing cards that wouldn't punish us if we get too greedy;
  • the deck would benefit out of some card draw to keep the engine rolling.

Thus, this deck fits the criteria aforementioned and can give you the result desired.

What is Lich King's unique ability when against Rogue, you might ask?
The Price of Power. Removes every spell from your deck. It doesn't matter what spells you use in your deck, just be sure you have 20 random ones.

Summary

You usually end up killing the Lich King somewhere between Stage 2 and Stage 3, thanks to our sustain throughout the match-up.
Also, as a quick life pro tip, Lich King loves to target your big minions during Stage 2 with his face. Make good use of that. 

Synergy

1x Lab Recruiter on Pogo-Hopper
This combo can be done as soon as during Stage 1 as the board presence early is more important than anything else.

T6 Spirit of the Shark
T7 Giggling Inventor
This combo will create a wall of Annoy-o-Trons which will slow Lich King's progress hard during Stage 2, giving you room for the following combos.

Spirit of the Shark + Pogo-Hopper
Your bread and butter combo. The SotS is a wild card on its own, and when paired with the Hoppers it creates tremendous amounts of value. Recommended to be done during Stage 2.

Spirit of the Shark + Pogo-Hopper + Lab Recruiter on the Pogo-Hopper if there are none left in your deck
This will fuel your last-game. If you didn't use your Elven Minstrel yet, you should consider doing that just to finish off your enemy.

Mulligan

Hard mulligan for Pogo-Hopper and Lab Recruiter as it's your preferable start.
As your deck will get quite thin, it's a good rule of thumb always to have 2/3+ minions in your starting hand.

Card Choices

[Any of the 20 Spells from your deck] - It's just for the fluff. We need a thin deck to be able to fetch the Pogo-Hopper quite so often and keep spamming them on board. We don't need to overinvest in the Taunt/Heal minions either, but neither should we underestimate them. I found that '20 Spells' feels like just the right amount of spells to have in your deck when facing the Lich King.

2x Pogo-Hopper - A core part of our deck. Can't be replaced. This card also represents our Win Condition due to its potent snowball effect.

2x Lab Recruiter - A core part of our deck. Can't be replaced. It helps us create more Pogo-Hoppers in an efficient manner that has no rival (Looking at you, Baleful Banker).
I don't believe adding an Augmented Elekk would be better as you might draw too much into your Pogo-Hoppers from an early stage. We count on the Taunt minions to hold the board.

1x Elven Minstrel - Very lovely card to fetch more of your minions and can be combo'd efficiently with one Pogo-Hopper.
If short on dust, this card can be replaced with 1x Witchwood Piper or 1x Coldlight Oracle.
Witchwood Piper is only drawing one minion (unless early SotS and then I dare to ask what are you even doing?), and that would be 90% of the time another Pogo-Hopper, while we might need a Taunt minion. 
As for the Coldlight Oracle, I would rather spend 2 more Mana Crystals only to not give the Lich King an answer for my board (e.g.: Obliterate, Blizzard, Anti-Magic Shell on 2+ minions).

1x Spirit of the Shark - A core part of our deck. Can't be replaced. Allows for a harder snowball for our Pogo-Hopper. 
Brann Bronzebeard dropped on T6 without any Stealth is sure to be killed by Lich King's minions which will swarm quicker than ours during Stage 1. SotS is the safe pick here.

1x Zilliax - How can you not love him?! Synergises really well with a big Pogo-Hopper and allows us to recover all most of our Health Points. Can be dropped on T5 if we need a band-aid solution against a dangerous minion.
Hard to be replaced. Antique Healbot would be the best if you have problems managing your Health Points, +Skaterbot would make the deck a bit inconsistent though if both Mulligan'd, it would be fine. An alternative to the alternatives,  Lifedrinker would work fine, especially with SotS.

1x Khartut Defender - Arguably a better Rotten Applebaum thanks to it's stickiness to the board. If short on dust it can be replaced by the one mentioned above.

2x Giggling Inventor - Incredible defence tool during Stage 2 when paired with a SotS. Hardly replaceable. 
Mosh'Ogg Enforcer is one mana too slow, Safeguard gets easily destroyed by 1x Frostmourne and 3x minions, Rabble Bouncer although (0), even less reliable and dies to 1x Frostmourne and 1x minion. Alternative fit, although not as efficient, might be the Phantom Militia.
There is some potential for 2x Conjured Mirage or a cheeky Defender of Argus on two big Pogo-Hoppers, although I didn't test either of this cases.  

Best of luck in your quest to get the mighty Arthas! <3

-LeoKing#21786 [EU]