Hearthpwn

After thousands of games of Mill Rogue, I believe I have created a nearly optimal deck. I recently went from Rank 10 to Rank 4 with only this deck. You'd be hard pressed to get much higher, though.

This is an incredibly tough deck to pilot, but that's why it's so much fun.

This deck will work best when the meta is greedy (such as when a new expac drops). The deck holds up fairly well to meta changes, though.

Tips:

• You will not win against the most aggro decks in the meta 90% of the time (Pirate Warrior, Token Druid, etc). They have to draw horribly and you have to draw perfectly.
• Do not play Academic Espionage until very late game. Its purpose is to prevent you fatiguing, not necessarily to play the cards it gives you. You need to draw most of your other cards first. It pairs well with Vanish!
• Valeera the Hollow gives you stealth until your next turn! The stealth is more important than the hero power, so hold onto it until you simply can't wait anymore. It also is a great delay tactic for Quest Mage once they have Time Warp in hand.
• Do not shuffle more than 6 Coldlight Oracles into your deck. You need to draw your other cards.
• Use your removal wisely! You'll take a beating early game, but you can heal later. After turn 6 or so they won't be able to do significant damage to you again.
• Lorewalker Cho is a very versatile card. Use it early game to discourage Mage and other spell heavy classes from playing cards. Use it late game to stuff your opponent's hand to make milling, Sap, and Vanish more effective.
• If a Priest is likely running Archbishop Benedictus, hold on to that Gang Up for dear life. The only way you don't auto-lose is shuffling it into your deck. Your goal then becomes to draw the game after 50 turns.
• Don't worry too much about occasionally burning your own cards, especially if you have a Coldlight Oracle and a means to thicken your deck in hand (Academic Espionage, Lab Recruiter, or Gang Up). Fal'dorei Strider also makes it less likely you’ll burn a card that matters.
• If your opponent is aggro or midrange, you probably shouldn't be playing Coldlight Oracle until turn 6 or later. You don't want to give them any more cards than necessary until you're in control.
• Every spell in the deck is precious. Try to hold on to them for as long as possible until you can have a wombo combo burst turn. Sometimes the best move is to simply pass on your turn (e.g., if the potential damage on the board doesn't justify removal).
• Keep your hand balanced between spells and minions if at all possible. Too many of either is usually bad news.
• Leverage the fact that Sudden Betrayal and Evasion are opposites of each other. In one, the opponent needs to choose their weakest minion to go face, in the other, the strongest. They will usually choose wrong the second time (expecting a repeat of the secret they’ve already seen).

Mulligan Guide:

• Murloc Tastyfin and Elven Minstrel should almost always be kept.
• Don't get too greedy with keeping mill cards. Yes, Coldlight Oracle should be kept (unless you have Murloc Tastyfin), but Lab Recruiter and Shadowstep take up space you need for removal in the early game.
• Keep Lorewalker Cho against Mage. If it's a Quest Mage, you need to discourage them from using their 1 cost spells until you can play Skulking Geist.
• Fal'dorei Strider is usually a good card to keep, but minion draw comes first.
• Always keep Skulking Geist against Druid and consider keeping against Mage.

Favorable Matchups:

• Any control deck (e.g., Big Priest, Control Warlock, basically any non-token Druid, etc.)
• Any draw heavy deck (e.g., Evenlock, certain Mechathun decks, etc.) Let them draw for several turns before dropping a Coldlight Oracle and influencing their draw behavior.
• Midrange or Tempo decks. They simply can't keep enough material on the board.
• OTK decks. You need to burn their key cards and play Skulking Geist early.
• Most Shaman decks (e.g. Galakrond Shaman, Quest Shaman, etc.)
• Other Mill decks. Don’t be afraid to Flik Skyshiv your own Coldlight Oracles and Lab Recruiters against another Mill Rogue, and be sure to play Skulking Geist early. The Academic Espionage will see you through.

Unfavorable Matchups:

• Token / Aggro decks. You can't keep their minions off the board, and Vanish barely helps. If you somehow make it past turn 7 or so, you probably won.
• Mech Paladin. You need to draw perfect removal to deal with this deck. The more magnetic the better, as they lose those cards when Sap or Vanish comes.

Insta-Concede Matchups:

• Secret Mage. Secrets screw with your plays and they can do far too much face damage far too quickly.
• Pirate Warror. The problems of aggro matchups increased by an order of magnitude.
• Face Hunter