Hearthpwn

Intro

I'm still tinkering with this, but it's a lot of fun at low ranks for now. This deck revolves around abusing Candle Breath in the early game and either out-tempo your opponent mid-game or out-value them in the mid-to-late game. Much midgame healing comes from Khartut Defender and Zilliax.

Sometimes in the midgame, say turn 6+, you can play things like Candle Breath + Mountain Giant with 8 or less cards in hand. So even if you havent' drawn a giant yet, you could risk the three draws (if you have a dragon) to pray for a giant.

It can be a really powerful deck, I think, but it requires much thinking ahead and knowing what you're up against to pick the right options from your discover cards. It also helps to make sure that you always have at least one dragon in hand as an activator. This also makes picking one late game dragon in the early game an OK choice, even if you can't play it, since its sole function then is being an activator for the rest.

There are other fringe surprise plays and combos, like Bloodsail Flybooter and however many of the pirates you can get + a randomly discovered Cannon Barrage. The deck is quite slow, but there is a lot of value and strategies to play with. Really fun if you like discover and value plays :)

Gameplan

Early game is just focused on survival and/or growing your hand using cards that either replace themselves or add more cards to your hand. The dream in every game per turn, is:

1. Dragon's Hoard for either dragon or potential mid/late game card,
2. Firetree Witchdoctor (pick what you need),
3. Candle Breath (tho on the coin you can do this on turn 2, otherwise you hand is clogged),
4. Mountain Giant or Twilight Drake (having drake in hand from mulligan allows the previous 2 turns as activator).

Then your turn 5 might look like this - note the superfluous Shudderwock:

Against zoo it should look like this (for this run I subbed 2 x Hench-Clan Thug for 2  flybooters):

When it comes to lackeys, consider saving any Titanic Lackey you get, it can be crucial in taunting your giants or bigger dragons. Note that Draconic Lackey can also give you dragons, so the sources of dragons are not just limited to Dragon's Hoard. They can also help you out with board control, finding spells, etc.

Alexstrasza for example can be used to push face once you get a big board or heal yourself up in case of emergency. She can also be taunted on the same turn with Titanic Lackey or evolved with Witchy Lackey. Cobalt Spellkin is here to keep your hand filled mid-game. It also pulls you Dragon's Hoard on a regular basis.

 

Dragon's Hoard

This is really the coolest card of this deck, enabling many magical non-rogue effects if you're lucky :) Sometimes you get 3-4 in total with additions from Cobalt Spellkin for even more value.

You got an insane amount of choice, but I usually try to stick to dragons for synergy or pick one of these categories, depending on matchup. Just keep in mind that perhaps 1/6 or so are dragons, 2/6 value and 3/6 situational. To give you an idea of the potential:

Dragons: Emeriss (value bomb late game), Nozdormu the Timeless (early game), Malygos, Aspect of Magic (insane tempo), Zzeraku the Warped (great tempo with dagger equipped and ready to remove something), Veranus (ez dagger mode), Deathwing, Mad Aspect (clear), Deathwing (clear all), Kalecgos, Nozari (reno 2.0?), Murozond the Infinite, Nithogg.

Value: Glinda Crowskin, Tirion Fordring, Arch-Villain Rafaam (when you have a lot of dead cards), Krag'wa, the Frog (for another Dragon's hoard?),  War Master Voone (potential insane value), Shudderwock,  Ysera, Unleashed, Catrina Muerte, Hex Lord Malacrass, Splintergraft, Boommaster Flark, Prophet Velen (great if you have some Sinister Strikes from Cobalt Spellkin), Swampqueen Hagatha (great flex-card), Toki, Time-Tinker, Flobbidinous Floop (very flexible), High Priest Amet (turn 4 drop followed by 3/7 Zilliax #feelsgood), Electra Stormsurge, Madame Lazul, Mindflayer Kaahrj, Zentimo (only if you have some good spells like Sap), Archmage Arugal (can be insane with Candle Breath in turn 2/3 or 5), Chameleos, Fel Lord Betrug.

Damage/Removal/Control: Lord Godfrey, Darius Crowley, King Krush, Grommash Hellscream, Akali, the Rhino, Al'Akir the Windlord, Archmage Antonidas (technically value, but if you can play 1-2 1 mana spells, he gives you a lot of burn/removal), Halazzi, the Lynx, Wardruid Loti.

Healing/Taunt: Shirvallah, the Tiger, High Priestess Jeklik, Lord Jaraxxus, Crystalsmith Kangor, Goru the Mightree, Armagedillo, Lucentbark.

Tempo/buff: Stargazer Luna, Princess Talanji (got more free minions clogging your hand?), Cenarius, Gonk, the Raptor (with a weapon equipped you can get immediate value), Houndmaster Shaw, Vereesa Windrunner (gives you a weapon and works great with burn spells like Sinister Strike), Dragonbane (really nice if he sticks or if you can combo him on turn 7 for removal or face dmg), The Glass Knight.

Very late game/singleton deck requirement: Dinotamer Brann, Sir Finley of the Sands, Reno the relicolgist, Elise the Enlightened (can be used to create nice burst combo if you have like Vereesa Windrunner's weapon and a bunch of Sinister Strikes late game. Very, very rare, but extremely fun situation :)).

Useless/Situational: Bwonsamdi, the Dead, Jan'alai, the Dragonhawk, Lady in White, Oblivitron, Zerek, Master Cloner (unless you happen to find coldblood or other buffs somehow), Prince Liam (and potentially sacrifice your other Dragon's Hoard? Hell no!), Scargil, Vessina, Chenvaala, Commander Rhyssa, High Priest Thekal, Keeper Stalladris, Khadgar (behind your healing taunts), Dr. Morrigan.

Special mentions, since they can impact the game in a unique/OP way:

Valdris Felgorge is an amazing tempo card that can make your giants cost 0 mana, once you hit 7 mana and have less than 6 cards, but you hit fatigue real fast. Sometimes you can compensate this with a Togwaggle's Scheme from Cobalt Spellkin.

Bandersmosh (he can be amazing or just a dead card often, but if he turns into a 5/5 Hireek, 5 mana-Tirion Fordring, Valdris Felgorge even, etc. it's a sick tempo/value card)

Dark Pharaoh Tekahn (amazing when you're Galakrond and can pump out a 4/4 lackey every turn), becomes very hard to deal with every turn.

Dragonrider Talritha this can quickly get out of hand if you also happen to have gotten a Necrium Vial from Firetree Witchdoctor. Otherwise she's just a regular value card.

 

Mulligan

Against aggro: Bloodsail Flybooter + Sea Giant + Sunfury Protector (if up against zoo) or Dragon's Hoard for Crystalsmith Kangor/dragon, Seal Fate, Firetree Witchdoctor + Scalerider/Candle Breath (+ dragon).

Against Control: Dragon's Hoard for value/control/combo/dragon, Firetree Witchdoctor (+ dragon), Candle Breath (+ dragon) + Mountain Giant

Substitutes

Zilliax is replaceable by any heal, taunt, removal or a dragon like Evasive Wyrm or Dragonmaw Scorcher, depending on what you see. You could also drop 1 Shield of Galakrond for one of those cheap dragons, since it's not crucial to get Galakrond to 4 draws.

Alexstrasza is a card I wouldn't replace, since she can be used both offensive and defensive, but if you don't have her, just put in one of the aforementioned dragons, perhaps de Evasive Drakonid would be the best defensive option.

Waxadred seems like a nice inclusion and anti-fatigue card, but sadly I don't have him. Could drop a Shield of Galakrond for him.

I've been considering putting in Heistbaron Togwaggle (though he would also merit including EVIL Miscreant and more Galakrond cards), instead of a Khartut Defender. Would be better against control decks perhaps, since it can give a lot of tempo.

Flick Skyshiv can be amazing, but the 6-slot is already very occupied. If you're seeing less aggro and more control, maybe you can drop a Khartut Defender for him.