Secret Passage w/ Pirates is OP!
- Last updated Aug 10, 2020 (Scholomance Academy)
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Wild
- 16 Minions
- 12 Spells
- 2 Weapons
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Tempo Rogue
- Crafting Cost: 8100
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 8/7/2020 (Scholomance Academy)
- Welos
- Registered User
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- 5
- 8
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Battle Tag:
N/A
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Region:
N/A
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Total Deck Rating
18
This deck seeks to play an aggressive game and maximize the power of Secret Passage by utilizing huge weapons, Cutting Class, and Pirate synergies. It consistently wins the board early, pushes powerful tempo plays in the midgame and snowballs into beating down with 7+ power weapons to close out the match around turn 6 or 7. It's capable of racing most decks in the format.
Note: This deck is vulnerable to Acidic Swamp Ooze and Zephrys the Great and will likely have to play from behind if cast. An opponent with 2 copies of weapon destruction in their deck are about 60% to draw one by turn 7, so variance can definitely be in either player's favor. This deck is nevertheless at its strongest if the Meta is light on weapon removal.
Card choices:
- Backstab: Tempo positive and synergistic removal. Important in winning the early game and snowballing advantage.
- Southsea Deckhand: Flex slot! A 1-cost Pirate that charges for damage and cheats Parachute Brigand into play. This minion synergizes with the deck's draw engines at a low opportunity cost. Ultimately, this slot could be filled with any number of other cards. Be creative!
- Bloodsail Flybooter: 1-cost Pirate that makes aggressive openings and combo plays much more consistent. Great for cheating out Parachute Brigand. The tokens she generates remain in hand after a Secret Passage turn for additional value.
- Deadly Poison: Pushes a ton of damage in conjunction with Self-Sharpening Sword and acts as removal when necessary. Very useful in cheating out Dread Corsair and Cutting Class.
- Secret Passage: The card that makes this deck work! One of the strongest draw spells printed in any card game if built around properly. The trick is consistently playing as many of the 5 drawn cards as possible. It can also be used early to dig for a stronger play if one would otherwise have a weak turn.
- Spymistress: 1-cost minion that makes Secret Passage stronger, trades up, and may push face damage at any stage of the game.
- Eviscerate: Face damage or removal depending on the situation. A staple.
- Parachute Brigand: A key piece of the deck. A high-roll aggressive minion that can be cheated out in the early game to secure the board, or squeeze extra tempo out of Secret Passage turns if drawn with another Pirate. Don’t be afraid to play her as a 2/2 for 2 if it makes for the strongest play available.
- Sap: Tempo-positive disruption that counters many defensive setups. Especially strong when pushing face damage.
- Voracious Reader: A 1-of draw engine that makes running out of steam less likely. This minion synergizes with Secret Passage, as she will fill your hand to 3 after you swap back if it meets the requirement at end of turn.
- Edwin VanCleef: OG good card is good. Just plain strong in this deck. Synergizes especially well with cost reductions on Dread Corsair and Cutting Class.
- Self-Sharpening Sword: A key card and the deck's primary win condition. One copy of this weapon will consistently deal 15+ damage and help cheat out other cards if it isn't destroyed. Watch for tricky math with Dread Corsair and Cutting Class, and know it’s often correct to equip on turn 3 and attack face to get the ball rolling.
- Vulpera Toxinblade: A more synergistic version of SI:7 Agent that one's opponent will feel pressured to remove. No combo activation required. Just add weapons!
- Dread Corsair: A key piece of the deck. Reducing the cost of this card to 1 or less is trivially easy. A 3/3 with taunt for 0 mana is no joke with card advantage to support it. Very strong with Secret Passage and Parachute Brigand.
- Infiltrator Lilian: A sticky and hard to deal with minion that represents a lot of damage. Too good to pass up in a deck that pushes face.
- Captain Greenskin: Adding durability to a buffed, or soon to be buffed weapon can represent immense damage and will put opponents in hopeless situations. He's even a Pirate to boot!
- Cutting Class: Often under-costed card draw. Secret Passage alone does not provide consistent enough card advantage, making this the supplement of choice. That said, it is extremely synergistic with Secret Passage, giving said spell the potential of drawing 7-9 cards for 1 mana! Even better, the cards drawn remain in your hand at the end of a Secret Passage turn. Staggering Value!
- Doctor Krastinov: A more tempo-positive Captain Greenskin sans the Pirate tag. Play both and don't look back!
Basic mulligan theory:
Note: Edwin VanCleef is worth keeping if he can be powered out early with Backstab and/or the Coin. Also, Parachute Brigand is only worth keeping if you also have Bloodsail Flybooter or potentially Southsea Deckhand to cheat it out.
Highest <== Priority <== Lowest
- Aggro: Backstab, Bloodsail Flybooter, *Parachute Brigand*, Self-Sharpening Sword, Spymistress, Vulpera Toxinblade.
- Midrange: Bloodsail Flybooter, *Parachute Brigand*, Self-Sharpening Sword, Spymistress, Backstab, Vulpera Toxinblade, Secret Passage. Consider keeping Sap against Paladin or Buff Priest.
- Control: Bloodsail Flybooter, *Parachute Brigand*, Spymistress, Self-Sharpening Sword, Infiltrator Lilian, Vulpera Toxinblade, Secret Passage.
Any feedback is welcome. Thank you for reading and good luck!
This Deck is just AWESOME! I'm currently on a 8 win streak (!?) Not sure i've ever did that with any of my hearthstone's deck before (i'm playing since.... 2015 ^^').
Well, maybe it's because i'm currently playing in "low ranks (silver)", but this deck is super deadly in this meta. Most of the opponent's deck are"late game" so i beat them before turn 8 (Thank also to the nerf of Kael'thas in one my game haha).
I had to make two changes since i don't have Captain Greenskin and Infiltrator Lilian. I 've added, Maiev ( as you suggestd Welos). For the other one, well um.... Bloodsail Raider...Not sure what is the best replacment actually. Luckily, it didn't seem to create any issues.
Thanks for sharing Welos!
This deck is bloody good. However I swapped Infiltrator Lilian out for Flik Skyshiv only because Flik has always been kind to me. Thoughts?
Thanks for the input! I’ve thought a good deal about Flik Skyshiv. Making that switch should increase your win percentage against Paladin. My overall conclusion, however, is that the card is just too slow at 6 mana. This deck averages a turn 7 win, meaning Flik will likely be the only card one can play off of a Secret Passage push for game on that critical turn. Consider playing Maiev Shadowsong Instead. She will have largely the same effect on the game at a reduced cost of 4 mana. This means one can play Sap or Eviscerate alongside her to punch through a larger variety of board states on turn 7.
Just hit Diamond playing this deck from Bronze! I'm definitely having to play hard against some of the best decks in the format, but Pirates have what it takes.
Hey guys,
I tried out this deck and made a showcase of it! If you are interested in a gameplay video with commentary you can check it out bellow. I hope you can enjoy it :)
Never thought I'd have a Youtube video made of one of my decks! Thank you for taking the time to do this.
Made an adjustment today after further play. Hooked Scimitar is often a dead draw and feels unnecessary in this list. I switched it out for a copy of Voracious Reader to give Rogue more staying power against the Meta as other decks continue to improve.
Fun to play, 4-3 now. Actually made some mistakes in 2 games that might have been cause for lose. Put in fan of knives and an extra wand thief.
Thanks for checking the deck out! It’s definitely one of the more complicated aggro decks I’ve piloted in Standard. A rule of thumb I’m using is to maximize tempo every turn and make your opponent answer you, not the other way around. Only make low impact plays if you’re setting up for a big swing soon after. This deck does not want to fall behind.
Good going! I'm going to replace the Bloodsail Corsair in the official list for a Wand Thief from your recommendation. Seems super solid. Thanks!
I'm having a lot of fun with this deck! Currently 12-3 losing to totem shamans.
I swapped 1x Cutting Class for 1x Shadow Sculptor because I felt the board presence was valuable for a draw card.
Rock on!
- I agree with Wand Thief being a strong card in this deck. I'd replace the Bloodsail Corsair for it, but you may even want to run 2x. I would cut 1x Spymistress in that case.
- I've been very impressed with Vulpera Toxinblade! I personally would cut a Sap for a Fan of Knives if the Meta is focused on going wide.
- Southsea Captain seems like a fine replacement as the deck likes to go wide with Pirates if it isn't cutting people in half with a sword. I would definitely have Doctor Krastinov in that case though. This deck really wants that weapon buff.
Good luck with your changes and have fun!
5-1 now, I agree with the Bloodsail Corsair haven't got much use out of him. Sap has proved very useful as it can remove taunts to get the face kill.
Thanks!
Glad you're enjoying it! I've been playing this deck from Bronze to Platinum today with only a few loses so far. I actually haven't played against many Druids, but I've ran over those I have before they could set up anything. The deck definitely has a lot of decision points, especially with Secret Passage, and wants to maximize its plays early to snowball later. I'm still learning its intricacies myself, but that's what makes this game fun!
Fun deck I'm currently 2-1 with a bit modified:
1x Spymistress -> 1x Wandthief, the spell can be very valuable
1x Vulpera Toxinblade -> 1x Fan of Knives, I was missing aoe and draw
1x Captain Greenskin -> 1x Southsea Captain, budget
Tell me what you think!
This is a really fun deck. I'm about 50%. I'm sure I'm hot playing optimally. Druid owns.