Hearthpwn

Ahoy There!

Pirate Rogue is a pretty popular deck currently (probably because of how good Swordfish is), but my initial pity timer legendary was none other than Pirate Admiral Hooktusk, and I knew from the get-go that I wanted to find a way to make her work. I am, by no means, an amazing player, and mostly play around low diamond, but this deck mostly originated from a player sitting at diamond 5. This deck is not meta-defining by any means, but it's viable enough and very fun to climb with, and I've played over 100 games to get a feel for this deck. Here is the deck's stats as of 5/11/22:

Renotusk Rogue is a control-oriented deck that starts aggressively in order to fulfill Hooktusk's condition, before switching to a more disruption-based win condition by using a Hooktusk in conjuction with a mix of combo activators/bouncing tools to get the absolute most out of her battlecry. While I don't consider the deck to be very difficult to play, I've noticed that there's an incredibly high skill ceiling due to the sheer amount of versatility offered in the deck. Every game will be slightly different, and that's made this deck extremely fun to climb with amidst a never-ending sea of aggro decks.

 

The Element of Surprise

In the early game, this deck plays like your run-of-the-mill aggro Pirate Rogue. You're looking to vomit as many pirates onto the board as you can, and ideally into your opponent's face. However, one of the most fun parts of this deck, in my eyes, is the "pivot". If you realize that the game will not end quickly (which, often times, it won't), then you'll want to put your "me go face" character arc on hold and start playing a more control-oriented game. 

And the opponent will never expect it.

A big advantage to this deck is that your opponent will almost never anticipate you playing cards like Reno or Zephrys. And depending on how they handled their mulligan, you switching to a control-oriented game can throw them off completely. I've had multiple games end in an insta-concede where I'll be playing against an aggro deck that's throwing away all their spells to end the game as quick as possible, thinking I didn't have any answers because I was playing an aggro deck, only to have their board wiped the following turn by Zeph or fully heal with Reno. 

The pivot is one of the most important parts to playing this deck. Knowing when it's time to make that switch and say, "This isn't even my final form," can swing the game completely in your favor. So, how can this be done? There's a couple of ways:

1. Use Reno Jackson to heal - This one's pretty straightforward. Your opponent slowly whittling down your health with whatever card they topdeck, and might have lethal next turn? Tell your opponent that you're going to be rich and get all that health back! To add insult to injury, get another copy of Reno using Zola the Gorgon.

2. Use Zephrys the Great - Again, another straightforward approach. I've found that Zeph is perfect as a finisher since the win condition of this deck isn't based on damage, but you can always use him to clear the board or steal a minion. Like Reno, he benefits greatly from a Zola copy.

3. Clear their board with Shadowcrafter Scabbs - While I've had some mileage with Scabbs to set up more combos of my own, I've had the most success with him clearing the opponent's board. If they have a full board, that's 7 cards added to their hand, which can either instantly kill some of their minions and burn a card on their next turn if their hand has a fair number of cards. I find this one tends to be particularly useful against control-oriented decks, although be mindful if your opponent has something like Mutanus or Dirty Rat on the board.

These are the three combos I use most commonly. Which one is most effective just depends on the opponent you're facing, and there's definitely other silly combos you could take advantage of with Tenwu and Shadowstep alone.

 

Ya Seem Overburdened. Lucky I'm Here!

Like the name suggests, your win condition exists in Pirate Admiral Hooktusk. Your goal is to live out your pirate fantasies by plundering the enemy as many times as you can. 

Mulligans

Strengths & Weaknesses

Outside of the deck being very fun to play, it's also a pretty balanced deck. There's some clear-cut advantages and disadvantages to running it. I've listed a few of my observations. Pros are in green, while the cons are in red.

Extremely versatile. While disruption might be the main goal, you have a lot of tools at your disposal to do so. The deck can comfortably win if you play aggressively, you can keep bouncing Zephrys to give you whatever deus ex machina you're in the market for, Mutanus if you have a case of the munchies, Hooktusk if you'd like to see what your opponent's got in their hand, and so on.

Consistent. As long as you don't draw all of your bouncing tools early in the game, it's pretty easy to thin out your deck using pirates, which means that you'll have a much higher chance of getting the non-seafaring minion or spell you need. I find that the consistency of this deck's success lies in how efficiently the deck gets thinned out.

Limited board removal tools. While Rogue is not the master of unlocking board clears in general, it's especially apparent in this deck, where board control can be important. If a deck can vomit out minions early on, there's a pretty good chance you're going to lose unless you're lucky enough to pull Zeph, Scabbs, or the Pufferfist/Plague Scientist combo.

Win condition might not be enough. While Hooktusk does a great job of disrupting combos, she's not a surefire victory in the same way as C'Thun, the Shattered or Kazakusan. Usually, she can do enough, but be sure you have a backup plan if your opponent's still got a chance to win.

 

Matchups

 

Legendary Substitutions

While I think a lot of the legendaries in this deck are essential (Scabbs opens up more combo opportunities, Loatheb gives you protection against QL Hunter, etc), I've noted a few that you could probably switch out depending on what you're commonly running into, or if you don't have enough dust. However, I do highly encourage you to at least craft Patches and Tenwu at some point, as both increase this deck's consistency in winning games.

Patches the Pirate: Southsea Deckhand or Swashburglar

Tenwu of the Red Smoke: Youthful Brewmaster

Crabatoa: Flex pick, add whatever you'd prefer here

Mutanus the Devourer: Dirty Rat