Midrange Dragon Rogue
- Last updated May 3, 2015 (Blackrock Launch)
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Wild
- 23 Minions
- 7 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Unknown
- Crafting Cost: 5900
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 4/18/2015 (Blackrock Launch)
- allstar997
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Total Deck Rating
68
The Dragon Package
1 Ysera
The idea here is to consistently enable the two Blackwing cards. While this is obviously not anything groundbreaking, I've noticed that a lot of other theorycraft decks use a miniature dragon package that only includes 1 Blackwing Corruptor and sometimes doesn't even play Blackwing Technician. I feel that both of these cards are so strong that its worth committing to them fully. Plus, rogue already wants to play Azure Drake for the draw/spell damage and the hero power lends itself nicely to dealing with the drawback of Hungry Dragon. We want to have 6-8 dragons to enable the Blackwings and this is a midrange value deck, so we can't just load up on the 9-mana finishers. Thus, we add Volcanic Drake. This is another card that I feel has been underutilized in a lot of the theorycraft decks I've seen. This should almost always be a 4-mana 6/4, which is already slightly above average for the cost, and any time you get the cost under 4 is just icing. Ysera is just the current choice for the finisher dragon slot. It dodges Big Game Hunter, gets value the turn it's played, and is capable of taking over a game by itself if left unchecked.
Rogue Staples
2 Backstab
There shouldn't be much to explain here. Backstab, Deadly Poison, Eviscerate, and SI:7 Agent represent the core of almost any Rogue deck and provide a huge amount of tempo in the early game which should allow this deck to easily transition into its powerful midgame. Blade Flurry is Rogue's standard sweeper, but I have kept it to a one-of since we only have Deadly Poison and the spell damage from Azure Drake as ways to get this to hit for more than 1. This is definitely a card that I could see replacing once BRM is fully released and I'm able to begin testing.
Legendaries, Tech Cards, and Others
Dark Iron Skulker: This is a card that I have high hopes for but it is less easy to tell how good it will be without testing. With this in mind, as well as the fact that the 5-drop part of the curve is already on the heavy side, I kept it to a one-of. This should be excellent against Zoolock and Demonlock which will often flood the board with 1/1's between Haunted Creeper, Imp Gang Boss, and Imp-losion.
Sprint: Just like in other non-miracle Rogues this just helps shore up the late game by making sure we don't run out of gas.
Big Game Hunter: As a one-of, this should probably make the cut in any midrange deck as long as Dr. Boom is a staple in everything. The fact that it hits some of the other popular finishers like Ragnaros the Firelord and the various 8/8 Giants just serves to solidify its place in the deck.
Piloted Shredder: Many people seem to assume that this will automatically be replaced by Hungry Dragon in midrange decks, but I feel like this deck really needs a second 4-drop and Shredder fits the bill. Just like the dragon it will often take two cards or a card and a hero power from your opponent to deal with it and it trades well with most of the staple 5-drops.
Sludge Belcher: I feel like this will lose some of its power with the impending rise of Hungry Dragon. However, I don't think there's any other neutral taunt that comes close to Belcher's value so I still kept one copy in the deck.
Loatheb: This should be good against control in this type of deck since you can play it around turns 5-7 to push your board position while staving off their board clears for a turn. However, this is definitely a flex spot that I could easily see being filled by a second Sludge Belcher if aggro is popular in the post-BRM metagame or even Harrison Jones against the weapon classes.
Emperor Thaurissan: As everyone under the sun has pointed out, this is the staple neutral legendary of BRM and for good reason. On curve, even if your opponent kills it immediately, it still enables absurd plays like a 5-drop and a 4-drop on turn 7. It is also a silence and/or removal lightning rod.
Sylvanas Windrunner: Just like Emperor, this is a lightning rod for silence effects. If it goes unsilenced, it often forces your opponent to make inefficient and/or awkward plays like running 6 or 7 power worth of minion(s) into it in order to prevent you from stealing anything or to make sure they can handle whatever you do end up stealing.
Dr. Boom Not much to say here. Like most other staple legendaries, it provides value the turn it is played, and, even if your opponent has the Big Game Hunter, they are often forced into an intricate tap dance when trading with the Boom Bots to try to work around the odds of having their board position wrecked by RNG from the bombs.
Possible Changes and Substitutions
I discussed some other card choices to consider in the explanations above, but I'll use this section as a place to consolidate all of those options and any others that come up.
Antique Healbot/Sludge Belcher #2: I could see either of these options replacing Loatheb, which is far better at pushing board advantage in control matchups. Against aggressive decks, we could use either another solid taunt or some life gain to help stabilize. The two main aggressive strategies to have in mind are Zoolock and Face Hunter. If you're having trouble against Zoo, then the second Belcher is probably where you want to be at as it does a good job of eating up opposing minions and getting value. If hunter is the primary concern, then Healbot is more likely to keep you alive long enough to pull out the win. On paper, I feel like we have more existing tools to keep us in the game against Zoo (especially Blade Flurry and Dark Iron Skulker), so I would lean towards Antique Healbot to give the deck a chance against Face Hunter.
Harrison Jones: This is obviously a tech card against the weapon classes and could replace either Loatheb or potentially even the Sludge Belcher if aggro takes a nosedive in popularity.
Zombie Chow: Aggressive decks often see a distinct rise in popularity just after the release of a new set as the sharks attempt to prey on the more open and experimental metagame. With that in mind, it may end up being worthwhile to add in 1-2 Zombie Chow in place of cards like Sprint or Lotheb that are aimed more at beating control decks. This is an appealing answer to an aggro-heavy metagame as a turn-1 Chow still leaves turn 2 open for Dagger Mastery, which is important to have up since almost half of the possible Hungry Dragon spawns are able to be killed by a single dagger hit.
Revisions
04/20/2015: -1 Chromaggus; +1Ysera
05/03/2015: -1 Loatheb, -1 Sludge Belcher, -1 Sprint; +2 Zombie Chow, +1 Antique Healbot
Feel free to offer any comments and/or suggestions that you may have in the comments below.
I understand your concern about the deck's focus on heavier midrange minions, but I would counter that all of the minions are intended to provide tempo in a different way. While you may only play one minion per turn, that minion will often require multiple cards to answer (Piloted Shredder and Sludge Belcher) or take out one of their minions immediately (Blackwing Corruptor). That said, it will definitely be worth testing the deck with some more early drops to lower the curve and keep from falling behind in faster matchups. Also, I would love to find room for some healing as the face hunter matchup is a concern in the deck's current state. Once the cards are released, I will be testing Antique Healbot in place of Loatheb, and I would also like to try at least 1 Earthen Ring Farseer in place of an SI:7 Agent.
What about replacing sprint with Coldlight Oracle? It gives you more options on when to draw cards since it's a much lower cost, it gives you an additional, albeit weaker, body, and with Thaurissan out for just 1 turn you actually could pull off a 4 card draw on a single turn with Chromaggus + Coldlight.
I think Preparation would be a valid option for even crazier turns. Yes, I realise you want to play this as a midrange deck, yet I feel it has much more potential to be a tempo deck. Thus I also don't quite like the blackwing corruptor aswell as sylvanas in here. I would trade 1 corruptor for another iron skulker and trade the sylvanas for edwin. It's all theory anyways.
You could look at my control Rogue deck for reference - already using some dragon theme in there and doing quite well for now #sellout
jk, it looks interesting to say the least
That was something I had considered about the deck. I originally thought of adding a 2-drop such as Loot Hoarder, Goblin Auto-Barber, or possibly Defias Ringleader, but those all seemed to lend themselves to more of a tempo build and I would have had to cut some of the midgame goodies that I felt were important to the design. My thought is that the staple rogue cards like Backstab, Deadly Poison, and SI:7 Agent are there to efficiently clear opposing early threats and make way for your more powerful 4 and 5 drops. However, if the format is just too aggressive for that plan to work reliably, I could see cutting some of the midgame for either the aforementioned 2-drops or Zombie Chow.
The problem is i think it has some hard deathdrawpotential
theoretical its good, but i think we have to test it :D
greetings Wurmy
"Chromaggus + Sprint :')" Umm too bad that costs 11 mana with prep sprint.
But good try. -- You'd need Thaurissan assistance.
Yeah, when I was thinking about the deck, I honestly never considered Chromaggus and Sprint to be a combo at all. I mean Chromaggus would have to live for a turn and then you'd have to sacrifice the vast majority of your resources on the next turn to play Sprint. My main reason for including Sprint at all is that the deck felt light on card draw, and it's a way to shore up that weakness some while only taking up 1 slot in the deck. However, I could definitely see cutting the Sprint for something that has more of a direct impact on the board. One thought I had was to run both Chromaggus and Ysera since they both represent ways to draw extra cards in the late game while also furthering the dragon plan.
Looks like good, wait and see it.