[Legend] Skulker Rogue - Full Guide
- Last updated May 20, 2015 (Blackrock Launch)
- Edit
- |
Wild
- 12 Minions
- 18 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Unknown
- Crafting Cost: 3480
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 4/27/2015 (Blackrock Launch)
- Bernibolden
- Registered User
-
- 11
- 19
- 35
-
Battle Tag:
Bernibolden#1906
-
Region:
US
-
Total Deck Rating
180
Hi there,
I just hit legend with this rogue deck in NA server. (Season 13)
It's a pretty standard rogue list, but the addition of Dark Iron Skulker raised the win rate against Warlock matchup to over 80%, and the deck's overall win rate went from 47%, since I started playing rogue last month, to 63% in the last five ranks, which was enough edge to push to legend.
This season's climb was weird, since it took me longer to reach rank 5 than legend. It was 424 games till the Sea Giant, during which I meekly achieved a 52% w/rate while playing with 12 different decks, 3-4 per day (now that I look back, switching decks so much wasn't quite the greatest move).
So when Dark Iron Skulker arrived I just sticked to Rogue and made from rank 5 to Legend in 105 games, at 62% overall w/rate. Here is what I faced:
25% Warlocks --> 68% w/r (after the Skulker was released it went up to 81% EDIT: but I guess it was a luck strike coz 81% is not realistic)
19% Hunters --> 45% w/r
14% Paladins --> 73% w/r
13% Druids --> 64% w/r
11% Warriors --> 33% w/r
9% Mages --> 60% w/r
4% Rogues --> 75% w/r
3% Priests --> 100% w/r
2% Shaman --> 100% w/r
-----------------------------------------
Mulligan and strategy guide:
Generally, you should start by playing control-like, removing every threat in the beginning. Then drop some minions, do some combos to deal with more threats and refill with Sprint. In the end you usually finish off with with combinations of weapon buffs, Blade Flurry and/or an attacking dude.
It is important to have something on the board so you can get a few attacks and target with the Oil. That's why Violet Teacher fits in this deck. For the same reason it's usually better to kill a minion by playing SI:7 Agent, and thus leaving a body on the board, than killing with weapon/spell. Another card that fulfils this role nicely is the newly added blackrock dwarf Dark Iron Skulker. His power can range from a mere Si:7 effect to a full board-swipe, while leaving behind a dude who can add up to tons of damage.
Avoid trading minions because you don't have many. Clear with weapons and spells and preserve your folk to attack the opponent.
In the end, the Violet Teacher can screw with your Tinker's Sharpsword Oil by creating a token that can't attack. Try to get her killed before this time comes, after she's left some students. By the way, a great defensive move when playing against Rogue is killing the tokens while leaving the Teacher alive.
Sometimes you have to be the aggressor. Paying a SI:7 Agent flat on turn 3 against a Druid for example can escalate in your favour if not answered. Against a Warrior, stab him from the very beginning because every damage counts (but will rarely be enough).
About some cards:
- Preparation combos nicely both with Sprint and Tinker's Sharpsword Oil, but don't be afraid to burn it to activate an Eviscerate or other removal, or even to Deadly Poison your dagger if you really, really need it. It is a card usually kept in the opening hand against faster decks, to gain Tempo.
- Eviscerate is mainly a removal that eventually is used to reach lethal, don't hesitate to kill that Knife Juggler!
- Deadly Poison your weapon to clear minions, reach lethal or feed your Blade Flurry.
- Blade Flurry is amazing! What can I say, it clears huge boards AND deals face damage. Although it feels awesome to cast the biggest blade possible and destroy everything, sometimes bursting your 1/2 Wicked Blade can also help clearing a board and gain you Tempo. Just remember you only have 2 and try to use one in a combo, because after you've attacked a few times with your minions, your main victory condition in the majority of games involves Tinker's Sharpsword Oil your 2 durability dagger and a dude, attack with both then play Blade Flurry.
- Fan of Knives for clearing tokens and using in combination with spell power Bloodmage Thalnos and Azure Drake.
- Bloodmage Thalnos is best at buffing AoE spells, but Eviscerate an Innervated 5/5 monster at early turns can be disruptive as well. It also combos nicely with Backstab.
- Sap Can be either used at killing time, by lifting that last taunt standing before your deadly assault, or it can be used to gain Tempo by Sapping costly targets like Sylvanas Windrunner, Druid of the Claw, Savannah Highmane. When the Voidcaller pulls Mal'Ganis, that's a good target! If it pulls Doomguard early while there is still a hand, he can go back as well. The best target of them all is surely Tirion Fordring, and Just forget about sapping stuff like Loatheb or Harrison Jones.
- Southsea Deckhand is great for activating Tinker's Sharpsword Oil, especially when you have no board. Sometimes he laughs as your last move, but occasionally you'll have the opportunity to oil him up early and score a hit, go for it! Against early-game decks such as Zoo, FaceHunter, or MidPaladin it's mostly used to kill some impertinent minion.
- Antique Healbot is here as a Meta tech solely because of FaceHunter, as I've been facing almost one of them in every 5 games. When not many Tards, I'll swap it for another Earthen Ring Farseer or a Shredder Dude.
- Emperor Thaurissan is a card that I've been testing in the deck and so far I'm convinced he performs well. He enables bigger and deadlier combos in the same way it does for Druid, but as you are constantly wiping the board, he frequently survives for more than a turn and wrecks havoc. He is best played after Sprint.
MULLIGANS
Warriors - your toughest challenge
Sprint
Violet
Drake
Sap
Eviscerate
SI:7
Play aggressively, kill the Armorsmith, hope he doesn't draw much armor. In case of a Grim Patron Warrior it'll be much easier, always eliminate the Warsong Commander and have some answer for the Frothing Berserker.
Hunters - your second worst nightmare
Backstab
Prep
SI:7
Evis
FoK
Haha Deckhand
If it happens to be a Midrange Hunter you're in advantage, but against Facers kill everything quickly or die soon. Pray for the Antique Healbot or, if feeling greedy, keep it in your mulligan.
Warlocks - they help you by killing themselves!
Backstab
Prep
Poison
Flurry
Evis
SI:7
Haha Deckhand
You are built to smash them!
Druids - fast, but slow start
Poison
Sap
Evis
Violet
Drake
SI:7
Kill him steadily. Play a minion early, then some big health minion he struggles to remove. Blade Flurry shines in this match as big threats mass removal. Sap can also gain enormous Tempo when bouncing Innervated minions or any creature that cost a lot to play (early on, even a Piloted Shredder may be a valid target).
Mages - any of them but freeze
Mulligan as if for Mech/Tempo Mage:
Backstab
Prep
Poison
Flurry
Evis
SI:7
Vs FreezeMage we're in disadvantage so gotta be quick. Against TempoMage, deal with her early threats and she'll run out of steam (always kill the Flamewaker). In case of a MechMage you're favoured as well, but will be reliant on a good Blade Flurry clear.
Paladins - better have dragons
Backstab
Poison
Flurry
FoK
SI:7
Violet
Evis
Against a standard Paladin, just frustrate his gameplan by doing what this deck does best: clearing his precious little minions, it should be kid's play. Even if is the trendy Drag-o-din you are still favoured, it will just fell more like a Druid game, except his combo will be lacking.
Shamans - endangered species
Backstab
Poison
Flurry
SI:7
FoK
Violet
Drake
Skulker
Easy one. They suffer gravely from your AoE effects.
Priests - poor priests
Poison
Sap
Evis
SI:7
Violet
Drake
Sprint
They're in a bad position here since there's not much they can do about our combo. They can heal up but it won't be enough. If they play Velen's Chosen on someone or heal an Injured Blademaster up, it might be a good idea to Sap. It's important to save a Blade Flurry for the end.
Rogues - where are they hiding?
Prep
Poison
Evis
Violet
Drake
Sprint
In the mirror match, whoever Sprints ahead has the upper hand. Leaving an enemy minion on board can be very dangerous because of Tinker's Sharpsword Oil. Beware of overextending your board into Blade Flurry.
That's all, enjoy! glhf
The Holy Gem!
If you don't have those, DON'T FUCKING PLAY ROGUE
U seem to be missing quite a few cards. SI:7 Agent and Eviscerate are fundamental, even more so than Preparation.
omg how is this deck so good!!?!?! I never had any luck with oil rogue, but then i tried this and its barely different but i winstreaked from like rank 16-12 and 4 stars!! its so good!!! thank you
Ur welcome, but as u said, this is just another Oil Rogue deck. Maybe it's u that are getting more experienced. I fared rather poorly in the beginning as well.
Nice deck, but at ranks closer to legend the eu meta is full of warriors. More warriors than any other class. How to beat them? Not with this deck, I guess? What do people play in order to beat warriors?
Well, this deck can in fact beat warrior, I actually beat one for every 2-3 that I loose to :)
I've never played on the eu server though, here in na we're getting tons of PatronW, which is playable. Now CtrlWarr is harder than FaceHs, so it'd better to play some other deck whenever the meta gets populated by this kind of warrior.
Its really tough for rogue to beat warrior if you cant drop his health to at least 20 by turn 6 or 7 but try to mulligan for evisc,, and dont feel bad to use it on armor smiths. Just use sap on belchers and try to get lethal after that if not better use loatheb if no sap..
i have a handlock deck for when warriors (especially patron warriors) play, and i love that matchup for the warlock and i carry double hellfires and double shadow and any aggro deck you meet is toast if you draw even below average. hate running into face-hunters though, im almost debating teching in another antique just for the face tards.
Enjoy!
Sometimes yes, in the same way it can be ok to drop an SI:7 on the board w/out the 2 dmg. Just try to think what might happen next. If u can get good value out of the battlecry all the better, but if all u need is some board presence, than it's fine.
Loatheb is a tech card, just like the Healbot, Skulker or the Pirate.
U see, every deck has some fixed core cards, like Backstab, Prep, Flurry, plus some flexible slots to be filled according to the meta. This is where tech cards come and go. Other examples would be Dr. Boom, Shreder, Belcher...
At the moment I'm not running Loatheb, but it's a solid card that does fit well in this deck. It's extremely good vs the mirror or the FreezeMage matchups and may also lock Druid's combo for a turn, but it's not that good against Zoo or FaceHunters for example. So use it at will.
This deck needs to get back on the front page. It's too good. :3
This Deck`s pretty sweet ! Biggest Problem Control Warrior Hate it when they pop Shield Block, Shield Maiden etc. very tough Challenge. I changed it a bit. +Nefarian +Dr. Boom -Sap -Fan of Knives works pretty fine and I`m surprised that Nefarian wins games but I`m testing also Leeroy Jenkins.
+1 for many reasons. Firstly cause it's a well written guide, nice job! I was so pumped for Skulker and I am a little sad that only 1 is run. I love the card art :P
I wish days of the tempo rogue would come back :) anyway great guide!
That's sth I'd like to see as well, rogue is pretty underplayed atm.
Thanks for the deck and guide! Unfortunately I wasn't able to find any zoo today :l ! Yesterday there were sooooo many zoo players I was dying D: ! Knew I needed to try this deck out and it still works really well even if there weren't any zoo to TYRANNOSAURUS-REKT :3 ! Really really strong! Hope my gameplay video does the deck justice :o !
Don't play Rogue...?
They are core cards. Either craft them or play another deck.
Kobold can replace Bloodmage, though I suggest getting him as soon as possible, because Kobold is pretty trash in general in comparison to Bloodmage.
You cannot play this deck without both preps.
Well... I've never done it b4 but will see what I can do.