Strangler Rogue
- Last updated Aug 26, 2015 (TGT Launch)
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Wild
- 18 Minions
- 12 Spells
- Deck Type: Ranked Deck
- Deck Archetype: Unknown
- Crafting Cost: 8380
- Dust Needed: Loading Collection
- Created: 8/9/2015 (Blackrock Launch)
- Jinzua
- Registered User
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- 6
- 23
- 52
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Battle Tag:
Zalnash#2616
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Region:
EU
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Total Deck Rating
52
Strangler Rogue
"Hush little one..."
Hey guys ! Jinzua here, aspiring deck builder with a soft spot for unusual cards and decks that were swept away by the current meta. As a way to start my deck-building hobby, I'd like to present to you a most unusual, underplayed, and fairly disgraced deck : control rogue. I'm no pro-player, and I won't have the audacity to say this deck brings anything better to all these rogues out there who are tired of grinding ladder with their oil decks, but I think some will appreciate this alternative approach to Valeera Sanguinar, just for the fun it can provide every time you manage to scrap a few wins here and there.
Note that I'm currently play-testing this deck, and that a few cards still don't have their definite place in the decklist. Things are bound to change, especially with the coming expansion.
How does it work ?
Strangler Rogue is thought as a control/tempo deck which aims at keeping board control and out-tempoing the enemy by playing high value cards that allow you to seize the advantage. The metaphor of "strangling" the enemy is spot on, since you're basically gonna try to counter any threat he might dump on the board, all the while tightening your grip around his neck, and killing him off once he's out of options and your side of the board is rock solid. In order to do this, you can count on the help of the amazing early-game cards rogues were blessed with, and several late-game threats which should allow you to make the board your own, and bleed the opponent dry.
Some mechanics included in oil and combo rogue are used in this deck. You may have noticed that most of Rogue's excellent low-cost card made their way to the decklist : staples such as SI:7 Agent, Backstab and Eviscerate are just too good to be overlooked, since they give a considerable tempo advantage in the early rounds of the game. Defias Ringleader is the early-game minion you can decide to coin out in order to get a quick start on the board, all the while removing enemy threats with your hero-power weapon and Deadly Poison. SI:7 Agent and Backstab should allow you to completely own the early game, and buy you some time until you reach the second phase of the game.
The 4 drop Piloted Shredder doesn't need to be introduced anymore, since he has conquered the heart of many players with his unique stickiness, not to mention threatening body. Basically a no-brainer, and a good card to include in this deck which tries to conserve a minimum of board presence quickly and efficiently.
Dark Iron Skulker is my little favorite in this deck, since it's a ridiculously high value minion (especially against aggro) which rarely sees play these days :(. Zoolocks, Facehunters and Eboladins will curse you for this, since it basically annihilates boards that are filled with 1/1, 1/2 and 3/2 trash. 4/3 is a little weak for 5 mana, but given the impact its battlecry has on the board, its actually ok ! A Sludge Belcher was added, since a solid taunt is never something to overlook when trying to build board presence.
Big Game Hunter and Sabotage were added in order to give you hard removal for tough fights. Sabotage has more versatility, since it destroys the enemy's weapon when combo'd but can be unreliable when you haven't managed to isolate a single minion. Big Game Hunter will efficiently remove the big threats we commonly face, such as the dreaded Dr. Balance.
Late game will be the occasion to roll out the big guns : Sylvanas Windrunner is a must in any control deck, since she's essentially a 2 for 1 card, eventually a 3 to 1. Dr. Boom is the big threat he always has been, and will be the aggressive push you'll need to strangle the enemy. The little funky addition I propose in this deck is the very underestimated Trade Prince Gallywix the nightmare of hard removal, and a very awkward threat to dispatch for your opponent. He will win you the game through tempo, not to mention his solid body, that threatens anyone in their right mind. Finally, the excellent Naxxramas card Loatheb was added in order to secure the board from removals on the turn he's played. This card will be the MVP of most of your games with this deck, which is unsurprising.
Tech cards were added in order to make the game easier and make sure you don't run out of card or life. Azure Drake, Shiv, FoK and Acolyte of Pain will make sure the card tap flows abundantly, and Antique Healbot will keep you safe :) ! Bloodmage Thalnos is essentially a power-booster for your spells and a free card draw, for the very competitive price of 2 mana.
In order to optimize this deck to the current meta, Blade Flurry was added : use it wisely against aggro, since you only have one. It will give you an exit strategy against Grim Patron Warrior, if you combine it with Deadly Poison. Otherwise it can be used to push for extra damage or clean the enemy board, which is always a nice thing to do. Kezan Mystic will be helpful against Hunter and mage, which is a huge tempo play most of the time. Finally Sprint isn't exactly a good card to play without prep', but more often than not, refilling your hand can be salutary, even if that means you have to give up a turn. You might consider adding a preparation instead of Shiv to make it more "playable".
Cards replacement
If you do not own BRM, I suggest replacing Dark Iron Skulker with extra Azure Drake or extra Antique Healbot, or maybe Harrison Jones if you're facing a weapon-heavy meta.
Trade Prince Gallywix is a unique card, but if you do not own it, you can substitute it with the big late game drop of your choice. Ragnaros the Firelord comes to mind, even though it really doesn't impact the board in the same way.
Sylvanas Windrunner, Loatheb and Dr. Boom are fairly essential cards in the current meta, and I do not see any way to replace such top tier legendaries.
Mulligan strategy
You're mainly looking for the same cards in all matchups. The essential cards that are always good to have in the early turns, generally speaking, are the following :
Backstab, SI:7 Agent, Defias Ringleader. You will always keep these cards if you get them, since they are major combo cards that will help you controlling the board early, either by crushing early threats, or filling your side with Defias thieves. The coin must always be considered as a combo activator : coin + SI:7 Agent is a classic play you should try to activate when it allows you to get rid of a threat, all the while putting a 3/3 on board. Same goes for Defias Ringleader.
Some tech cards can however be kept in case you face a specific type of threat. For instance, when facing a Mage or Hunter, Kezan Mystic is an excellent card to keep, since it will provide a great tempo retaliation when a secret is played.
Blade Flurry and Deadly Poison can be kept against warrior, since it is probably a Patron Warrior. However,I do not advise you to specifically mulligan for these cards if you do not get them on first draft.
Antique Healbot or Dark Iron Skulker can be kept if facing aggro such as facehunter or zoolock, provided you also have sufficient early game cards. Skulker is amazing against Imp-losion and the regiment of weaklings Facehunter usually puts on board. Fan of Knives can also be a good card to play on turn 3 if your opponent vomits his hand in his first turns. Concede guaranteed.
Have fun with the Strangler Rogue; I've been having very good results in casual & ranked, but haven't tried to grind ladder with it yet. it probably isn't that competitive, since Rogue still lacks the tool to excel in control games like priest does, but I believe it's a fairly solid alternative, and more importantly, a very fun one :)
Appreciate it lad' ;)
I shall !
Is there a replacement for beneath the grounds or it a core card in this deck?
Not core at all, I just added it as an extra push for board presence on the long run; you can replace both copies with a FoK and Prep
Really good deck, man! I replaced Sylvanas Windrunner (because don't have it) with Harrison Jones and ladder up real fast.
Glad you enjoy it :) ! Get back to me on your impressions of how well the deck performs in the " TGT playtesting meta" !
I like the look of this deck but would like to see a Lock and Loadin there for some mid-late game extra spells but seems like it has been effective for many people on this thread.
Well, if you manage to fit a hunter card in a rogue deck it definitely has some potential.
That is a pretty hard derp
I started using this deck and I have had around a 60% win rate. I enjoy it but i am trying to get my win rate up, but that could just be a lack of skill!
Keep in mind this deck wasn't designed to be competitive, so much as it was built to make control/tempo rogue somewhat viable with some of the popular decks we face these days. I tweaked it a little bit to adapt it to the meta, but it is definitely not ladder-proof, seeing how poorly it can perform versus decks such as patron warrior.
60% win rate seems right given how this deck works, but I've been having streaks of fantastic results as well as repeated bad luck. It could use some tuning (which I intend to do with TGT) but I won't make it a competitive deck, since it would considerably transform the way this deck is supposed to work, which would defeat the initial purpose : having fun with rogue, in an alternative way ;)
Yeah, and I wasn't using it on ladder. I was just toying around with it because Rogue is one of my weakest classes to play and I have a deck for each class so I was trying to make a deck that I wasnt ashamed of!
That seems like the optimal replacement to me. Can't tell if it matches Skulker in efficiency against aggro though
Hello)
In fact i didn't believe in this deck, but i try it and i won 5-0 against Mechmage, Control Warrior, Combo druid and 2 priests. I substitute Gallywix for Rag ( i dont have prince) and it works really good. If Rag shoots 2 times you'll win with 80% chance. I love control and it works really good.
Cons of this deck
lack of healing - only one healbot. You need to feel this moment: when you go trade with face or trade with minion.
Dont try to play this rogue, like oil. Use "evi" for effective trading.
Use bladeflurry wisely (only 1 copy)
lack of removals (sap and sabotage + bgh = 3) - use it for big threats.
Pros
It's new (yeah, this is the first thing that i want to say) - ppl are playing vs you, like you are oil rogue.
this deck can be changed with cards that depend on current meta: many hunters mages - kezan, many aggro - skulker, more control - -1 skulker +1 drake. And deck dont lose profit with this changes.
Thnx for deck, man.
My advice: write mulligan for new rogue players)
I will sometimes struggle against control warrior as sometimes we are both at fatigue so I added in 2 oils over kezan and one dark iron skulker
Hey nice deck put Defias Ringleader in my Oil Combo and it works better early.
Big question is which new class cards and neutral cards would you put in from tht ?
Would you consider Beneath the Grounds and Burgle ?
Hey Sonkiller ! Thanks for coming by and posting :)
As of right now, it's still too soon to say how good these cards will be and how viable they might become in a rogue control deck. Obviously these cards belong in a control-oriented archetype, but it might not fit rogue's style like it fits priest's. Nevertheless, these cards do look really cool (Beneath the Grounds...) and I'd love to try them out as soon as TGT comes out.
Since I'm probably going to open +70 packs, I'll probably end up with a copy of both these cards, and will run them in playtesting. Burgle might be viable, though it's a little more randomized than Thoughtsteal; and Beneath the Grounds might become the thing, if the meta slows down enough. We'll see.
Regarding other cards, Shado-Pan Cavalry might be good, but it would compete for the same spot as Piloted Shredder, which is a tough fight... Cutpurse and the likes will probably be too weak to be included in this deck, but as I said, there is literally no way to tell if a card will be good in a meta we are not familiar with yet.
Anub'arak is amazingly cool, but also has an extremely weak body for a 9 mana card... I'd love to fit him in this deck, and if it turns out to be competitive, it'll definitely make its way around here. However, I am more than skeptical about the future of a late-game card with 4 life that burns an entire turn when you play it. Probably way too slow, but again, we'll see.
Lot of playtesting ahead my friend...
Thx for your request.
Anub'arak would fit if you would play Deathwing on Turn 10. And with 2xBeneath the Ground like having 6x 4/4 Nerubians who will come out randomly, I could see this as the future Late Game Plan for Rogue. But as you say, we need some playtesting. :)
I personally made some edits to the deck to put in burgle, cutpurse, and Undercity aspirant and found it to work pretty well. Much higher on the control end and lower on the tempo end, but the tempo plays have a hell of alot of swing now!
Amazing ! That ought to make control rogue a more popular deck to play :)
Fun should always be the prime reason to play a certain archetype, but... a good edge in competition is always a good thing ;)
Wow dark iron skulker is so good vs aggro