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Coldlight Millionaire [Weaponless Mill Rogue]

  • Last updated Mar 17, 2016 (Explorers)
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Wild

  • 16 Minions
  • 14 Spells
  • Deck Type: Ranked Deck
  • Deck Archetype: Unknown
  • Crafting Cost: 2080
  • Dust Needed: Loading Collection
  • Created: 2/10/2016 (Explorers)
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  • Battle Tag:

    TSA#1981

  • Region:

    N/A

  • Total Deck Rating

    38

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Update (3/17/16): A few changes have been made. Jeweled Scarab is out, and I've gone down to one copy of Preparation. Added Wild Pyromancer, Big Game Hunter, and Bomb Lobber. Added onto a few sections and went deep on vanish. I really appreciate the feedback and upvotes so far, thanks to those who've contributed! If there are any other specific areas you'd like info on, let me know and I'll try to write something up for them.

 
Hitting people with weapons is so passé. Oh, you won another game by attacking? Yawn. If you're happy with conventional wins then enjoy that I guess, but if you want to do something different you're gonna be into this.

Introduction to Mill Rogue (skip this maybe)

This is a deck with a plan, and plan A is "don't die." The deck has one of the strongest endgames that I have seen, but you have to survive long enough to implement it. There are a few ways to do so, the deck has elements for board control, life gain, and pushing the opponent towards fatigue.

The second goal is usually going to be playing Coldlight Oracle as many times as possible. This is the draw engine and part of the win condition, and the most important card in the deck. Be careful with them because most of the time you will need at least one in your hand or deck to win.

The coolest trick in this deck, besides winning, is bouncing (returning to hand) minions for fun and profit. Sap, Shadowstep, and Vanish are good for reusing the battlecry effects of your own minions, and slowing down the opponent by undoing their board development. Shadowstep is free, so you can play it in the same turn as a Coldlight Oracle to get the card draw but keep the murloc safely in your hand. Sap and Vanish straight-up destroy any minions they bounce when the opponent's hand is full, which can be useful for those you don't have another good answer to. Sludge Belcher turns out to be a very good target for Sap even without their hand being full, because you avoid the deathrattle, and five mana to play it again is a pretty significant cost.

There are different ways one can go about keeping the game under control long enough to empty the opposing deck. This deck takes a lot of practice. It's tricky to navigate to the endgame, and easy to mess up when you get there. There are lots of guides you could read, but they're no substitute for trying things out in different situations. Be familiar with your options and be prepared to lose a lot while you learn.

Forget the daggers

Mill/fatigue rogue is a super fun archetype to play, but the biggest problem seems to be that your deck doesn't work when you don't draw any Coldlight Oracles. I've been playing variations of it for a while and working to make the deck more consistent.

You'll notice this is a bit different than many mill lists. I decided that the daggers were not doing enough for me, and I was sick of Deadly Poison and Blade Flurry sitting dead in hand so often. So I got rid of them, adding Zombie Chow and Sir Finley Mrrgglton, and Wild Pyromancer as cards that can be played for early control, and are cheap enough to enable combo effects later. Finley can do some interesting things here since we're free of the restriction of needing daggers. You can get value with him when Vanishing by using multiple powers in the same turn. Battlecry effects are desirable with Brann Bronzebeard and the bounce effects. I have tried Jeweled Scarab and Novice Engineer in the past, if you're looking for extra card draw you may want to consider those options. If there is a battlecry version of an effect you'd like, it will have extra utility in this deck.

This list runs a variety of board disruption effects as control elements that opponents may not expect. Once you get going it's possible to draw through the deck quickly, so many of these cards are only one-ofs. I'm currently running Sabotage, Dark Iron Skulker, Bomb Lobber, Big Game Hunter, and Wild Pyromancer for their combination of versatility and battlecry value. The skulker is particularly bad against Grim Patrons, but they're not as common as they used to be. The 1-ofs in this list tend to be the more changeable slots, as they're the cards you'd prefer not to draw a second copy of.

The random targeting of Sabotage and Bomb Lobber can be frustrating for some players, if you're not a fan there are several possible substitutes. I feel like these cards have a very high power level if you're willing to do a bit of setup to ensure you're hitting the target you want. As long as there is only one opposing minion they'll deal with it. Sabotage provides a way to interact with weapons, and Bomb Lobber adds to your board and has battlecry value. Sometimes you may have no choice but to take a random chance, but try to set these cards up to avoid the drawback as often as possible.

Going deep on Vanish

Vanish probably has the most powerful effect of any card in this deck. Most victories will involve casting one or both of them, so it's very important to be familiar with the card and be able to judge the best time to use it. You can't waste them, but you also can't hesitate to cast one if you have to.

The main role of this card is that it's our deck's panic switch. Since we're trying not to die, going from an opposing board full of threats to an empty one is amazing. As a bonus, the opponent's hand gets filled and our battlecry minions can be reused. The two main times to use a Vanish are as a midgame speedbump to slow an opponent's tempo, and late in the game when you need to buy an extra turn or two to win.

You may have to use it at times when you're out of other options in hand. There is nothing wrong with using it as an expensive Sap or Shadowstep when you need to, but in addition to being mana-inefficient you're giving up a late game play. If you can survive another turn you should try to wait as long as it is safe to.

Vanish puts cards into each player's hand in the order they came into play, so try to keep track of this in your head. If a player has five minions in play and eight cards in hand when Vanish is cast, the two that have been in play longest will be returned to the hand and the three newest will be destroyed, which will trigger deathrattle effects. If you can keep this in mind you'll have a big advantage over those who don't, because you'll be able to plan for what will happen with Piloted Shredders, Boom Bots, and stuff like that. It's a habit worth developing to play this deck.

This deck runs a single Preparation, which is there just to make Vanish cost less. There is only one copy because having two in hand is very bad. You can often make another play in the same turn as a discounted Vanish. Coldlight Oracle is really nice there because you've just used two cards so you're probably not going to make yourself overdraw.

Battling aggressive decks

Some of your more unenlightened opponents will try to beat you down with Tunnel Troggs and Huffers before you can implement your diabolical scheme. Aggro matchups can be tough for this deck, but we have some tools to fight them.

If you suspect your opponent will be going for your face, Coldlight Oracle becomes much less important. If they can empty their hand faster than you, you don't want to be refilling it for them. You will want to look for Backstab, Zombie Chow, and Deathlord when you mulligan. SI:7 Agent and Eviscerate will also be useful, especially if you have the coin. Playing the singleton Zombie Chow on the first turn is the only true test of hearthstone skill, so make sure you're doing it or they'll all laugh at you.

Since we have all this stuff to replay minions and get extra copies, the best thing to use it on becomes Antique Healbot. You can gain a lot of life with these guys, and have a steady supply of them with Gang Up. Rather than pushing towards fatigue by making the opponent overdraw, just settle in for the long game and try to outlast them until they reach fatigue. If you can save the oracles until their deck is low or empty, you can end the game without repercussion from their extra draws.

Shameless self-promotion

Thanks for all the views and votes and cookies and stuff! I added some more videos with this version of the deck. I mostly play arena but have enjoyed this style enough to put some more time into it. This has been a particularly tricky deck to comment on while playing because you have so many options at a given time. The whole thing is a learning experience so hopefully we will all learn a few things!If you've got questions on strategy for a certain card or situation leave a comment, I'll try to get some more specific information added for it.

Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmFnbK3qUuSZ5bq02ssD_TqU9RAdzvhSq