Hearthpwn

[KARA] Shadowthdrattle Rogue: An In-Depth Guide

The deck I am going to introduce is, I believe, one of the most underrated decks of the current metagame and also one of the most unknown. My attempt here is to be as educational and exhaustive as I can to make you well understand the finesses of the deck and the reasoning behind the deck-building. 
I would like first to congratulate and thank better Rogue players than I am like Lifecoach or Ryzen, but also Kitsel's deck and guide that you can find here. Sottle's Rogue List has also been an inspiration.
 My list is largely an hybrid from decks built and played by these players and I acknowledge them as the true fathers of my deck even if the adjustments are ultimately mine.  
I've been playing (and watching) a lot of Rogue in constructed and arena the last months in order to be able to master this unique and beautiful gameplay. However, I do not pretend to be a Rogue expert: the views I expose are my subjective and imperfect views. If you disagree, I'll be more than glad to discuss about it in the comment section and to adjust my comment according to these discussions. 

The list isn't fixed so here are some lists you could play if you like the deck:
http://imgur.com/a/FPQaL (pre-Karazhan 2nd Wing)

NB: "**" mean "If you run it in your deck"

The first section of this guide analyzes the reason behind playing Shadowcaster Deathrattle over Miracle N'Zoth (this deck being so much fun apart hehe)
I insist on the deck being a Shadowcaster Deathrattle deck (or Shadowthrattle as I coined it) and not a N'Zoth deck. N'Zoth is optional in this deck, it's a meta call, whilst it obviously isn't in N'Zoth Rogue (a deck you can perfectly play without cards like Unearthed Raptor, especially in its miracle n'zoth version).
Then I'll give a discussion on some cards cards people may not be used to play in Rogue, completed by a third part where I analyze N'Zoth weaknesses. The match-up section should follow, it's still a WIP. Finally, I provide you mulligan guide. 
I'll be making some gameplay videos about the deck and will keep the deck updated with comments on these updates. 
Have fun!

Table of content

1. Gadgetzan Auctioneer: a good idea + Where does this deck's value come from?
2. Deck-list discussion
3. Why N'Zoth isn't always a good pick in this deck
4. Match-ups
5. Mulligans
   
6. Replacements
7. Video sections
8. Updates

No Gadgetzan Auctioneer? Are you crazy? This is a staple in Rogue!

Where has this Goblin gone, for Christ sake? Is this an oversight? 
It is not an oversight. It's a choice and a tough one, actually. 
What's Gadgetzan Auctioneer purpose? Well, it is not really drawing (except with Toxins and the coins given by Tomb Pillager) but rather cycling. In Miracle/Questing/N'Zoth Rogue, this card is extraordinary because it allows you to cycle your deck easily in order to find your win condition(s) such as Leeroy Jenkins, Questing Adventurer or N'Zoth. In this deck, you don't have a key card you are looking for. Obviously, a curved Ragnaros is often good, but it's not something you need in order to win. 
Also, you don't play cards like Conceal or Cold Blood that make the Gadgetzan really good.

 So, where does this deck's value come from?

It mostly comes from your minions.
Hand value comes from drawing and generating (discovering, adding) cards. 
Ten cards in the deck are dedicated to this purpose.

 If you analyze top tier lists, you will easily see that this is a lot more than what they are able to do (except if you consider very good Fandral turns in Token Druid). 
We could consider adding a Sprint or a Gadgetzan Auctioneer, but I believe switching to N'Zoth or Miracle Rogue to be the right call if the meta really slows down: no deck is a panacea and there are always situational improvements to provide. Also, this deck doesn't only make value out of the deck, and it's a good thing against control. 

Deck-list discussion

There is one thing you have to know about this deck: the deck-list allows many tweaks and finding replacements for many cards included in the deck is not as hard as it could be for some other decks. 

I'll try to allocate more time to unusual cards and to be fast on commonly used ones.
Core cards
Backstab, Preparation**, Sap, Eviscerate, Edwin VanCleef, Fan of Knives**, Bloodmage Thalnos,  SI:7 Agent, Shadow Strike, Tomb Pillager, Azure Drake
I consider those 18** slots to be core cards in almost every Rogue archetype. There is no need to waste time explaining why they are good cards. 
The twelve “other cards”
2x Undercity Huckster
You know what's so annoying when you play early game minions? It's that it's often terrible to draw them when the game starts to stale or to get in your opponent's favor. 
When it comes to UH, things a obviously very different since he's a value generator. The body is OK and above anything else, it's a good and cheap target for Unearthed Raptor and Shadowcaster. This card's only weakness is that if you are facing priest, then you'll probably get a trash-card if it isn't stolen by his Cabal Shadow Priest… But, hell, wait, what am I saying? Priest in 2016? LUL. 

2x Unearthed Raptor
This card is very very good. Copying any of the deathrattles you play in this deck and getting a 3/4 body on top of that for 3 mana is genuinely tremendous. Yep, it's sometimes a vanilla 3/4 body. But it isn't that infuriating because the many times this card's battlecry works, the value generated is crazy. Actually, most of the time, when you play it for its 3/4 body, it's when you play it on curve and then that's not that bad because you got a curved and decent turn3. 

1x Xaril, Poisoned Mind
Let's first take a look at Xaril's toxins.

Toxins Potential
Bloodthistle Toxin (Shadowcastervalue, Edwin shenanigans, works as heal, works well with combo cards…) >= Firebloom Toxin >= Briarthorn Toxin >= Kingsblood Toxin > Fadeleaf Toxin. Fadeleaf Toxin is weaker in this deck even if the stealth mechanism always allows nice shenanigans but every other toxin is really strong and allows strong tempo plays. 
Xaril has been hyped for a time and then (rightfully) rejected in Miracle Rogue and now i think people tend to underestimate this card's potential or just to add it in their N'Zoth deck because it's a deathrattle minion. 
What I also like about Xaril is that it's a Turn4 but also a Turn5 minion because of its battlecry, helping you to curve better. (Even if you usually want to keep him for the late game if possible, curving a Tomb Pillager or an Azure Drake is obviously often better).

1x Dark Iron Skulker 

This card is crazy good against zoo (very favored match-up overall if you get the coin) but not only, it's also very effective against Yogg token druid. Actually, a 5mana4/3 that deals 2+ damages on opponent's minions is very good, even against control decks: playing this after your opponent's Twin Emperor Vek'lor is good for instance, even if it isn't awesome. As it is a battlecry, Shadowcaster works very well this card, as well as Bloodthistle Toxin. This card is a one of because you can't really afford to play two copies of that card that isn't that great if you are dominant, and you're supposed to be dominant… Also, the deck plays 2x Fan of Knives, which is an AoE.

2x Shadowcaster  
I believe Shadowcaster to be the soul of the deck. Literally every minion in this deck is a good target forShadowcaster, and some minions are just insane at a 1-mana cost (Edwin Van Cleef, Twilight Summoner, N'Zoth, the Corruptor, Shadowcaster itself, etc., etc.)

To give you some example of what synergies Shadowcaster is capable of: 
Turn8
Played The Coin I got from a Tomb Pillager
Backstab
Edwin VanCleef (6/6)
Shadowcaster (4/4) on Edwin
Edwin VanCleef (9/9). 

More usually:

Play Twilight Summoner turn 4. 
Does your opponent kill it (and then you would have played a 5/5 and a 1/1 for 4, which is really good) or does he let it alive? If he lets it alive, next turn you'll get a 1mana Twilight Summoner. It isn't only great because it's basically a 1mana5/5, but also because it comes back with N'Zoth and allows you to easily trigger Unearthed Raptor Battlecry.

You can also get an additional N'Zoth, make a 1/1 Ragnaros that still hits for 8, get a bonus Sylvanas for funny combos, etc., etc. 
I was originally playing only one copy of the card until I figured out how essential Shadowcaster is in the deck. 
Bonus point for Shadowcaster's awesome golden animation.

1x Twilight Summoner
I think I said almost everything about this card when I talked aboutShadowcaster and Unearthed Raptor. However, this card has its own merits. For one thing, it makes you stronger against AOEs, for the other, well, it has 12 stats for 4 manas and that is pretty good. 
The reason I would not run two copies of that card is because it's a slow card. But after some tests it appeared to me that the card was so good in the deck that it was a waste not to play two copies. It's a middle-game gamebreaker and it's never completely bad, try it!

1x Sylvanas Windrunner
One of the best deathrattle effect in the game, works well against C'Thun decks. Strong card vs. Dragon Warrior. It is a good target for Shadowcaster and it also has an hidden effect:
(Source: Captain Priceless' Actual Card Text- Neutral Edition)

1x Ragnaros the Firelord Currently the best neutral midrange legendary available. Works as a board control card (removal) and as a finisher. Very good with Shadowcaster, obviously.

1x N'Zoth, the Corruptor

10 manas wins the midrange match-up SeemsGood, additional threat against control (even if BrokeBack Brawl) and OK card against aggro because it allows you to get big bodies on board to finish your opponent in one or two turns.

From a discussion with Exacerberus in the comments.
About [card]Tomb Pillager[/card]

 

About Fan of Knives and Defender of Argus

 

Reasons not to play N'Zoth 

This is a tough question and even if the reasons are obvious, their relevance isn't that obvious.
The relevance of those point is contextual. I think it's pretty important to write those lines about N'Zoth for you to be able to adapt the deck to the metagame you are playing in. 

Reasons
— Curve:
You lower the curve by replacing N'Zoth with a cheaper card & you avoid getting a 10-mana minion sticking in your hand instead of a useful card that you could play on curve.
Trust me, that's really something important for Rogue. You don't want to lose any tempo by having nothing consistant to play on turn 5 or 6, for instance, because instead of a Shadowcaster or an Unearthed Raptor you got N'Zoth…
The problem with most Rogue decks is that you have super strong turns (thanks to combo cards and cheap spells), followed by weak turns. This deck is built in order to avoid those very weak turns thanks to rather cheap high value minion. This deck follows the logic of a zoo with very different match-up and play-style. 
— Meta:
The metagame is fast  and you need to optimize your gameplay following this evolution. 
I agree with the fact that the current meta is not the fastest one we've got.
However, it's on of the most control-less. The two best control decks now are Control Warrior and Control Shaman but I believe those decks are really less played than their aggro/midrange counterparts. 
The metagame is mostly filled with fairly aggressive midrange decks such as Dragon Warrior or tempo mage, but also with midrange/control decks like Yogg Druid. 
Therefore, N'Zoth appears to be too slow.
— A 10-mana card
It slows down your tempo (cf. earlier explanations), but it also requires you to spend 10 manas. Actually, playing a couple of Tomb Pillager, which Deathrattle you can obtain up to 6 times thanks to Unearthed Raptors and Shadowcasters, helps to reduce this inconvenience, but the problems I'm going to raise remain. 
N'Zoth, the Corruptor requires you to spend your whole turn summoning him. 
Therefore, it requires you to have no imperative threat to deal with. And, when does that happen? Nowadays, almost never or you're already winning the game.
— The Win Condition Question
The central question around deck-building relies on your wincon choice:
Is this to contain your opponent's aggression until you're stabilized and able to drop a big N'Zoth or is it by being the aggressor and making faster plays than your opponent because Rogue has unique class cards like Edwin VanCleef, Shadowcaster, Unearthed Raptor and Sap (we could also mention rogue's hero power)?
My question is obviously rhetorical and I believe the answer to be the latter. If you're able to keep your opponent under pressure, there is no reason to need N'Zoth or even to need to go to the late game (especially if you got the opportunity to get a huge Edwin VanCleef).
N'Zoth Hunter was the first deck people thought about for Hunter but then they discovered that N'Zoth wasn't that good in the deck: as a Hunter, you are more relying on burst damage in the end than you are on late-game board control. 
As a Rogue, things are slightly different, actually. But still, the huge value you can get from your minions makes the deck very strong against control. 

Match-ups

I'll try to give you a brief description of the match-up followed by a "key cards" section. What I refer to with this term are cards that could turn the game in your opponent's favor. Those cards are either cards you have to play around or cards that are premium targets for your removals. 

Druid

Token

C'Thun Druid

Beast

Hunter

Hybrid

Midrange

Mage

Tempo

Freeze

Paladin

N'Zoth

Bubbladin

Priest

N'Zoth

C'thun

Dragon

Rogue

Miracle

Questing Miracle

Miracle N'Zoth

Shaman

Midrange

Control

Warlock

Zoolock

 

Renolock

Warrior 

Dragon

Control C'thun / Control N'Zoth / Vanilla Control

Mulligan

Mulligan is something that people often tend to overlook. 
If you are able to master your mulligan, you'll easily improve your winrate.
I don't like extensive mulligan guides. They are often misleading because none will remember everything the author said and people will finally act instinctively.
That's why I'll give you (1.) some general tips about mulligan, then the general idea of how to mulligan with the deck, and finally a detailed mulligan for every match-up.
The cards in the list aren't exactly fix so if you see cards in the mulligan guide that aren't in the current list, don't be afraid. 
 
Some tips. 

 Against aggressive decks
Key cards:
Spells: Eviscerate, Backstab, Fan of Knives** (vs. Zoo or Token Druid especially)) / Sometimes: Preparation**
Minions: Undercity Huckster, SI:7 Agent
— Always keep Preparation**? 
This card does not have the insane value here that it has in Miracle or Questing Rogue. This card is only good in association with some cards and if you have for instance to throw everything but a Prep, also throw the prep. When you play this deck, you are looking for early game minions that do not exist in standard Miracle Rogue such as Raptor or Huckster, and you're also looking for many other cards. Prep** imho gets its full value around turn5 where it gets insane (for instance) to clean a Blackwing Corruptor as well as droping a minion. 
Against control decks
Key cards 
Spells: Eviscerate, Backstab, Shadow Strike
Minions: Undercity Huckster, Unearthed Raptor, Tomb Pillager
Rogue's mulligan is difficult  because the relevance of one card often depends on the other cards you got… Edwin is often a card to keep, but not always. 

DETAILED MULLIGANS (WOTOG META)

Try to get a curve. It's often OK to revoke a Loot Hoarder if you got both Undercity Huckster in your starting hand for instance. 
Classes are ordered following their relevance in the metagame. 

Warrior

Druid

Shaman

Warlock

Hunter

 Mage

Paladin

Rogue

Priest

Replacements

Finding replacements for this deck isn't easy. Send me a screenshot of your current deck-list in the comment section and i'll try to find you something convenient.
If you are a bit lazy, here are cards that you could consider:

Cairne Bloodhoof

Journey Below

Loot Hoarder

Fan of Knives

Shadow Strike

Sir Finley Mrrgglton  

Infested Tauren

Defender of Argus

Craftable cards you won't find replacement for: 

Shadowcaster (the soul of the deck)

1x Twilight Summoner

Sylvanas Windrunner and N'Zoth, the Corruptor do not have any equivalent but you can replace them. 

VIDEOS

GUIDE PART1. 

Three rather bad match-ups with good draws, watch how it goes! 
I know I'm not really at my ease for this exercise, and that the audio is bad. Moreover, since I play with my trackpad, you'll here me clicking. Just watch the plays if you're bothered by these elements!
Also, you'll see me play at rank8. It's not because the deck is bad or because I can't go beyond 8. I reached legend many times with a lot of different decks and archetypes.The reason is simply that I haven't been playing a lot this season. 

End of the last game here (sorry for the problem that occurred): http://imgur.com/a/7fM7u

 

Game review

Mulligan

Start: Eviscerate, Shadowstrike, Azure Drake. I could consider keeping Eviscerate in the match-up since it's good against Frothing Berserker. But I chose not to because I don't have the Coin. It leads me to mulligan greedily in order to get some early game minions to compete with him. I need to be able to constantly flood the board with my own stuffs. I suspect he plays Dragon Warrior (dominant archetype right now, and anyway we are favored against control) thus it'll slow down his aggression. After mulligan: Bloodmage Thalnos, Twilight Summoner, Sylvanas Windrunner. Quite disappointed. Only early minion is Thalnos, and I have no spell. Sylvanas is MVP in this match-up but I fear not to be able to compete until the moment she is relevant.

Me (M): Draw Shadow Strike, pass.

Opponent (O): pass.

M: Draw Swashburglar. Three plays available now. Dagger, Swash or Thalnos. I don't want him to get a good Ghoul on curve so I decide to go for Swash or Thalnos. I want to cycle my deck, to play on curve, and dagger/swash is available therefore i go for tempo Thalnos.

O: Coin+Ghoul

M: Draw Azure Drake. I'm quit unhappy since it's again a late game card that I draw, every early game is still in the deck it seems (except Thalnos & 1 Swashburglar ofc). I have two choices. Swash & pray/dagger or remove the minion knowing he will certainly follow up with a 3 drop: Fierce Monkey, Frothing Berserker or 2nd Ghoul. I feel Swash to be tooweak so I simply go for the removal.

O: Plays Frothing. That is a problem.

M: I draw Shadowcaster and i'll probably go for Twilight Summoner on this turn so it's a good card to have but it does not really answer my situation. I go for curved Twilight S.

O: Plays a FWA, Armor up, Face.

M: He finally got a quite weak turn, I can develop. I draw second TS. At least I have almost all my late game if needed… I Shadowcast my TS and go face.

O: Slam on Shadowcaster, trade with face, topdeck Alexstrasza's champion and face.

M: My turn isn't easy. I finally get something cheap and effective (Sap), but I don't think it's the moment. Sylvanas forces him to trade his entire board or to go full face, but allowing me to steal something if he does. Whatever choice he makes, after this turn I know i'll be ahead on board because I've the Shadowcasted TS for 1 mana and some nice things to do (such as Sap). I play Sylvanas and go face.

O: Azure Drake, goes full face.

M: Now I know I'll be able to steal something. But I have two possibilities. I could chose to steal an undamaged Azure Drake with the backstab i just draw or to keep backstab, develop the Iron Skulker instead and get a damaged Azure Drake. It's a tricky turn. I chose to keep backstab and to get a slightly worst board. I misplay as I burgle after playing the Skulker. I could have gotten Brawl and then I would probably have chosen to Brawl (getting an other 5/5 by playing the 1/1 ts before brawling). I got another OP Epic card so NP. Now I'm in a really good spot. I have the board, i'm not that low in life. If he goes for a Crusher, i would just Sap it.

O: Plays Blackwing Corruptor, kill 4/2 drake and 4/3 Iron Skulker. Plays 2nd FWA.

M: I chose to go for the aggressive play. Azure Drake. Kill the 5/4 with TS and Backstab rather than killing it with Eviscerate. Thus, I enhance my probability to get a lethal within 1 or 2 turns. Now I fear Gromm + Inner rage, but I know that otherwise, it's GG. Therefore I emote a friendly Well played.

O: He has to get a strong defensive turn. He goes for Ghoul and twilight Guardian, trades 4/3 Drake. That's not the best he could have hoped for. Anyway, even with 1x Execute on 5/5 it was lethal: Sap, Eviscerate face, Tentacles for arms.

M: I sap and lethal him.

Observations

The situation seemed quite bad at first look. No coin. No good early game. He has a good curve until turn 4 when he just Weapon/Armor up. Me having nothing to develop makes his Frothing Berserker not really threatening. We can just try to set up something with minions he can't really answer. He has to get an aggressive line and dealing with a slow TS that doesn't threaten him already isn't something he needs to do. The game really turns in our favor when Sylvanas comes out. As we drew very poorly, not getting anything strong in the early game, she is very strong. He has two goals at this moment of the game: developing a winning board, getting me low in life. He choses to go for the aggressive line. Is he wrong to? Well, that's debatable. When he plays Azure Drake and choses to go face, the board is like this. As it is, i can trade my 1/1 to make the Frothing grow and then get a 3/2 or a 4/4. Then i'll have an additional 5/5 and i'll be able to develop something on my own. So he's betting on the fact that i can't deal with the 3/3. Also, if he does not go for an aggressive play, he knows that he will probably not be able to compete with me in the late game. Sadly for him I'm able to kill the 3/3, so I deny him his entire board. At this moment of the game I knew I would win.

This game is illustrative of one thing: If we are cautious about our plays, we still can, even if we did not get a strong early. However, it's obvious that a Shaman or a Zoo would have destroyed us.

—————

This guide is still a Work in Progress. I plan to add many sections to this guide in order to make it as complete as possible. 

The match-ups section will take quite a moment because i'll need to gather huge datas (why not yours as well) to make it consistent. Just know that this deck basically does not have any insta-concede match-up and works super good against most control decks (N'Zoth Paladin is however a quite good counter if he has his answers in the right order). 
If you liked my deck and guide, don't forget to notice it to me with a comment or an upvote. 
I'm sorry about my English. I know it isn't perfect, and I'll try to refine this aspect of the guide as well as I am able to.

EDIT AUGUST 7 2016: 

 I've decided to put back N'Zoth in the deck. I think the metagame is diverse enough to play it.
Also, I've decided to replace the 2x Tomb Pillager. The card is great, but I don't think it's great enough in this peculiar deck. I put another Twilight Summoner to the deck: this minion is very strong in this list: he will often stick to the board, and you'll be able to trigger easily your raptor or caster on it. Otherwise, it's just an OK card. 

EDIT August 9th

Trying to play without some important spells. Makes the deck weaker to zoo but overall better, I think it's worth it. The deck is even more minion-based but i think it's fine, it is necessary to make this deck more consistant. Defender of Argus helps the aggro match-up. Put Tomb Pillager back in, FoK is out.

EDIT August 10th

Finished to rewrite some parts of the guide and to reorganize it. 

EDIT August 12th

Match-ups are out PogChamp

EDIT August 17th

Karazhan 2nd Wing meta version is out!