Hearthpwn

Current Rank: 4

Mission: Destroy your opponent quickly by establishing early pressure, grinding them down with your weapons, and finishing them with surprisingly large burst.  Use Coldlight Oracle and Loot Hoarder to fuel your hand for a while, but end games quickly before you run out of steam.

The Story:  This deck is inspired by Backspace Rogue, an aggro rogue deck from before Naxxramas.  It was originally used as a Miracle Rogue counter, running many of the same ploys, but acting faster, using Coldlight Oracle as the draw engine rather than massive Gadgetzan Auctioneer turns.  I enjoyed watching Realz pilot the deck on ladder to great success.  Two years later, and it's time for aggro rogue to shine again.

Unfortunately many of the original cards in Backspace Rogue have been nerfed: Leper Gnome, Blade Flurry, Arcane Golem, and Leeroy Jenkins.  We'll still use the last of these cards, but the others have to go.  Without Arcane Golem, Shadowstep loses a lot of its appeal, so it will have to go too.  Argent Horserider gives us back some charge, but overall we certainly have less burst.  To compensate, we'll add a second Assassin's Blade to help us grind the opponent down into range, and add a few 4-drops to sustain our hand a bit longer (Xaril, Poisoned Mind and Southsea Squidface).  1-drops are still really important to the game plan though, so we'll add Buccaneer, who also goes well with our increased weapon usage.  A couple other small changes and you arrive at my list, which shares 20 cards with Backspace's original despite 2 years of Hearthstone evolution.

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 Mulligans: Mulligans are important and kind of complicated for this deck.  You really want a 1-drop (Argent Squire > Buccaneer > Southsea Deckhand) and a 2-drop (Loot Hoarder > Undercity Valiant).  Keep King Mukla against all but Mage if you have a 1-drop or a 2-drop.  If you don't have Mukla, but have a 1-drop and a 2-drop, keep Argent Horserider.  Always keep Coldlight Oracle, since his card draw is so important to fueling the deck.  Cold Blood should be kept if you have Argent Squire, and Backstab should be kept against Hunter, Mage, Shaman, and Warlock.

If you are on The Coin you should consider some other options.  Pitching a weak 1-drop when you have two 2-drops is a good move so you can coin one out turn 1.  Alternatively keeping a 1-drop and a 3-drop (especially King Mukla or SI:7 Agent, but not including Coldlight Oracle) is a strong set up for a coin turn 2 play.

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 Individual Cards

Backstab:  Play this deck with 2 and you'll quickly see how surprisingly situational this card is.  When your opponent is desperately trying to keep your board clear, they play few minions.  That said, this card is a tremendous tempo generator against aggressive decks that can give you an early board control edge.

Buccaneer:  It's a 1-drop that threatens a punishing turn 2, and it still has value if you draw it later to beef up your Assassin's Blade.  Fragile, but if they spend more than 1 mana to kill it, you're still ahead on tempo.

Cold Blood:  Ideally you land this on an Argent Squire or an Argent Horserider early where it can do a lot of damage and is expensive to clear away.  Playing it for burst on a charge minion is a good finisher too.  Any minion you play it on gets dedicated face duty.

Deadly Poison:  Don't be afraid to use this on your dagger early if you need to kill an opponent's minion fast.  Also, you can attack with Assassin's Blade once before poisoning it; you're likely not getting through all of its durability anyway.

Eviscerate:  Ideally this goes face.  4 damage is a lot, and it can go through taunt for a finishing blow.  Use only on very high priority enemies (like a Flamewaker).

Sap:  Another surprisingly situational card; hence, only one copy.  Generates tempo on any 3+ cost minion without a strong battlecry (Azure Drake seems like a popular target, Flamewreathed Faceless is game winning).

Acidic Swamp Ooze:  Insert explanation here.

Southsea Squidface:  Threatening body on turn 4 at 4/4 (when there are other minions to worry about).  Later in the game he may die immediately to removal, but it keeps your opponent occupied, and you can still guarantee some damage with the weapon buff.

Xaril, Poisoned Mind:  Every toxin card fits this deck's game plan beautifully and can be used to activate combos.  Adds fuel to the deck without being too expensive to play.  Stealthing a divine shield with Cold Blood or returning Leeroy Jenkins to your hand is game winning.

Assassin's Blade:  You almost never want two, but you almost always need one.  This warrants two copies.  Buffing this blade can wear down even decks with strong healing.

Argent Squire:  Sticks around for a while, which is helpful.  Can control the board a bit when you need it or can become a serious threat with Cold Blood.

Coldlight Oracle:  Star of the show.  Because your cards are so cheap, and you'll run low on them fast, the two cards for you are more valuable than the two for your opponent.  That said, you don't want to give your opponent an answer for a play you already have, so only play Coldlight when you don't have an efficient way to use your mana.  There will be opportunities to burn your opponent's cards sometimes.  Don't get carried away with this, because the game certainly isn't going to fatigue, but it's okay to play Coldlight a turn early if your opponent won't get his share of the draws.

King Mukla:  This card isn't essential, but he's a great tempo play.  It's very difficult for most decks to clear him for less than 4 mana, meaning you'll probably pull ahead in tempo.  In a longer game, your opponent would be able to turn those Bananas into value, but playing for value is not the right strategy against this deck; you'll die with 9 cards in your hand.  Some decks can use the bananas very effectively though, especially Mage.  I wouldn't let this stop you from playing Mukla; you can't afford to hold a card back.  That is enough to make me mulligan him away against Mage though.