Rogue seems to be getting a lot less love pre-nerf. Their silly antics have been kicked down a notch, but this doesn't mean they're any less strong! Here's a well-rounded Rogue spell damage deck. They have all your basic, strong minions, loads of direct damage, board control, and draw power that put together a strong deck. I only made the deck to finish some dailies, but with the success I had and my little brother's overall positive results & comments on the deck, I decided to post it up on Hearthpwn in its nascent condition so the community and I can work on it together. Granted, there's a barrier to entry, but I'll whip up some alternatives to cards people may not have.
Lets go through the card list briefly: - Early spellpower with Thalnos and Kobold that greatly amplify all spells and damage - A couple of cheap early removal options with Backstab, Deadly Poison, Perdition and SI7 - AoE with Blade Flurry. Hits even the enemy hero and scales with Spell Damage - Strong mid-game minions with Ogre, SI7, and Harvest, Azure Drake, Sylvanas - Some draw power between Thalnos, Azure Drakes, Novice Engineer - Free removal of small minions with Perdition's Blade and SI:7 - One Headcrack to put pressure on finishing the game if it drags on too long - Ragnaros and Leeroy to close out the game
So, in place of Sylvanas, you can find another card with strong board presence such as Venture Co., Stranglethorn Tiger, or even Spiteful Smith. Thalnos is quite hard to replace as a source of cheap draw power and spell damage... Dalaran Mage is your next best bet. Sun Shattered Clerics can be easily reintroduced if you need filler.
Anyways, I'm quite pleased with this Rogue deck, please do tell me how you found it being played on your end. I'm by no means a dedicated Rogue player, but I'm good at building decks in general and glad to share my experiences. Take everything with a small grain of salt suggest away at cards to test.
Cards to Consider Used in main deck: Faceless Manipulator - Works with Rag, Sylvanas, Leeroy, and essentially a counter to turn 8's with Leeroy Jenkins - Good finisher and allows you to confidently rush the opponent Tinkmaster Overspark - Only other option besides assassinate + silence against high-impact cards for Rogue
Loot Hoarder - More cheap card draw and combo ability Sylvanas Windrunner - A good mid-game option and gives strong board presence in terms of effect & stats
Changelog -1 Cold Blood / +1 Deadly Poison This provides the same net damage at +4 if you use it on your enemy, but provides early game control and doesn't need to be combo'd. It's a more flexible card overall, just not as big of a surprise.
-1 Preparation / -1 Patient Assassin / + 2 SI:7 Agent Agent is such an amazing card, I decided to remove some of the more gimmicky cards in exchange for a solid 3 drop.
-2 Shattered Sun Cleric / +2 Loot Hoarder In accordance with the nerf, 2 health is too weak for me to play in a deck that has little early minions to buff and save in value. I've preferred Loot Hoarder over Novice lately, people it an "overload" minion where opponents need to deal with it or it will +1 trade itself for common 2 health minions (such as the new SSC)
-1 Sprint / +1 Perdition's Blade With the addition of Loot Hoarder and the removal of Preparation, I can remove Sprint without the worry of a lack of card draw. This deck has one too many cantrips (do something, draw a card) anyways. I'll be looking for a way to add another Perdition's Blade if the results are favorable.
-1Assassin's Blade / +1 Perdition's Blade Overall easier to deal with rush decks if you have a second Perdition's, very strong as a total of 4 damage by itself if combo'd and removing 1 health minions behind taunts are invaluable.
do you use sylvanas just cuz u have her or what i have leeroy, ysera, harrison jones, cairne blood hoof , the black knight and alextraza instead. would u suggest a different one in her place?
do you use sylvanas just cuz u have her or what i have leeroy, ysera, harrison jones, cairne blood hoof , the black knight and alextraza instead. would u suggest a different one in her place?
Two reasons I wouldn't mind using Alex, which are slightly weak. I'm 80% sure the deck can deal without Alex, but she's such a good card in decks with good burn: - Alex is a heal, which Rogues have none of and extends the game decently - If the game is going late, Alex can set the opponent's health down to 15, and it's very, very easy to burn off 15 health as a Rogue. This sets a time limit on the duel. I use the same concept in my Druid deck.
Either way, I use Sylvanas cause I have her and I can kill her myself to steal cards. I might try Alex in her spot, but I think Sylv is one of the best legendaries in the game and adds great pressure in any deck. Same reasoning behind Yeti - he really doesn't provide synergy to anything, but a great minion overall.
I have edwin too should I through him in there in sylvanas place or do you think he has no use in this deck
I wouldn't mind the use of Edwin, but Edwin really shines with Shadowstep combos because it's essentially huge gains for cheap. I don't plan to add Shadowstep to this deck, so Edwin may be hurting a bit. You can feel free to try and add him instead of Sylvanas, but I think Sylvanas is better in this situation.
Thanks for the feedback guys, it's still very much a WIP. Hopefully you guys try out the deck with some of your substitutions and get back to me.
I've been running a kind of similar deck since I saw the thread and it has worked out pretty well.
Some of my differences: Blade Furry x1 - I just think it's worth it to have one with the Deadly Poison and the weapon Ysera x1 - I have no idea if this card really adds much value to the deck but it's such a damn good card it can really turn a stalled out game in your favor late Edwin Vancleef x1 - I like him beacuse if you coin drop him that's a 4/4 which is really hard to deal with Novice Engineer x2 - Card draw
Cards I'm not using either I don't have them or didn't want them - Preparation, Patient Assassin, Sylvanas, Assassinate (i feel like there's plenty of control already), Headcrack (i think this skill just sucks but that's my personal opinion), Shattered Sun Cleric (i think i should make room for this card)
So that's my take on it. I'm far from an expert but it has worked for me.
To be honest, with all the spell power, maybe one Blade Flurry is in order. I'll give it a whirl. I still like Assassinate, nothing beats direct removal. Novice does work well with comboing while still drawing cards, I'm not particularly sure what to throw out. Maybe Sylvanas if there's no synergy, but she's too good to pass up on many occasions.
And if using Blade Flurry, a second Deadly Poison is almost mandatory, lots of potential changes. I'll play around with this deck for an hour or so and get back to you guys.
Oh, maybe Questing as well. Choices choices. Will update the opening post in a second.
Funny enough, I don't have Blade Flurry. I think I dusted it at some point. I did embed a video, Patient Assassin really shines in situations where you force your opponent to play cards they don't want to and Headcrack puts out some serious damage. I don't think there's an appropriate substitute for Blade Flurry, so I'll have to bench that idea until I get another.
Thanks for posting. I share your sentiment about rogue getting some love.
I'll do some testing with some of the cards you're missing and see what shakes out. I'm trying to find a rogue build that is on the same tier as the top decks -- the best I've got right know is a fairly knife heavy build with pirates.
I need to better learn how to play patient assassin - I haven't been as successful running this card yet.
Well, Patient Assassin isn't so stealthy, it has ample time for the opponent to prepare a counter attack so it's understandable that he doesn't work all of the time, but there are just so many situations where I've been able to make use of him in my experience. I'm definitely keeping a close eye on his performance.
Honestly, your best bet with Rogue decks are going to include Dread Corsair and Bloodsail Raider. The two cards are too good to pass up when something as simple as a Deadly Poison puts them over the top in value at the cost of a single point in mana. Even Greenskin gets his worth in a Rogue deck, but I wouldn't call it a Pirate deck in any sense of the word, it's just a Rogue deck with pirates in them. I wish I had a Perdition's Blade to mess around with, I also dusted my Greenskin some time ago to my dismay. Have you found any luck with Perditions alongiside pirates or this deck?
I haven't really found the sweet spot in rogues yet. I agree with the points you've made about the pirates.
On perds -- This is an extremely strong card in my view. I run it in pretty well all of my rogue builds for a couple of reasons. First, the 2 damage shot with combo is very powerful -- its on par for utility with Si:7 and you can attack that turn so its a 4 health removal alternative (Drakes, et. al.). Secondly its a cheaper/faster route to big Blade Flurry plays. The six mana Perd -> Deadly Poi -> Attack --> Blade Flurry is very strong. Most likely you just did 9 damage to them and wiped their board.
I have everything in this deck but the two legendaries, and boy does this deck win, win winnn. It is by far my best deck. Playing against some friends are always like "Why run spell power" then I start to head crack them every single turn for 3-5 damage, comes back to my hand, Play something, Eviscerate for 6, head crack for 4" Fan of knives for 2-3. Adding in the poison to a blade whirl either nets +3 damage, 3 damage board clear, or if you hold it out long enough, 8 damage 8 damage board clear. Turn 8 Attacking with Blade + poison for 8, then another 8 for blade whirl is half their health instantly with really no counter play. Its soo fun. Good deck! Thanks again!
Glad to hear Maso, I made a few changes to make the deck more consistent. It's still very strong and Blade Flurry is still evading me in card pulls. The removal of Prep, Sprint, and Patient Assassin all reduce the number of dead cards in hand and the addition of two SI:7 Agents as well as a Perdition's Blade add easy clear to control the board or deal more direct damage.
Any other cards do you guys see missing from this deck that may fit?
Recently removed after keeping it in the deck for quite some time, it wasn't providing consistent results. Why are you forcibly -1'ing yourself to play a card in a situation that you may not have needed to put yourself in if you had replaced it with a better option? Too situational, especially with the removal of Sprint and the lack of a second Assassinate.
hey Aishi nice deck, i'm currently running a similar one but i don't feel like i need Loot Hoarder besides it provides a better draw power, added a Perdition's Blade for board control and also i remove Harvest Golem to fullfil this spell damage deck with 2 Sinister Strike to set the deal.
A second Perdition's Blade is excellent, I personally don't have one myself. Maybe even removing Assassin's Blade isn't a bad choice. Your deck is looking pretty good, definitely more aggressive with the Sinister Strikes and Blade Flurry. I'm missing a few key cards from trying your version out, namely the two I just mentioned. It looks like it would be more effective against an aggressive opponent at first glance. Having a single SD+1 out will give you 7 direct damage and 4 AoE clear, which looks pretty insane. My only issue is that removing Harvest Golems leaves you wanting more for board presence, you have very little "high value" minions that could support your board.
Maybe even removing Assassin's Blade isn't a bad choice.
My only issue is that removing Harvest Golems leaves you wanting more for board presence, you have very little "high value" minions that could support your board.
I'm considering -1 Assassin's Blade for making space to Harvest Golem but i'm not really sure which card i have to replace for my second one
If you have Cairne Bloodhoof, he would be a great addition. Just like Thalnos for this type of deck. If not, to keep tempo, you could add a Charge minion: Leeroy, Argent Commander, Rocketeer or even Arcane Golem.
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[Pre GVG] Knives and Magic
Unknown Deck
by Aishi_ - Nov 12, 2013
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Minion (19)
- 1x Bloodmage Thalnos
- 1x Ragnaros the Firelord
- 2x Argent Commander
- 2x Azure Drake
- 2x SI:7 Agent
- 2x Defias Ringleader
- 2x Harvest Golem
- 1x Dark Iron Dwarf
- 2x Kobold Geomancer
- 2x Novice Engineer
- 2x Ogre Magi
Ability (9)
- 2x Blade Flurry
- 1x Headcrack
- 2x Backstab
- 2x Deadly Poison
- 2x Eviscerate
Weapon (2)
- 2x Perdition's Blade
Loading Collection
Warlock Low Mana Rush
Warlock Suicide Jaraxxus Control
Warlock Zergrush
Warrior Beatdown
Warrior Molten Giant OTK
Paladin Slowroll
Paladin Kodo & Friends
Druid Slash & Burn
Druid Force of Murloc
Druid Midrange *new!*
Rogue Knives & Magic
Not an OTK Hunter Deck
Template Decks
Warlock Aggro Template Deck
Rogue Template Deck
Paladin Template Deck
Druid Template Deck
Shaman Template Deck
Rogue seems to be getting a lot less love pre-nerf. Their silly antics have been kicked down a notch, but this doesn't mean they're any less strong! Here's a well-rounded Rogue spell damage deck. They have all your basic, strong minions, loads of direct damage, board control, and draw power that put together a strong deck. I only made the deck to finish some dailies, but with the success I had and my little brother's overall positive results & comments on the deck, I decided to post it up on Hearthpwn in its nascent condition so the community and I can work on it together. Granted, there's a barrier to entry, but I'll whip up some alternatives to cards people may not have.
Lets go through the card list briefly:
- Early spellpower with Thalnos and Kobold that greatly amplify all spells and damage
- A couple of cheap early removal options with Backstab, Deadly Poison, Perdition and SI7
- AoE with Blade Flurry. Hits even the enemy hero and scales with Spell Damage
- Strong mid-game minions with Ogre, SI7, and Harvest, Azure Drake, Sylvanas
- Some draw power between Thalnos, Azure Drakes, Novice Engineer
- Free removal of small minions with Perdition's Blade and SI:7
- One Headcrack to put pressure on finishing the game if it drags on too long
- Ragnaros and Leeroy to close out the game
So, in place of Sylvanas, you can find another card with strong board presence such as Venture Co., Stranglethorn Tiger, or even Spiteful Smith. Thalnos is quite hard to replace as a source of cheap draw power and spell damage... Dalaran Mage is your next best bet. Sun Shattered Clerics can be easily reintroduced if you need filler.
Anyways, I'm quite pleased with this Rogue deck, please do tell me how you found it being played on your end. I'm by no means a dedicated Rogue player, but I'm good at building decks in general and glad to share my experiences. Take everything with a small grain of salt suggest away at cards to test.
Cards to Consider
Used in main deck:
Faceless Manipulator - Works with Rag, Sylvanas, Leeroy, and essentially a counter to turn 8's with
Leeroy Jenkins - Good finisher and allows you to confidently rush the opponent
Tinkmaster Overspark - Only other option besides assassinate + silence against high-impact cards for Rogue
Loot Hoarder - More cheap card draw and combo ability
Sylvanas Windrunner - A good mid-game option and gives strong board presence in terms of effect & stats
Changelog
-1 Cold Blood / +1 Deadly Poison
This provides the same net damage at +4 if you use it on your enemy, but provides early game control and doesn't need to be combo'd. It's a more flexible card overall, just not as big of a surprise.
-1 Preparation / -1 Patient Assassin / + 2 SI:7 Agent
Agent is such an amazing card, I decided to remove some of the more gimmicky cards in exchange for a solid 3 drop.
-2 Shattered Sun Cleric / +2 Loot Hoarder
In accordance with the nerf, 2 health is too weak for me to play in a deck that has little early minions to buff and save in value. I've preferred Loot Hoarder over Novice lately, people it an "overload" minion where opponents need to deal with it or it will +1 trade itself for common 2 health minions (such as the new SSC)
-1 Sprint / +1 Perdition's Blade
With the addition of Loot Hoarder and the removal of Preparation, I can remove Sprint without the worry of a lack of card draw. This deck has one too many cantrips (do something, draw a card) anyways. I'll be looking for a way to add another Perdition's Blade if the results are favorable.
-1Assassin's Blade / +1 Perdition's Blade
Overall easier to deal with rush decks if you have a second Perdition's, very strong as a total of 4 damage by itself if combo'd and removing 1 health minions behind taunts are invaluable.
More testing:
Older Version
Any questions and suggestions, feel free to ask. My tag is Aishi#1473.
My stream is at http://www.twitch.tv/aishi_ Every so often @ evenings EST
My youtube channel is http://www.youtube.com/user/vtxaishi - All my videos are there!
http://www.youtube.com/user/vtxaishi
You're not going crazy, I edit 2~3 times each post
do you use sylvanas just cuz u have her or what i have leeroy, ysera, harrison jones, cairne blood hoof , the black knight and alextraza instead. would u suggest a different one in her place?
I have edwin too should I through him in there in sylvanas place or do you think he has no use in this deck
Two reasons I wouldn't mind using Alex, which are slightly weak. I'm 80% sure the deck can deal without Alex, but she's such a good card in decks with good burn:
- Alex is a heal, which Rogues have none of and extends the game decently
- If the game is going late, Alex can set the opponent's health down to 15, and it's very, very easy to burn off 15 health as a Rogue. This sets a time limit on the duel. I use the same concept in my Druid deck.
Either way, I use Sylvanas cause I have her and I can kill her myself to steal cards. I might try Alex in her spot, but I think Sylv is one of the best legendaries in the game and adds great pressure in any deck. Same reasoning behind Yeti - he really doesn't provide synergy to anything, but a great minion overall.
I wouldn't mind the use of Edwin, but Edwin really shines with Shadowstep combos because it's essentially huge gains for cheap. I don't plan to add Shadowstep to this deck, so Edwin may be hurting a bit. You can feel free to try and add him instead of Sylvanas, but I think Sylvanas is better in this situation.
Thanks for the feedback guys, it's still very much a WIP. Hopefully you guys try out the deck with some of your substitutions and get back to me.
http://www.youtube.com/user/vtxaishi
You're not going crazy, I edit 2~3 times each post
I've been running a kind of similar deck since I saw the thread and it has worked out pretty well.
Some of my differences:
Blade Furry x1 - I just think it's worth it to have one with the Deadly Poison and the weapon
Ysera x1 - I have no idea if this card really adds much value to the deck but it's such a damn good card it can really turn a stalled out game in your favor late
Edwin Vancleef x1 - I like him beacuse if you coin drop him that's a 4/4 which is really hard to deal with
Novice Engineer x2 - Card draw
Cards I'm not using either I don't have them or didn't want them - Preparation, Patient Assassin, Sylvanas, Assassinate (i feel like there's plenty of control already), Headcrack (i think this skill just sucks but that's my personal opinion), Shattered Sun Cleric (i think i should make room for this card)
So that's my take on it. I'm far from an expert but it has worked for me.
To be honest, with all the spell power, maybe one Blade Flurry is in order. I'll give it a whirl. I still like Assassinate, nothing beats direct removal. Novice does work well with comboing while still drawing cards, I'm not particularly sure what to throw out. Maybe Sylvanas if there's no synergy, but she's too good to pass up on many occasions.
And if using Blade Flurry, a second Deadly Poison is almost mandatory, lots of potential changes. I'll play around with this deck for an hour or so and get back to you guys.
Oh, maybe Questing as well. Choices choices. Will update the opening post in a second.
http://www.youtube.com/user/vtxaishi
You're not going crazy, I edit 2~3 times each post
ya with spell power and a deadly poison you can really clear the board with a blade flurry
Funny enough, I don't have Blade Flurry. I think I dusted it at some point. I did embed a video, Patient Assassin really shines in situations where you force your opponent to play cards they don't want to and Headcrack puts out some serious damage. I don't think there's an appropriate substitute for Blade Flurry, so I'll have to bench that idea until I get another.
http://www.youtube.com/user/vtxaishi
You're not going crazy, I edit 2~3 times each post
Thanks for posting. I share your sentiment about rogue getting some love.
I'll do some testing with some of the cards you're missing and see what shakes out. I'm trying to find a rogue build that is on the same tier as the top decks -- the best I've got right know is a fairly knife heavy build with pirates.
I need to better learn how to play patient assassin - I haven't been as successful running this card yet.
Well, Patient Assassin isn't so stealthy, it has ample time for the opponent to prepare a counter attack so it's understandable that he doesn't work all of the time, but there are just so many situations where I've been able to make use of him in my experience. I'm definitely keeping a close eye on his performance.
Honestly, your best bet with Rogue decks are going to include Dread Corsair and Bloodsail Raider. The two cards are too good to pass up when something as simple as a Deadly Poison puts them over the top in value at the cost of a single point in mana. Even Greenskin gets his worth in a Rogue deck, but I wouldn't call it a Pirate deck in any sense of the word, it's just a Rogue deck with pirates in them. I wish I had a Perdition's Blade to mess around with, I also dusted my Greenskin some time ago to my dismay. Have you found any luck with Perditions alongiside pirates or this deck?
http://www.youtube.com/user/vtxaishi
You're not going crazy, I edit 2~3 times each post
I haven't really found the sweet spot in rogues yet. I agree with the points you've made about the pirates.
On perds -- This is an extremely strong card in my view. I run it in pretty well all of my rogue builds for a couple of reasons. First, the 2 damage shot with combo is very powerful -- its on par for utility with Si:7 and you can attack that turn so its a 4 health removal alternative (Drakes, et. al.). Secondly its a cheaper/faster route to big Blade Flurry plays. The six mana Perd -> Deadly Poi -> Attack --> Blade Flurry is very strong. Most likely you just did 9 damage to them and wiped their board.
I have everything in this deck but the two legendaries, and boy does this deck win, win winnn. It is by far my best deck. Playing against some friends are always like "Why run spell power" then I start to head crack them every single turn for 3-5 damage, comes back to my hand, Play something, Eviscerate for 6, head crack for 4" Fan of knives for 2-3. Adding in the poison to a blade whirl either nets +3 damage, 3 damage board clear, or if you hold it out long enough, 8 damage 8 damage board clear. Turn 8 Attacking with Blade + poison for 8, then another 8 for blade whirl is half their health instantly with really no counter play. Its soo fun. Good deck! Thanks again!
Glad to hear Maso, I made a few changes to make the deck more consistent. It's still very strong and Blade Flurry is still evading me in card pulls. The removal of Prep, Sprint, and Patient Assassin all reduce the number of dead cards in hand and the addition of two SI:7 Agents as well as a Perdition's Blade add easy clear to control the board or deal more direct damage.
Any other cards do you guys see missing from this deck that may fit?
http://www.youtube.com/user/vtxaishi
You're not going crazy, I edit 2~3 times each post
Spell deck without preparation? Hm...
Recently removed after keeping it in the deck for quite some time, it wasn't providing consistent results. Why are you forcibly -1'ing yourself to play a card in a situation that you may not have needed to put yourself in if you had replaced it with a better option? Too situational, especially with the removal of Sprint and the lack of a second Assassinate.
http://www.youtube.com/user/vtxaishi
You're not going crazy, I edit 2~3 times each post
im loving this deck so far! On a nice win streak with it :D thanks a lot
hey Aishi nice deck, i'm currently running a similar one but i don't feel like i need Loot Hoarder besides it provides a better draw power, added a Perdition's Blade for board control and also i remove Harvest Golem to fullfil this spell damage deck with 2 Sinister Strike to set the deal.
A second Perdition's Blade is excellent, I personally don't have one myself. Maybe even removing Assassin's Blade isn't a bad choice. Your deck is looking pretty good, definitely more aggressive with the Sinister Strikes and Blade Flurry. I'm missing a few key cards from trying your version out, namely the two I just mentioned. It looks like it would be more effective against an aggressive opponent at first glance. Having a single SD+1 out will give you 7 direct damage and 4 AoE clear, which looks pretty insane. My only issue is that removing Harvest Golems leaves you wanting more for board presence, you have very little "high value" minions that could support your board.
http://www.youtube.com/user/vtxaishi
You're not going crazy, I edit 2~3 times each post
I'm considering -1 Assassin's Blade for making space to Harvest Golem but i'm not really sure which card i have to replace for my second one
If you have Cairne Bloodhoof, he would be a great addition. Just like Thalnos for this type of deck.
If not, to keep tempo, you could add a Charge minion: Leeroy, Argent Commander, Rocketeer or even Arcane Golem.
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