I never thought I'd enjoy playing Burgle Rogue until the latest expansion, but here I am. I don't want to turn this thread into another whine thread about how mirror matchups are auto-concede for this archetype. While mostly true, it is possible to win mirrors and I want this thread to become a resource for strategizing archetype/play improvements that would make it possible to beat mirrors. The deck I put together is as follows:
The star of the show in my deck is Cutlass, not Tess, like in other Burgle decks, but otherwise the strategy is similar. Here are my observations about burgling in general that may not be obvious to those not familiar with this archetype:
The power of the deck comes from charging up cards like Cutlass and Tess, not from burgling overpowered opponent cards. While it's nice to discover an occasional game-changer, your burgled cards will usually be underpowered and lack the synergy that your opponent deck has.
Contrary to popular belief, burgle decks actually do have an underlying synergy (even without Cutlass/Tess). The game is designed such that a mediocre card for one class can be powerful in another. Imagine Warlock/Mage-type board clear in a Hunter deck, or Priest's healing abilities in Warlock deck. Being able to combine benefits of both classes is a powerful synergy all in itself.
Playing opponent hero card inverts your class, such that any Rogue class you play afterwards powers your Cutlass/Tess.
If you play Tess after playing opponent's hero card, she will re-equip your Cutlass, resetting any buffs on it.
Tri-class cards like Jade Spirit and Aya Blackpaw count as "other" class, despite being readily available to rogue. These are your only hope in mirror matchups.
Echo cards from opponent class have amazing value because they all count as separate cards.
Based on the above observations and what's currently available, here are my suggestions for Burgle Rogue to make Mirror Matchups more bearable:
Consider putting Witch's Cauldron or 2 in your deck. Although realistically, you won't get enough dying minions to take full advantage of it.
Consider putting in Face Collector and hope that he gets a card from another class.
Consider putting some tri-class Jade cards in, and always take them when offered via discover mechanic.
Favor burgle cards with discover mechanic (i.e. Hallucination) as that gives you more chances to discover tri-class cards.
Consider putting in neutral cards with card generation side-effects (hoping that generated class are from a different class) (i.e. Ravencaller).
Consider putting in secondary win conditions (i.e. Mistwraith) that you can power up even when you can't burgle anything useful.
Do you guys have other suggestions or other examples of cards that can satisfy last 2 bullets? Perhaps dragon-generating cards may be better than Ravencaller since they put a stronger body on board and have higher chance of generating a priest-specific dragon?
The double Cutlass, double Shinyfinder, and Rummaging Kobold seems like overkill. I've been running a simple 1x Cutlass and 1x Shinyfinder and had good results. Pretty much the only time I want to play a second weapon is if I get Oozed. What rank are you playing at?
Edit: A really wacky untested idea I've had is to slot in a Furnacefire Colossus. Stealing weapons is usually horrible because you'd rather keep boosting your Cutlass.
Problem is if you don't get a Cutlass early enough, you will lose. I've had games where I'd draw 15 cards before getting to my first shinyfinder or cutlass (admittedly this was 1 cutlass, 2 shinyfinder variant). Rummaging Kobold I rarely use, and may remove, it was just a quick way to recover from an Ooze. I don't think Furnacefire Colossus would be that useful. I do get occasional weapons from opponent but it's not common enough to justify it. This is not a deck I play competitively, I play wild for fun and ranked on standard.
Going back to the topic of mirror matchups, what about a Jade/Burgle Hybrid? Several Jade cards are already tri-class. Perhaps Aya Blackpaw, Jade Spirit, a couple Gang Ups and Shadowsteps combined with other Cutlass-powering and burgle cards could create a potent mirror-resistant deck?
Nice deck +1 from me. i think ravencaller is not worth it putting in the deck as 1 drops do not add that much value to Tess. Maybe Tanglefur Mystic is a better option. The Cauldrons are a pretty fun addition to the deck.
To solve the mirror match problems I added Shifter Zerus× 1 Elise the Trailblazer× 1 and Face Collector× 1 in my (WILD) deck. I also have the quest as a back up plan. It is completed a bit slower, but still works pretty well.
I made a Thief Rogue in Wild aswell that I've been getting pretty consistent wins with. Even against mirror matches where I just keep control. In all honesty, I don't think I've lost a single mirror match yet. I'll see if I've got a screenshot of the stats.
Anyway, the deck is tagged underneath. Take a look at it, give it a build and see what you think. Personally, I think it's not an entirely easy deck to pilot. But once you have the weapon down it becomes a hell of a lot more simpler.
P.S. Nefarian has been exchanged for Valeera.
Edit: To my surprise I've only played against three Rogues. But I won all three.
Nanoks, my deck is built such that Cutlass is indeed the win condition. A 10-damage infinite-durability weapon is nothing to sneeze at. It might not get to the crazy attack Kingsbane gets to, but the damage it does is enough, and the deck is a lot more fun. Valeera didn't seem as useful in this deck initially as in Kingsbane, but I may try her since it may be a good way to replay other class cards twice, or maybe even get an extra buff on the weapon.
Interesting ideas with Elise, Lich King, and Shifter Zerus. I don't yet have either but may craft Lich King (the other two don't seem worth crafting at this point). Sir Finley seems like an interesting addition, I'll try him, don't really have much use for my regular hero power.
Jhoira, Mistwraith package kinda works. I agree that it's not great, and he's often removed via Vilespine/spell, but there were already enough echo cards in the deck naturally (Pick Pocket, Cheap Shot) that it seemed natural to add him. Moreover, Phantom Militia discourages use of Sap/Vanish since it allows me to replay more copies of it, although admittedly I'm seeing a lot fewer vanishes in wild than standard (probably because there are better alternatives).
I may play with the Jades package instead of Mistwraith since it seems interesting (but would need to craft a few cards). I'm aware that by themselves Jades aren't great in rogue, but combining them with cutlass seems like an interesting concept and they seem to complement each other well.
In my humble experience, going full burgle is not the option. Spectral Cutlass is not reliable enough in wild, and too many random card generation sometimes works against you, I have milled a lot of good cards because the cards I get are pretty bad and I have to keep them in hand.
I think the best option is going for quality, not quantity. In my deck I only have 5 cards to burgle.
Lotus Agents Amazing card, a body to be replayed by Tess Greymane plus you discover one card from another class always. Hallucination Cheap Discover spell, you can get the answer you need even in mirror matches Blink Fox Maybe the best cards for burgle, period. Shaku, the Collector ??? Yep, Shaku. This guy is pretty good to bait your opponent's removals. If you can play it behind a taunt or if you buff him, he could get out of control pretty easily. I play Prince Keleseth on my burgle deck, so most of the times Shaku is a 4/5. Witch's Cauldron Fuel for mirror matches, and an amazing way to discover burn spells to finish your opponent. It has an important draw back, to be playable you need to trade in the same turn it's played.
Your deck seems to focus on Spectral Cutlass , In my opinion is not very flexible or fast enough for a wild deck. If your objective is to use Spectral Cutlass and Tess Greymane as win conditions, I suggest to try a miracle hybrid.
I don't own it, I also tried playing it during the Witchwood brawl, which partially inspired this deck, and wasn't impressed by it. I actually do think the idea other players suggest of cutting some burgle cards might be good. This deck is already really good at generating cards, more often than not the problem is having too many cards in my hand, not too few.
So while playing with it more, just adding a couple Lotus Agents and Valeera the Hollow did wonders to survivability of the original deck. It still struggles vs other Rogues, but at least they're beatable now. The Cauldron and Agents alone are able to get me an extra 3-5 durability to the weapon, which makes my Cutlass difficult to deal with even for other rogues. I also ended up removing Rummaging Kobold, since he didn't see enough play, and would often return me the regular crappy dagger instead of Cutlass.
I may eventually drop mistwraith as well and adopt a partial Jade package, maybe something along these lines:
Mistwraith -> Jade Spirit (puts 2 bodies on board that can synergize with Cauldron, and increments Cutlass durability)
Phantom Militia -> Gang Up (more Jades, more durability for Cutlass, more sacrifices for Cauldron)
I never thought I'd enjoy playing Burgle Rogue until the latest expansion, but here I am. I don't want to turn this thread into another whine thread about how mirror matchups are auto-concede for this archetype. While mostly true, it is possible to win mirrors and I want this thread to become a resource for strategizing archetype/play improvements that would make it possible to beat mirrors. The deck I put together is as follows:
The star of the show in my deck is Cutlass, not Tess, like in other Burgle decks, but otherwise the strategy is similar. Here are my observations about burgling in general that may not be obvious to those not familiar with this archetype:
Based on the above observations and what's currently available, here are my suggestions for Burgle Rogue to make Mirror Matchups more bearable:
Do you guys have other suggestions or other examples of cards that can satisfy last 2 bullets? Perhaps dragon-generating cards may be better than Ravencaller since they put a stronger body on board and have higher chance of generating a priest-specific dragon?
The double Cutlass, double Shinyfinder, and Rummaging Kobold seems like overkill. I've been running a simple 1x Cutlass and 1x Shinyfinder and had good results. Pretty much the only time I want to play a second weapon is if I get Oozed. What rank are you playing at?
Edit: A really wacky untested idea I've had is to slot in a Furnacefire Colossus. Stealing weapons is usually horrible because you'd rather keep boosting your Cutlass.
Problem is if you don't get a Cutlass early enough, you will lose. I've had games where I'd draw 15 cards before getting to my first shinyfinder or cutlass (admittedly this was 1 cutlass, 2 shinyfinder variant). Rummaging Kobold I rarely use, and may remove, it was just a quick way to recover from an Ooze. I don't think Furnacefire Colossus would be that useful. I do get occasional weapons from opponent but it's not common enough to justify it. This is not a deck I play competitively, I play wild for fun and ranked on standard.
Going back to the topic of mirror matchups, what about a Jade/Burgle Hybrid? Several Jade cards are already tri-class. Perhaps Aya Blackpaw, Jade Spirit, a couple Gang Ups and Shadowsteps combined with other Cutlass-powering and burgle cards could create a potent mirror-resistant deck?
Nice deck +1 from me. i think ravencaller is not worth it putting in the deck as 1 drops do not add that much value to Tess. Maybe Tanglefur Mystic is a better option. The Cauldrons are a pretty fun addition to the deck.
To solve the mirror match problems I added Shifter Zerus × 1 Elise the Trailblazer × 1 and Face Collector × 1 in my (WILD) deck. I also have the quest as a back up plan. It is completed a bit slower, but still works pretty well.
+1 from me as well
I've been experimenting a lot with (wild) cutlass rogue. Running with 2 cutlass and 1 shineyfinder.
I don't really like the Mistwraith and Phantom Militia package ... does it work for you?
I also run Shifter Zerus and Elise the Trailblazer. The Lich King is another option.
I'll try a mechs version with Piloted Shredder and Piloted Sky Golem soon.
Sir Finley Mrrgglton is also great fun in this deck!
I made a Thief Rogue in Wild aswell that I've been getting pretty consistent wins with. Even against mirror matches where I just keep control. In all honesty, I don't think I've lost a single mirror match yet. I'll see if I've got a screenshot of the stats.
Anyway, the deck is tagged underneath. Take a look at it, give it a build and see what you think. Personally, I think it's not an entirely easy deck to pilot. But once you have the weapon down it becomes a hell of a lot more simpler.
P.S. Nefarian has been exchanged for Valeera.
Edit: To my surprise I've only played against three Rogues. But I won all three.
Nanoks, my deck is built such that Cutlass is indeed the win condition. A 10-damage infinite-durability weapon is nothing to sneeze at. It might not get to the crazy attack Kingsbane gets to, but the damage it does is enough, and the deck is a lot more fun. Valeera didn't seem as useful in this deck initially as in Kingsbane, but I may try her since it may be a good way to replay other class cards twice, or maybe even get an extra buff on the weapon.
Interesting ideas with Elise, Lich King, and Shifter Zerus. I don't yet have either but may craft Lich King (the other two don't seem worth crafting at this point). Sir Finley seems like an interesting addition, I'll try him, don't really have much use for my regular hero power.
Jhoira, Mistwraith package kinda works. I agree that it's not great, and he's often removed via Vilespine/spell, but there were already enough echo cards in the deck naturally (Pick Pocket, Cheap Shot) that it seemed natural to add him. Moreover, Phantom Militia discourages use of Sap/Vanish since it allows me to replay more copies of it, although admittedly I'm seeing a lot fewer vanishes in wild than standard (probably because there are better alternatives).
I may play with the Jades package instead of Mistwraith since it seems interesting (but would need to craft a few cards). I'm aware that by themselves Jades aren't great in rogue, but combining them with cutlass seems like an interesting concept and they seem to complement each other well.
In my humble experience, going full burgle is not the option. Spectral Cutlass is not reliable enough in wild, and too many random card generation sometimes works against you, I have milled a lot of good cards because the cards I get are pretty bad and I have to keep them in hand.
I think the best option is going for quality, not quantity. In my deck I only have 5 cards to burgle.
Lotus Agents Amazing card, a body to be replayed by Tess Greymane plus you discover one card from another class always.
Hallucination Cheap Discover spell, you can get the answer you need even in mirror matches
Blink Fox Maybe the best cards for burgle, period.
Shaku, the Collector ??? Yep, Shaku. This guy is pretty good to bait your opponent's removals. If you can play it behind a taunt or if you buff him, he could get out of control pretty easily. I play Prince Keleseth on my burgle deck, so most of the times Shaku is a 4/5.
Witch's Cauldron Fuel for mirror matches, and an amazing way to discover burn spells to finish your opponent. It has an important draw back, to be playable you need to trade in the same turn it's played.
Your deck seems to focus on Spectral Cutlass , In my opinion is not very flexible or fast enough for a wild deck. If your objective is to use Spectral Cutlass and Tess Greymane as win conditions, I suggest to try a miracle hybrid.
I don't own it, I also tried playing it during the Witchwood brawl, which partially inspired this deck, and wasn't impressed by it. I actually do think the idea other players suggest of cutting some burgle cards might be good. This deck is already really good at generating cards, more often than not the problem is having too many cards in my hand, not too few.
So while playing with it more, just adding a couple Lotus Agents and Valeera the Hollow did wonders to survivability of the original deck. It still struggles vs other Rogues, but at least they're beatable now. The Cauldron and Agents alone are able to get me an extra 3-5 durability to the weapon, which makes my Cutlass difficult to deal with even for other rogues. I also ended up removing Rummaging Kobold, since he didn't see enough play, and would often return me the regular crappy dagger instead of Cutlass.
I may eventually drop mistwraith as well and adopt a partial Jade package, maybe something along these lines: