I'm RenoJackson and I'm a multi-legend player in APAC region. I've always been a fan of disruptive cards, that's why I fell in love with Dirty Rat the moment I saw the card. However, Dirty Rat is certainly one of the few cards that you must play very strategically to gain maximum value (or any value at all) from; and the more annoying thing about it is that for each specific matchup, you have to utilize the card differently.
Have you ever been in a case where Dirty Rat is your own saving grace against what would otherwise be an onslaught from the other side? As a player who always strive for the highest level like myself, I've been in that spot far too often. One of the decks you just feel hopeless playing against is Reno Priest; however, if you have a Dirty Rat in your hand, all is but lost! Even if you have Rat on your hand, the chance is very slim, but if you put some thoughts into your plays, winning is not impossible.
Note that this guide is for the most common Reno Priest package you see on ladder: ones with lots of cycling and only Spawn of Shadow as a finisher.
I. What to Rat?
People always think about Ratting Raza the Chained when they think of facing Reno Priest, but it's more or less a shot in the dark. If your deck has enough healing to stabilize for the long game, it's better to Rat out Spawn of Shadows as besides from Velen (and possibly Lyra), they have no way to burst you down from full health.
II. When to Rat?
One crucial skill you need to learn if you want to play at the top level is HAND READING/TRACKING. You can't possibly know if they have Raza in their opening hand, but you can GUESS if there's a big chance they'll have it. You need to keep track of the cards they keep in their opening hand, even before they played any cards at all. Did they mulligan all/most of their hands away? Although this is matchup dependent, most Reno Priests will keep Raza the Chained against a control deck (what aggro deck would like to play Rat anyway?), therefore, if they mulligan them all away, they're less likely to have Raza on hand. However, if they keep most cards on their hands, it's a different story. If they keep cards on their hand, suspect you're a control deck AND didn't play minions within the first 3 turns, what could they possibly have on their hands? Oftentimes it could be Raza or Kazakus (or Shadowreaper Anduin). Pulling Kazakus isn't that bad, therefore you might want to go for it. However, if you're something like Cubelock, they might keep spells like Silences and Psychic Scream as well, making the chance slimmer. If they keep some cards on their hand AND play them, you need to keep track of how many cards in their mulligan that they've played. If there were 2 card they kept, and they played those two cards, say, Acolyte of Pain and Northshire Cleric on curve, your Rat would have a much slimmer chance of getting what you want. But, if they kept 3 cards and played those two on curve, you might have a shot at it: if the other minion they kept was Loot Hoarder/Novice Engineer, they would've played it turn 2. However, do keep in mind spells they could keep against your specific decks. If you pull nothing, sure, you get a tempo 2/6, but it's just gonna die.
a. How to pull Raza after turn 5?
You need to draw cards for them. If they draw Raza after turn 5 and is not under any pressure (which they likely won't because you play a deck with Dirty Rat), they'll play it right away. Hit their Thalnos, Loot Hoarders, etc. play Coldlight Oracle, then Dirty Rat after that. If you feel that's your only chance of winning, go for it.
b. How to pull a Spawn of Shadows?
A more realistic way of not dying is by taking away their damage engine. It's intuitive to play Rat after their Shadowreaper Anduin and make sure you can kill the Spawn (otherwise, you'll just die next turn). Other than that, you need to keep track of how many cards has been sitting dead on their hand for a while. If there's exactly one card that's been sitting for a while, it might be a cheap spell, but if there are a few of them, they'll likely be cheap spells AND Spawn. Spawn is a dead card other than when they want to execute their combo, therefore, if they draw it early, it'll sit there for many many turns. If they don't do much for a number of turns, you will need to suspect that they have that lethal combo on their hand waiting to dispatch. Of course, it could possibly be a Doomsayer or some dumb shit and you'll be sad, but it's worth a try. Yes, they might deliberately keep minions on their hand to play around Rat, but that's not something you can control.
If I missed anything I'll come back to edit this post. Otherwise, that's all there is to it. If you guys like the guide, gimme an upvote and I'll do another one for Malygos Druid/Exodia Mage/Aggro Paladin/Cubelock.
I find that the majority of my opponents on ladder just randomly dirty rat on turn 2. This season at least I've mostly been playing dragon priest so it often pulls a big minion and then they get crushed. I've never understood the logic of dirty ratting on turn 2, especially when you don't know what your opponent is playing yet. But it happens to me constantly. I guess they just assume I'm Raza priest? But still it would be better to do rat on turn 4, right? I don't get it.
I don't find that they run actual OTKs too often in Wild - just chipping you down over 4-5 turns is often enough when you're a control deck. Also, cubelock? In wild? Not seen much of that, usually it's straight up reno+demolock. If you're a control deck, they'll likely have 7ish cards in hand when they DK anyway, which is a load of damage. Sure, there's some with Velen/Spawn, but the Wild variants often don't need them because the control package is so strong.
And on Exodia mage - you can't easily Rat them. There's redundancies on the summoners (simulacrum and molten together gives a lot of redundancy there, they don't care if a summoner gets hit), so you've got to hit Anton. Honestly, in both scenarios, I prefer coldlights as tech.
Where are you playing? On what server? As far as I can say Renolock is rarity compared to Cubelock. At least here in EU on rank 5 to legend.
What did I mean to put on a Wild forum? Im not a creator of the thread. I was just curious about your statement that you made. And btw: not all Wild decks have only 5-8 Wild cards. For example Anyfin Paladin which is a solid Tier 2 have his wincondition in Wild cards. And in a few years Wild meta will be completely different than Standart.
If highlander priest has proven one thing it's that you can Rat their Raza and they still have a very high chance of winning. The only real way to beat Raza is put pressure on them and keep it on. They will either fall to the damage or not have enough resources to combo you out later.
How to play dirty rat: Have something to kill something huge in case you fuck up (i.e. play it on turn 5 with death on hand as priest or turn 10 as warlock to clean out a big board with nether...), or just put it on your deck and call to arms it out on slower paladin builds, I seriously can't understand when people rat on curve or without a way to deal with the huge minions you mihgt pull out.
I don't play in wild, but I have seen this deck or some variations of it.
Tell me, doesn't the priest also use a Velen in their decks? If you manage to pull out the first win-condition (the spawn), how can you be so sure, that there won't be a second one waiting in their decks?
I don't play in wild, but I have seen this deck or some variations of it.
Tell me, doesn't the priest also use a Velen in their decks? If you manage to pull out the first win-condition (the spawn), how can you be so sure, that there won't be a second one waiting in their decks?
In Wild usually Spawn of Shadows is enough to finish your enemy so if you play Velen you risk being overrun by Aggro (not enough removals/AOEs). Only a few really greedy lists play Velen, and if they do, there's nothing you can do about it.
I will always play a dirty rat before the turn 5, because, like you said, priest will always play raza immediately after being drawn, so there is no point in holding rat (unless you draw it after turn 5)
You have to make sure you play it just before his turn 5, because you play too early you might grab kazakus or a loot hoarder/cleric/whatever
and even if you rat raza, you might still lose, because the constant 2 damage refreshable hero power is still a force to be feared even at 2 mana
There was a game I grabed raza with my deathlord.....but priest took my reno with his own rat, then I lost. There was this other game which I, out of pure desperation, coined brann + rat on turn 4, it pulled velen and thaurissan and I had no answer
I'm RenoJackson and I'm a multi-legend player in APAC region. I've always been a fan of disruptive cards, that's why I fell in love with Dirty Rat the moment I saw the card. However, Dirty Rat is certainly one of the few cards that you must play very strategically to gain maximum value (or any value at all) from; and the more annoying thing about it is that for each specific matchup, you have to utilize the card differently.
Have you ever been in a case where Dirty Rat is your own saving grace against what would otherwise be an onslaught from the other side? As a player who always strive for the highest level like myself, I've been in that spot far too often. One of the decks you just feel hopeless playing against is Reno Priest; however, if you have a Dirty Rat in your hand, all is but lost! Even if you have Rat on your hand, the chance is very slim, but if you put some thoughts into your plays, winning is not impossible.
Note that this guide is for the most common Reno Priest package you see on ladder: ones with lots of cycling and only Spawn of Shadow as a finisher.
I. What to Rat?
People always think about Ratting Raza the Chained when they think of facing Reno Priest, but it's more or less a shot in the dark. If your deck has enough healing to stabilize for the long game, it's better to Rat out Spawn of Shadows as besides from Velen (and possibly Lyra), they have no way to burst you down from full health.
II. When to Rat?
One crucial skill you need to learn if you want to play at the top level is HAND READING/TRACKING. You can't possibly know if they have Raza in their opening hand, but you can GUESS if there's a big chance they'll have it. You need to keep track of the cards they keep in their opening hand, even before they played any cards at all. Did they mulligan all/most of their hands away? Although this is matchup dependent, most Reno Priests will keep Raza the Chained against a control deck (what aggro deck would like to play Rat anyway?), therefore, if they mulligan them all away, they're less likely to have Raza on hand. However, if they keep most cards on their hands, it's a different story. If they keep cards on their hand, suspect you're a control deck AND didn't play minions within the first 3 turns, what could they possibly have on their hands? Oftentimes it could be Raza or Kazakus (or Shadowreaper Anduin). Pulling Kazakus isn't that bad, therefore you might want to go for it. However, if you're something like Cubelock, they might keep spells like Silences and Psychic Scream as well, making the chance slimmer. If they keep some cards on their hand AND play them, you need to keep track of how many cards in their mulligan that they've played. If there were 2 card they kept, and they played those two cards, say, Acolyte of Pain and Northshire Cleric on curve, your Rat would have a much slimmer chance of getting what you want. But, if they kept 3 cards and played those two on curve, you might have a shot at it: if the other minion they kept was Loot Hoarder/Novice Engineer, they would've played it turn 2. However, do keep in mind spells they could keep against your specific decks. If you pull nothing, sure, you get a tempo 2/6, but it's just gonna die.
a. How to pull Raza after turn 5?
You need to draw cards for them. If they draw Raza after turn 5 and is not under any pressure (which they likely won't because you play a deck with Dirty Rat), they'll play it right away. Hit their Thalnos, Loot Hoarders, etc. play Coldlight Oracle, then Dirty Rat after that. If you feel that's your only chance of winning, go for it.
b. How to pull a Spawn of Shadows?
A more realistic way of not dying is by taking away their damage engine. It's intuitive to play Rat after their Shadowreaper Anduin and make sure you can kill the Spawn (otherwise, you'll just die next turn). Other than that, you need to keep track of how many cards has been sitting dead on their hand for a while. If there's exactly one card that's been sitting for a while, it might be a cheap spell, but if there are a few of them, they'll likely be cheap spells AND Spawn. Spawn is a dead card other than when they want to execute their combo, therefore, if they draw it early, it'll sit there for many many turns. If they don't do much for a number of turns, you will need to suspect that they have that lethal combo on their hand waiting to dispatch. Of course, it could possibly be a Doomsayer or some dumb shit and you'll be sad, but it's worth a try. Yes, they might deliberately keep minions on their hand to play around Rat, but that's not something you can control.
If I missed anything I'll come back to edit this post. Otherwise, that's all there is to it. If you guys like the guide, gimme an upvote and I'll do another one for Malygos Druid/Exodia Mage/Aggro Paladin/Cubelock.
RenoJackson#11673
TL;DR guide on how to Dirty Rat
1. Play Dirty Rat, play two at once for maximum disappointment
2. Pull the most insignificant minion
3. Curse the HS gods
I find that the majority of my opponents on ladder just randomly dirty rat on turn 2. This season at least I've mostly been playing dragon priest so it often pulls a big minion and then they get crushed. I've never understood the logic of dirty ratting on turn 2, especially when you don't know what your opponent is playing yet. But it happens to me constantly. I guess they just assume I'm Raza priest? But still it would be better to do rat on turn 4, right? I don't get it.
Moving into https://outof.cards/members/firepaladinhs/decks
What did I mean to put on a Wild forum? Im not a creator of the thread. I was just curious about your statement that you made. And btw: not all Wild decks have only 5-8 Wild cards. For example Anyfin Paladin which is a solid Tier 2 have his wincondition in Wild cards. And in a few years Wild meta will be completely different than Standart.
Moving into https://outof.cards/members/firepaladinhs/decks
If highlander priest has proven one thing it's that you can Rat their Raza and they still have a very high chance of winning. The only real way to beat Raza is put pressure on them and keep it on. They will either fall to the damage or not have enough resources to combo you out later.
How to play dirty rat: Have something to kill something huge in case you fuck up (i.e. play it on turn 5 with death on hand as priest or turn 10 as warlock to clean out a big board with nether...), or just put it on your deck and call to arms it out on slower paladin builds, I seriously can't understand when people rat on curve or without a way to deal with the huge minions you mihgt pull out.
I don't play in wild, but I have seen this deck or some variations of it.
Tell me, doesn't the priest also use a Velen in their decks? If you manage to pull out the first win-condition (the spawn), how can you be so sure, that there won't be a second one waiting in their decks?
RenoJackson#11673
I will always play a dirty rat before the turn 5, because, like you said, priest will always play raza immediately after being drawn, so there is no point in holding rat (unless you draw it after turn 5)
You have to make sure you play it just before his turn 5, because you play too early you might grab kazakus or a loot hoarder/cleric/whatever
and even if you rat raza, you might still lose, because the constant 2 damage refreshable hero power is still a force to be feared even at 2 mana
There was a game I grabed raza with my deathlord.....but priest took my reno with his own rat, then I lost. There was this other game which I, out of pure desperation, coined brann + rat on turn 4, it pulled velen and thaurissan and I had no answer