Hearthpwn

The thing that'd bring me to the game (or any Blizzard game) would be Blizzard giving the middle finger to activision.
Fuck activision, I'm not giving them my money or time.

Seriously, fuck activision with a cactus.

Why doesn't it say "Give a random minion in your hand +2/+2" then?

The wording is confusing. It should say random but it doesn't.

According to Vicious Syndicate, this deck had a ~50% WR at all ranks before the nerf, and the WR would decrease the higher the rank you were playing in ladder, for various reasons.

According to Hearthstats, playing Mana Wyrm on T1 would, on average, increase the win rate by around 14%. You can check here: https://hsreplay.net/decks/x0suRGmrcfUjNBVpRXMcKc/

Obviously, playing it on turn 1 isn't the only aspect of the deck that is affected by the nerf. The cost change affects the whole synergy thing, as 1 more cost in mana is a lot when you are generally aiming to finish games around turn 7, but I used the T1 play as an example because that's usually when the card had the most value.

So no, the nerf doesn't hit this deck as hard as you or other people think. It's still viable, just not as strong. You can try replacing Mana Wyrm with Secretkeeper (also good against hunter) or even Fire Fly.

To sum it up, the deck is probably tier 3 now and not 2 as it was before the nerf. The 25% WR you had while playing in ladder is either because of your lack of experience or just back luck in general, or both (but most likely your lack of experience). I still play it and I've no problem climbing the ladder with it. Plus, it's still a lot of fun.

I wasn't expecting to write this much... what am I doing with my life

I'm missing Darius Crowley, Elise the Trailblazer and Countess Ashmore at the moment.

Any suggestions for replacements?

I made a few replacements and it's been working great so far:

• Voodoo Doctor with Baleful Banker which works great with Glinda Crowskin (managed to win a couple games just by not fatiguing while filling the board). Baleful Banker also works with other cards.
• Rin, the First Disciple with The Black Knight, because you tend to get Rin from Stonehill Defender anyway and Black Knight is great against even warlock and taunt druid;
• Tainted Zealot with Bloodmage Thalnos. This is personal preference as you lose 1 damage on Defileand you don't leave a 1/1 behind when you Hellfire BUT you get to draw a card, and I like drawing cards.

Overall, it's a really fun and creative deck, and I enjoy playing it more than the current "meta" decks so thanks for sharing.

I don't think there's a problem with netdecking in itself. The problem is when everyone copies and plays the same couple of decks.

Quote from orpi >>

They only nerf, never buff cards, thats not the way.

There are too many reasons to list on why I use a deck tracker (HDT is so good, I really encourage people to try it. Free publicity right here) but being able to keep track of global winrates, deck win rates, matchups, etc is really good.

I wish Hearthstone did that for you instead of having to use an external app but I guess that'll never happen so I'll keep using a tracker.

Ben Brode has talked about this in the past. As far as I know, this subject hasn't been brought up again since. More info here:

http://www.hearthpwn.com/news/2792-tracking-more-than-500-wins-coming-soon-to-a

Something that doesn't show up in the patch notes is that they fixed the golden version of Nemsy. Her tray and hero portrait are now golden too.

Before the patch hit, the only difference between golden and regular Nemsy was that the golden version had a golden Hero Power, it was pretty lame and I was quite disappointed but I'm glad Blizzard noticed.

Quote from moonsorrow999 >>

Some people have actually cut it, especially the lists running Golakka Crawlers and Eviserates.

Quote from Likafoss >>

I would want to see a source of card draw in place of the Shadowsteps, but I struggle to find any good option maybe other than Fan of Knives or so.

You just mentioned 5 uses for a 0 cost card. Also it has other situational uses besides that. It has a good chance to have value for literally no mana so why not?

Disclaimer: Text below is just my opinion, not fact. Though, I could be right. Or wrong... :p

Yes, the card has its uses, however they are situational (I'd rather opt for consistency):

-Combined with SI:7, it's basically a 1 mana deal 2 damage. Meh...;
-With Leroy, the opponent needs to have 12 health (or 18, and you need Leroy + 2x Shadowstep in hand, that's 3 useless cards in hand during early - midgame that could instead have been minions used to further your own agenda instead of hoping to get the opponent to 18 health to finish him off);
-With Keleseth, you need to have both cards in your hand by turn 2 - 3 for it to be effective;
-With Vilespine, it basically requires the opponent to have 2 decent sized minions on board and you need 8 - 9 mana to use it on the same turn, and, with Tempo Rogue, you generally want to win around turn 7 - 8 as your odds of winning tend to decrease the longer the game goes on, exception being against another fast deck but then why would you want to spend around 9 mana to kill 2 minions? Of course you can simply Vilespine + Shadowstep and return it to your hand but then you have 1 less minion on board;
-With Edwin it's basically a 1 cost +2/+2 buff.

Do you think those situations are worth having 2 bad (IMO) cards in a deck that has no draw? Shadowstep makes sense in Miracle Rogue because it has so much draw it usually doesn't matter if you draw them early and have no use for them. It's also part of Miracle's win condition so it makes sense to have them.

5 potential uses are typically enough to justify running acard. Brann Bronzebeard was often run just to get value off of one card, same premise.

Brann counted as a minion meaning he could be played for tempo on turn 3, if you really needed, which also meant the opponent had to get rid of it immediately, otherwise they'd risk losing the game right then and there. Also, it was a one of, not 2 and was mostly used in control decks. It's also a neutral card. Something else to keep in mind is that Shadowstep tipically results in card disadvantage (from experience) while Brann does not. Brann seems so much more versatile than Shadowstep.

Thanks for reading and for the replies guys, keep em' coming. Anyone else share the same opinion as me? Stancifka made a Rogue that has no Shadowsteps (and got to Legend 1!) so at least I know I'm not alone. :p

So, I've been wondering about this for a while now and I can't come up with the answer.

My question is: why does everyone play Shadowstep in Tempo Rogue decks? I mean, besides the obvious Keleseth / Leroy + Shadowstep combos I don't really see many good uses for it. I've been playing without it for quite a while and I managed to get to legend so I guess it works?

It used to sit dead in my hand most of the games and when I did use it, it always felt underwhelming. It's seems so situational and there are better cards that can be used to replace it. I haven't had any trouble finishing games, don't seem to lack the damage from Leroy + Shadowstep, Kele + Shadowstep happens so rarely (getting Kele in the first turns is already hard enough, even when you hard mulligan for it) that it seems to hardly matter. Kele on turn 2 is good enough already anyway, no need for Shadowstep.

So, what are Shadowstep's other good uses? All the other combinations with Tempo Rogue's minions seem kinda meh, except for maybe Vilespine Slayer. Or Edwin VanCleef... Or maybe SI:7 Agent. Eh... Situational.

Please enlighten me, share your opinion, prove I'm wrong, something like that. I need to understand what's so good (or not) about this card. After 200ish games with the deck (and several variations) I still don't understand. Does it really increase the deck's overall winrate more than other possible cards?

I honestly don't miss the card in my deck...

The problem is now everyone and their moms run Golakka Crawlers and MCT which kinda makes the pirate package a bit worse.

That's been my experience lately, maybe I've just been unlucky.

I too would like to find a decent alternative to the pirates but I can't come up with anything decent.