by JR Cook - 11 years ago     show comments

It’s no secret that in the previous release of Hearthstone, the rogue had a significant upper hand over other decks when constructed as an aggressive deck. It is also no secret that rogues were fairly significantly nerfed into the groundrebalanced in the latest patch. Shiv, Headcrack and Conceal, which we liked in a previous rogue aggro deck post, all had their mana cost increased by 1. The damage of Backstab has been scaled back. Still, the deck has enough bite to do damage, and continues to perform quite well as an aggro deck.

Why would you bother making an aggro deck?

For starters, the quickly mounting damage and fast-paced play can be quite fun. It is also a bit of a white-knuckle experience: you need to run up your damage fast before your opponent has a chance to get to their beefier minions and board-clearning spells. It is quite literally a race against the clock: if you cannot defeat your opponent by turn 6 or 7 at the latest, your chances of winning will diminish rapidly. As a result, you want your mana curve to lean very heavily to the left, and the more direct damage and combo attack cards you have, the better.

Another reason for making a rogue aggro deck is its cost. This can be a very competitive deck with only a small number of  crafted cards. Basic cards will do very well for you, especially if you take full advantage of combo attacks. It’s a fun style to play, and having an aggro deck handy can help knock out your daily quests for the rogue hero.

With apologies to Zenstyle, our resident Hearthstone and deck building expert, I present to you my post-nerf rogue aggro deck (version 2.0). It adheres to three simple rules:

• Have two of everything – this maximizes your chances of getting the cards you want when you need them.
• Use the Leper Gnome. Leper Gnomes are cool.
• Include Ironbeak Owl. That’s just a must-have. Period.

Here is the deck in all its (maybe questionable) glory. After some play testing, I have taken out Headcrack. I find that the increased cost of 3 mana now makes it very unfriendly for an aggro deck. Skipping Headcrack also eliminates one rare card that you otherwise might have to craft. Your mileage with Headcrack may vary.

• Backstab x2
• Bluegill Warrior x2
• Deadly Poison x2
• Defias Ringleader x2
• Elven Archer x2
• Eviscerate x2
• Faerie Dragon x2
• Ironbeak Owl x2
• Leper Gnome x2
• Sap x2
• Shiv x2
• SI:7 Agent x2
• Sinister Strike x2
• Stonetusk Boar x2
• Wolfrider x2

Go ahead and give it a try.

You know you want to.