by hsdecktech - 7 years ago     show comments

Last week, Blizzard announced that the Rogue Quest would be adjusted to require five minions of the same name be played before getting the reward, instead of the current four. In case you missed it, you can find our report on the announcement–including a link to the original announcement itself–here. Since the announcement, there has been a lot of talk about how much this nerf will actually hurt the archetype, and that talk ranges all the way from “Quest Rogue is dead” to “this will only delay it by one turn, if that.” I think the correct answer probably lies somewhere in the middle, but only time will tell.

This piece is not to speculate about the future of Quest Rogue, but to give Rogue fans (and those who are Rogue-curious) some other options to consider in coming hard times.

Throughout the history of Rogue as a class, it has generally been played in one of two major ways: 1) a combo-style deck; or 2) a more tempo-oriented deck. Though, one of the strengths of Rogue is that the two alternative styles can be blended or inverted as needed. This should not come as a surprise, as the powerful Rogue class cards can lend themselves to big tempo swings as easily as they can promote explosive finishes.

Of course, there have been, and still are, some outliers: Mill Rogue, Reno Rogue, and Deathrattle Rogue, or at least some variants of each, did not always fall neatly into those two main categories. Yet, those strategies have always taken the backseat to more dominant Rogue archetypes, like those discussed below.

Miracle Rogue

Miracle Rogue is the old standby for the class. It seems like in just about every metagame there’s a viable version of what is deemed “miracle.” And while the nomenclature has evolved over time to include decks outside of the original archetype, all those decks share Rogue’s textbook ability to do a lot of things and (sometimes) win in a big, sudden fashion. For those unfamiliar with the archetype, it revolves around the powerful engine of Gadgetzan Auctioneer combined with lots of cheap spells to gain massive card advantage and, hopefully, end the game quickly thereafter. However, with the rotation of Conceal and the addition of Sherazin, Modern Miracle Rogue is a a bit less about these explosive “miracle” turns, and more about incremental value and tempo plays.

Here is a recent version by pro grinder and current HCT Spring Championship top-16 contender, Muzzy.

[wcp_deck id=”21711″]

One interesting thing of note is that, unlike in prior metagames, there is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding which version of Miracle Rogue is “ideal.” Our friend Blisterguy recently did one of his famous deck comparisons, and found that only about 2/3 of the deck (21 cards) are common across all versions. You will note that Muzzy runs one Questing Adventurer and two Arcane Giants. Some versions run fewer (or none) of these “finishers,” instead opting to rely entirely on Edwin, card advantage, and incremental value and/or going old school and relying on Leeroy Jenkins to get that final push in.

Personally, I think that Leeroy is dangerous in this taunt-heavy meta. I prefer the Giants and Questing because they allow you to finish games out quickly, aren’t stumped by one pesky taunt minion, and that they allow you to get full value out of your petals and other lower-impact spells. I also like that some players have been experimenting with Elise Trailblazer, who seems to fit pretty well in this new version of Miracle that focuses more on value over time than a specific combo finish.

Miracle Rogue’s matchups are pretty similar to–albeit, less polarized than–Quest Rogue’s. For instance, Miracle Rogue has traditionally struggled against powerful aggressive decks like those which are generally considered the best counters to Quest Rogue. This is because Miracle Rogue usually has a fairly finite amount of damage available to it, so devoting too many resources to clearing enemy minions can be disastrous. Moreover, many of Miracle Rogue’s cards work best when played on the same turn, so aggro decks force the Rogue player to choose between getting full value for his/her cards and allowing more pressure to mount. Finally, aggressive opponents prevent Rogue from getting full value from its hero power (which requires the Rogue to use its life as a resources).

Also like Quest Rogue, Miracle Rogue tends to like slower matchups like Jade Druid, Control Paladin, and Control Priest. These decks allow the Rogue player too much time to set up for maximum value. Value which, more often than not, is too much for the slower decks to handle. The main outlier to the trend of similar matchups is that Quest Warrior–a highly favorable matchup for Quest Rogue–is about even, or maybe slightly disfavored for Miracle Rogue, which cannot abuse Vanish to punch through the taunts.

The official line is that the Quest Rogue nerf was intended to lower the amount of aggressive decks on the ladder and make room for control and other slower archetypes. Should the meta shift as Blizzard hopes it will, Miracle Rogue might just get the opening it needs to become highly impactful on the metagame once again.

Miracle Rogue is famously one of the highest skill-cap decks in Hearthstone. This is based in large part on the need to closely regulate damage over the course of a game and also to make split-second decisions on the infamous “miracle” turns. The new emphasis on minions and more incremental damage probably lowers the skill cap a bit for most players, but the deck is still very challenging. Considering the similar matchups, and the similar difficulty level of plays, Miracle Rogue may be the best alternative for fans of Quest Rogue looking for a new deck to play.

“Water Rogue”: A Tempo Rogue Variant

For players who prefer more tempo-based decks, the “water” package (less commonly, but more cleverly, referred to as the “Finja force five”) offers a good alternative. The deck first busted onto the scene fairly late in the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan meta (several weeks after the meta had be “solved”), and it revolved around abusing Finja, the Flying Star and a select few murlocs (Bluegills and Warleaders) for huge tempo and value gains. The charging Bluegills, often buffed by Warleaders, lend themselves to a a more proactive approach whereby you try to make value trades to control the board, keep pressure on your opponent’s life, and constantly threaten a burst finish. Here is a version from Sudaka, which is used as the deck exemplar on Vicious Syndicate’s deck page:

[wcp_deck id=”21715″]

As you can see, the list has a lot of burst potential with six charge minions, two Eviscerate, two Cold Blood, and a Shadowstep (which can bounce the chargers for more damage). It then fills out the rest of the deck with good tempo and value cards like Firefly, Undercity Huckster, Shaku, SI:7 Agent, and Vilespine Slayer. Some versions run Curator and their favorite beasts (usually a crab or two) for some comeback mechanics, but that package lost a lot of value for midrange decks when Azure Drake was moved to the Hall of Fame.

The general strategy is to come away with the tempo advantage at the end of each turn. You do that by answering your opponent’s board while at the same time building your own (SI:7 and Vilespine are great for this). Then, once they are within range, you finish them out with a big burst before they can claw their way back into the game. You have very few comeback mechanics (Curator, for the builds that run it, being one of the few), so you need to try very hard not to fall behind.

Unlike Miracle Rogue, Water Rogue generally likes to use up all its mana each turn so as to dictate the tempo of the game. It’s still a rogue deck, though, so it often won’t play all the cards on curve because it prefers to combo them together for maximum value. Instead, you use up your mana re-daggering-up and weaving in your smaller minions/spells with your bigger ones.

One specific gameplay tip: you get a lot of value if Finja kills a minion. Therefore, you want to maximize the chances that he will hit. The single biggest swing in determining whether Finja will or will not connect is whether your opponent already has a minion on board when you play Finja. If they do, then they have to clear the stealthed Finja or their own guy, both of which can be pretty tough if you set it up right, or you get a proc. If they do not already have a Finja victim on board, then they can wait to play something until after they have an answer for Finja and you may gain some board advantage in that time, but you probably won’t be getting your Finja activation.

In terms of matchups, the deck runs like a traditional midrange deck. That is, it plays more of a control-like role against aggressive decks, and more of an aggressive role against the slower control decks. Also, as is traditionally the case with midrange decks, your matchups are not terribly polarized; you have a shot at winning almost all matchups (just not really much of a chance against Quest Warrior). Your best matchups might be against other tempo/midrange decks, because Rogue has some of the best tempo cards in the game and because midrange decks tend to give you more good targets for Backstab and Finja.

One popular prediction is that the Quest Rogue nerf will encourage more midrange decks in the metagame because: 1) Quest Rogue had beaten up on those midrange decks almost as hard as it had beaten up on control decks; and 2) midrange decks allow players to take the control role in many ladder matches (those against aggro, or other midrange decks), but in a fraction of the time. Should midrange decks become popular following the Quest Rogue nerf, one of the Tempo Rogue archetypes might be well-suited to step in and take advantage.

Elemental Rogue: Another Tempo Rogue Variant

Elemental Rogue is the newest of Rogue’s new hotnesses, stepping into the spotlight about a week ago when Japanese player RB8647poke finished in top 100 legend with it (though, in the interest of giving credit where it is due, apDrop debuted a version of Elemental Rogue back in late April, it just did not get as much traction at the time–perhaps because of the Quest Rogue nerf timing).

Like Water Rogue, the deck aims to win the tempo advantage every turn. As compared to Water Rogue, the deck has less burst, but makes up for it with much more reach. Servant of Kalimos and Blazecaller do well not just to top off the curve, but to give you a presence in the turns to follow (and Servant of Kalimos has a really high chance of offering another Servant or a Blazecaller). The deck also has a good deal of taunts, which tend to help with aggro matchups. Here’s Poke’s version:

[wcp_deck id=”21713″]

The general concept is that the deck plays pretty similarly to Water Rogue up until around turn 7. At that point, Water Rogue is usually finishing the game with a big burst of damage, whereas Elemental Rogue is usually just starting to get a good foothold to flip the board (usually on the back of Vineslayer, Servant of Kalimos, and/or Blazecaller). Bear in mind that you sometimes have to play your elementals in hopes that you will topdeck a card that benefits from an elemental being played the turn prior. And that, to that end, you want to be mindful of when you’re playing your Fire Flys and Fire Elementals, instead of just playing them to fill out your curve like you would with other tempo decks.

If you’re interested in a midrange archetype, but prefer lasting value over going face, Elemental Rogue might be the move for you. Or… you could run a hybrid of the two, as I’ve been doing for the past week or so:

[wcp_deck id=”21716″]

In this, I pulled some of the strengths of the two major tempo archetypes. It has been doing well for me and, because I tried to keep the curve and synergy levels about the same, it has not felt like a diluted version of either of the decks it combines. Give my deck, or any, or all, of the others a chance and let us know what you’ll be playing once the Quest Rogue nerf goes live.