How-to Beat & Counter Tempo Rogue – The Anti-Deck Guide

Welcome another of Hearthstone Top Decks’ Anti-Guides.  These guides, rather than providing instructions for optimizing play with a given deck, aim to arm you with tools to beat a target deck.

In the Reconnaissance section, we’ll take an in-depth look at the target deck: its cards, mulligan, and overall game plan.  Study of this section will help us to understand our enemy more thoroughly, so that in the Strategies and Tactics section we may learn how to efficiently play around their most interactive cards, prepare to deal with their threats, and make plays which maximize their discomfort and our likelihood of winning.

This time, we’re going to target the post-9.1-nerf-patch monster known as Tempo Rogue [or Keleseth Rogue or Prince Rogue]

By the Numbers

Statistics accessed 08-10-17

• Popularity: ~15% of ladder
• Clock: 7-8 turn average game duration
• Minions: 24
• Spells: 6
• Overall Winrate: ~59%

Matchups

• Good Matchups: Any Mage, Any Hunter, Most Warriors
• 50/50 Matchups: Evolve Shaman, Zoolock, Murloc Paladin
• Bad Matchups: Razakus Priest, Aggro Druid, Aggro Paladin

Reconnaissance – The Deck

Core Cards

2x Backstab, 2x Shadowstep, 2x Fire Fly, 1x Patches the Pirate, 2x Southsea Deckhand, 2x Swashburglar, 1x Prince Keleseth, 1x Edwin VanCleef, 2x SI:7 Agent, 2x Southsea Captain, 2x Vilespine Slayer, 2x Bonemare

If we’re facing a deck of this type, we can be highly confident we will have to deal with the above cards, but there is also a long and varied list of different ways to fill in the remaining slots, which might include any combination of the following:

Popular Flex Choices

2x Cold Blood, 1x Shaku, the Collector, 2x Tar Creeper, 2x Cobalt Scalebane, 1x Leeroy Jenkins, 1x Hallucination, 1x Plague Scientist, 2x Vicious Fledgling, 2x Fire Plume Phoenix, 1x Naga Corsair, 1x Spellbreaker, 2x Tol'vir Stoneshaper, 1x Xaril, Poisoned Mind, 2x Bittertide Hydra, 2x Shadowcaster, 1x Cairne Bloodhoof, 2x Blazecaller

The primary variations on the deck are: Tempo-Board Focused (with Hydras and/or Scalebanes, Tar Creepers, Cairn etc.), Burn Focused (with 2x Cold Blood, Leeroy, etc.), or contain the Elemental Package (Fire Plume Phoenix, Tol’vir, Blazecaller).  There was also once a more Pirate focused deck (with Corsairs and even Greenskin, etc.) but that has fallen out of favor in the current metagame.  There are probably other ways to build around the Keleseth core as well.

Archetype: Tempo leaning Aggressive

The different variants of this deck can be more or less Combo/Burn oriented, or Board oriented, but the general archetype is pretty straight Tempo, using the Rogue tools of Backstab, SI to wrest early board from other aggressive decks, Vilespine for a mid-game tempo swing, or building on Elemental or Pirate synergy to flood the board against Controling decks—then expanding into big threats on turns 5-8 with Scalebanes, Hydras, and Bonemares, aiming to finish off the game around turn 8.

Mulligan

They always keep Keleseth, and if they have him they keep Shadowstep as well.  Their favorite early minion is usually Fire Fly and that is an almost always keep.  If they do not have Prince, they usually mulligan pretty hard to pick him up.  If they think you are aggro, they will keep Backstab, maybe Deckhand, and maybe SI on coin.  If they think you are slower they may or may not choose to keep and play out early Pirates or just go hard for the Keleseth.  If they have coin and other cheap cards, they may keep an Edwin for an early big body.

Interactive Cards

Tempo Rogue is moderately to upper moderately interactive, mostly on the early turns with Backstabs and SI and then the Vilespine, possibly the Plague Scientist or Fire Plume/Blazecaller if they run them.

Early Tempo

2x Backstab, 2x SI:7 Agent, 2x Southsea Deckhand, 1x Patches the Pirate, 2x Fire Plume Phoenix

Mid-Game Removal

2x Vilespine Slayer, 1x Plague Scientist

Development Cards

Early Minions

2x Fire Fly, 2x Swashburglar, 2x Prince Keleseth, 2x Edwin VanCleef, 2x SI:7 Agent, 2x Tar Creeper

Midgame Minions

2x Vilespine Slayer, 2x Tol'vir Stoneshaper, 2x Shadowcaster, 2x Bittertide Hydra, 2x Cobalt Scalebane

Big Threats

2x Bonemare, 1x Leeroy Jenkins

Draw

Typically none.  This is a weakness.  Curator has been seen.  Swashburglar and Shaku accumulate resources but not drawing from deck.

Synergies

This is a moderately synergistic deck, it doesn’t need synergy to win, as much as say a Murloc Paladin or a Beast Hunter, but the more it can get the harder it will be to beat.  Watch out for:

• Early Keleseth, perhaps with Shadowstep
• Pirate Synegy esp. w/Captain & Keleseth’d Patches
• Turn 5+ Scalebane buffing a minion
• Turn 7+ Bonemare landing on minion

Game Plan

Tempo Rogue’s general gameplan is: Draw and play Keleseth as early as possible, preferably with Shadowstep.  Thenceforth, play overstatted minions with every available mana and run the opponent over.

Failing that, their strategy depends significantly on the type of deck they are playing against.

• Vs Other Aggressive Decks: Steal and maintain the early board with its powerful tempo tools like Backstab and SI.  Then snowball a board with buffs, keeping the opponent’s side clean while they build strong midgame minions into a quick lethal.
• Vs Control Decks: Play just enough stuff to maintain pressure without overextending into board clears, as they have weak draw.  Sometimes accumulating resources to swing the board midgame with a high value Vilespine followed by a Bonemare or Hydra or two.

Tempo Rogue hopes that it can do more with less on every turn, whether that is deal 2 damage and develop a 3/3 for 3, or drop 4/5 of stats and hard remove your 6 drop on 6, or play 9/9 of stats (4 attack of which effectively has charge) on 7, etc.  If they are doing more than their opponent on multiple early turns, they can push face damage, apply pressure, and aim to finish things off in the late midgame.

Key Cards by Mana Availability

Refer back to this section for a refresher during gameplay.  If they have X mana available, these are some of the options they have.  If read in order, this could be construed as an example of a curve that the Mage may like to execute.

• 0: Backstab
• 1: Cold Blood
• 2: Prince Keleseth and nothing more.  At least we know that!
• 3: Edwin VanCleef, SI:7 Agent
• 4: Usually nothing new here.
• 5: Vilespine Slayer if they can combo it with something.  Cobalt Scalebane, Bittertide Hydra, Leeroy Jenkins as weak as they are on 4, Tempo Rogue has many high value 5 drops.
• 6: Again nothing interesting here most of the time.  But Cairne Bloodhoof is becoming more popular, so might have to watch out for this.
• 7: Bonemare
• Typically Tempo Rogue’s curve tops out at 7 mana.

Strategy & Tactics

Weaknesses

Tempo Rogue’s single greatest weakness is lack of Area of Effect removal.  They typically run precisely none of this.  This means that we can and often should go as wide as possible.

Secondly, the Rogue has a significant number of cards whose value increases dramatically with minions already stuck on board to synergize with.  This means we often should prioritize FULL clearing their board, especially going into turns 5 and 7.

Thirdly, the Rogue typically has very weak hand refill.  If we can drive them out of resources and low on cards, they don’t topdeck well (pulling a turn 7+ Backstab, Shadowstep, SI, Edwin, etc. etc. are virtually useless).  So against this deck it is usually acceptable to pilot such that you run them out of cards in hand, most decks then can run them over.

Game Plans

Due to these weaknesses, we know that the Rogue usually wants to have and keep board control.  They can swing against single large threats much more effectively than many small threats or even 2 medium sized bodies due to Vilespines and Plague Scientists.  So, to take an Aggro Druid example, Living Mana is often to be preferred over Bittertide Hydra.

Solid cards against Tempo Rogue include: Silences, AOE removal, Midsized bodies, Taunts, and Heals.  This is why a well teched and piloted Highlander Priest is perhaps the worst matchup for the Rogue as it contains all of these things, typically winning the games simply by exhausting the Rogue of resources.

You either have to continue to remove their board, or contest with a strong board of your own so that they either have to trade their minions, or you can clear with value trades and grab board control.  Rogue is significantly stronger going into a turn with deployed minions on their side and an empty board on yours.  Try to find ways to eliminate at least one of these—Either keep their side clear as well, or keep bodies up on your side.

Mulligan

If you are an aggressive deck, like Zoo or Murlocs, prioritize high health early minions.  2 health minions are very susceptible to clean clears, while 3 is more difficult to deal with.  Fight for that board, and though it sometimes just comes down to who draws better, do the best you can to take it and keep it.  Often whoever gets the board by turn 5 wins.

If you are a class with early weapons, you probably want to keep them so that you can fight for board with your own face and preserve as much minion health as you can.

If you are a controlling deck, look for early or maybe even midgame AOE removal.  Doomsayer often goes off, or forces inefficient maneuvers.  Golakka Crawlers can be extremely helpful.

Cards and Situations to Play Around

Here are some common Tempo Rogue game occurrences that you want to be on the lookout for.

• Keleseth for the most part cannot be interacted with.  Removing it once played is medium priority, only a topdecked Shadowstep will make things worse, as 99% of the time if they had it they would play it immediately.  The thing to “play around” here is a defeatist mentality if you encounter an on curve Keleseth.  Rogue is still very beatable even after a Keleseth or even two.  Don’t give up, just continue to play as you otherwise would.
• Buffed Patches sometimes Tempo Rogue will purposely choose to not play early Pirates because of the power of pulling a 3/3 or 4/4 charger from their deck for free on Turn 3-5.  If Keleseth has been played, and no Pirates have been played, consider the possibility of a Keleseth on 2 into Captain on 3 pulling a 3/3 Patches from their deck as well.  This is another one of those killer turns that can set up a state from which you never recover.  So, if this situation is possible, do your best to remember that possibility and behave as best you can to prevent this powerful turn from being game winning.
• Backstab is one of Rogue’s signature and unique cards and one of the most important early game swings.  Try not to hinge your plans on that Turn 1 Flame Imp, or your Coin-Razormaw sticking.  Free removal on Turns 1-3 is an amazing tool.  Always think about the effects of Backstab on your early curve and try to make a play that resists it as best you can.  Sometimes you want to purposely damage a minion to play around Backstab.
• Early Edwin Another signature Rogue move is deploying a Turn 2 8/8 or something like that.  This can sometimes win games immediately.  Early Silence effects (including things like Devolve), or large single target removal, though they aren’t offensively powerful, can sometimes prevent Rogue from getting a cheese win.
• Turn 5 Scalebane If they drop Scalebane on 5 and it hits a Flame Elemental, suddenly they deployed 8/5 of stats, that threatens to snowball every turn.  If possible, clear the board going into 5.  If not, prepare to deal with their board on your turn 5 or 6.  If Scalebane hits multiple times it’s often just too much value.
• Turn 7 Bonemare is one of the most powerful moves any tempo deck can make.  Similarly, to the last advice, prioritize either clearing the board going into 7 mana so Bonemare is unplayable, or prepare a way to deal with it when Bonemare is deployed.
• Leeroy/Cold Blood/Shadowstep On Turn 8, Leeroy/Shadowstep is 12 damage (more if Keleseth!) and with 9 a Cold Blood could be added, by 10, 2 of them.  If you see suspicious cards sitting in hand for too long, and the game has extended and you feel that they are on the ropes, try to consider and play around (with Taunts or Heal for example) a huge surprise burst turn from Leeroy/Cold Blood.  It feels bad to think you have stabilized and to die to the combo.

Summary

Whether you are playing out and fighting hard for early board, or laying back and accumulating removal to try to exhaust them, Tempo Rogue is currently one of the strongest decks in the game and if they draw well it’s going to be tough.  But correct play can often still give us an edge.  If we get those 2/3 minions deployed when the Rogue hopes we play a 3/2 for them to Backstab, or drop a 3/4 and a 4/5 when they hope we play out a 8/8 for them to Vilespine; if we can drop a taunt at just the right time to block their Leeroy burst turn, pressure them so they use up their cheap combo cards and have no activators left, silence their Edwin, and clear the board when they want to Bonemare, we can still take them.

With Tempo Rogue moreso than some decks, if you can read their hand and see their lines and act to disrupt them, the Rogue hand can go from a powerful efficient curve, to a clunky mess in a matter of moments.  Prioritize paying attention to their mulligan, and the length of time cards remain in hand.  Try to think past the turns where their deck is weakest (primarily 2, 4, and 6) to the turns where it is strongest (3, 5, 7) try to either set up a board state where their powerful plays are ineffectual or let them do it because they are playing into a perfect answer on the following turn.

May the RNG be with you, and Prince Keleseth always be bottom 10.  Until next time!  Cheers.