Tempo Rogue Card Choices
There are couple of key questions to answer when building a Tempo Rogue deck:
- Prince Keleseth or not?
- Tess Greymane or not?
First, the Prince Keleseth option. Rogue is the class that can support Keleseth the best, thanks to Shadowstep being able to return him back to your hand for another round of buffs. Alas, good players sometimes delay replaying Keleseth for a turn to have a zero-cost Prince Keleseth in hand ready to activate a combo, such as SI:7 Agent or Elven Minstrel, or opt to not go for double buffs altogether if they have other cards they will rather bounce: it is possible to run out of steam after playing Keleseth, unless you also have an Elven Minstrel available for a refill, so that Shadowstep may be more valuable on some other card.
Keleseth is especially strong if games go long, as it provides you with incremental value every turn. Keleseth is the standard option for Tempo Rogue decks, as the entire archetype climbed to the top thanks to the card. However, there is also another way. Using Keleseth means that you cannot use any other two-mana cards in the deck, and sometimes that is too hefty of a price to pay. The alternative line of thinking focuses on faster games and uses Eviscerate and Sap to be able to push damage faster and more reliably.
Second, there is the question of how burgle do you want to go? The new cards in The Witchwood promote Burgle Rogue as an archetype, and Tempo Rogue can be home to a medium-sized burgle package, not looking to go for a really long game, but trying to gain some surprises from cards from the opponent’s class. The burgle cards that fit in the archetype are Hallucination, Blink Fox, Face Collector, and Tess Greymane.
The main attraction of the burgle package in Tempo Rogue is Tess Greymane: Tess is a mixture of Yogg-Saron and N’Zoth, able to cast some spells and resummon a board of minions in the late game for one more big push towards victory. But what is the price of including Tess?
- Hallucination is the best burgle card, as it is a Discover effect. You are almost guaranteed to get something useful from Hallucination, because you get to choose from three options. However, a one-mana spell that does nothing immediately is low tempo. It may be saved by the fact that it only costs one mana, enabling it to easily activate Combo effects when played.
- Blink Fox is not quite as reliable as a burgle card, as it gives you a random card, which may or may not be useful in the situation you play the card in. However, Blink Fox is much easier to fit in a Tempo Rogue deck, because a three-mana 3/3 that gives you additional resources is both decent tempo and good value.
- Face Collector goes deeper into the value end of the spectrum. A mere 2/2 minion for three mana, it is unable to trade up and can easily be traded into by cheaper minions. You need to be looking for a fairly long game to make good use of Face Collector.
Therefore, there are multiple potential packages here. Just grab everything, and you’re set for some long games at the expense of a fair bit of tempo. Grab Hallucination, Blink Fox, and Tess Greymane, and you have a compromise package that can give you a Tess swing without compromising too much tempo. Finally, you can simply not take the burgle road at all, in which case you may still want to use Blink Fox as a stand-alone card, or even cut that one too for more tempo.
A couple of notes on Tess’s ability:
- If you switch your Hero – for example, by acquiring and playing a Hero Card from another class – your class becomes that class, and Tess will replay your Rogue cards instead of your opponent’s class cards.
- Cards from The Lich King are considered Death Knight class cards, and Tess will replay them. Cards from Ysera are neutral, and Tess will not replay them.
This brings us to another choice at the top of the Tempo Rogue curve: The Lich King. Some Tempo Rogue builds do not go above five mana at all, but the ones that do generally make the choice between Tess Greymane and The Lich King, both very potent late-game cards. The Lich King is more defense-oriented, whereas Tess can provide more value for an attack, so there are some meta considerations involved in making the choice. Some people even go for both, although that makes the deck a bit top-heavy.
The above are the main choices when building a Tempo Rogue. The rest of the deck comes together much more easily, even though some minor choices still remain.
Tempo Rogue core cards:
- Backstab provides the deck with an early answer to a minion and a zero-cost Combo effect activator at any point during the game.
- Shadowstep provides access to multiple uses of a Battlecry effect, most famously Prince Keleseth, but also SI:7 Agent, Elven Minstrel, Blink Fox, or Vilespine Slayer. It can also provide burst damage with Southsea Deckhand or Leeroy Jenkins. Some lists even combine it with Lifedrinker for some damage and healing.
- Fire Fly is simply one of the best one-drops in the game. It can help you activate combos and also serves as a pseudo two-drop if you cannot find your Keleseth.
- Edwin VanCleef is more famous from Miracle Rogue, where he can grow to a huge size, but he can still be a threat in Tempo Rogue as well.
- Hench-Clan Thug is a new card from The Witchwood. While it is a Neutral minion, it is a perfect fit to practically all Rogue decks, as Rogue usually wants to dagger up on turn two and can follow that up with Hench-Clan Thug and an attack on turn three to get a 4/4 with potential to grow on the board.
- Elven Minstrel is a key card draw tool, allowing you to look for more minions to play.
- Saronite Chain Gang is a strong defensive Taunt minion with a big upside when combined with the effect from Prince Keleseth.
- Vilespine Slayer is an effective hard removal minion that destroys a minion while giving you a decent body on the board at the same time.
- Leeroy Jenkins is a big finisher to end the game. When combined with Shadowstep and two copies Cold Blood, it can deliver up to 20 points of damage for ten mana. Tempo Rogue does not usually hold onto its cards for such a big combo though, but rather uses some of them earlier in the game and goes for a smaller burst finish in the end.
Tempo Rogue optional cards:
- Argent Squire: While some Tempo Rogue builds use only one one-drop (Fire Fly), some builds want to get on the board early a little more reliably, and Argent Squire is a good option for that.
- Southsea Deckhand: Another potential one-drop with a late-game burst finish option.
- Glacial Shard: Able to prevent the opponent or their minion from attacking, thus allowing you to choose trades or push face damage.
- Cold Blood: Additional damage that can be used for trades, for a lethal finisher, or for additional face damage in the early game. A flexible tool that has many uses throughout the game.
- Sonya Shadowdancer: Powerful card that can give you additional resources, especially some additional 1/1 copies of those great Battlecry minions that are plentiful in the deck.
- Tar Creeper: A strong defensive minion. Especially good if you also run Cold Blood, as then you have the option to turn it into an offensive threat as well or use it to protect a weaker minion that has been buffed.
- Marsh Drake: A strong tempo play on turn three that has good synergy with the Rogue Hero Power, as you can dagger down the Poisonous minion it summons for the opponent. However, if you cannot kill the minion, for example if there is a Taunt minion in the way, Marsh Drake is much less impressive. Hench-Clan Thug is simply stronger in every scenario, but Drake is an option if you need more three-drops.
- Vicious Fledgling: A growing minion that can win games if unanswered. Alas, it is usually fairly easily answered, as Tempo Rogue does not gain full board control that easily early on.
- Lifedrinker: Not only a Shaman combo card, Lifedrinker can also turn aggressive matchups around by dealing damage and healing at the same time.
- Cobalt Scalebane: A strong-statted dragon that buffs your other minions. Especially sweet with Tar Creeper.
Tempo Rogue tech cards:
- Spellbreaker: Should this be part of the core? Be that as it may, Spellbreaker is used a lot in the current meta, and it is the Silence effect of choice for Tempo Rogue.
- Fan of Knives: More of a Miracle Rogue card, but can be teched into Tempo Rogue to deal with decks such as Baku Odd Paladin that swarm the board with one-health minions.
Tempo Rogue Mulligan Strategy & Guide
VS Fast Decks
Higher Priority (Keep every time)
- Prince Keleseth – The sweet Prince makes everything better.
- Fire Fly – The one-drop of choice to start the game.
- Backstab – Early removal spell.
Lower Priority (Keep only if certain conditions are met)
- SI:7 Agent – Keep on the Coin or with Backstab
- Tar Creeper and Saronite Chain Gang – Keep Taunt minions against Hunter.
- Edwin VanCleef – Keep with cheap activators.
- Hench-Clan Thug – Keep if you have some early game already.
VS Slow Decks
Higher Priority (Keep every time)
- Prince Keleseth – No description needed.
- Hench-Clan Thug – Your main growing threat for turn three.
- Fire Fly – Your one-drop.
Lower Priority (Keep only if certain conditions are met)
- Spellbreaker – Keep Silence effects against Warlock.
- Edwin VanCleef – Keep with cheap activators.
Tempo Rogue Win Rates
Winrate stats are currently unavailable for this deck at the moment!
Tempo Rogue Play Strategy
Tempo Rogue is aggressive, but it is not a face deck. You’re looking to gain board control and then use your minions to push face damage.
However, thanks to the burst combos from Shadowstep, Cold Blood, Southsea Deckhand, and Leeroy Jenkins, you may have considerable reach available in the mid-to-late game, and you should always be looking for opportunities to push face damage instead of trading if that allows you to set up lethal from hand.
VS Aggro Decks
Most of the time, you are the control deck against aggro decks. However, there are two peculiarities to playing Tempo Rogue against aggro:
- You mostly cannot heal (unless you have Lifedrinker in the deck or can get healing from the opponent’s class)
- You have significant reach with some hands
What these mean is that you also need to set up a clock on the opponent, if they have a reliable source of damage. Hunter and Mage, for example, will eventually simply kill you if you stall indefinitely. Their Hero Power and spells make that inevitable. Against Paladin things can be different, because they generally have only a little damage from hand, and if you control the board, you are relatively safe.
The question is, how do you set the aggro deck on a clock? Early Edwin VanCleef or Hench-Clan Thug can provide that damage, but they are of no use if you lose the entire board before you can play them. Therefore, you need both some early game and a threat to start pushing back. In the right situation, you can then even race the aggro deck – no or only little trading – and finish first.
The key is to recognize how much damage you can deal and how much damage the opponent can deal. Taunt minions are usually very important in aggro matchups, as they allow you to set up trades better and push more face damage while making smart trades. In general, if the aggro deck has a lot of reach from hand, you need to look for opportunities to race. If the aggro deck is very board-reliant, a defensive board control strategy is more viable.
VS Control Decks
Against control decks, you are the beatdown. They will try to stop you, and you will try to kill them.
Look for your early power plays: Prince Keleseth, Hench-Clan Thug, and Edwin VanCleef. They allow you to pressure the control deck and force removal.
Do not go all-in on the board: Keep in mind the type of board clears the opponent has, such as three points of area-of-effect damage from Priest’s Duskbreaker or Warlock’s Hellfire, and the Warlock’s 1-2-3 math puzzle that is Defile. Try to set up boards that are awkward to clear and have a plan on how to refill if your board ends up getting wiped. You have a lot of value in the deck, you do not have to win with your first board. Keep up the pressure, make the control player uncomfortable, and force out that removal.
Do not be afraid to use Cold Blood early if the minion may survive to hit with it twice – it can end up dealing more damage than if saved for a burst finish and also force the opponent to use removal while your board is not that big yet and is easily replaceable.
Tempo Rogue Card Substitutions
You can expect a meta Tempo Rogue deck to cost around 7,000 to 10,000 dust. However, Tempo Rogue has very few mandatory expensive cards, so it is possible to play it on a budget as well.
- Vilespine Slayer – The most important expensive card in the deck. Hard removal combined with a body on the board is such a huge tempo swing, I would not advise to play the deck without Vilespines. You can go for Assassinate or Plague Scientist, but your win rate will suffer and Vilespine Slayer should be your first craft for the archetype.
- Prince Keleseth – A huge power play, but can nonetheless make room for a faster build that runs Eviscerate and Sap. Keleseth is still one of the defining cards of the archetype, and one of the first cards to craft for it.
- Edwin VanCleef and Sonya Shadowdancer – Can replace each other, for a budget option you can go for Vicious Fledgling.
- Leeroy Jenkins – Use Southsea Deckhand, or if you already have them in the list, strengthen another area of the deck instead of looking for a direct replacement.
- The Lich King and Tess Greymane – Can replace each other. You also want Hallucinations with Tess, but not with Lich King. If you have neither, end your curve at five mana and strengthen your early game, do not look for a direct replacement.
Can I replace two Corridor Creepers with Fal’dorei Strider?What is the replacement for one Vinespine Slayer and one Southsea Captain?I’m a f2p player.So I couldn’t craft many epic cards.
If you have Leeroy, you can go back to what tempo rouge was running before and add two Cold Bloods. A second tar creeper can substitute for the captain. But it would be worth crafting a second vilespine. That card will go in just about any rouge deck. It’s that good.
I love the new additions to the deck. I was playing with eleven minstrel the first day in this deck. Actual card draw helps so much in the later game when you are running out of steam (instead of random card generators).
And wow, corridor creeper is great in this deck too. A 5/5 minion as a cheep combo activator!
I still keep cairns instead of the new rogue legendary. Also, I didn’t really like two cold bloods with Leroy. They can make for some awkward hands. I think replacing cold bloods for the new cards have made this deck a lot stronger.
So… i have almost the whole deck but i don’t have patches or south sea captain, or really any legends other than keleseth will the deck still be good?
>almost has the full deck list
>23/30 cards
Try the elemental version.
The elemental version is great. I ran it until I could get the legendaries for the regular list. I still play it from time to time because I still feel like it’s a solid choice.
no matter which version, trash deck. everyone is playing shit that counters it.
too gimmicky and specific. if you think this is build to win, don’t.
Have to agree with “help yourself”‘s comment. Blew alot of dust to construct Edwin and Shaku. Been on a massive lose streak since. It’s sitting on cards so long to build up a combo for Edwin he goes down fast, Shaku rarely lasts a turn or 2 him self. All this time is wasted on opponent playing nice hands. Barnes and Carine seem equally useless.
All of those 1 point spells turns out to just be cannon fodder by the other guy imo. Replacing all these duplicate [2]’s with [1]’s and putting more variety back into my own custom deck is ramping up my wins again. Following these cookie cutter guides just makes one look like a tool by people and ya get steamrolled.
Some good ones to try in your own non-cookie cutter deck could be a couple Mimic Pods, couple of Shadow Strikes, and definately Skulking Geist all which combat situations. Even throwing it maybe an Infested Tauren to block an enemy (no emphasis on [2] Saronite Chain Gangs?), something, anything is better on this heavy reliance on luck the pirates can survive long enough before you are overwhelmed before Vilepine Slayer and Cobalt Scalebane can start taking over. The low end cards are way better off combo’ing Slayer and Cobalt Scalebane.
:other thoughts. wish I could get a refund on VanCleef and Shaku 🙁
Refund on VanCleef?! VanCleef is an All star. A staple of rogue. That card is able to win you games all by himself. Shaku, maybe. But don’t worry about VanCleef. And also, this is a great deck. The rise in zoo has made it a bit harder, but you can climb with this deck.
your mean get ckblocked or get insta gibbed by anything? “but bait out removal” never enough cards to do that shit. van cleef doesn’t win shat.
this trash also loses to face hunter lol
I think you’re just incompetent at piloting this deck or really unlucky, I’ve went from Rank 16 to Rank 4 with this deck in a matter of 2 days
following up on comment below as someone feeling someone stuck at rank 15 cap. and seems like everyone in this area running Kaleseth and so predictable. Watched Trumps video posted today on Miracle Rogue, know its an old deck didnt know of it. But it just dominates any people expecting typical THIS deck. Plus its like playing chess. people slow down, so wierd. Try Miracle Rogue variants catches people off guard !
If you’re getting stuck at rank 15, it’s not the deck’s fault, but yours only.
I was able to get from rank 17 to 5 on a win streak, your not playing right if your losing. Don’t blame it on the deck it’s probably you.
I was able to get from rank 17 to 5 on a win streak, your not playing right if your losing. Don’t blame it on the deck it’s probably you.
rng as fk and gimmicky,
I had an obscene win streak the first few hours went straight from 25 to 11, It requires so much extra to achieve what other decks could do with close to no thought. it just isn’t as strong. admit it.
I was able to get from rank 17 to 5 on a win streak, your not playing right if your losing. Don’t blame it on the deck it’s probably you.
I was able to get from rank 17 to 5 on a win streak, your not playing right if your losing. Don’t blame it on the deck it’s probably you.
i made now about 20-30 games, always drop prince after 14-17 tour wtf……
Does anyone else think barnes is useless here?
also super aggro deck says to play cobalt in description but its not in list
Meh. Nothing to see here. Just another glorified incarnation of an UngoroZoo deck
ZZZZZzzzzZZZZzzzz
Xaril, Poisoned Mind – As a primarily value-oriented minion.
Create this card instead of Shaku, the Collector… think it was a bad idea.
Now miss cairne bloodhoof too , and have Spiritsinger Umbra try it with delvisaur egg and xaril,
win 7 streaks and the lost all lol. It was interesting.
Now in rank 7, want to be this month rank5 or if it can be for the first time legendary, it will be great.
Forget to tell, get Golden Rogue only playing with the Tempo Rogue today from here (the first version), its is astonishing!.
Missing a lot of cards from the deck (captains, vilespines, shaku, edwin , leeroy). Still made it to rank 10, didnt reach it before =)). This deck is awesome.
Missing a lot of cards from the deck (captains, vilespines, shaku, edwin , leeroy). Still made it to rank 10, didnt reach it before =)). This deck is awesome.
hello im thinking about crafting this whole deck golden, but have one big question, is this deck viable for wild? seeing as that is what i enjoy playing more than standard, it would be nice to know if this deck is complete trash in wild, or alteast okay,
It’s a tempo deck so it’s always viable (even in wild – you could win against most opponents), but the problem is that wild giants decks will crush you like a bug when you reach higher levels.
by wild giants, what do you mean exactly ? like hunter giant deck?
Any class can play them. 🙂 Most deadly is Druid, but Warlock and Hunter is also a thing. Anyway, if you play just for fun it does’nt matter.
so i checked up on the “giants” naga stuff, do you figure the naga sea witch will ever be nerfed or will the top tier decks on “wild” ladder forever more be naga giants?
Nerf of pure wild card never happened before, but many people are very angry about that, so there is a chance. 🙂
The problem I consistently find with this deck, is Keleseth not rolling. I hard mulligan and he doesnt show. Now, say he shows on round 6 and no shadowstep is in your hand, you know he is going to die as soon as he is played – is it best to play him immediately for the +1/+1 moving forwards, or wait for shadowstep to show up?
Play him right away
Reaching the later stages of the game you’d better keep the shadowstep for more valuable cards than keleseth (i.e. vilespine, leeroy etc); +1/+1 is strong enough and buffing more won’t get you the win as the other cards would
Super Aggro, Highet top end & mid powerspike are the most significant variantiants, i already gonna try them all! thank so much! i been trap in 5 whit Asmodai version several days.
I told ya how it going!
How is this deck at the top?!! I used it for 2 months and it’s terrible. At very best it’s 50/50. Garbage.
This deck is NOT a “me go face” facehunter-replacement. If you play this deck on autopilot, you will lose most of your matches.
To win, you need to optimize pretty much every turn you have and play specifically against the archetype you are facing. One mistake will make you lose the game. I’m playing this deck rank 10-5 atm (after having used it from 15-10), and it absolutely works. Avg. win percentage in Deck Tracker accross all players using this deck is 56% which is absolutely top tier.
My personal win % atm. (50 matches pool) is 64% which is pretty outrageous.
Best thing about this deck at the moment is that you don’t have to fear any particular class, as this deck has the potential to turn around even a slow start against a control deck.
Keep at it, and i’m sure you’ll figure it out.
Are you guys running Cairne, 2 Tar Keepers, or are you running 1 silence and 1 tar keeper??
I run Cairne and 2 Vicious Fledglings over the Tar Creeper.
I agree with everything that you said, except one.
“Best thing about this deck at the moment is that you don’t have to fear any particular class, as this deck has the potential to turn around even a slow start against a control deck.”
Highlander Priest is without a doubt my worst match-up…
Yes, but you can win against it. You just need to pay more attention imo.
I went 18-2 with this deck yesterday and have over a 70% WR this season. Is the deck garbage or are you?
I don’t know what is happening. I have the cards, sitting at Rank 20 after testing other decks out for the beginning of the season. This deck is 0/10.
More info, in two of the games I managed to Shadowstep Prince Keleseth, one of which was on (my) Turn 1. This deck lost to everything from Priest to Mage, and even a Quest Warrior. Perhaps it does better at the upper tiers but simply can’t ladder itself?
I went from rank 17 to rank 4 in just a few days, this deck is really strong against anything
If I were to put together this deck, would i rather craft shaku or xaril? I have enough dust for the prince and for one of them, and i have the rest.
Def. Xaril. I crafted shaku first because he will last longer until going wild, but there’s not enough value with him, so I don’t even use him any more. Xaril synergizes well with combos, Barnes, and shadowcaster if you run with them.
I’m missing Edwin shaku and xaril which should I craft? Thinking edwin
Not edwin, he’s too situational. I think shaku or xaril is more value. I know it sucks cause Edwin is a classic card, but the other 2 have better odds on impacting the game
While I agree that the other two have a better chance at impacting the game, I don’t think you should run this deck without edwin. He can single handedly win games, much like how keleseth can. With the right set up, Edwin can be insurmountable in the beginning if the opposing player doesn’t have a hard removal. Xaril can’t win a game on his own, and it is highly unlikely shaku will as well.
i’ve tried different version of the deck, right now i’m running one without shaku and Xaril and in every version there is Edwin, is a really strong card, especially in tempo decks. An early Edwin can stabilize the board against aggro decks, a late Edwin can be GG, and is a card that generate a lot of tempo. Between Xaril and shaku i prefer shaku, but if i have to choose i go for Edwin.
Did you really suggest crafting Xaril over Edwin? Even a 6/6 Edwin can change the game early on. Xaril and Shaku are both good but I would absolutely craft Edwin over any Rogue legendary especially since the other two are rotating out in a few months.
Edwin is an All Star. Not in just this deck either. If you want to play Rogue, you need this card.
Thanks everyone
Great deck, replacing Xaril with Shadowcaster is actually really good idea, double vilespine slayer or bonemare, or everything you need. 10/10
I get to the first time to rank 3. But what is better i beat a LEGENDARY :O
Think the leadder search for lower ranking rivals when don’t find your rank, why match me with
players in rank 2,1 o legendary above me lol.
I beat legendarys for dinner but i am not a legendary looool.
Hi guys,
against which decks is there a solid win rate even without prince Keleseth?
I am thinking about not to hard mulligan for prince in such cases, but just going for a good hand. What do you think?
Well for the mulligan in general I tend to keep the 3/3 pirate, edwin (if my hand supports it) and backstab (vs decks with early minions) + what he says you should. since these cards have the higher winrates in the mulligan.
Thanks @Chimborazo for the great deck, article and reasoning behind it. Since I can not put much time into the game, I was looking for a deck that is quick to play on on one hand – and for which I have the most important cards on the other hand for quite some time now, and this list carried me from 20 to Legend rank within 4 days.
I do not own Shaku nor Xaril and was not very impressed with the Spellbreaker, so went with 2 Vicious Fledglings instead of the Legeneries. Regarding the Spellbreaker spot I toyed around for some time and finally setled on Mind Cotrol Tech, which is a great way to give me a shot at games that usually I can not win. He has been quite good in situations where my Druid opponent hided behind a wall of Spreading Plague or against decks that are very fast (Warlock Zoo, Token Druid, Hunter).
I am stuck in rank 8, trying other varians went back to rank 10 XD. I only miss Shaku.
Do you think Spiritsinger Umbra is a good legendary to try for Deathrattle Synergys with this deck?.
Is good with Xaril.
Thinking to try that way, like change Vilespine Slayer for Moat Luker, then you kill your own Xaril for example and with Umbra you get it back lol.
In my opinion, that is not a good idea. Especially cutting a Vilespine Slayer would not be exactly an advantage. This deck is an agrressive tempo deck; putting any non aggressive cards in it will weaken the deck.
Oh i will try your deck, some tips how to play it better?
There is nothing really important I could add to the tips already mentioned in the article. Just practice and get used to the deck. Be patient if you hit a losing streak (happens from time to time, thats just statistical variance), the deck has an above 50% winning chance if played correctly and in the long run, you will succeed.
Also, I always keep Fire Fly if I have it in my opening hand and if going second, I also keep Southsea Captain (because it will bring a 2/2 Patches even if you did not have Keleseth).
Thanks for the tips. Yes i do that too, three days ago, use firefly in turn one and Southsea Captain in turn 2 or 3.
Yesterday, was loosing a lot, today a win a lot when from 10 to 5 O_O
And no Prince draw lol
Would anyone be willing to watch some of my games with this deck and help fix my errors. Jauggie#1507
You could just try another list. I used this one to get to the 5th rank:
http://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/decks/c0ntrolboys-6-legend-elemental-tempo-rogue-october-2017/
If you’d like another’s point of view on your games I’d be more than happy to give you mine. I play mostly Rogue, shaman and Mage on the more aggressive side so I’d be more than happy to share the experience 🙂 Will add you after I finish up on my work. Can’t remember the battletag number but I do believe my battletag is Madeinsweden#21365. I´ll send you a friend request after work 🙂
Hey I hit Rank 2 last season with a somewhat similar decklist, I’d be willing to try to help you with your gameplay a bit if you’d still like, add me – ToxinSkorpio #1515
Im testing Prince Valanar right now instead of spellbreaker and xaril. I think hes more decent then Xaril but I cant think of a suitable 2. card. Right now im testing Argent Squire, anything else that could fit in?
Any replacements for Edwin ?
I strongly suggest Mimic Pod as a substitute for any cards you might be missing from this deck (except Keleseth). I toyed around with some replacements for Leeroy and Shaku, and I’ve been having some great success with 2 copies of the card as it both helps to dig a little bit for Keleseth and creates more opportunities for high rolls (there are a lot of good targets for duplication).
The deck is aggressive, based on gaining tempo by curving out with minions, Mimic Pod is a dead draw in the first 5-7 turns of the game. Not that things such as Leeroy aren’t, but you’d want to minimize those as much as possible. Might be worth considering but I probably wouldn’t try it.
I think that I’ll see a bit more success with this deck after cutting Prince Keleseth. Now hear me out, Prince Keleseth is essentially a dead card for me due to the fact that I haven’t drawn it once in 9 games. In its place, I think I’ll be running a more useful 2 drop, like Bloodfen Raptor or maybe a Bluegill Warrior.
Is the corpsetaker version of this deck better? atm I play this one but I really want to figure out which one is better
The only version that can be considered “better” is the one with elementals, which performs better in the mirror match but worse versus Priest. Depending on which one you see more, you should adapt. The “corpsetaker version” is experimental and does not have enough different matchups to justify considering it a separate deck. Just stick to this one and you will hit Legend in no time.
Hey guys! Tell me plz, are Edwin, Leeroy and Shaku worth crafting or not? I want to try this deck, but these three guys are missing.
yeah totally! Maybe shaku or leeroy not but if you have a lot dust go ahead! 🙂
Thank you!
I play this deck with only Edwin, Keleseth and Patches atm and still managed to get rank 5 with a good winrate. For a period I even played it with double eviscerate ’cause I missed Keleseth, and still got r9 with it. I have a personal list tho
If you don’t get Prince K in the mulligan or early game then you will lose 70-100% of the time in my experience. If you get him during your mulligan or first few turns you will win close to 100% of the time if you play your cards right.
That’s not even close to the truth. The deck is strong even without Keleseth.
I disagree. This deck has capped out at Rank 14 for me, whereas I switched to my Taunt/Control Warrior and proceeded to Rank 4. When I was playing it, i would quickly lose the board if have a poor mulligan and could never recover. I have never lost to this deck or its variants with my Control Warrior (have came across 3 so far). I am not saying this deck isn’t fun/good, but not as glamorous as advertised and easy to defeat if your opponent understands it. Could I have gotten higher than 14? Sure, if RNG was in my favor.
Most likely you just do not know how to play it. There is of course the chance that you may just be the unluckiest person in the world.
I regularly win having never drawn Keleseth, and for w/e reason Patches hates me and always seems to find his way into my opening hand. The fact that I have a near 100% winrate against the mirror leads me to the conclusion that most people playing it do not play it well. This is not some SMOrc deck and is less forgiving to mistakes than other decks. It actually takes some learning. If you are already proficient with Rogue it is easy to play but if not then you have to learn the class. Even a simple mechanic like when to swing with your face can change the outcome of games. Have you ever played a Rogue that was off lethal by 1 hp? I have seen this many times, and most of the time you can look back at the game and track it to a single turn when they should have swung but didn’t.
I am not a pro and there are probably thousands of players better at this game then I am but if someone is struggling with this deck I’d be willing to help you out maybe spectate you and help you with plays. I hit legend last season with this deck with a 75% winrate and this month I’m at 67%. Gabriel#11451
It’s very easy to say, “Oh you must not know how to play this deck”, to some minor criticism lol. Me and you can play the exact same way and you have a supposed “75%” win rate and be Legend and myself have a sub 50% win rate and barely crack 10 with the deck. Variance with your opponents and RNG is something you can’t control despite how “pro” you claim.
You imply that both of us play the deck the same so the variance between you and I comes down to RNG. This is not the case. I put in effort to learn the game, learn this deck, I do this with all my hobbies whether it be racquetball, cooking, or hearthstone. Your first mistake is that you assume you are so good that if you can’t scratch R10 with it then it must be the deck that’s bad, or you are getting unlucky with it. I say this not to insult. If you make those kinds of assumptions you fall into a trap of being unable to improve. As the blue chick in Avatar said, “You cannot fill a cup that is already full”.
So my win rate has improved with more practice. However, I am still sporting a 30% win rate against Priest. What is your strategy on facing Highlander Priest.
Can I take you up on your offer to help teach this deck. I’m a new player playing this deck and I can only only get to rank 11.
Is that why it’s currently the deck with the highest win rate on every platform that tracks stats? Or the major talking point of HCT, said to be the best deck in the meta right now by every pro player?
Very true. I have won most of my games on my climb to legend with this deck without ever getting a keleseth. this deck is just good. even without him you still overrun your opp. I have won the mirror when my opp has the nut keleseth opening and i didnt have the former. This matchup is all about skill. You probably just don’t play the deck correctly.
Pretty sure reaching legend with Warrior, Mage, and Lock in the past I know pretty well the mechanics of the game. But thanks for your input… “Rookie”
@Skeptical I’m sorry man, but you must be pretty terrible with the deck. Nothing wrong with being a newbie – it just takes to to master a deck like this 😉
I pretty much never pull Keleseth (it’s basically autowin if I do) and I still win most of the time. It’s a really, really, good deck. I can’t dedicate as much time as I could before due to work but I’m already rank 3 with around 12 hours played this month or so.
And yes, it is pretty difficult to play “efficiently”. Actually, I think that’s exactly the problem with your playing, you seem to think it’s easy and thus can’t see what the true “good plays” are, effectively making subpar plays (because of no experience with the deck) and losing all the time. Basically, it’s the proof that it’s easy to learn and hard to master.
Saw your first sentence and stopped reading. Yawn
You should, if you want to imprive your game 🙂
I believe it is important to explain when to run 2x Bittertide Hydra and when to run 2x Cobalt Scalebane. Although Colbalt and Hydra serve the same purpuse versus priest (punishing only 1 death and being immune to dragon fire), Cobalt is better versus zoo, token shaman and the mirror (it makes vilespine a lot less effective). HOWEVER, Hydra is 10x better than Cobalt versus Jade Druid who has multiple ways to remove a 5/5 but not an 8/8.
In conclusion, if you are facing mostly control at any point (priest, druid, mage) with this deck swap out both Cobalts for Hydras, it will be incredibly beneficial.
Thanks for the input, I’ll make sure to update the guide to address the alternative options.
so hi i need to replace patches shaku the collector and xaril .. also got no vilespine and sawsea captain
Shaku and Xaril are cool but not “core” to the deck. Captain is, though if you cut Patches there is not a very big reason to play the Captains, but keeping in mind you will be taking a huge power level downgrade. If you want to play Rogue ever, just craft the Vilespines. Best investment in the class you could possibly make.
IMHO w/o Patches, the Southsea Captains, and the Vilespine Slayers, you might as well play a different deck. Even if you craft the Vilespine Slayers, your still going to take a huge loss in power, as Chimborazo already mentioned, if you don’t run the Captains and Patches.
When you do get the cards together, expect to spend time learning to pilot it. All decks have a degree of difficulty to them but I’d have to say tempo rogue looks easier to play than it actually is. It is not a forgiving deck.
It is so fun to play once you get the hang of it though.
This statement is not true, priest has way more removals than just Shadow Word Death ..
“You can save up some cheap cards to combo and make a big Edwin VanCleef to bait their Shadow Word: Death, which is their only removal for Scalebane.”
“…removal for Scalebane” is the key here. You are referring to removal in general. Without SWD in hand, the Priest has a very hard time removing Cobalt Scalebane. That was the point the author was making.
amazing deck! i made several changes. I run 2 Flappy Bird. 1 Plague scientist and 1 Naga. I went from rank 21 to rank 8. I’m currently 32-5 with the deck. fantastic!
I’m having a lot of succes with this deck, beating most other top tier decks, but my sole weakness is hunter decks. For some reason I can’t seem to get that match-up right. They chew up my pirates with their stupid crabs, I often lack removal for the ever-growing Hyena and their beasts are so sticky that it is hard to avoid the synergies with Crackling Razormaw and Houndmaster. What is the best way to play against hybrid beast hunter with this deck? The chart says that this deck has a positive match-up but I certainly don’t so far. 😉
this deck is amazing, made 1 change –> -1 xaril +1 shadowcaster currently 11-2 from 16-13
Great deck, I got to rank 7!
I know this deck is a great deck but for some reason I’ve got a 33% w/l. I’m clearly playing it wrong but i just can’t figure out what i’m doing wrong :'(
Totally that’s why every single pro is taking a form of this deck to the championship. You clearly have done your research lolololol
I don’t agree with you, After playing really poorly with it for a day, I’ve managed to get it back to a 55% win/loss. I climbed from 15 to 9 in a day and i’m still progressing. Just took some time for me to learn it properly.
I won’t lie this deck is hard to get used to and when i first started using it i barely one but once i made a few personal changes i’m back up to 11 and almost every pro right now has this deck
This deck is far from garbage. “Losses most games turn 3/4… no answer to a full board”, really? Who are you playing against that can get a full board by T3/4? There are 2x Backstabs, 2x SI:7, 4 pirates that will pull a 1/1 Parches and 2 that will pull a 2/2 Patches to help trade. If you are losing I would suggest you reread this guide, or watch some streamers play it. As a few people have said, it took them a while to learn how to play it.
Cheap and strong deck, its recomended for those who has limited dusts.
CHEAP!? it has 5 legendaries men…
Several of them can be replaced. You need keleseth and patches and perferably edwin. but the rest are replaceable.
so you really just need patches keleseth and Leeroy.
I’m currently trying to put the deck together, but don’t have enough for both Edwin and two Vilespine Slayers. Given that the Vilespines seem really important should I sub out the Edwin instead? If so with what?
Also since I never bought Karazan and I don’t really want to at this point with it being relatively close to leaving standard, anyone have an idea on what to replace Swashburglar with? I was thinking Bloodsail Corsair but if anyone has any better ideas lmk.
You could try a Shadowcaster instead of the Van Cleef. As for the Swashburglars…. didn’t blizzard change adventure mode or something allowing cards to be crafted normally?
Great deck. Personally I play it with elemental synergies, replacing the cobalt scalebanes with blazecallers, no xaril cuz I don’t have him so I throw in another tar creeper, and in light of skulking geist I replace cold blood with fire plume Phoenix. But that’s just me, and the deck in its form here is awesome. The one thing I would say is not to advise spreading out against druids- even with the spreading plague nerf, I’m still coming across it in most jade decks I play
I did the some of your changes and it helped alot.
i just want to say thanks to the guys, who put such a great work making these articles, i think you guys are awesome!
Any good replacement for Leeroy?
am i the only seeing the pic behind the rogue class cards? xD
great deck btw 😛
What pic?
I like this deck very much, i am sure this is gonna be my main deck this seasson.
Try it out guys, it is fun to play. i have a 80% win rate so far.
Great deck, is it bad I changed 1 bonemare for a Geist?
https://imgur.com/a/AwVBC
So far this guy saved my ass many times from the pint sized board clear when my dragons are on the table and he cant potion my ass off
That’s very interesting! Geist definitely hurts Priests a lot, but I’m worried that in the ideal scenario, Scalebane comes down on the board a whole two turns before Geist ever could. Have you run into situations where you have to hold back your dragon and lose the pressure it provides?
Nice guide. Looks interesting.
Is it worth 6400 of my dust though?
It’s the second best deck for ladder and much faster than the actual best, so if you want to reach Legend in the least amount of time with the highest win rate than yes, it is worth it.
On the other hand, if you are missing that many cards and are not really a Rogue player at heart, there are plenty of alternatives so that you don’t have to craft into the deck specifically. Just make sure you can beat it.
and the best deck for ladder??
Obviously it’s Highlander Priest. You can check our detailed guide here: http://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/decks/highlander-kazakus-priest-deck-list-guide-standard/
Which to craft first? Xaril or Shaku?
Shaku is slightly better in this deck.
nice deck but i have no freakin edwin and Keleseth
i have all’cards to make this deck less patches… i know it’s important and he takes great value to keleset… but there is a way to replace him?
Hey i dont have Edwin what do you recommend?
Is this a better list than Asmos or Kranichs? I know they are minor differences but I’m just too curious for my own good.
It’s the best of both worlds. This listwas derived by 2 days of playtesting with HCT pros and a lot of statistical analysis. We identified the “core” and then looked at #1 legend finishes, primarily focusing on the chinese server. Then we eliminated the absolute lowest win percentage cards and used those 5 flex slots to improve the two worst matchups.
In theory this should be the best and “optimal” list but who knows.
That is impressive thanks!!!!
i complety agree! this version is so good, more refined.