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Our budget Aggro Rogue deck list & guide for the Scholomance Academy expansion will teach you how to play this budget list. This guide includes Mulligans, Gameplay Strategy, Card Substitutions, and Combos/Synergies!
Introduction to Budget Aggro Rogue
For the last two expansions, Galakrond was a go-to Rogue strategy – while it came in a few flavors (regular, Secret, Stealth), the general gameplan was similar. The same thing can be said about the new Aggro Rogue decks in Scholomance Academy too. We have a few different versions – more tempo-oriented, full face deck, Stealth build, weapons build etc. At this point, all of them fight for their position in the meta and it’s difficult to say which one will turn out to be the best.
As for the budget version – to be honest, it’s quite powerful. Full version is pretty cheap, and when we have a cheap, high tier meta deck it always makes for a good budget option. While I had to make a few adjustments because of the 2 Epics limit. It was a very difficult decision, but I had to pick between Greyheart Sage and Secret Passage. Both of them are really strong, both of them are pretty key cards, but I decided to go with Sage, since it makes for a better curve. But I absolutely wouldn’t mind you going for Secret Passage instead. Ideally, if you can afford, play both.
Check out Hearthstone Budget Decks & Guides for All 10 Classes!
Budget Aggro Rogue Mulligan Guide
Higher Priority (Keep every time)
- Spymistress / Worgen Infiltrator – Your 1-drops – while Spymistress is obviously a better choice (1 more attack at no downside), you want to open up with a 1-drop, so you keep either of those.
- Sneaky Delinquent – Again, it’s a bit worse compared to Spymistress, but it also cycles itself into a second 3/1 Stealth. It’s better than Hero Powering on T2 most of time.
- Greyheart Sage – With six cheap Stealth minions, it’s very easy to activate it on curve – and an Arcane Intellect on a 3/3 stick is an incredibly powerful card. Even if you won’t activate it on curve, it will come handy sooner or later (most likely sooner).
Lower Priority (Keep only if certain conditions are met)
- Backstab – Keep against high tempo decks with early minions presence – e.g. it’s good against Zoo Warlock and such.
- Ashtongue Slayer – Keep with a 1-drop Stealth minion – it’s a great T2 follow-up (either a free trade or, more likely, 3/2 that deals 3 damage to the opponent).
Budget Aggro Rogue Play Strategy
Gameplay of Aggro Rogue is really simple – you want to kill your opponent as quickly and as efficiently as possible. Trading? Nah, that’s not your modus operandi – you just hit face as hard as you can. \
The main part of your deck are Stealth minions – the reason why they work so well is that your opponent can’t target them until you reveal them. It means that, unless they’re AoE’d down, you will attack with them at least once. For example, Spymistress is 3 damage for 1 mana, which is already decent, but now your opponent also has to clear the 3/1 body. If he can’t – you deal damage again. You also run some Stealth synergies. Ashtongue Slayer lets you deal even more damage – you usually use it as 3 extra face damage. You can also trade up thanks to the immune effect, which is really helpful against Taunts. E.g. your opponent drops a 4/6 Taunt and you have Spymistress on the board – Ashtongue works really well. Then we’ve got a Greyheart Sage. Drawing 2 cards for 3 mana is the baseline, but it also comes with a 3/3 body. You’re putting tempo on the board and drawing cards at the same time, something that rarely happens at such low mana costs.
The second part of your deck are weapon synergies. While you run only a single weapon – Hooked Scimitar – it’s a pretty good one. It’s quite easy to activate the combo, and then a 3 mana 4/2 weapon is amazing. It makes your Cutting Class (I’ve decided to put two copies because the deck misses Secret Passage) cost 1, which is another cheap way to cycle through your deck. Other ways to make Cutting Class cheap (or free) are Deadly Poison and Vulpera Toxinblade. It’s quite easy to drop it down to 2, but it obviously works the best at 0 – drawing cards for free is something you love to do as an Aggro deck. The deck also runs one copy of Plague of Madness – it serves a few purposes. It can be used as a quasi-weapon removal (when your opponent equips the 2/2 Knife, their current weapon gets destroyed), as a way to get through a big Taunt, or just as a way to push some more damage. The truth is that your opponent won’t get much value out of the weapon. Most of your minions are within 2 damage range, so Poisonous is often kind of pointless. And they don’t necessarily want to attack your minions with weapon anyway, since they take damage that way.
And then, the rest of the deck is mostly burn. Sinister Strike, Cold Blood and Eviscerate all help you with the reach. Sap is there for obvious reason – to pass through Taunts or just get rid of your opponent’s bigger minion. Against such a fast deck, Sap is often as good as clearing the minion – your opponent might not have enough time to replay it anyway. Burrowing Scorpid, which is a part of your Stealth package, can also be used for some extra burn – 2 damage for 4 mana is not much, but it’s a nice bonus.
And that’s about it – the deck is really straightforward and there’s not much to talk about. Just smack the face as much as you can and let your opponent do the trades.
Future Card Replacements for Aggro Rogue
Here are two example full builds you can work towards. Take a look at them and see you down below!
- 0Budget Aggro Rogue Deck List & Guide (Scholomance Academy)2
- 0Budget Aggro Rogue Deck List & Guide (Scholomance Academy)2
- 0Budget Aggro Rogue Deck List & Guide (Scholomance Academy)2
- 0Budget Aggro Rogue Deck List & Guide (Scholomance Academy)2
- 0Budget Aggro Rogue Deck List & Guide (Scholomance Academy)2
- 0Budget Aggro Rogue Deck List & Guide (Scholomance Academy)2
- 0Budget Aggro Rogue Deck List & Guide (Scholomance Academy)2
- 1Plague of Madness1
- 1Spymistress2
- 2Ashtongue Slayer2
- 2Secret Passage2
- 3Greyheart Sage2
- 3Hooked Scimitar2
- 4Infiltrator Lilian1
- 0Budget Aggro Rogue Deck List & Guide (Scholomance Academy)1
- 0Budget Aggro Rogue Deck List & Guide (Scholomance Academy)2
- 0Budget Aggro Rogue Deck List & Guide (Scholomance Academy)2
- 0Budget Aggro Rogue Deck List & Guide (Scholomance Academy)2
- 0Budget Aggro Rogue Deck List & Guide (Scholomance Academy)2
- 0Budget Aggro Rogue Deck List & Guide (Scholomance Academy)2
- 1Spymistress2
- 2Secret Passage2
- 3Edwin VanCleef1
- 3Greyheart Sage2
- 3Self-Sharpening Sword2
- 3Vulpera Toxinblade2
The first build is kind of an extension of this version. You replace 2x Cutting Class with 2x Secret Passage, which is just better and 2x Vulpera Toxinblade (played mostly to activate Cutting Class more consistently) with a faster 2x Southsea Deckhand (but both are Common, so it’s not a big deal). Then you slap Infiltrator Lilian and you’ve got it. Honestly, Lilian is not even necessary – it’s a good card, but you can play without her. It just shows how close you’re to a full build, that’s why if I were you I’d just invest in Secret Passage too.
The second build is a bit more expensive and plays differently than this. I mean, it’s still aggressive, you still want to hit face as much as you can, but you focus more on weapon synergies. You run Self-Sharpening Sword instead – the weapon is slower, but it deals more damage in the long run. If you Deadly Poison before attacking, it will add 8 damage in total, which is quite sick. Doctor Krastinov also has an amazing synergy with the weapon. The deck can run Cutting Class more easily, since Sword stays around for longer and it’s super easy to get it to 5 damage. For the same reason – Steeldancer is a very strong card, a 4/4 that often summons an even bigger body for 4 mana. Finally, it runs Jandice Barov just as a good, high tempo card – even if your opponent knows very well which body is real and which is fake, it’s still strong T5 play.
I personally find the second build more fun to play, and in terms of power level they seem to be (at the time I’m writing this) quite similar. The first one is easier to go for if you’re playing on budget, though, so that’s the one I would start with. Then if you feel like you can slowly transition into the second build after making a few crafts.
