Budget (Cheap) Aggro/Tempo Rogue Deck List Guide – Mean Streets of Gadgetzan

Aggro/Tempo Rogue is another way to play Rogue, way different from the most popular Miracle Rogue. Rogue is the master of tempo – mostly thanks to the combo mechanic, it can get a lot more stats on the board than it should for the mana cost, but only when you play another card beforehand. That’s one of the reasons why Coin is so strong in the class.

This aggressive deck plays around that theme. It plays efficient, high tempo minions + combo cards + charge minions + buffs to first get the early board control and then rush opponent down. Tempo Rogue can flood the board and then kill the opponent before he notices.

This deck is based on Reynad’s Tempo Rogue, which he climbed to top 200 Legend with a few months ago. And since the budget version isn’t much weaker than the regular one, I feel like this deck should be able to get you to rank 5, maybe even Legend if you’re persistent enough.

Card Replacements

High Priority Replacements

1x Argent Squire => Patches the Pirate – If you play Pirate 1-drops, you play Patches. No discussion here, the card is incredibly powerful and there is just no reason to not play it. It’s the only REALLY necessary improvement to the deck.

Low Priority Replacements

Argent Commander => Leeroy Jenkins – When you’re at 5-6 mana, you want to close up the game quite soon. And Argent Commander is better at controlling the board than closing up the game. It’s still a good card, but Leeroy Jenkins is just way better when we’re talking about finishers – it costs 1 less and deals 2 more damage. Leeroy + Cold Blood/Evis is one of the easiest ways to finish the game in Rogue.

Defender of Argus => Xaril, Poisoned Mind – Even though Xaril is poorly statted, the effect really makes the difference in such a deck. Since you play your 1-drops in the early game, you might be out of combo activators in the mid game. Xaril provides two extra 1 mana spells + each of them has a pretty powerful effect by itself (like dealing 2 damage or drawing a card).

After those replacements, the deck will become viable even in higher ranks. If you’re looking for an alternative, you should try Miracle Pirate Rogue.

Mulligan Tips

High priority (Always Keep)

I’ll make this one easier. You mulligan hard for your 1-drops, if you don’t get those, you can actually throw your whole hand away. When going first, Small-Time Buccaneer, Argent Squire and Buccaneer have highest priority. Bladed Cultist is great when you go second OR when you have three 1-drops in your hand already (so you can go 1-drop on t1 and two 1-drops on t2). Southsea Deckhand is the weakest one of the bunch, as it’s a vanilla 2/1 on t1, but you still keep it if you don’t have anything else. The only exception, a card that you don’t throw away, is a Defias Ringleader when going second, because it gives you a really solid t1 play (it’s almost as if you’ve played two 1-drops in a single card).

Low Priority (Situationally Keep)

• Loot Hoarder OR Undercity Huckster – If you have a 1-drop already.
• Acidic Swamp Ooze – Keep against decks that use weapons.
• Defias Ringleader – Keep when going second.
• SI:7 Agent – Keep when going second, with a 1-drop in your hand.
• Argent Horserider – Keep when going first, with a smooth curve (1 -> 2 -> Horserider).

Strategy Tips

• Tempo is the key to win games with this deck. You want to have more stuff than your opponent on the board all the time. This way you can dictate the trades you like, you can keep the minions you want alive and trade the ones that need to be traded (e.g. Loot Hoarder or Huckster).
• Rogue’s Hero Power is a key to this game plan. Even though you take damage for using it, it’s the highest tempo one in the whole game. Unlike other ping tools, which only work once, you can use it twice. So at the cost of your life, you get two Druid Hero Powers in one. Best in fast matchups, where you constantly need to stab something. Don’t worry about your health in the early game, because board control is more important. You can start worrying when you already have established minion presence and you can decide to trade with the minion instead.
• Cold Blood is an amazing finisher. It’s 4 damage for 1 mana that when used correctly can push for even more. When you have the board control AND you play it on a minion with Divine Shield, it’s really hard for the opponent to deal with it. He needs 2 sources of damage on one minion, which sometimes makes Cold Blood deal 8 or even 12 damage for just 1 mana. If you know that your opponent has no way to deal with it, you can sometimes use it as soon as turn 2 (on the Argent Squire you’ve played on t1) and start pushing so early.
• Your combo cards are really weak if you don’t activate the combo. Try to plan ahead and keep some combo activators in your hand. For example, if you have SI:7 in your hand already, you might decide to not play one of your 1-drops and instead wait with it for the next turn to combo it with SI:7.
• Stranglethorn Tiger is a very good card, because your opponent won’t likely have a way to interact with it when it’s in Stealth. It means that it’s a (nearly) guaranteed 5 damage + great minion to buff.
• Your Charge minions are great ways to get back on the board once you fall behind a little. Deckhand is 2/1 Charge for 1 mana when you have weapon equipped and both Horserider and Commander have Divine Shield, which often lets you 2 for 1 with them.
• If you start losing the board and you know that it won’t last long, you can drop the board control strategy and go all-in on the face. While it doesn’t always work, you might get just enough damage to finish the game with something like Tiger or Argent Horserider + Cold Blood + Eviscerate.