Our Budget Aggro/Tempo Pirate Rogue deck list guide for the Rastakhan’s Rumble expansion will teach you how to play this aggressive Rogue list. This Budget Aggro/Tempo Rogue guide includes Mulligans, Gameplay Strategy, Card Substitutions, and Combos/Synergies!
Introduction to Budget Aggro/Tempo Pirate Rogue
Aggro/Tempo Rogue is a deck that has run over opponents since the early days of Hearthstone. The deck makes great use of Valeera’s Hero Power, as well as potent Tempo cards available to Rogues like Backstab and SI:7 Agent to maintain an early lead long just enough to kill the opponent. The Aggro/Tempo Rogue shell has seen many iterations but never seems to disappear from the meta completely.
This Budget Aggro/Tempo Rogue sacrifices a few Legendary and Epic cards that strengthen the deck’s ability to overwhelm opponents, but still has the tools to beat down opponents. In The Witchwood, Hench-Clan Thug gave Rogues of all flavors one of the best available turn three plays when paired with an equipped dagger. This Common card fits nicely with many of the low-rarity Tempo tools available to Rogue in the Classic and Basic sets, making this budget deck a good option for players who don’t want to spend a significant amount of dust.
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Rastakhan’s Rumble
In Rastakhan’s Rumble, Rogue gained access to new Pirates that fit perfectly into what Aggro/Tempo Rogue is looking to accomplish. In addition to old favorites Bloodsail Raider and Southsea Deckhand, the latest expansion brought Sharkfin Fan and Bloodsail Howler to round out the Pirate synergies. This deck certainly misses Southsea Captain and Vilespine Slayer, but can make due without these Epics.
Budget Aggro/Tempo Pirate Rogue Mulligan Guide
High Priority Keeps
- Fire Fly – Fire Fly is hands down your best opener. Better still, the extra Elemental token fills out your curve in later turns and can help enable Combo cards.
- Serrated Tooth – Valeera’s Hero Power provides Rogue with the highest Tempo Hero Power in Hearthstone. Getting a weapon early with an extra durability offers a similar Tempo advantage and rolls nicely into Sharkfin Fan or Bloodsail Raider.
- Bloodsail Raider – Bloodsail Raider is a reasonable turn 2 play and a very good option with a Serrated Tooth equipped on the prior turn.
- Southsea Deckhand – Missing turn 1 for a Tempo deck such as this can be devastating, so don’t pitch away Deckhand unless you have a Fire Fly or Serrated Tooth already in hand.
- Hench-Clan Thug – In most cases, Hench-Clan Thug is your best turn three play. So strong, in fact, that this card is worth keeping in your opener.
Low Priority Keeps
- Backstab – Backstab can help you gain an early advantage, but against decks that aren’t reliant on minions, it can be a bit of a dead draw.
- SI:7 Agent – With the Coin, especially, SI:7 Agent is still a reasonable keep. Often, this Rogue staple trades two-for-one with his Combo enabled.
- Bloodsail Howler – Without other Pirates to buff this new Pirate, his stats become rather lackluster. Following a Sharkfin Fan, Southsea Deckhand, or Bloodsail Raider, however, it can be enough to provide an early board lean.
- Sharkfin Fan – Like Hench-Clan Thug, Sharkfin Fan can snowball out of control early. However, a 2-mana 2/2 is a bit fragile on curve without a weapon equipped.
Budget Aggro/Tempo Pirate Rogue Play Strategy
Aggro/Tempo Rogue plays a board-centric tempo game in the early turns. Here, you want to keep your opponent from developing much of a minion presence, taking advantage of Combo mechanics, Backstab, and your Hero Power.
Speaking of the Hero Power, you’ll often be daggering up on turn two. This won’t always be the case but, frequently, it is necessary to set a dagger and hold in order to prepare for a Hench-Clan Thug on the following turn. A 4/4 on turn three is difficult for opponents to deal with and can give you a big lead going into the mid-game.
Serrated Tooth helps reduce the necessity of a turn 2 Hero Power a bit, and sets up many 2-mana Pirates just as well as a turn 3 Thug.
From there, Fungalmancer can lock in your position on the board and Elven Minstrel can refill your hand with extra gas. If, after you’ve cemented your board advantage, any Taunts end up in your way to the opponent’s face, Sap can make short work of them. Similarly, Eviscerate gives you late-game reach to close out the game.
Unfortunately, this deck doesn’t have much in the way of comeback mechanics, so your success really hinges on the ability to get ahead in the early game and maintain a lead. If you happen to lose the board, you’ll likely need to make efficient use of weapon attacks, burst damage, and Bloodsail Howler to regain a minion presence or close out the game with damage from hand.
Budget Aggro/Tempo Pirate Rogue Meta Deck
Odd Rogue
For a while now, Odd Rogue has been the Valeera’s strongest option for the Standard ladder. The deck plays very similarly to this Budget Aggro/Tempo Pirate Rogue but relies heavily on the upgrade Hero Power from this all-Odd deck. Because of the restrictive nature of Baku the Mooneater, this deck does not have a direct budget counterpart, but it’s something to build towards as your collection grows.
Budget Aggro/Tempo Pirate Rogue Future Card Replacements
- 2x Sap > 2x Vilespine Slayer – For a Tempo deck, it doesn’t get much better than killing a minion and developing one of your own.
- 2x Fungalmancer > 2x Southsea Captain – With so many Pirates already included in this deck, Southsea Captain would be a welcome addition to this deck.
- 1x Elven Minstrel > 1x Edwin VanCleef – A single large Edwin can single-handedly win the game against opponents lacking the tools to remove him.
- 1x Elven Minstrel > 1x Leeroy Jenkins – Extra burst for an aggressive deck is always welcome. Leeroy Jenkins offers a highly efficient six damage for five mana.
- 1x Shadowstep > 1x Myra's Unstable Element – Drawing your whole deck may feel like a terrifying endeavor, but the fatigue damage becomes irrelevant when you find the cards to score a kill.
Budget Aggro/Tempo Pirate Rogue General Replacements
Here’s a list of cards you can add to this deck if you happen to have them or are missing anything in the decklist.
- Defias Ringleader – A long-time inclusion in Aggro Rogue lists, Defias Ringleader doesn’t quite make the cut in this iteration due to the need to dagger on early turns.
- Deadly Poison – With such a heavy reliance on weapons, it makes sense to consider Deadly Poison in this deck to provide extra burst damage.
- Tar Creeper – This obnoxious Elemental can put an immediate halt to counter aggression give you enough time to dictate trades into a favorable board state.
- Plague Scientist – This three-drop minion provides a decent substitute for Vilespine Slayer, but this build is already pretty heavy at that mana slot.
Should I add Hooktusk and Greyshark if I have them? What to replace?
I’ve been rocking this great deck with a Spirit of the Shark, Cursed Castaway, and Captain Hooktusk. The combo of Spirit of the Shark + Elven Minstrel + Shadowstep is insanely OP.
I’ve had several games where I played Spirit of the Shark on turn 4, and on turn 5 played coin, elven minstrel, shadowstepped him back, and then played him again and drew 8 minions. You can clean up really easily this way and I highly recommend including at least Spirit of the Shark in your deck.
Cursed Casaway and Captain Hooktusk are solid late-game cards, though honestly I’ve never needed them. They are nice insurance but generally I’ve already won by turn 6-ish.
I would assume Vilespine Slayer would fit nicely into this deck, no?
It absolutely would.
What should replace Giggling Inventor now that it’s nerfed?
Cobalt Scalebane would be a good option.
Would sonya shadowdancer work in this deck
If you pulled it from a pack, yeah. Hitting a Pogo Hopper or a Giggling Inventor could be very useful. Probably wouldn’t hurt the deck if you replaced a Tar Creeper.
I Feel like There should be a fan of Knives in. I dont know Why
swapping 1x backstab for 1x cheap shot has worked really well for me
Does Cairne Bloodhof fit somewhere into this deck?
Cairne used to fit into Tempo Rogue when it was able to curve nicely into a seven-mana Bonemare, but after the nerf he’s a little too slow for what the deck is looking to accomplish.
Is it good to do -Tar Creeper + Spellbreaker?
Yes
It depends on the matchups you find yourself running into. Tar Creeper is great at stalling out other aggressive decks, but Spellbreaker offers a bit of redundancy with Sap in handling early Voidlords.
This deck is very fun. I’m noob and don’t understand about deck types yet, but I do like this aggressive one. Always have cards on my hands, on the field and I can counter every enemy monsters quickly and simply.
rogue is for you then!
Hi there I have kingsbane and Valeera. Could I use them in this deck to make it stronger?
I dont think so since the meta version doesnt run them either.
U could try this deck tho (Replace greenskin with sth else): http://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/decks/kolentos-6-legend-mill-kingsbane-rogue-january-2018/
This deck has no late game however with the right trades and mulligan choices, it is possible to go to rank 8 with a 57% winrate. Not the best. If you guys are wondering what budget deck is good to play just search for a budget secret mage deck without valet, and you will find a 60% winrate legend secret mage.
No wonder i have %40-45 winrate already above rank 5, no experience in rogue and i dont have any of the meta cards. Playing for learning and doing my quests but i cant learn in casual (cause people dont play well enough) so i try it in ranked 😀
Why no valet?
Is there any way to get Valeera the Hollow in there?
Great deck btw, currently 70% winrate!
Its so hard for me to win with this deck. After some trades I usually run out of stuff to play. I feel like if i dont get the perfect opening hand followed by the first draws theres no way to recover…
This deck absolutely unplayable trash. Don’t spend your dust for that.
Can I reach 10 ranks with this deck?
If you could only craft one legendary which one would it be?
Keleseth, more than likely.
What a horrible deck. There’s absolutely no lategame, clear or card draw. All you can do is some efficient trading before you lose.
The meta version of this deck which is one of the best decks in the game right now doesn’t really have any of those either: http://www.hearthstonetopdecks.com/decks/aggro-tempo-rogue-deck-list-guide-standard/
Not all decks require all of the things you listed.
ps recomendation for swaps of golak
What if i put in The Lich King
Doesn’t really work in this deck unfortunately, it’s too slow.
Could you post a video of this deck being played a few times? i made the budget version and im having trouble clearing out lareger minions and taunt minions if i dont get kill them by turn 6 im beat most of the time any tips or a vid would be great and thanks for the deck im having fun
Can i add swashburglar anyhow?
Swapping the Squire with Questing Adventurer gives this deck a huge power spike in exactly the right spot 😀