Miracle Mecha,thun Rogue ft. Anka, the Buried – SOU – isandrg

First of all thanks for the upvotes and giving the deck a try. I will be talking about the different variation of the deck i have been trying out and also how to pilot against the most common matchups you will be facing on ladder. 

If you wanna see how the deck plays out you can watch FunkiMonki on Twitch using the link below, he was kind enough to play the deck on his stream.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/485443883?t=2h27m22s

Introduction

With Vanish rotating out of standard, Rogue lost its only board removal/stalling card in the game making any archetype other than tempo/aggro not viable for the class as Rogue lacks any sort of healing or board removals apart from single target removals to compete for a more value based game plan. But playing Mecha'thun in a Miracle Rogue shell with just Anka, the Buried and Myra's Unstable Element doesn’t really sacrifice the Miracle Rogue game plan but on the other hand adds one more win condition. 

Honorable Mentions

I have been trying out different variations of the deck by replacing out some cards with another, out of which the notable ones are :

Heavy miracle focus version with 2x SI:7 Agent instead of 2x Khartut Defender and a Pilfer for Tunnel Blaster . This version is pretty solid against Quest Shaman as most of the time you can win games by controlling the board and playing on tempo. Pilfer is sometimes both a curse and blessing in this deck as it can be used to fuel your Gadgetzan Auctioneer and also to enable both Vendetta if drawn into it but sometimes Pilfer can give you high cost minions or spells which might ruin your Mecha'thun gameplan. 

Without Myra's Unstable Element version with SI:7 Agent instead of Myra's Unstable Element . This version rely heavy on drawing Gadgetzan Auctioneer and how fast you can cycle through your deck using it. As most of the time Myra's Unstable Element is no play against certain matchups and it becomes a dead card in your hand which needs to played to active Mecha'thun, will talk about when not to Myra's Unstable Element later into the post.

(Currently testing out heavy miracle focus version without Myra's Unstable Element and adding another Shadowstep instead of it )

Key card strategies

Zephrys the Great – Zephrys the Great is a key card in certain matchups and most of the time Zephrys the Great will be active by the time you need it, which is mostly late into the game . Zephrys the Great acts as a filler for Rogue’s lack of board removals against matchups that can create huge wide boards like Quest Shaman and Quest Priest . Its also important to save your Shadowstep for Zephrys the Great to find a second board removal if needed.

Khartut Defender – Khartut Defender has synergies with Anka, the Buried but most of the time you don’t want to use it unless you are looking to dumb out your hand. Khartut Defender comes in clutch against both Aggro and Control matchups as this can stop Aggro decks in their tracks and heal you up or help you setup up for Mecha'thun while taking fatigue damage against Control decks.

Myra's Unstable Element – Myra's Unstable Element is not a play against certain matchups which can deal huge damage from hand and can kill you in couple of turns like Aggro Warrior or Tempo Rogue but there are games where you can play Myra's Unstable Element against these matchups and can win, which you will know by having more experience with the deck. Against Control decks Myra's Unstable Element will outright win you games.

Gadgetzan Auctioneer – Always hold on to Gadgetzan Auctioneer  till you have 3-4 spells to cycle with it, as this is the only efficient way the deck has to cycle through cards fast enough to active Mecha'thun. Gadgetzan Auctioneer is always a keep against most of the reactive Control decks. If you are not planning to play Myra's Unstable Element then use Gadgetzan Auctioneer to draw till you have 5-6 cards left in your deck so you will have 5-6 turns to empty your hand for Mecha'thun

Tunnel Blaster – Tunnel Blaster is a great card against most of the Token and Aggro decks as this can clear the board and also has a taunt to defend your face. Tunnel Blaster can also be used to clear the board to active Mecha'thun. Always hold on to Anka, the Buried to get Tunnel Blaster to 1/1 If you are going to use Tunnel Blaster to activate Mecha'thun and also to clear the board with it.

Fan of Knives is a keep against all of the Aggro decks especially Murloc Paladin and Murloc Shaman.

Shiv can be used for cycle if you have nothing to do that turn.

General Play Strategies 

The general game plan of this deck is to play as a Miracle Rogue but use Mecha'thun as a win condition if the game goes long enough or you satisfy the conditions to activate Mecha'thun . Having told that its more difficult to pilot the deck then it looks on paper. 

Some of the key things you need to keep in mind are to save a Backstab Eviscerate or any other damage spell to kill Mecha'thun , use all your Sap  and atleast 1x Vendetta before playing Mecha'thun as both Sap and second Vendetta is not usable unless there’s an enemy minion on board, play Anka, the Buried before you play Myra's Unstable Element.

Cards like Gadgetzan Auctioneer, Fan of Knives, Shiv and Pharaoh Cat should be played before you play Myra's Unstable Element as these cards can do fatigue damage or can give you big minions which will be awkward to dumb after playing Myra's Unstable Element.

You can hold on to cheap spells like Preparation, Eviscerate, e.t.c till you play Mecha'thun as this can be played on the same turn you play Mecha'thun and doesnt hinder your combo. Talking about combo, play Anka, the Buried while you are holding Mecha'thun depending on the macthup you can choose to play or not to play Myra's Unstable Element then dumb out your hand and play 1/1 Mecha'thun then kill it using a damage spell preferably Backstab and if you are against a slower matchup you can hold on to  Anka, the Buried till you have Tunnel Blaster to get a 1/1 Tunnel Blaster to activate Mecha'thun and clear your board by playing Mecha'thun , Tunnel Blaster and killing Tunnel Blaster to clear the board and to activate the deathrattle of Mecha'thun. Most of the minions in the deck apart from Khartut Defender can be cleared with Tunnel Blaster.

Matchups

• Warrior – Warrior is by far the most easy as well as the most difficult matchup you can face on ladder. Against Control Warrior you can win no matter what they do , Gadgetzan Auctioneer is a good keep against Control Warrior. Now talking about Aggro Warrior always look for removals in your mulligans as this is one of the worst matchup this deck has but if you can survive the initial burst Aggro Warrior can throw at you then there’s a chance of you wining later into the game as you will have cards like Khartut Defender, Zephrys the Great to answer Warrior’s board state and Warrior might be top decking by that point.
• Shaman – Quest Shaman is an average matchup if you can control the board and aggro the Shaman’s life total to a lower value, even if you don’t win by that point you can win with Mecha'thun later into the game. Shaman’s evolves and wide board state can be answered with Zephrys the Great and its always good to save the Shadowstep for Zephrys the Great for a second removal if needed. Fan of Knives is also a key card here as it helps to clear early token as well as divine shield taunts created by Giggling Inventor later. Murloc Shaman is a winnable matchup if you can control the board, as always look for removals in your mulligan and Murloc Shaman has no way to refill there board again and again if you can clear them initially. Its also important in this matchup to get minions on board as fast as you can so Pharaoh Cat is also a keep in the mulligan. Fan of Knives is a key card here as clearing a huge board of murlocs is pretty easy with Fan of Knives.
• Priest – Quest Priest is one of the easy matchups for the deck , there’s no need to hit Priest unless you have a decent 5 damage to face with minions. Same as Shaman’s matchup Zephrys the Great can be used to remove wide boards. Always mulligan for Sap against Priest as sapping the first big minion against Quest Priest will stop them from resurrecting it again and also forces them to play it again. In this matchup you are looking for Gadgetzan Auctioneer  to cycle through the deck fast enough to activate Mecha'thun. Against Combo Priest it mostly depends on who can draws their combo first and how well you can keep the board clear. Here most of the time you are looking to play Mecha'thun as fast as you can so playing Myra's Unstable Element will be the right play mostly.
• Druid – Quest Druid should be an easy matchup if you can play it correctly and be greedy with Gadgetzan Auctioneer, its also important to clear the board from time to time. This matchup can be played in two ways, playing on tempo initially and aggro down the Druid but it wont always lead to a win unlike Quest Shaman but its good to keep Druid on pressure in the early game buying you more time to setup for huge Gadgetzan Auctioneer turns later into the game. 
• Paladin – Games against Murloc Paladin depends hugely on how lucky they get with refilling the board time to time and how efficiently you can clear it each time. As with Murloc Shaman Fan of Knives is a key card here and its also extremely important to get minions onto board so you can clear the murlocs more easily. Always look for board removals with Hench-Clan Burglar. OTK Paladin is an easy matchup if you can draw faster than the Paladin and find Myra's Unstable Element before they can combo you out. This is one of the few matchups where you keep Myra's Unstable Element in you mulligan and depending on how heavily you cycle with Gadgetzan Auctioneer you can find all your combo pieces, may be even empty your deck first.
• Rogue – Tempo Rogue is one of the hardest matchups like Aggro Warrior as they have the potential to deal huge amounts of damage from there hand. Just like against Aggro Warrior you need to look for removals and survive the initial burst and pray they don’t find Myra's Unstable Element into damage spells. Haven’t played against any Quest Rogue but i guess we are favored against Quest Rogue as they are looking for a more value oriented game plan so going heavy on Gadgetzan Auctioneer and controlling the board will be the key for winning this matchup.
• Warlock – Against Quest Warlock we are favored as we can draw and empty our deck faster than the Warlock so just like Control Warrior this will be an easy matchup and Myra's Unstable Element is the card we are looking for in mulligan. Against Zoolock it hugely depends on who controls the board more efficiently and with Backstab, Sap and Vendetta we can do it much better than the Zoolock so most of the times its a winnable matchup.
• Hunter – Highlander Hunter is a tricky matchup as you will have to play around secrets and can be easily punished for misplaying like Gadgetzan Auctioneer into Snipe can outright lose you the game. Most of the time its better to play tempo by playing cards on curve and aggro down Hunter’s life total to a lower value. This forces Hunter to trade with King Crush which itself is a huge payoff later on. Its also good to get Flare from Zephrys the Great most of the time to clear the secrets played by Zul’jin.