RIP Quest Rogue. For those that do not know, The Caverns Below is soon to be nerfed. Now, instead of needing to play a card four times to complete the quest, you need to play it five. That may seem like a small shift, but it is going to have a big impact on both the class and the larger meta. In this article we will break down both of those aspects to see how they are going to affect the ladder overall. 
There are two different aspects of the nerf that we need to discuss. The first of those is how the nerf is going to affect the deck. Plainly speaking, Quest Rogue is no more. There are some people who may try to hold out hope for the first week after the change, but the difference between four and five is massive. You could even argue it’s as big as the difference between one and two mana. This is because there are simply not enough cards that allow you to play something five times with any sort of consistency.
For example, look at this hand: The Caverns Below, Shadowstep, Youthful Brewmaster, and Swashburglar. In the current meta with the current cards, this would be fine. You start out with the quest on turn one and then you go into a turn two burglar/patches with the Shadowstep to set up a turn three Burglar/Panda play. This gets you three quarters of the way there to your combo and you only need one strong draw to combo off.
However, that shifts with the new change. You now need two cards, which takes away a ton of draw potential and makes your deck much more inconsistent. In addition, you can no longer get nut draws like double Igneous Elemental or three bounce cards. The ceiling has been raised considerably, and that just isn’t something an all-in combo deck can afford. As a result, it is safe to say the deck will not be able to catch up.
So, the bigger question becomes, what does the meta look like without Quest Rogue? The loss is going to have many implications, but the biggest has to do with control. In the past few weeks more and more people have switched to slow control lists. As the game continues to shift towards aggro-slanted tempo decks, it is easy to take advantage of the meta with heavy control builds packed with removal, healing, and AOE. You just need to outlast things like Mage, Shaman, and Druid until they run out of steam.
However, while that plan has been good for a while, one of the biggest problems with builds like Control Warrior and Control Priest was Quest Rogue. You could beat more aggressive lists, but Quest Rogue would run you over. One AOE might help stem the bleeding, but it is very hard for any slow deck to outlast an endless string of threats. Now that Quest Rogue is gone, those decks can thrive.
The Caverns Below nerf will likely give rise to many greedy decks. In this way, the change should polarize the meta. On one side there will be faster lists like Midrange Hunter, Pirate Warrior, and Murloc Paladin, and on the other there will be Priest, slower Paladin, and Burn Mage. Two extremes trying to take each other down. This should lead to a much swingier ladder in the early days that will likely settle once midrange gets going.
In addition, the nerf should also help bring back Quest Warrior in a big way. Quest Rogue (and to some extent Miracle) was the biggest reason the wall-based deck could not keep a foothold in the meta. You might win a few games here and there against faster decks, but it was not worth queuing into caverns again and again. While the deck still has the Midrange Paladin problem, it just lost its biggest enemy.
That trend towards slow decks should also help bring about Jade Druid. The new Jade decks were already gaining some steam and every little push helps. Though they are not fast enough to match Rogue, the builds have enough tools to handle both aggro and control. If slower decks start to pop up, then Jade will likely follow suit. Jade Idol still crushes anyone trying to take the game long.
Beyond Druid, the final shift to come from the nerf will be a rise in Miracle Rogue. Auctioneer has seen much more play as of late and, like Jade Druid, the deck loves to face slower build where it can get good value from both its combo and Sherazin, Corpse Flower. This is a change that will not come directly from the nerf itself, but rather from how everyone else will react to it.
Like it or not, Quest Rogue is on its way out. The combo deck had a good run, but for reasons I assume are related to the upcoming expansions, it had to be no more. It is just one deck, but every change has far-reaching impacts across the ladder. This one should be no different.
Much needed change.
So now you die on turn 6-7 instead of 5 when not going idiotic aggro/zoo spam or taunt warrior, which at least means a bit more of a chance
Biggest winners will be midrange decks, this will give them a chance on the ladder.
Caverns Below was actually one of the 2 Legendaries I got in the initial 50-pack purchase with the release of Un’goro; I was able to get a Quest Rogue deck up and running right off the bat… and I never enjoyed playing it. It’s heavily reliant on the draw and decisions you make very early on; get it right (especially if you can Prep into the Crystal Core on about turn 4 or 5) and you basically cannot lose… get it wrong and you almost cannot win (except in favoured match ups). You can often tell whether you’ve won or lost in 4 or 5 turns.
The thing that makes Combo decks fun, for me, is the big swing – the point where everything you’ve built the deck around all comes together and you get that Woohoo! moment. You’ve churned through your deck with a Gadgetzan Auctioneer, dropped Emperor Thaurissan on the board and you’re ready, next turn, for the OTK Malygos drop! (yes, Wild Malygos Miracle Rogue is still probably my favourite deck)
The Rogue Quest really doesn’t do that – it’s one card which you’re guaranteed to start with, a dozen cards to tick the boxes and “me go face”. I find it almost as horrible to pilot as Pirate Warrior … and I really don’t enjoy playing with aggro decks.
Mind – once it’s nerfed I might actually revisit the Rogue Quest… I like to set myself stupid challenges 🙂
Why do people think it was a face deck after finishing the quest? It wasn’t. Usually you’re at low heath totals and have to play around cards and try to take back control of the board. Espesally If you are at 10 health to your opponents 30. And this deck had some of the biggest swing turns in the game. I’m at 3 life and opponent is at 30 on his turn and he concedes. This deck wasn’t as automatic as people think.
because it’s so hard to make trades with 5/5’s you can bounce
In an ideal game you can almost ignore what your opponent does entirely; just ensure you don’t leave cards you want to bounce on the board at the end of the turn. If you can Prep into Crystal Core on turn 4 or 5 you’ve basically won, your life total doesn’t mean much when you’ve got 25 potential face damage on the board on turn 5 or 6… unless you’ve got a properly aggressive opponent (in which case you’re quite likely all-but-dead).
Quest Rogue is more *proactive* (aggressive).
With a “classic” (Miracle) Rogue Combo deck you normally spend the early game restricting your opponent’s board presence until you can line up your big OTK. It might take a while and you’ll probably churn through most of your deck but in an ideal game you’ll counter your opponents moves as best you can before snatching victory.
It’s a much more *reactive* (defensive) deck.
(much more the kind of deck I prefer to play)
So yes, you can get the big swings with Quest Rogue but that’s not _really_ what the deck is about – it’s just what you have to do when you can’t flood the board with 5/5s by turn 6.
It is actually kinda unfair for someone like me who crafted that legendary and its gonna be useless.blizzard if you want to nerf new expensive cards like that you should give us the option to dust it for full dust!
They do give you the ability to dust for full refund once the patch is live.
Michal, Blizzard does that. Always did.
After the nerf, you have a week or so to dust the card(s) for it’s full value.
About the comments below. People having no clue about anything are shouting loudest.
While Quest Rogue might not be the hardest deck to play right now, the deck is incredibly punishing for the mistakes and that’s what makes it one of the decks requiring most skill to pilot really well. Yes, it has very low skill floor, the basic idea is very simple, everyone can play it. But the problem is that even the smallest decisions matter A LOT. There is no room for mistakes, even the smallest ones can lose you the game against a good player. And there are quite a lot of decision to make – like which minion to bounce, whether to bounce a sub-optimal minion to finish Quest faster or wait one or two more turns for something better, how many minions you can use pre-Quest and how many you will need to finish the game with 5/5’s (e.g. whether you can afford to play that Southsea Deckhand pre-Quest to remove something or maybe you won’t have enough steam to work with after you finish it), the Vanish timing, even picking the best target with Glacial Shard (no, it’s not always that easy). Which makes the skill ceiling of the deck really high. Of course, if you play at low rank, those mistakes can easily go unpunished. But Quest Rogue games at the high level are really close ones, often one more turn would change the outcome of the whole game.
Rank 15 Pirate Warrior would still beat Legend players quite consistently if he just went face all the time without really making any hard decisions. That’s just how the deck works, yes, there are decisions, but making the sub-optimal ones can go unpunished very easily. Rank 15 Quest Rogue would struggle so hard in the high Legend/tournament meta, where everyone knows exactly how to play against the deck, how to counter it and are running decks that are optimized against it. He would need perfect hand to win, otherwise his poor decision-making would make him lose majority of his games.
Is the deck stupid and “cancerous” for the meta? Yes, of course. Is it easy to play? Not by a long shot, and if you don’t realize that, you probably never have played at the higher level.
That’s kinda bold to say… I’m pretty positive rank 15 quest rogue will still beat most of legend players in favorable matchups.
Dude you as missing the point on quest rogue. It’s not that it is overpowered. It’s the fact htat is has no counter play. The quest rogue player literally just plays the cards to the best of his abilities. If he does it correctly or gets a good draw the game is over. The game is not setup to determine victors at the opening draw.
I am very happy about this. I’m not one to complain much. I don’t mind pirate warrior, Token Druid, Jade Druid, quest warrior. I know this deck isn’t considered tier 1, but it was the most polarizing un-interactive deck in hearthstone of like… almost all time, it’s like a faster version of old beta freeze mage. And I LOVE ROGUE, as a matter of fact another deck people use to complain about, mill rogue, i loved. the moment i saw it i thought it was the coolest deck i ever played against. i mastered a version of mill rogue with arcane giants that i was able to get to rank 2 with during mean streets of gadgetzan expansion just before rotation. the strategy was to gang up coldlight , then arcane giants, vanish opponents board, play a bunch of 0 mana 8/8. AND YOU KNOW WHAT? quest rogue is like a dumbed down, much faster verion, of this deck. first few times i won with quest rogue i felt like scum, first few times i lost against it i was full of salt. it felt so horribal and unfair
FOR ANYONE SAYING BLIZZARD SHOULDN”T NERF THIS, they nerf thingts that get massive amount of complaints from user base. It’s what a lot of players wanted.
I still play Mill Rogue quite a bit in Wild … don’t get a great win rate but trolling Freeze Mages and Buff Priests (wait until they’ve played Divine Spirit, then Sap it) is totally worth it.
As soon as a Druid drops a Jade Idol though, you may as well concede – the deck is totally un-millable.
not with the deck i commented on, with arcane giants, vanish jades, plop down 0 mana arcane giants, go face next turn, i have very high win rate against jade druid with mill rogue ironically, since they can’t be fatigued… although one time i did try to fatigue one because he used an idol and i burned the other, but what do you know he discovered one from discover a spell or minion.
The deck I tend to use has no back-up plan though 😀 It’s Mill or Die – I will accept no other outcome*!
… which is probably why I don’t get a great win-rate 😉
* (not entirely true)
I played quest rogue quite a bit this meta. But rogue has always been my favorite class. Rogue decks have always been hard to pilot, espeasally Miracle Rogue. And I would not go as to say that quest rogue was easy to pilot as people think. I’m not saying it took a tremendous amount of skill, but there a lot of decisions that need to be made early just to survive. Also not losing stream if the game gets drawn out. You can win a lot of games easily, but to be consistent, it took some skill.
I don’t mind too much of the change only because I can understand how frustrating it could be to play against. (Tunnel trogg and totem golem). But nerfs like this need to be a little more frequent.
Hopefully this change does improve the meta, and caverns below isn’t just switches out for jade idol.
(By the way, what about vicious fledgling?)
so now all rogues will pop their quest on turn 5 instead of 3 or 4.
i dunno… every rogue i run into mulligans into the stone cold nuts.
hard to see a bump of one requirement being much of an effect. but i hope you are right.,
This will kill the deck. There pleanty of time where you’re not completing the quest untill mid to late game.
If caverns is to continue, it will have to be a new deck that isn’t as “all in”.
Blizzard nerfed the most skilled deck at the un’goro launch…….primordial glygh , stonehill defender still unerfed …..ONCE AGAIN THEY PROVE THAT THEY ARE NOT INTRESTED ABOUT THE COMPETITIVE SCENE
Hearthstone is becoming more and more Casualstone…..
The most skilled deck ? Are you for real ? Dude I get the salt of quest rogue being a tit OP, but how about jade idol, a card that basically rules every control deck in the meta that will see play until that bullshit card goes extinct into the oblivion.
Really? Laughing at you, it was most easy, boring deck. Also cheap. As pirate warriors and jade druids are. Would never play such a boring easy deck made for massess so some like you can finally win some games….
Skilled deck? Quest rogue is the most draw dependant deck in Hearthstone. Good draw = auto-win. plus, its an auto-loss against very fast deck and an auto-win against control decks. Do you like Heads or Tails and Rock-paper-scisor? Other very skillful games…
Primordial Glyph is another problem. Jade Idol must be fixed before any other cards.
THE MOST SKILLED DECK?? You are trolling us?? AAHHAHAHAH Quest Rogue with the right mulligan is automatic win, only luck, no skill. This deck is for stupid lucky noob!!
LOL bro the most skilled deck? Are you trolling or what? It’s just a lame deck suo completely ruins this meta which actually has some great potential