Our guide to the latest top-flight Rogue deck.
Like any of the other great Rogue decks, this new creation from Kolento isn’t for either the faint-hearted or those who prefer to play recklessly. Still, if you’re prepared to think carefully through each of your moves in the mid to late-game, you’ll be in a great position to handle just about anything the opponent can throw at you.
Kolento’s Season 11 Rogue strategy guide
The latest Rogue deck has all of the tools it needs to control the early game, stay alive, and then gradually push through the opponent’s health pool.
Early on you should seek to gain maximum tempo from the combos available to you, and eke every last drop of efficiency out of your removal options as you prevent the opponent from developing their side of the board. You should be using the Battlecry effects of your minions to deal with the threat, and leave a few bodies of your own out in play too.
It’s essential that you choose the right time to start ignoring the minions on your opponent’s side of the board and begin beating down the other Hero. Having all the tempo in the world is no good if you don’t take advantage of it from time to time. When you’re in a dominant position, let the opponent do the hard work of dealing with your own burgeoning threat, unless you have reason to believe a total board wipe is on its way.
Kolento’s Season 11 Rogue Mulligan guide
With the obvious proviso that you should Mulligan according to the class you’re up against and the metagame you find yourself in, there are a few key considerations to take into account when weighing up your starting hand.
If you fear an aggressive opponent like Mech Mage, aggro Hunter or Zoo, look for cards like Backstab, Blade Flurry (assuming you also have the bonus Deadly Poison) and SI:7 Agent. Fan of Knives will help you deal with the popular Muster Paladin. Against control decks you can look for cards like Shade of Naxxramas and Violet Teacher as you ride the early turns out.
Kolento’s Season 11 Rogue card combos
Like any Rogue deck worth its salt, there are quit a few key combos to keep in mind as you play your hand out and draw into new cards. Try and make all of the following plays second nature, so you get the most out of the maths available during each turn.
– Naturally, Preparation combos well with all kinds of spells in this deck, but it has a particularly powerful synergy with Sprint. In the late-game, you’ll often be able to refill your hand nicely, and then make a play out of something cheap you’ve just drawn into.
– Deadly Poison can be used to give your bog-standard blade a considerable boost in attacking power, or combo’d further with Blade Flurry to deliver a pretty meaty board-clear.
Likewise, Tinker’s Sharpsword Oil can be used to boost your weapon even further. You’re then free to either use your blade for devastating single-target damage, or for initiating an even bigger board-clear.
Bloodmade Thalnos and Azure Drake can be used to boost all of your spells to devastating effect. Thalnos in particular is so cheap that he should always be factored carefully into your late-game maths.
Violet Teacher is, of course, fed by any of the spells in your hand, and will produce a series of irritating token minions that your opponent has to deal with.
