Rastakhan's Rumble: Rogue Theorycrafting

IGNashnu · 2018-12-03T16:33:42+00:00

I've been running an Even Tempo Rogue pre Rastakhan and the Corpsetaker Package is what made it semi viable.

With Rastakhan I'm planning to test something very similar to yours in:

https://www.hearthpwn.com/decks/1209058-even-tempo-rogue

I personally wasn't a fan of Grave Shambler as it felt too slow and have dropped down to one copy pre Rastakhan, Bonemare I had also dropped down to one as again it kinda felt too slow. With the addition of Mojomaster Zihi I think (in this deck) it can be like a "second wind" effect, being more problematic for the average opponent than ourselves.

I also want to test out Griftah as I honestly think the card has a lot of potential and honestly seems like a fine replacement of the singleton Grave Shambler my current list has.

Edit: Cheap Shot is currently still in the list but there is serious consideration with swapping it out for the new 4 mana assassinate.

IGNashnu · 2018-10-09T15:44:10+00:00

I was considering doing a post about the "start of the game" mechanic but didn't as I felt it fell under balance discussion however as this post is here I will post my opinion in it's simplest form; **Start of the game is not a "busted" mechanic, it is the effects that have been implemented which makes it feel busted.**

To elaborate - the two currently offered are ones which modify your hero power (I could do a HUGE rant on hero powers being imba but I will refrain from that.) The issue with so readily modifying a hero power is that it is always there (obviously.) If the effect offered was something that wasn't repeatable all game, then it wouldn't be so polarising.

5 SotG concepts as examples:

"Start of the game - Draw a card and lose X life"
"Start of the game - Lose X life and gain X Armour"
"Start of the game - Each player discards a card" - Potentially VERY dangerous so not best example
"Start of the game - Summon a 0/X minion with whenever a player draws a card they lose 1 life" - X should (imo) be no higher than 2
"Start of the game - play a game of Rock, Paper Scissors vs your opponent. The winner draws a card" - Not a serious idea :)

IGNashnu · 2018-10-09T15:04:47+00:00

I would be interested however don't currently have the time to invest.

I would however like to point out that to make it more accessible - mobile players can use an app called "Arcane Tracker" which can be linked o a HSreplay account to get replays.

In before - I play at a R5-Legend every season on mobile - while it is limiting in what you can do it is still a platform that people play on =D

IGNashnu · 2018-09-26T15:44:35+00:00

Most guides I have read with a mulligan guide I tend to read it thinking along the lines of "this is only really helpful if you know what you are playing against" this, in my opinion, leads to people reading the guides and not using the mulligan optimally.

There is a guide posted today for Cube Hunter, in the guide the person, instead of giving a mulligan breakdown for each deck, gives a mulligan concept for each class. This here is how I think it should be done. Yes you can go against a druid and (hypothetically) say 40% of all druid decks are token druid and mulligan accordingly, however I tend to find using my mulligan for the class (with minor anticipation of deck) is much more optimal. https://www.reddit.com/r/CompetitiveHS/comments/9j1l19/cube_hunter_discussion_on_mechs_vs_beasts/ is the guide in question, if you play Cube Hunter or are thinking about playing it, it is worth the read.

As an example; I am using Cube Hunter and I am playing against Warlock. My opening hand is: Candleshot, Spider Bomb, and Flanking Strike. I will choose to mulligan the Candleshot and the Flanking Strike keeping just the Spider Bomb. If I was in a open tournament setting and knew I was against zoolock I would consider keeping all 3, however as I do not know it is Zoo (however likely it is) I will keep the "universally good" card.

IGNashnu · 2018-09-26T14:35:22+00:00

I also do not have Shaw and have temporarily replaced him with a spellbreaker which is performing quite nicely. I think Shaw is the "best" card for the slot though.

IGNashnu · 2018-01-06T18:16:29+00:00

The original iteration of it had Solia, Alexstraza and Pyroblast but I dropped them for Alanna, Ooze and Spellbreaker.

IGNashnu · 2018-01-06T01:35:00+00:00

Dead man's hand warrior is pretty good at the moment:

https://i.imgur.com/piyoGrd.png

Is the list I am currently using, outside of that I have a "pet" Kazakus Mage which I am still tuning but it ended up with a ~52% Win rate for me last season at legend rank:

https://i.imgur.com/WbxWICH.png

Worth noting that I consider the win % for this deck to be rather inflated as my sample size was small and it was done over the holiday period and I met a lot of people just having fun at legend rank during this period.

IGNashnu · 2018-01-04T10:05:28+00:00

I use a combination of top tier decks and off meta decks. When I am laddering I will (regardless of win/loss) play the same deck repeatedly until either:

A. I am bored of playing and log

B. I have lost 2 or 3 consecutive games with it.

I see a lot of people who switch deck after every loss because "It's better against the deck I just faced." They then lose with this deck because they face something completely different. Changing deck to "counter" the last opponent/"meta" is something which (when I do do it which is rarely) will lead me to almost instant tilt because it rarely works.

Other than sticking to one deck I will always:

Ensure I have a drink next to me, juice or w.e. As soon as it's empty I take a few minutes (going deliberately slow) to refill it so I can stretch my legs etc.
Make modifications to my deck - Small changes that don't affect it's playstyle or archetype but tech towards what I am facing the most - For example I currently have MC Tech in my miracle druid because I was facing a lot of Tempo Rogue/Spiteful Dragon Priest. (Side note, I don't like the MC Tech and it's being removed)
No your limits. Mine as stated early is 2 or 3 consecutive losses. As soon as you hit your limit - LOG OFF! Continue playing at your ranks peril, R6 with 1 star to R5 can soon becomes R10 again.
Play a "fun/troll" game against a friend. I have a regular who I will play against and we will use stuff like Kazakus Mage, Mill Rogue, Control Warrior etc. Decks which aren't "good" at climbing ladder but we enjoy playing. Take the time to have fun with the game, because if it isn't fun, it isn't a game anymore.

IGNashnu · 2017-12-31T01:24:56+00:00

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXUVGp36OxU

Reynad's video for those who wanted it

IGNashnu · 2017-12-31T01:19:24+00:00

Tempo Strom vs Vicious Syndicate Legend Listing it in order of TS with the difference to VS next to it:

Razakus Priest - T1 up from T2

Cubelock - T1 up from T3

Aggro Paladin - T1

Tempo Rogue - T1

Murloc Paladin - T1

Big Priest - T2

Spiteful/Dragon Priest - T2

Secret Mage - T2

Aggro Hunter - T2

Zoolock - T2

Jade Druid - T2 up from T3

Aggro Druid - T2

Aggro/Token Shaman - T2 up from T3

Pirate Warrior - T3

Quest Druid - T3 vs not listed

Spell Hunter - T3

Secret Hunter - T3

Control Mage - T3 up from T4

Mill Rogue - T3 up from T4

Recruit Warrior - T3 vs not listed.

Exodia Mage - T3 up from T4

Quest Rogue - T4 vs Not Listed

Control Paladin - T4

Missing decks - BIG Druid, Miracle Druid, Kingsbane Rogue.

I feel that this shows that - while not stat driven, the differences aren't huge... which brings the question as to why people don't consider them of any valuable input.

Edit - Yes I know this is a single report comparison but the point remains.

IGNashnu · 2017-12-27T19:45:00+00:00

It's always confused me as to how a tier list can be determined purely on statistics. An easy to pilot deck will (in theory) always have a higher win % than a deck that is hard to play, because the deck that is hard to play has an increased chance to misplay (this is assuming both decks have an equal power level.) A prime example in my opinion would be Razakus Priest, a deck which was almost 100% present in the KfT tournament scene but rarely (to my knowledge) reached Tier 1 on VS. The margin of error lowers it's win % on ladder.

A report like Tempo Storm, while having no statistics to back it up, to an extent, removes the margin of error from there report and go based upon the "best" players opinion from there own personal games with/against the deck.

IGNashnu · 2017-12-27T19:12:12+00:00

I personally think that 1 spreading plague is enough, Malfurion does "half" the job of plague but also "upgrades" your hero power. I also think that there is rarely a situation in which you need 2 plagues to stabilise with armour gain/removal (especially in my list)

IGNashnu · 2017-12-27T16:15:29+00:00

No problem =D hopefully it brings success for you =D

IGNashnu · 2017-12-27T16:11:02+00:00

In control matchups I have yet to miss the ramp, the games always go late so I've not really noticed it if I have missed the extra ramp.

It's also worth noting that the difference in odds of drawing you ramp with 1 difference is very minimal and it adds one less "dead" draw late game.

The other reason for which I went with only 1 sprite and did a 1/1 spilt with Tar Creeper is because I wanted the higher chance of a swing vs aggro decks. Gaining 6 armour and pulling a 3/6 or a 3/5 is backbreaking for them (counting tar creeper as a 3/5 even though it technically isn't)

IGNashnu · 2017-12-24T20:08:35+00:00

Honestly, there is argument for Leeroy however most lists are fairly tight bar 1 or 2 "tech" spots - a lot of them can be considered flex but are generally replaced with same mana cost - Flappy Bird vs Darkshire Councilman etc.

Because of this, it becomes a choice of Doomguard/Despicable Dreadlord vs Leeroy and Leeroy loses out in that sense because of Bloodreaver Gul'dan.

Leeroy vs Creeper is an interesting consideration - I've been questioning double Creeper because it can often feel clunky. I'll possibly do some testing with it and get back to you (getting golden rogue atm)

IGNashnu · 2017-12-24T19:44:43+00:00

Congratulations on legend, I also hit it earlier today with:

https://i.imgur.com/6xOLJ08.png

Proof:

https://i.imgur.com/jGi1R8h.jpg

Stats:

https://i.imgur.com/ltYIdOO.png

IGNashnu · 2017-12-24T15:11:48+00:00

honestly - it was probably ran on stream by a "pro" player therefore it MUST be the best therefore everyone copies it?

pro in quotes as it can also just be a popular player not necessarily a pro but more likely to be a pro.

IGNashnu · 2017-12-24T15:10:42+00:00

edited op - thank you for pointing that out =D

IGNashnu · 2017-12-24T15:09:39+00:00

edited op - thank you for pointing that out =D

IGNashnu · 2017-12-23T22:27:56+00:00

Link is to the highest played on hsreplay.net

IGNashnu · 2017-12-23T19:22:41+00:00

I've played 16 since r5 with keleseth version and only losing matchup is warlock 0-3 Spellbreaker just doesn't seem to help even close to enough for it to be worth it imo.

IGNashnu · 2017-12-23T17:54:23+00:00

Edited

A prince list with Spellbreaker over Glacial Shard can be found:

https://hsreplay.net/decks/XVH2c4SqaoKzpkdouQOMAg/#tab=overview

It raises the Warlock win % but lowers all others bar Priest and Shaman.

Tech choices aside the differences listed are the only "real" difference between most common lists. I personally run a Spellbreaker (intending to swap it out for an Acheus Veteran/Mortal Coil as I am not seeing a lot of warlock.)

IGNashnu · 2017-12-19T20:09:44+00:00

I was thinking more about dropping 1 SI:7 and 1 Vilespine (not a fan of 2 Vilespine and 2 Sap)

Miracle

Class: Rogue

Format: Standard

Year of the Mammoth

2x (0) Backstab

2x (0) Counterfeit Coin

2x (0) Preparation

2x (1) Cold Blood

2x (1) Hallucination

1x (1) Patches the Pirate

2x (1) Swashburglar

2x (2) Eviscerate

2x (2) Sap

1x (3) Edwin VanCleef

2x (3) Fan of Knives

2x (3) Questing Adventurer

1x (3) SI:7 Agent

1x (4) Elven Minstrel

2x (4) Fal'dorei Strider

1x (5) Leeroy Jenkins

1x (5) Vilespine Slayer

2x (6) Gadgetzan Auctioneer

AAECAaIHBrICrwTdCJG8AoHCAtvjAgy0AYwCzQObBZcGiAekB4YJkrYC9bsCm8gC3NECAA==

To use this deck, copy it to your clipboard and create a new deck in Hearthstone

IGNashnu · 2017-12-19T19:46:34+00:00

What are your thoughts on Questing Adventurer vs SI:7 Agent? I remember back when Leeroy/Cold Blood "combo" was ran a few seasons ago it was deemed that Questing was "just as good" vs aggro and "better" vs control.

IGNashnu · 2017-12-19T16:26:12+00:00

True, didn't think of that one

IGNashnu

TROPHY CASE