Guide: Tempo Rogue (Dart)

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GYMLEADERLANCE recently interviewed Dart, three time Top Ten Legend and creator of his innovative Rogue deck and the steps he took to get there.

Decklist & Strategy

A lot of people have been choosing between “Miracle” Rogue and “Fair” Rogue since the games Closed Beta release. Most of which, have leaned towards Miracle for its high thought-process plays and “one-turn-kill”ish style with Leeroy Jenkins, double Shadowstep and double Cold Blood for twenty-Six damage out of nowhere. Fair Rogue, on the other hand, focuses on tempo and board control over saving everything for one big finisher, but are capable of similar numbers and normally finish on the same turn .??

Nerfs to Defender of Argus as well as Dark Iron Dwarf have made “Fair” Rogue a little harder to play, but that is why Dart and several other players like it.

General Playstyle

Board Control

Cards like Backstab, SI:7 Agent and Eviscerate allow the Rogue to deal with early threats easily, not many classes can deal with a turn two Doomsayer. Argent Commander, Shattered Sun Cleric, Defender of Argus and Dark Iron Dwarf allow you to trade-up your one mana cards for the opponents three mana cards and so on while leaving a creature on yours.??

Value

Dark Iron Dwarf, Defender of Argus, SI:7 Agent, Shattered Sun Cleric as well as all of the Rogue spells gain value by using less mana for their more expensive spells and creatures normally going two or three cards for one.??

Versatility

Leeroy, Eviscerate, Cold Blood and Argent Commander allow the Rogue to pull out a surprising amount of damage from turn two forward while also able to use them as removal.

Mulligan

On The Play: Going First

Argent Squire, Harvest Golem, Nat Pagle and Backstab if you are going first for good solid opening which allows Valeera to find her way into a commanding turn four and above.

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On The Draw: Going Second

If you are going second however you also want to keep a Shattered Sun Cleric if you have an Argent Squire for a turn two play as well as SI:7 Agent for possible turn two value by killing their Faerie Dragon, damage Nat Pagle or most playable one or two mana creatures as well as getting a creature on the board.??

Hunter

This is different because of how hunter does its damage. They generate damage off of the opponent having creatures which is what Rogue is going for with Defender of Argus, Dark Iron Dwarf and Shattered Sun Cleric leaving creatures on the board making Rexxar a formidable opponent. Against him you keep Argent Squire, Backstab and Defender of Argus are your main concern as well as SI:7 Agent if you are on the draw(going second).

Matchups

Great Matchups

Priest – Too few early plays.

Paladin – Their board clear is too late and if they do get it off, it mostly kills caltrops.

Shaman – Takes advantage of the overload with their early plays and pressure.

Mage – With the changes to Pyroblast and the “Freeze” mechanic mage relies too much on early creatures to compensate which is where Rogue takes the game.)

Good Matchups

Druid – With the new Force of Nature/Savage Roar combo by StrifeCro they are typically too little too late.

Rogue- Typically who gets the coin or who gets the early advantage cards such as SI:7 Agent and Backstab.

Warlock – Cheap early removal that aggressive Warlock can only keep up with in the most extreme situations.

Less Good Matchups

Warrior – Good value low cast minions and spells to keep a stronger board control that transitions into continuous big legendaries.

Hunter – We rely on getting a lot of creatures on the board which fuels their Unleash the Hounds and if we put up a big taunt creature with Defender of Argus, Ironbeak Owl and Hunters Mark leaves us S.O.L.

Closing

<a href="??ww.twitch.tv/dartzzzzzz??

” target=”_blank”>Dart is a free agent looking for a team to learn from and with. If you want to get in touch with him about this he requests an inbox message on TwitchTV.

[quote]”I fully believe this Rogue list can get legend every season if you know what you are doing and can perform well in tournament play, but doesn’t see as much legend play because of the faulty ladder system in Legend needing 80%+ win-rate to climb.”[/quote]

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