Miracle Rogue Matchup Analysis: Vs. Aggro Hunter

justjimmy

Published: Jun 1, 2014 08:31 am

Welcome friends! My name is Blackacre and I piloted the Miracle Rogue to Top 20 NA. After receiving numerous requests for a guide on how to mulligan/play each of the major matchups in the metagame I have given in and created a comprehensive guide, containing 11 matchups analysis.

Matchup Analysis

The Face Hunter matchup is simultaneously a very simple matchup and also one of the most complex to play correctly. How can this be? Well first let us look at how the matchup plays out. The Hunter is playing an extremely aggressive deck.

It is their intention to apply damage directly to your hero on every turn of the game. This means that we are under a fast clock. For newer players the term “clock” simply represents the number of turns it would take to finish the game if the current board was not disrupted. For instance if your opponent had a 5 power minion on the board and you were at 15 life, you would be on a 3 turn clock, because that is how long it would take your opponent to kill you. The Face Hunter deck puts you under a fast clock because of all the aggressive minions it runs as well as the use of the Steadyshot hero power.

However, the minions that the Face Hunter plays are generally very easy for the Miracle Rogue player to remove and there is a limited amount of card draw in the Face Hunter’s deck. So the first few turns will generally revolve around the Face Hunter playing minions and the Miracle Rogue player easily removing them. At a certain point the Face Hunter will run low on resources and the Miracle Rogue player will still have minions on the board. While this seems perfect, the Miracle Rogue player will almost certainly be at a life deficit at this point and it is also very common for there to be a litany of traps on the Hunter’s side of the board.

Knowing when to attack the Hunter and when to stop attacking and build a board that can finish the game in one turn can be crucial to winning this matchup. This is also a matchup that requires some of the most complex technical play when facing a Hunter that has multiple traps on board. Ordering your turn correctly can often spell the difference between victory and defeat.

The strict clock we are facing means that we have to be very protective of every point of life we have. Don’t take unnecessary damage to try to get extra value from your cards. You will have plenty of damage to kill your opponent even if you ignore value. We should be aggressive with our play, but only when doing so won’t increase the clock we are facing. Let us take a look at what cards we want in this matchup.

Mulligan Guide

Keepers

backstab

Backstab is a fine tempo play in this matchup. It will allow us to remove a minion the Hunter played while also developing our board. Keeping one of these is advised, especially if you have early game minions in hand to play with it.

shiv

Shiv really shines in this matchup. It will almost always remove a minion from the board while drawing us a card. Keep one of these in your starting hand.

edwin-vancleef

VC is near his best in this matchup. Modern Face Hunter decks have been cutting freezing-trap which was their only answer to a large VC. Feel free to keep him and go nuts in making him big. Just make sure you don’t end up hitting yourself by attacking into a misdirection with VC.

si7-agent

This card specializes in punishing aggressive decks and the Face Hunter certainly fits the bill. Keep this card in your opening hand and reap the benefits of the 2 for 1 it offers.

bloodmage-thalnos

Thalnos is a fine card in the matchup. The spell power he offers will not be particularly valuable, but the 1/1 body will generally trade with a minion and draw us a card in the process. Keep this card in your opening hand unless you have a better turn 2 play.

loot-hoarder

Loot Hoarder acts like a stronger Thalnos in the matchup. Keep one of these in your opening hand and enjoy your 2 for 1.

earthen-ring-farseer

There is really no matchup where Earthen Ring Farseer shines more than this matchup. You absolutely want to keep this in your starting hand. Feel free to use your Shadowsteps with Earthen Ring Farseer to gain even more life.

Situational

preparation

There are better options in the matchup than Preparation. The only times I would consider keeping a Preparation is if I also had a Shiv or FoK in my opening hand.

fan-of-knives

FoK is a very powerful card in the matchup. It will often act as board clear while drawing you a card in the process. Just make sure that you have a turn 2 play before you decide to keep one of these in your opening hand.

azure-drake/gadgetzan-auctioneer

The 5 mana minions are grouped together in this matchup because they should be treated similarly. It is fine card to keep ONE of these minions in your opening hand, but only if you have strong cards to fill out the early turns of the game in hand as well. If you have no early turn answers in hand you should mulligan these cards in search of those high priority cards.

Throw It Back

shadowstep

Shadowstep can be very useful especially in conjunction with Earthen Ring Farseer to help provide a life cushion. However, we want to be more proactive with our starting hand and therefore it is best to mulligan these in search of better options.

cold-blood

Cold Blood should never be kept in your opening hand.

conceal

Conceal is a value card and this matchup has nothing to do with value. Mulligan this without hesitation.

deadly-poison

Deadly Poison is near its worst in this matchup. Most of the minions the Hunter will be playing have only 1 toughness, so the added dagger damage is irrelevant, and because life total is at such a premium in this matchup we don’t want to be using our face to clear minions regardless. This means that Deadly Poison will generally equate to nothing more than 4 damage to your opponent’s face over 2 turns in this matchup. That is not something we are excited about at all and should mulligan every time.

blade-flurry

On its face Blade Flurry seems as if it should have a lot of value in this matchup. Most of your opponent’s minions have 1 toughness so a Blade Flurry will act as a board clear in most circumstances even without a Deadly Poison. However, the way the matchup plays out your opponent will very seldom have more than 1 minion on the board at once because you will be clearing them every turn. So generally Blade Flurry will end up acting as 1 for 1 removal and that isn’t very impressive when you consider it will cost you 4 mana total to use the spell. 2 mana for the Blade Flurry itself and 2 mana to use your hero power. Feel free to mulligan this card in search of more efficient options.

eviscerate

There are basically only 2 targets in the entire Face Hunter deck that require 4 damage to remove, those being leokk and misha. While Eviscerate is very helpful when you are facing one of them, the limited usage for the spell means we are better off mulliganing it in search of better options.

sap

Sap is extremely bad in this matchup. Almost every minion you opponent plays will have charge and often will cost less than the 2 mana for Sap.

leeroy-jenkins

Leeroy Jenkins should never be kept in your opening hand.