JohnnyBlack’s #1 Legend Quest Rogue Guide

Quest Rogue has been one of the most polarizing decks of Un’goro and while a lot of people are of the opinion that the quest is inherently very powerful and requires a nerf, others feel that the deck is just not strong enough and the quest is fine. After being at the top of the meta reports in the initial weeks, people began to find out how to counter the deck and the deck has dropped out of favor into the lower tiers ever since but competitive players have been getting positive results with the deck regardless despite a horde of bad matchups being present in the meta. The deck is by no means easy to pilot at a hundred percent efficiency and it is definitely one of the harder decks to play consistently. Let’s break down the card choices and break down the playstyle of the deck.

Card Choices

Backstab: Arguably the best and most efficient early game removal in the game and the 0-mana cost also makes it a very good combo activator for Rogue cards in general. Since we already have a lot of early game in the deck to contest the board in the early game we run only one copy of the card.

Preparation: One of the strongest spells in the game that allows you to cheat out expensive cards for less mana and it finds a lot of value in the deck thanks to cards like Mimic Pod and Vanish being present in the deck. You can also play your Crystal Core for cheap if you play Preparation with it to squeeze in some minions along with the quest reward early on.

Shadowstep: Shadowstep is one of the many bounce effects that have been included in the deck and it allows you to pull back and replay a minion to count towards your quest or simply to activate the Battlecry of targeted minions repeated times for board or card advantage. The 0 cost spell helps a lot when it comes to getting your quest done early enough to hit your win condition.

Swashburglar: Swashburglar is a very powerful 1 drop that allows you to draw cards outside your deck and with the help of bounce effects you can increase the draws you get out of the card and maintain card advantage and also push towards completing your quest. It also has synergy with Patches The Pirate as it pulls Patches out of your deck.

the-caverns-below: The Caverns Below is the Rogue Quest that has been extremely controversial since launch. While the quest by itself is definitely one of the strongest, Rogue has always been weak against aggressive decks and this deck is no exception, but with the inclusion of several tech cards the deck does reasonably well against aggressive decks and very well against control decks.

gadgetzan-ferryman: Gadgetzan Ferryman is one of the multiple bounce cards in the deck that help you get your quest completed. While it was deemed to be one of the weakest cards during the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan launch, the card broke into the meta in style and it currently sees play in every variant of Quest Rogue.

Mimic Pod: A great card draw tool that draws two copies of one card and can potentially help you complete your quest as well by adding a copy of a minion that you want to play 4 times.

Vanish: It can function both as a removal as well as a mass bounce effect card to return multiple minions back and replay them to potentially complete your quest or simply replay them to activate their battlecries again. Since you run very cheap and mana-efficient cards you will be winning the value game against slower decks very consistently as your opponent will will likely need to spend more mana than you to replay his minions.

Fire Fly: A great card to include for completing the quest as it generates a copy of Flame Elemental along with Igneous Elemental that generates 2 copies of Flame Elemental with its deathrattle. Even if you do not draw your bounce effects you can potentially finish your quest quite consistently through the elemental package.

Glacial Shard: A very useful card against aggressive classes and it can prevent face damage from minions or simply block weapon charges by freezing an enemy character. There have been instances where I have been able to win games by stalling out against decks like Pirate Warrior.

Patches The Pirate: A great inclusion in the deck that draws itself out when you play a pirate and if you do not draw the card through a pirate before you play your Crystal Core, you can potentially get a free 1 mana 5/5 with Charge. The fact that it draws itself out means that your subsequent draws become a lot more consistent.

Southsea Deckhand: With the Rogue hero power allowing you to equip a weapon, you do not need to run weapons separately in your deck to activate the charge effect of this card. It also helps you draw out Patches the Pirate due to the Pirate tag. It is a powerful card both before and after you play your Crystal Core and can push a lot of damage once your quest is completed.

Stonetusk Boar: You ideally want to draw and play this card after you complete your quest. The power of the Rogue quest is evident when you have cards like Stoentusk Baor making it into the current meta as a card that is consistently put into all variants of Quest Rogue.

Bilefin Tidehunter: Bilefin Tidehunter is included primarily in the deck to counter aggressive decks in the current meta and being able to push out 1/1 taunts repeatedly by bouncing your Bilefin Tidehunter can get really annoying for decks that just want to push face damage.

Novice Engineer: A minion based card draw tool that is also a great target for your bounce effects as you will be able to keep drawing cards with your Novice Engineer while also cycling through your deck and completing your quest.

Youthful Brewmaster: Alongside Gadgetzan Ferryman and Shadowstep, Youthful Brewmaster is our third choice for single target bounce effects in the deck to boost your deck efficiency when it comes to completing the quest in time. Since you mostly run high value 1 and 2 mana Battlecry cards you can consistently activate your quest reward with the help of your bounce effects.

Igneous Elemental: With Flame Elemental being a potential candidate for completing your quest, you have access to Fire Fly and Igneous Elemental to push out a total of 6 Flame Elementals without needing any bounce effects. It allows your deck to be more consistent and even if you have bad draws and don’t draw your bounce cards you will be able to complete your quest fast enough.

How to Play

This variant of Quest Rogue relies on a more anti-aggro approach and there except Igneous Elemental, all of your minions cost 1 or 2 mana, making the deck consistent in the early game and cards like Glacial Shard and Bilefin Tidehunter come in very handy against aggro decks. Depending on how many bounce effects you have in hand you can plan which card you want to bounce accordingly. Ideally you want to apply as much pressure as possible against aggro decks with your cheap minions. If you are under a lot of pressure against an aggro deck you want to hold off on completing your quest and your goal should be to maintain board advantage and hold off on your quest completion unless you have stabilized against their early game. While against slower decks you can aggressively bounce your minions as long as you are not getting killed too quickly.

Against aggressive decks you need to use your Glacial Shard and Bilefin Tidehunter very judiciously to make sure you stall out their damage as much as possible and slowly but steadily, complete your quest. Swashburglar and Novice Engineer are great targets to bounce as they generate cards in hand while also helping you complete your quest. Vanish can be a good comeback card if your opponent over-commits to the board and you can push back a lot of their high cost minions back in hand, causing them to lose tempo. Preparation can be a good card to hold onto in the early game as it can help you squeeze out an early Mimic Pod or Vanish, or even your Crystal Core.

Mulligan

• Backstab

• Swashburglar

• Glacial Shard

• Fire Fly

• Bilefin Tidehunter (with bounce cards)

• Novice Engineer (with bounce cards)

• Preparation (with your hand likely to pull off the quest easily or with Mimic Pod)

• Gadgetzan Ferryman / Youthful Brewmaster

Conclusion

Quest Rogue is definitely not an easy deck to pilot with consistent levels of success and if you want to try out this anti-aggro variant of Quest Rogue then do give it a shot as it works very well in the current meta. JohnnyBlack hit Rank 1 Legend early this season with the list and it is definitely one of the dark horses in the Hearthstone meta if you know how to pilot the deck correctly. Hope you guys have fun with the deck and do let us know in the comments below how the deck works out for you this season!

---