Rogue has been doing fairly well in the current meta with its “Mill” decks in Standard thanks to plenty of greedy decks running around and no consistent counter play available against Kingsbane. This variant of Kingsbane Rogue is brought to you by Gallon, who has been a consistent high ranked player and an active member in the community. He peaked Rank 4 Legend with the list and finished Top 100. Before you test out the deck, do note that Kingsbane Rogue is particularly bad against aggressive decks and it has always been an underlying problem of the Rogue class in general since the game’s release. The class is however, extremely powerful against anything remotely greedy and can out-tempo and outvalue a lot of decks and be very punishing.
Card Choices
Backstab: Backstab is one of the bread and butter early game removal spells for Rogue and it can allow you to take care of early game threats against decks like Murloc Paladin or Secret Mage, which are quite popular right now.
Counterfeit Coin: You can ‘cheat’ a mana crystal out with the card or also use it to activate combo cards for no added cost. It is a solid card that allows you to squeeze in plays that you would otherwise not be able to.
Preparation: Preparation is one of the strongest epics in the game and it allows you to make plays that would otherwise be impossible. It can generate a lot of value with cards like Vanish or Blade Flurry, enabling the player to use the spells much earlier than normally possible.
Shadowstep: With a sufficient amount of Battlecries in the deck Shadowstep can get you a lot of value. In several matchups you want to be playing it with Coldight Oracle to mill your opponent while managing your hand to avoid burning your own cards It also helps you cycle your deck and keep getting to your key Kingsbane buffs to push damage.
Deadly Poison: Deadly Poison is a cheap buff that allows you to buff up your Kingsbane or simply use on your hero power when you need to clear out early game threats.
Doomerang: A sneaky way to get deal with minions without having to tank face damage, and it also allows you to efficiently use your last charge of Kingsbane without shuffling it back to your deck. It also has synergy once you activate Lifesteal on your weapon as it heals you for the amount of damage dealt without making you tank damage against minions.
Kingsbane: One of the strongest legendary weapons announced last expansion, Kingsbane is one of the cards in the game that has no consistent counter. You can just keep redrawing your weapon over and over again and buff it up until you can close out the game in a small number of turns.
Cavern Shinyfinder: It is one of the best cards in the deck and it allows you to consistently draw out your Kingsbane. We run only one weapon in the deck, which ensures you draw your Kingsbane for continuously pressuring your opponent.
Leeching Poison: With Rogue not having access to any powerful class heals, Leeching Poison gets the job done and with enough attack buffs on your Kingsbane you can get enough healing out of the card while swinging away with your weapon.
Sap: An extremely powerful card against Warlock and Priests as you can shut down their tempo instantly for just 2 mana. It hits decks like Spiteful Priest, Big Priest and Control/Cube Warlock quite hard with the respective decks known to cheat out big minions in one way or the other.
Coldlight Oracle: Coldlight Oracle only has a bit more than a month until the next expansion comes and moves the card away to the Hall of Fame. It is a very powerful draw engine that can also be used as a milling card. Against decks like Priest and Warlock, you can often use milling as a win condition and burn several important cards while not losing your own and having enough resources to close out games with Kingsbane.
Blade Flurry: Blade Flurry is a very clunky card but it does get the job done with its AOE effect that can wipe out entire boards very consistently with enough attack buffs for your weapons in the deck. We only run one copy of the card as Flurry can be quite clunky and not fetch you value in a lot of matchups.
Elven Minstrel: An extremely powerful combo card that allows you to pull out your minions. With only very limited minions in the deck, you can draw consistently and have minions drawn and ready for maintaining your board presence in matchups.
Naga Corsair: A solid 4 drop that allows you to buff up your minion while also establishing a 5/4 on the board. You do not need to necessarily play the card as a Kingsbane buff and should be looking to play the card for board presence, even if it buffs your Wicked Blade it is good enough value for you.
Captain Greenskin: A great tempo play on curve if you have your Kingsbane up as it not only buffs up your damage but it also allows you to get an additional swing in with your weapon.
Vanish: A really powerful pseudo-AOE card that can shut down several decks quite consistently. It can not only be used to shut down their big plays but also clears space for you to attack their face to push for lethal. The card is quite powerful against Warlock and Priest matchups and generates game winning value.
Valeera the Hollow: Valeera is a high utility Death Knight that allows you to do a lot of crazy things with your deck. From getting extra Coldlights to mill your opponent to throwing in extra buffs to your Kingsbane for added damage. You can also technically never go into fatigue if you keep adding Kingsbanes to your deck. However, this is only recommended if both players are in fatigue and you can win the game simply by not going into fatigue. You will not retain the buffs that have already been applied however, on the copied Kingsbanes.
Deck Code
AAECAYO6AgTIA6gIgNMCu+8CDbQBxAHtAssDzQP4B4YJ9bsCub8Cqc0Csc4C5dEC2+MCAA==
Mulligan
Against Aggro
- Kingsbane
- Cavern Shinyfinder
- Leeching Poison
- Backstab
Against Control
- Kingsbane
- Cavern Shinyfinder
- Elven Minstrel
- Coldlight Oracle and Shadowstep (against Warlock)
Conclusion
Kingsbane Rogue isn’t a top tier deck but it is a meta specific counter-deck that hard counter Warlocks and Priests and can help you climb. This list in particular adds two Counterfeit Coins and cuts out more clunky cards to make Aggro matchups slightly better. It is a very unique and fun deck that you can try out if Priests and Warlocks are giving you a hard time while climbing the ladder. Do let us know
