Malygos Rogue

Introduction

Hi, my name is Tim and I am a relatively new player to Hearthstone and I want to help others become Legend. I’m currently rank 3 with this deck and am still climbing and having a lot of success with it. This deck is definitely capable of reaching Legend and doesn’t depend on the Leeroy Jenkins Combo.

About 2 weeks ago, I busted open a pack. I put my mouse over every card and saw an orange colour that I have never seen before, I clicked on it and to my surprise received a beautiful Legendary named malygos.

I started wondering what would be the best class for my little Legendary. At first I tried mage; it didn’t go so well, then I tried Druid, still not the best. Finally I decided Rogue.

I looked it up and saw a few decks that were a little bit above my budget. So I had to make my own. I added the must-haves for a rogue combo deck: backstab, preparation, sinister strike, sap, shiv, and many more.

I thought it would be similar to miracle rogue using gadgetzan-auctioneer to work his magic, but different in the sense that I will try to control the board. I also had to disenchant a lot of cards to also put edwin-vancleef in. He sure works well in this deck.

The Strategy

For removal, we have backstab, blade-flurry, eviscerate, shiv, fan-of-knives, si7-agent, and assassins-blade. For the big guys we got big-game-hunter.

You need to use the removal and earthen-ring-farseer to get to the mana to play Malygos. Edwin Vancleef is also great if you can conceal him. When you finally have enough to play Malygos always conceal him for next turn to get the most value.

So hopefully gadgetzan-auctioneer, loot-hoarder, shiv, fan-of-knives, and azure-drake can give you the cards you need.

Some Combos are turn 10: Malygos, preparation, Sinister Strike, and then Sinister strike to deal 16 to the face. That is if you do not have a conceal and you need damage. Another could be to get a beautiful blade flurry to deal 8-12 damage to all enemies.  Things including SI:7 agent to the face is a bad play and I would keep it until you could eliminate a minion. In most cases never play a combo card without getting the combo.

With Edwin Vancleef you don’t always have to buff him to an 8/8 or more, sometimes a 4/4 or 6/6 is your best option. Don’t get frustrated if it doesn’t work out your way all the time, as with all decks it takes practice.

Cards to Substitute and Add

If you have a bit more dust you can add a bloodmage-thalnos and take out an Earthen Ring Farseer. Also, if you want you can switch loot hoarders for novice-engineer. You can add 2 fan of knives or 2 assassin’s blades if you want. I also would consider putting alexstrasza to bring your opponent down for an easier kill.

Vs. Zoolock

This is a tough matchup, especially in my experience. I have maybe a 20% win rate against zoo, luckily they don’t come that often in the higher ranks. If you are looking to start climbing with this deck watch out for zoo. Although it is hard, it is not impossible.

Mulligans

loot-hoarder – Card draw and can trade well with zoo.

backstab – Great for removal. SI:7 Agent – Best Tempo Swing Vs Zoo Ever.

earthen-ring-farseer – Heals so you can live and good body on board.

deadly-poison – Great removal combos well with Blade Flurry.

edwin-vancleef – Only with coin.

blade-flurry – Strong AoE for cheap mana cost. Can almost always get value between spellpower and deadly poisons and assassins blade.

Vs. Handlock

I find that handlock is an easy matchup, my win rate against them is probably 90%. They are losing health all the time, which puts them in the kill zone for your spells.

Mulligans

eviscerate – Great removal and very helpful against Handlock.

backstab – Great for removal.

earthen-ring-farseer – Heals so you can live and good body on board.

deadly-poison – Great removal combos well with Blade Flurry.

big-game-hunter – If they mulligan most of their hand, because this means they search for drake/giant and are handlock.

edwin-vancleef – Only with coin.

blade-flurry – Strong AoE for cheap mana cost. Can almost always get value between spellpower and deadly poisons and assassins blade.

Vs. Aggro Hunter

This is a fifty/fifty matchup in my experience, Aggro Hunter is always trying to attack your face so you might have time to do the finishing malygos combo. Although comboing a Edwin is great and use your spells on his minions, unless you have lethal.

Mulligans

eviscerate – Killing Animal Companion/King Mukkla.

loot-hoarder – Gives you card and applies some pressure.

backstab – Can kill mostly everything for free.

si7-agent – Gives you some pressure and can kill most minions.

earthen-ring-farseer – Heals so you can safely attack into traps and still win the race.

blade-flurry – Good removal with spell power or to deal 1 extra damage without hitting with face.

Vs. Control Warrior

This is a tough matchup, but very possible. I used to go 30% against Control Warrior, but now I got about 60%. If you allow the warrior to start gaining massive amounts of armour even your malygos combos won’t save, so you have to kill their armorsmiths early so they don’t rack up to 15+ armor.

Mulligans

Eviscerate– You can use it to remove frothing berserker and ironsmith.

deadly-poison – A great way to stop acolyte of pain from getting great value.

loot-hoarder– If he plays Cruel Taskmaster he will get no value by hitting loot Hoarder.

azure-drake – You draw a card and then he will be forced to remove with a removal spell.

edwin-vancleef – Only with coin.

si7-agent – Keep with backstab, or deadly poison, or coin.

Vs. Shaman

This matchup is pretty good, I go about 75% against them. Shaman’s will always try to get board control and use minions such as flametongue totem and Defender of Argus to keep it that way if you can eliminate everything he puts in your face you should win.

Mulligans

loot-hoarder – Can kill a totem and it cycles a card.

deadly-poison – Helps kill everything. Eviscerate – Good way to remove everything.

si7-agent – Strong tempo card and gets a body to keep board clean.

backstab – Combos well with SI:7 Agent. Blade Flurry – Amazing removal for tempo gain, and combos with spell power.

edwin-vancleef – Only with coin.

Vs. Aggro Paladin

Again a pretty good matchup, I go about 70%. The aggro paladin depends a lot on Divine Favor to refill their hand and give them the power they need to finish. Every bit of life matters in this matchup and you need to play your hand as fast as possible.

Mulligans

backstab – not many aggro paladin minions can survive it.

preparation – The tempo boost is great for controlling the board.

blade-flurry – Great AOE, most aggro paladin minions will die to 1 damage.

edwin-vancleef – only with coin. Fan of knives – For AOE and card draw.

earthen-ring-farseer – great health gain and can most likely go 2 for 1.

Vs. Priest

I get a solid 55% against Priest. The goal of priest is to control the board heal up and finish you with expensive legendaries. You need to get the most value out of your cards and don’t over commit to the board because of the Auchenai Soulpriest/Circle of healing combo. Try to finish him early.

Mulligans

loot-hoarder – they are a great turn 2 play, it is hard for the priest to deal with.

azure-drake – great spell damage and is 4 attack.

gadgetzan-auctioneer – for the card draw and for the 4 attack.

Vs. Aggro Mage

This is a tough matchup, it is similar to  zoolock but I find it is more in our favor. I get about 50% against them. You have to keep control of the board and use splash damage such as Blade flurry to remove his minions, once you have done that Malygos will do the rest.

Mulligans

backstab – great for removal.

blade-flurry – Great AOE for all the one health minions that the Mage has.

eviscerate – great tempo boost for removal.

edwin-vancleef – only with coin.

si7-agent – great for removal and has a good chance to go 2 for 1.

earthen-ring-farseer – great for health and great body.

Vs. Ramp Druid

This is tough, I get about 35% against them. You need to do as much damage as you can to the face before they can put out their big guys you probably will have 3-4 turns before this happens. Then once they put out big guys you have to hope to survive a couple turns to finish them off.

Mulligans

eviscerate – Amazing card for removal.

deadly-poison – Great with SI:7 Agent and Blade Flurry.

loot-hoarder – Can block up the ramp druids ramp turn, or deny a free watcher turn.

azure-drake – Draws a card and forces him to remove.

edwin-vancleef – Only with coin.

si7-agent – Keep with backstab, or deadly poison or coin.

sap – Great for when they innervate.

Conclusion

Thank for reading my guide on the Malygos Rogue, I wish the best of luck to achieve your goals with this deck. If you have any questions ask in the comments below or just leave your thoughts too!

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