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.
I’ve broken up the match analysis into multiple guides (it’s too much for one guide/sitting). This guide covers the matchup analysis of going against a Aggro Mage, as a Miracle rogue.
For the deck list and core deck guide, please find it here.
Matchup Analysis
Aggro Mages operate in a similar manner to the Zoo warlock. Their goal is to flood the board at a rate that is too fast for the opponent to react. Â Then they use cards like mirror-image and counterspell to protect those minions that have been played to the board.
Finally, once they have lost control of the board they use direct damage spells like [card]ice-lance, fireball, and frostbolt as reach to finish off the opponent. This is a powerful strategy, but it lacks sustainability. The Zoo Warlock has its Lifetap ability to fuel its need for cards, but the Aggro Mage must rely on 2 arcane-intellect to provide the card draw it will need.
Our goal is to exploit the weakness of this deck and run them out of resources. If we can stabilize the board early enough that the Mage isn’t able to deal significant damage with its minions then the reach cards they have won’t be enough to kill us in the mid to late game.
Mulligan Guide
Keepers
backstabThe tempo boost from Backstab is great in this matchup. knife-juggler and sorcerers-apprentice are prime targets for Backstab, but even a leper-gnome is fine in a pinch. Keep as many of these are you can!
blade-flurryBlade Blurry is fine in the matchup even without Deadly Poison. There are plenty of 1 health minions in the Aggro Mage deck so hold onto this if you have it.
eviscerateKnife Juggler and Sorcerer’s Apprentice are extremely important cards to remove in this matchup. Keeping an Eviscerate allows us to ensure that we can clear them the turn they are played.
VC is great in this matchup. The Aggro Mage runs no ways to kill VC that don’t include using their reach to do it. If he eats a fireball that is 6 less damage that would be heading towards our face.
si7-agentThis is our anti-aggro specialist and this is an aggro matchup. Keep this guy and hope that you can get a way to combo him.
earthen-ring-farseerExtra health is great in this matchup. Keep this guy and don’t hesitate to use Shadowsteps to gain even more health from his battlecry if you have the free mana.
Situational
preparationTempo is so important in this matchup that I would even suggest keeping a Preparation if you have cards to work with it like Shiv or FoK. It is of the utmost importance that we prevent our opponent from getting damage through with their early game minions.
deadly-poisonOur life total is too important in this matchup to be clearing minions with our face. Even though Deadly Poison has plenty of good targets it is best to mulligan it unless you have a Blade Flurry in hand to combo it with.
Shiv is too slow and mana inefficient to keep in this matchup unless you have a preparation to combo it with. Otherwise, while it is nice to be able to remove a Leper Gnome without taking face damage, we can’t allow a mana debt to build up.
fan-of-knivesFoK is in the same boat with Shiv. It is a great card to keep if you have a Preparation to combo it with, but otherwise it is too slow.
Throw It Back
shadowstepShadowstep can have some real value in this matchup, but it is too slow to keep in our opening hand.
Cold Blood should never be kept in your opening hand.
concealMuch too slow to keep. Throw this back.
sapSap is terrible in this matchup. The only half decent target for it is water-elemental, and that is not ideal either.
bloodmage-thalnosThalnos is not an ideal card in this matchup. It is too mana inefficient in the early game. In the mid game it can have some value to combo with FoK or Shiv to clear minions, but we need to stabilize the board first.
Loot Hoarder suffers the same fate as Thalnos. It is simply too slow and mana inefficient to keep in this matchup.
leeroy-jenkinsLeeroy Jenkins should never be kept in your opening hand.
azure-drake and gadgetzan-auctioneer
The 5 cost minions are much too slow to keep in this matchup. You need cards to help you stabilize the board early or you will not be alive to cast these cards.
Closing
Hope you guys find this matchup analysis helpful! I’ll be adding and creating more guides of other matchups.
Miracle Rogue Matchup Analysis Vs. Handlock
Miracle Rogue Matchup Analysis Vs. Token Druid
Miracle Rogue Matchup Analysis Vs. Aggro Mage
Miracle Rogue Matchup Analysis Vs. Priest
Miracle Rogue Matchup Analysis Vs. Shaman
Miracle Rogue Matchup Analysis Vs. Aggro Paladin
Miracle Rogue Matchup Analysis Vs. Ramp Druid
Miracle Rogue Matchup Analysis Vs. Control Warrior
Miracle Rogue Matchup Analysis Vs. Miracle Rogue
Miracle Rogue Matchup Analysis Vs. Aggro Hunter
Miracle Rogue Matchup Analysis Vs. Zoo Warlock
