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 Miracle Rogue, as a Miracle rogue.
For the deck list and core deck guide, please find it here.
Matchup Analysis
The miracle rogue mirror match is a fairly straightforward game. With both decks full of damage spells and no taunts in sight the game boils down to a race to see who can accumulate lethal damage and then efficiently play those cards first. The only thing that complicates this slugfest is that you must make choices about what resources to expend on removing your opponent’s minions and what resources would be better spent going to the face.
You need to be hyper aware of how much damage you have in hand at every point during this matchup. Once you have accumulated lethal damage or close to it, you should stop worrying about value and start planning your turns in a manner which will allow you to get that damage onto the board as quickly as possible.
Mulligan Guide
Keepers
si7-agentIn this matchup you want to be the player who is putting threats on the board and demanding the other player to answer them. SI:7 Agent is a fine threat as a 3/3 minion and any additional value you get from the combo damage is just icing on the cake. Keep this card if you have the ability to combo it.
Thalnos is a fine card in the matchup for a couple of reasons. The fact that the deathrattle lets you cycle into other cards gives it obvious value, but the spell damage is even more important. Why is this? Because we have Backstabs in our deck and the key early game minions in the deck, SI:7 Agent and Earthen Ring Farseer have 3 toughness. The spell power from Thalnos allows us to remove them for a big tempo gain.
loot-hoarderLoot Hoarder is a great turn 2 play in this matchup. It demands a response, and that response will almost always be a hero power dagger. So what does this equate to? It means we were able to force our opponent to interrupt his/her turn progression and take 2 damage to remove a minion that we spend 2 mana on. This is a great scenario for us and exactly why we don’t mulligan our Loot Hoarders in this matchup.
In a matchup that boils down to a damage race, the fact that this card restores our health is very relevant. When you combine that with a 3/3 minion that demands an answer from your opponent you have a package that is well worth keeping in your opening hand.
gadgetzan-auctioneerThere is no faster way to get the critical mass of damage you need to finish the game then to use this massive card draw engine. Keeping one in your opening hand is an easy choice because it is just such a vital piece in the matchup.
Situational
backstabBackstab is an important card in the matchup because of the tempo boost it offers. It is not uncommon to lose the game after drawing a lot of cards, but being unable to play those cards fast enough. Despite this fact, I do not encourage you to keep Backstab in your opening hand under most circumstances. As good as the card can be, there are simply other cards that are more important. The only situations where I would consider keeping it is if I had a VC or a SI:7 Agent that I wanted to combo with it.
Conceal is a card worth keeping the matchup, but ONLY if you have an auctioneer in your starting hand as well. Otherwise you are much better off to simply mulligan the Conceal in search of better options.
edwin-vancleefAs always with VC, he is only as strong as your ability to grow him. If you have a hand that is capable of abusing him then feel free to keep him and force your opponent to either have a Sap or waste resources removing him.
azure-drakeAzure Drake is a strong card in the matchup because it gives us a relevant body, while cantripping us into an additional card to help us get to that critical mass of damage we need to finish the game. Deciding whether or not to keep an Azure Drake is a two step process. First check if your hand has a Gadgetzan Auctioneer in it. If there is no Auctioneer you should keep the Drake. If you do have an Auctioneer you should then check to see if you are going to have the coin. If you are going to have the coin you should keep the Azure Drake to play with it on turn 4.
Throw It Back
preparationPreparation suffers a similar fate to Backstab. It is a very useful card in the matchup, but it gets mulliganed in an attempt to find the key cards that often decide the matchup.
shadowstepShadowstep should almost always be mulliganed and this is no exception.
cold-bloodCold Blood should never be kept in your opening hand.
deadly-poisonWe already know that this matchup is essentially a damage race. So the fact that you need to take damage to remove minions with Deadly Poison should be a red flag for us. We are much better off playing a minion that our opponent has to remove than doing damage to ourselves to remove their minion with Deadly Poison. Happily throw this card back in this matchup.
Blade Flurry can be useful in this matchup. Especially if your opponent has a Concealed Gadgetzan Auctioneer, Blade Flurry is your only answer. However, we don’t want to encourage that worst case scenario. We are much better off by trying to get our own strong draw and forcing our opponent to have the answer. Since this is the case we should mulligan Blade Flurry every time.
eviscerateEviscerate is a fine burn spell in the matchup, but we are more concerned with accumulating 30+ damage to kill our opponent than the 4 damage we get from Eviscerate. Since that is the case, I would only considering keeping Eviscerate if I already had a Gadgetzan Auctioneer in hand and even then I would likely send it back in search of better options.
Sap is a bad card in your starting hand in this matchup. That is not to say it is useless throughout the match. Its two main uses are to answer a large Edwin VanCleef and to gain tempo advantage by returning one of your opponent’s 5 cost minions to his/her hand. There are just more important cards to have in your opening hand, so we should mulligan it.
shivShiv is a mana inefficient spell and since we know this matchup is often about being able to get damage onto the board as efficiently as possible, there is little use for a card like Shiv in the early game. We are much better off digging for better options.
FoK is not at its best in this matchup. Miracle rogue very seldom plays more than 1 or 2 minions at a time. With that in mind this card translates to 1 or 2 damage for 3 mana, and you can see how incredibly inefficient that is.
leeroy-jenkinsThere are literally no matchups where I would keep Leeroy in my opening hand. As such, mulligan him every time.
Closing & Other Matchup Analysis
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
Published: Jun 1, 2014 08:08 am