Miracle Rogue Matchup Analysis: Vs. Priest

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 […]

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.

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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 Priest, as a Miracle rogue.

For the deck list and core deck guide, please find it here.

Matchup Analysis

Modern Priest decks are value based control decks. Their goal is to remove every threat that is played while gaining incremental value from their hero power and the powerful class cards they have available. Once they have control of the game they finish with any number of different expensive legendaries.

Priest decks are very unlikely to apply much pressure to us throughout the course of the game. So our goal should be to slow down and play a much less aggressive game. Don’t over commit to the board and risk getting blown out by a well timed auchenai-soulpriest + circle-of-healing combo. Get as much value out of our cards as possible. Doing so will allow us to get to critical mass of damage needed to kill the Priest without running out of cards in the process.

Mulligan Guide

Keepers

bloodmage-thalnos

Thalnos is great in the matchup. The spell damage is relevant and the ability to cycle for key combo pieces should not be undervalued. Feel free to keep this in your starting hand.

loot-hoarder

These are the ideal turn 2 play. They are awkward for a Priest to deal with and can put a reasonable clock on the Priest if they decide to ignore it.

azure-drake/gadgetzan-auctioneer

We need power level to get through all the health that a Priest will have throughout a game. Our 5 drop minions are the best source of power in the deck and they happen to have 4 attack power as well, which is the magic number against a priest deck as it avoids both shadow-word-pain as well as shadow-word-death.

Situational

conceal

As with all slow matchups it is fine to keep Conceal in the opening hand if you have a Gadgetzan Auctioneer to go with it. Otherwise mulligan it.

deadly-poison

Deadly Poison is fine in this matchup. It can be used to remove an Earthen Ring Farseer or an injured-blademaster that hasn’t been healed. However, there are just more important cards in the matchup, and we are better off searching for them then settling for Deadly Poison.

eviscerate

Eviscerate is fine in the matchup. It can be useful to remove azure-drake or any of the 3 health minions, but we want more from a card in our starting hand. While Eviscerate is not bad, we want to look for better options.

edwin-vancleef

An early 4/4 VC can be a real headache for a Priest player to deal with. If you have the cards to do this then you should absolutely keep him in your starting hand. Don’t get greedy though, most Priests run Shadow Word: Death and you have no other targets for it in your deck. Don’t give them value for what would otherwise be a dead card in their hand!

Throw It Back

backstab

In a slow matchup such as this the tempo gain from Backstab is not a high priority. We are much better off looking for stronger cards in the matchup.

preparation

Again this is a slow matchup, and while Preparation will be useful once we have a Gadgetzan Auctioneer in play, we don’t want this in the early game.

shadowstep

These should be saved for finishing the game with Leeroy Jenkins. We can’t afford to waste these in the early game and risk running out of damage. Mulligan these for sure.

cold-blood

Cold Blood should never be kept in your opening hand.

blade-flurry

Blade Flurry is not ideal. The Priest player is unlikely to play more than one or two minions at a time. Mulligan this for better options.

sap

Sap is pretty bad in the matchup. Since the game will almost certainly go long the Priest player will generally have time to replay any minion that is Sapped. This combined with the fact that most Priest lists run no taunt minions to Sap means the card has little value and should be thrown back.

shiv

Shiv is fine as a combo starter, but as we have seen when Shiv does nothing but start combos we are better off searching for more impactful cards.

fan-of-knives

FoK won’t see much value in this matchup. Mulligan it without hesitation.

si7-agent

Some variations on Priest run Wild Pyromancers, so the combo on this card is not entirely useless, but it doesn’t have many targets. You are better off skipping out on this card for something with a higher power level.

earthen-ring-farseer

This is not a great matchup for this card. The life gain won’t matter on turn 3 and the 3/3 body doesn’t match up well against the large minions that Priest will be playing in the midgame. It is also small enough to fall prey to Shadow Word: Pain.

leeroy-jenkins

Leeroy Jenkins should never be kept in your opening hand.

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


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