Deck Guide: Miracle Rogue

Author: Joseph Scalise

1.Introduction

In today’s deck tech we are taking a trip into the past. A time of spells, shadowed minions, infinitely long turns and Leeroy…Ok, fine there’s no Leeroy here. However, today, in an attempt to discuss how best to combat the ever evolving, I am going to revisit Miracle Rogue and show you the list I have been using this season to shoot up the ranks. Unlike last season, which was a mishmash or different decks and crazy unpredictable cards, this season seems to have calmed down and you can pretty much expect what you’re going to face. That is very important when building a deck, as you can take that known information and tweak your cards to fit a certain gameplan. Deck building isn’t always about making something entirely new. Sometimes it’s ok to reinvent the wheel. As soon as I got a hold of the early meta for this season I knew I wanted to play Miracle for the ladder. Problem was, I didn’t like the “stock” lists that people were running, so I made some changes and tuned the deck in a way I wanted. So far, the results have been very good.

2. Key Cards

Before I discuss how to use certain key cards in this list, I want to discuss one card that didn’t make the final thirty: Edwin Vancleef. Vacleef is a good legend (especially in a deck with two Conceals) and it was in my original build. However, after much testing I omitted the champion because more often than not he forced you into less than optimal plays. Trying to make him work did pay off sometimes, but more often than not he was a liability rather than a threat. One of the classic things about Miracles is going all in on a certain play, this deck tries to avoid that. As such, it also avoids Edwin.

Cold Blood

Every card in this deck is explanatory in the classic Miracle shell, but they all operate in a slightly different way here. This is a very minion heavy deck, and you almost always win by keeping any minion alive for more than one turn. Cold Blood doesn’t have any charge targets, but you don’t need any to bring people down to zero life. There is a ton of damage in this deck, and Cold Blood should always be used when you have an opening rather than as an exclusive finisher. In order to best use Cold Blood you need to see it for what it is, four damage for one mana. It still is a combo piece of sorts, but its mainly just a cheaper Eviscerate that you need a minion to use. If you can get both Cold Bloods off you will almost always win, even if that means concealing a Bloodmage Thalnos (which I have done multiple times).

Conceal

I have long been an advocate of double Conceal in Miracle, and the way this deck plays you absolutely want two. Conceal is one of the most powerful cards in the game, and in a deck that is dependant on pushing damage through it just gets better. It is obviously great with Auctioneer, but you almost always just want to Conceal any minion if you can set up huge amounts of damage. One of the most common plays is to play a spell, Cold Blood a minion, hit face and then Conceal. The most important thing here is that you should always be aware of how your opponent can get through a Conceal (spell power/Lighting Storm, Auchenai/circle, flare etc.) because if you can avoid that you can almost always run away with a game.

Sinister Strike

Usually, you only see Sinister Strike in the Malygos version of Miracle Rogue. However, in testing this list I figured out that I really wanted a little more ways to bypass taunts and push damage through. Sap is a great way to push damage through on the board, but having a little more ways to go over the top is never bad. Blade Flurry is an excellent card when paired with Deadly Poison, and both SI:7 Agents and Eviscerate gives you an amazing amount of reach. However, there are certain games where you need a couple extra points of damage, and Sinister Strike greatly helps. The fact that it is yet another one mana card that cycles off of Auctioneer is just icing on the cake.

Earthen Ring Farseer

A card that has long seen play in Miracle Rogue, Earthen Ring Farseer is a very important minion in the current meta. I have been asked by multiple people “how are you ra king up with Miracle in an aggro world?”. The answer is this card. As stated earlier, you want a lot of minions. A minion that provides some much needed healing in addition to a three/three body is simply icing on the cake. This deck has a lot of early answers to aggro decks (Backstab, Shiv, Deadly Poison) and that combined with the healing is why Miracle is still a strong deck on ladder. While Earthen Ring is nothing new, I include it here just to mention that is very important in any Miracle deck looking to make it all the way to legend.

Azure Drake

Azure Drake is nothing new in Miracle, but I want to discuss one very important factor about using this card. Azure Drake is a threat that must be answered. That is extremely important. Why? Because every popular deck in the meta runs removal, but they also only have so much removal at their disposal. Auctioneer is the prize for this deck, the coup de grace, the card that if not answered wins you the game. However, there are decks that have a good number of ways to remove an Auctioneer. As such, you want to play Drake first as a way to bait out that key removal. Decks would love to hold their removal for Auctioneer, but the truth of the matter is they also need to remove the drake. Because of its power potential I have seen many decks use things like Lightning Storm of Auchenia Cirlce on this card, which then allows you to use Auctioneer the following turn. You don’t always have to rush to an auctioneer, and using drake on turn five and letting the game progress isn’t always a bad thing.

Loatheb

Loatheb is perhaps the second strongest card in this list besides Auctioneer. A bold statement, but in a lot of ways Loatheb operates just like Auctioneer/Conceal. The reason for this is that you can play Loatheb on an empty (or nearly empty) board and know it’s almost always going to stick around. This is a great for setting up a huge turn, whether that means playing an Auctioneer and going off, or just Cold Blooding Loatheb and then smashing in for massive amount of damage. In many decks Loatheb serves as a way to shut down your opponent’s combos. Sometimes he can be used for that here (especially the turn after you auctioneer/conceal) but more often than not he is played as a way to set up lethal the following turn.

Assassin’s Blade

Assassin’s Blade is this deck’s Leeroy. There’s no other way to explain this card. Miracle Rogue only has so many ways to do damage, and Assassin’s Blade allows that damage potential to skyrocket. This card is a whopping twenty damage with Deadly Poison, although you usually never need that much it still is a great finisher. This card plus Deadly Poison/Blade Flurry is a great way to end games, and one of my most common ways to win. There’s not too much to explain here, just see this card for what it is, a very powerful finisher. Also, always remember that most control decks are running Harrison Jones these days. As such, it is almost always a good idea to set up Assassin’s Blade when you can make the best use of it right away or to try and draw out Harrison earlier in the game on a Deadly Poisoned dagger.

3. How to Play

I know I’ve said it before, but this deck is all about the minions. Keeping minions alive is the most important aspect about this style of miracle, and you are all in on Conceal. Yes, you want to play towards a huge turn with Auctioneer, but you want to curve out in the process. More often than not I will play a minion on turn three if I can (SI or Farseer), even if I cannot make use of the battlecry or combo. While you are first and foremost a combo deck, you are also a threats deck. Anything that sticks is one step closer to lethal, which means you want to keep supplying questions until your opponent runs out of answers. Never shy from supplying threats to the board, but also be mindful about how much damage those threats can do. Miracle is about planning ahead, a turn three Farseer is very strong because early threats are worth a lot, while just playing it with no back up on turn twelve might not be important. The last thing I want to say, is patience is key. Just because you can play Auctioneer/Preperation/Conceal of turn five doesn’t always mean that you should. Sometimes you want to play the Drake there, dig a little deeper into your deck and find ways to go off even more.

4. How to Mulligan

Mulliganing with this deck is the same as any other Miracle Rogue. Against aggro decks you want answers and against slower decks you want Gadgetzan Auctioneer. Hunter and Zoo are the aggro decks in question, while Druid, Warrior and Priest all fall under the “slower” category. In the control matchups Auctioneer and Conceal should never be mulliganed away when you have them together, but you should always mulligan Conceal by itself. Any other high card (Azure Drake, Loatheb) or the situational cards (Preparation, Assassin’s Blade, Sinister Strike) should also be mulliganed away at all costs. Bloodmage Thalnos should never be kept in the control matchup, as you want to try to find your three drops and cantrip cards like Shiv and Fan of Knives.

When playing against aggro you want to search for any answer you can. Auctioneer is way too slow here, and in most games you need a Backstab or Deadly Poison to stabilize. Turn three is incredibly important, as that’s the turn where you can first start gaining board presence. Something else to remember is that Bloodmage Thalnos can be sometimes a keep as it can be very important when paired with something like Shiv or Fan of Knives. Blade Flurry is also very key against Zoo, but I will never keep it against Hunter. On the flip side, Eviscerate is a card I don’t like to keep against Zoo, but against Hunter it is absolutely key in killing off Animal Companions. Stay alive at all costs, even if that means using an early Preparation to remove enemy minions.

5. Matchups

Hunter

If you can survive the first three turns you almost always have the advantage. That’s how the Hunter match breaks down, because neither you nor your opponent have much time during turn five or six. When things get going Hunter can’t really keep up if you get a blade or Auctioneer going. However, you also can’t keep up if they start out too fast. The matchup is usually decided in the first couple of turns. Flare can ruin a Conceal, but more often than not you don’t have the luxury to play around that card. The biggest rule here is to always remove their minions when you can and make sure you keep your life total as high as possible.

Zoo

Zoo is probably the second hardest matchup you can face on the ladder. That’s an unfortunate fact of life, but just like Hunter this matchup can be very, very swingy. If you have an early Backstab or Deadly Poison you can steamroll their early minions, and then crush everything else they play. Blade Flurry is easily the most important card in this matchup, as it is the only real AOE you have. Similar to Hunter, if you can stay alive (which you should do at all costs) you have the advantage going into the later turns. However, it is much harder to stay alive against Zoo because their starts are just so explosive. Bloodmage is a good keep here if you have a Backstab or the like. The number one rule is never let them keep a minion on the board no matter what.

Handlock

Handlock is one of the few matches where you want to keep Sap in your opening hand. Their turn four is very hard to deal with, and if you don’t have a Sap you should try your best to kill off whatever they play. This is because you can win the slower game, and it stops their potential to use Shadowflame as a way to remove a concealed auctioneer. Three drops are very important in this matchup (which you should have already because you are always mulliganing for Zoo) because they help you have a good way to remove their turn four drop if you don’t have a Sap. The main advantage you have in this match is you are looking to burst them down which means they will almost never have an opportunity to play Molten Giants.

Miracle Rogue (Mirror)

This is probably the only matchup where Loatheb is one hundred percent here to stop your opponent’s spells rather than setting up a future turn. The biggest rule in Miracle is whoever goes off usually wins. However, being aggressive is also extremely important. Many times against Miracle I have put three drops onto an empty board just to make them have an answer, and as a way to push through for early damage. As the minions that fight for board control cost either three or five, Deadly Poison is really one of the only good early turn answers. Life is a valuable resource in the mirror match and whoever is under more pressure usually folds first.

Priest

Priest is a matchup that has always fallen in the favor of Miracle Rogue. This deck is no exception. Priest is one of the best reasons to play this deck, because they only have one way to really interact with a concealed auctioneer. Loatheb absolutely crushes both their tempo and removal, and Azure Drake is very hard for them to deal with. They can get going in the early game really quickly, but Backstab and Deadly Poison do a very good job at mitigating this. As stated earlier, Auchenai/circle is something you need to bait out before concealing and auctioneer, and this can usually be done through applying pressure through three drops or an Azure Drake. The most important card to never mulligan here is Eviscerate, which is really the only strong answer to a turn three Dark Cultist.

Shaman

Despite their lack of healing and real taunts, I would say that Shaman is the roughest matchup for this deck. Two things are very key in this matchup. One, never let them have spell power at any cost, which means you need to always make sure you clear their spell power totems. This is because Shaman’s only answer to concealed auctioneer (or a concealed three drop for that matter) is Lightning Storm. You are almost happy to take the roll on your three drops, and if they don’t have spell power they can’t touch your auctioneer. The second rule is to save Blade Flurry at all costs. This is because Shaman thrives on having a lot of minions, and you never want to pop your Blade Flurry early on. Even if you have the board cleared for a lot of the game, they can suddenly rebound with a lot of minions, and this something you always want to be ready for.

6. Budget Replacements

As with any Miracle Rogue deck, you really can’t make any replacements to the cards. Every piece of the deck is extremely important, and they all depend on each other to create a solid, cohesive whole. The deck is relatively cheap however, so that shouldn’t be too much of a concern. All right, thanks for reading as always and until next week (where I look at aggro Mage) may you always have turn five auctioneers.