Miracle Rogue: How Magic is Made

Author: Blackacre On - Twitter

How Magic is Made – A Deeper Look at Miracle Rogue Hello friends. My name is Blackacre and I am here to help you understand Miracle Rogue. So why should you listen to me? Well, I have consistently been in the top 100 legend players on NA finishing 76th in Season 1, 30th in Season 2, and currently sitting at 15th in Season 3. I and many others consider Miracle Rogue to be the top deck in Hearthstone at the moment. This has resulted in a lot of people wanting to know how to play it and maybe even more people loathing its existence. Regardless of which side you fall on there are lessons to be learned from Miracle Rogue. If you are fan of the deck then this article will give you insight into the mechanics of it, and if you hate it then perhaps you can use the information to craft a deck to beat it. However you choose to use the information I am here to pull back the curtain for you and show you the secrets of Miracle Rogue. Let’s begin by trying to understand what makes it so powerful.

Why does it work?

Cheap Cards – No, not the dust it costs to craft the deck, but rather the mana curve. As you can see from the sample Miracle Rogue curve on the left these decks have an extremely low mana curve. Most versions run approximately twenty cards that cost two mana or less and only four to five cards that cost more than three mana. Compare this to popular Control Warrior decks as shown below that often run nine or more cards that cost five mana or greater and you will see how incredibly low the deck’s mana curve is relative to other decks. The fact is even more staggering when you look at the average card cost of the deck.

That popular Control Warrior deck has an average mana cost of 3.5 whereas my Black Magic version of Miracle Rogue only has an average mana cost of 2.1. If you aren’t familiar with deck building the difference between 3.5 and 2.1 might not seem that huge, but consider what that really means. On the whole, the cards in the Control Warrior deck are nearly twice as expensive as those in the Miracle Rogue deck. So the Miracle Rogue player will be able to deploy his or her hand at a much more rapid pace than the Control Warrior. So now that we know just how low the mana curve for Miracle Rogue is we should be asking ourselves why is having a low mana curve even beneficial?

Low mana curve allows for smoother draws

Let me give you an example to show you what I mean. Consider that Control Warrior deck with a high mana curve again. If you happen to get a starting hand that contains expensive cards like Alexstrasza, Baron Geddon, and Ragnoros the Firelord your ability to play cards during the first couple of turns of the game is going to be extremely limited. All of those cards cost seven or more mana so you won’t have access to the mana to play them in a realistic time. This means that you are completely at the mercy of your draws to have something to play during the first few turns. While this is certainly not a typical draw, it is one of the costs to running a high mana curve. If you play enough games you will get starting hands with nothing but expensive cards in them, and if you don’t make any plays during the first few turns it is easy for your opponent to grab a tempo lead that can snowball into a quick defeat for you. Miracle Rogue won’t face this problem nearly as often due to its low mana curve. In fact, with twenty cards that cost two or less mana you are extremely likely to have plays during those turns. This makes it more consistent than most decks.

Low mana curve allows for efficient mana usage

Not only does low mana curve mean you will have plays on the early turns, it also means you will be able to use all of your mana more frequently. For instance, say you have access to five mana on your turn. If you are playing a higher mana curve deck you will likely need a card that costs five mana exactly to be able to fully utilize your mana for the turn. If you only have a four cost card you will have to “float” a mana by not using it that turn. Floating mana gives up tempo to your opponent if he or she is able to utilize all of his/her mana, and therefore it is something that should be avoided whenever possible. Miracle rogue has such a glut of cheap spells like Shiv that even if you don’t have a five cost card it is likely you will have multiple cards that can be cast in combination to use all of the mana. This is another factor that adds to the consistency of Miracle Rogue.

Card Draw

So now that we know why having a cheap mana curve is good why doesn’t every class just run cheap cards? Well, cheap cards are generally great in the early portions of the game, but they tend to get outclassed by more expensive cards in the later game. This means that you will often have to expend two or even three cheap cards to deal with one powerful late game card. You don’t have to be a legend caliber player to understand that you will run out of cards very quickly if you are spending multiple cards to answer each of your opponent’s cards. So why doesn’t Miracle Rogue run into this problem? The answers lies with card draw Card draw offers sustainability Most decks can’t afford to run so many cheap cards because they will run out of gas in the mid to late game where those cheap cards start being outclassed by more expensive cards from the opponent. Miracle rogue avoids falling into this trap by having incredibly strong amounts of card draw. The most obvious example of this type of card draw is Gadgetzan Auctioneer. Most Miracle Rogue decks have more than half of their cards composed of spells which activate Gadgetzan Auctioneer’s ability. Since this is the case it is not uncommon for a Gadgetzan Auctioneer to draw the Miracle Rogue player three or even more cards. However, as powerful as Gadgetzan Auctioneer is it doesn’t do all the work alone. Miracle Rogue lists run cards like Novice Engineer, Loot Hoarder, Azure Drake, Shiv, Bloodmage Thalnos and Fan of Knives all of which draw you additional cards. These cards combine to give the Miracle Rogue deck enough sustainability to battle against control decks later in the game despite the low mana curve.

Card draw also offers consistency

Because of the amount of cards that the Miracle Rogue player tends to draw throughout the course of the game you are able to reliably count on seeing individual cards. The prime example of this is Leeroy Jenkins. As a legendary card you can only run one copy of Leeroy Jenkins in your deck, but with the vast amount of card draw in the Miracle Rogue deck you can design a game plan around this card with little fear of having it buried at the bottom of your deck where you won’t have access to it. Since you can reliably find a single finisher like Leeroy Jenkins the deck doesn’t need to run multiple cards that are only good situationally. This adds even more consistency to the deck because it doesn’t need to be cluttered with multiple tools to achieve the same goal.

Hard to counter

Hearthstone is a game with powerful counter cards. Examples of counter cards are The Black Knight, Big Game Hunter, and Hungry Crab. These type of cards would be considered overcosted if you simply looked at the stats you get for the mana cost. However, if they have a target for their battlecry then they offer extreme value when played. Often times having one of these cards played at a key moment in the game can simply decide the outcome of the match on the spot. One of the many strengths of Miracle Rogue is that it is not particularly susceptible to these type of effects. Edwin VanCleef is the only notable exception and you can avoid making it a target by choosing how much you invest into him. This is yet another factor that makes Miracle Rogue a consistent deck. Side Note: Some popular Miracle Rogue lists run Assassin’s Blade. This card does make you vulnerable to Acidic Swamp Ooze and Harrison Jones. This is just one of the reasons that I don’t recommend running Assassin’s Blade in your deck.

Powerful Tempo Boosts

The mechanics of Hearthstone favor the player who is attacking. As the attacker you are given the opportunity to decide what you are going to attack and if you want to attack at all. Since you have these options as the attacker you are able to select choices which would be most profitable to you. Now that we know that being the attacker is to our benefit, how do we go about being the attacker? Well, that is where tempo comes into the picture. The concept of tempo is complex, but for the purposes of this article we can simplify it to mean the ability to play cards at a rate that is faster than your opponent can handle them. Miracle Rogue has a number of key cards which provide a very powerful tempo boost. Namely Backstab and Preparation. Backstab literally costs zero mana and Preparation effectively makes any other spell in the deck cost zero as well. Since all turns in Hearthstone are limited by mana crystal constraints the ability to cast additional spells on your turn is extremely valuable. If your opponent doesn’t have cards that boost tempo then you are playing more cards on your turn than they are. You can use these additional cards to build a board position that your opponent will have to respond to or they can even help bring you back into a game if you happen to have had a slow start. The downside of Backstab and Preparation is that they can often cause card disadvantage, but as we already covered, Miracle Rogue has such incredible card draw that any disadvantage is generally acceptable. In effect, the ability to boost your tempo makes the deck more consistent, because even if you had a slow start due to an awkward draw you can pull yourself back into the game. This is just one more factor that makes Miracle Rogue powerful.

When doesn’t the deck work / How does it lose?

At this point we know that Miracle Rogue is a powerful and consistent deck, but that doesn’t mean it never loses. Lets look at the situations that cause it to lose and see what we can learn. Too many situational cards As consistent as Miracle Rogue is designed to be there are draws where the deck can simply fail. This usually occurs when you have a hand full of situational cards and no way to use them effectively. Examples of these types of cards are Preparation, Shadowstep, Cold Blood, Conceal, and Sap. If you find yourself with a hand containing nothing but these cards you will generally lose the game. It is not a likely occurrence because of the amount of card draw in the deck, but if you play enough games it will happen. Even if your opponent has only a mediocre draw you simply won’t be able to put up a fight when the deck malfunctions in this manner. This is simply a risk of running the deck and you have to accept the losses when this occurs.

Running out of damage

The deck doesn’t have to malfunction to lose. Your opponent is trying to take steps to help this happen as well. There are a number of decks that simply aim to run you out of damage in your deck and win through fatigue. This is a viable strategy because Miracle Rogue has such a low curve that there is a very finite amount of damage in the deck. If the opponent is able to gain enough effective health through means such as armor, actual healing, and forcing you to expend resources on minions it is very possible to run you out of damage completely. Examples of decks that use this approach are Priest, Control Warrior, Control Paladin, and some versions of Freeze Mage.

Being beaten down

Miracle Rogue really begins to show its strength in the mid game when it can start playing multiple cards per turn. So killing you before that point can be an effective strategy against Miracle Rogue. Miracle Rogue does have cards that are extremely powerful against this type of strategy such as SI:7 Agent, but you won’t always have those cards when you need them. Examples of decks that use this approach are Aggro Mage, Aggro Paladin, and Zoo Warlock.

Running into a combo

he mid game is where Miracle Rogue really shines. It will undoubtedly be favored any time it is in the mid game, but it can still lose. The way this occurs usually revolves around a powerful combination of cards. Examples of such combos are Doomhammer plus double Rockbiter Weapon and Force of Nature plus Savage Roar. These combinations allow for such a sudden burst of damage that the opponent can win before the Miracle Rogue player begins to dominate the game. This is a fairly rare occurrence though, because not only does the opponent need to have the combo pieces relatively early in the game, but they also need to have been pressuring your life total from the start as well. If you are still at close to full health then none of these combos present a danger to you. It is only in the games where you get a slow start that you are in range of being killed by them. As you can see the situations where Miracle Rogue loses are fairly consistent. The deck shines in the mid game and will win the vast majority of those games. It has answers that will help it deal with decks that attempt to win during the early game, but won’t always have access to them. It also runs into danger in the super long games due to the limited amount of damage in the deck. If you are piloting a Miracle Rogue deck you should take this into consideration when determining the pace at which you play. Know where the strengths of the deck lie and try to utilize them to your advantage. If you are trying to build a deck to beat Miracle Rogue then you now know where those weaknesses are hidden, and you can look for decks that exploit them efficiently.

Conclusion

The Hearthstone metagame is always shifting. Miracle Rogue is a powerful and consistent deck, but it can be beaten. Understanding the deck will allow you to play it more proficiently or even a craft an answer to it if you chose to go in that direction. However you decide to use this information just remember that Hearthstone is game at its core and thus meant to be fun. So keep the BM to a minimum and stay classy Hearthstoners.