Rogue Arena Run – Cannons, Knives, Galore

Well, it’s going to be a long 3 weeks till the release of Old Gods. To kill the time, I’ve been at my nearly 1 arena/day pace. I haven’t really been getting better, but I am making enough gold to sustain these runs.

Draft

Decklist

• It hurts every time to draft a deck where no Backstabs, Eviscerates, Fan of Knives, or Assassinates are provides. This is going to be amplified once the new expansion comes out. As more cards come out, these “core cards” of a class will get diluted further.
• In lieu of core Rogue removal, I have a lot of minion spot removal cards throughout the deck. Some of these are targetable (SI:7, Undercity Valiant, Stormpike), others are based on RNG (Bomb Lobber, Ship’s Cannon, Knife Juggler)
• There is a little pirate synergy with Ship’s Cannon and Shady Dealer.
• The deck is aggressive, but there is a ton of card drawing in it. I should never run out of steam.

Games

1. Shaman – 1st – 1-0 – The longest game of the run (12 minutes) was mostly a prolonged fight for the board for 10 turns. I repeatedly got coins with Cutpurse and continually dominated the card advantage game. My opponent ran out of steam.
2. Mage – 1st – 2-0 – Well I certainly had RNG on my side, including a double knife juggle into 2 1-health minions. I traded a lot of my life towards the end to keep my opponent in check, and preserve my minion’s health. With my opponent topdecking, I was able to win again thanks to card advantage.
3. Priest – 1st – 3-0 – My opponent just had no answers to my small minions (Cutpurse, Ship’s Cannon), while SI:7 and Bomb Lobber kept the board clean for my guys to do face damage. This ended by Turn 8.
4. Rogue – Coin – 4-0 – A somewhat competitive game, where Betrayal and Stormwind Champion helped me flip the board.
5. Paladin – 1st – 5-0 – It was a straight up aggro affair and highlighted what this deck does well in. Swarming the board and spot removal with minions. An oiled Salty Dog finished it.
6. Druid – Coin – 6-0 – The Druid tried to control the board, but seemingly had nothing to play on certain turns. A Sap on a Captured Jormungar helped me flood the board.
7. Mage – 1st – 7-0 – A really competitive game. The game featured my using Ancestral Spirit (Spellslinger!) on an injured Stormwind Champion. Then that guy got killed and MCT’d.
8. Warlock – 1st – 8-0 – A bunch of early game was played on both sides. Mistress of Pain (Shredder) helped me trade life and gain life, while a Master Jouster left my board untouchable.
9. Paladin – 1st – 9-0 – A Betrayal helped flip the board and then I had a Ogre Ninja on Tinker’s Oil for repeated SMOrc duty. Thanks to Paladin heals, the Ogre Ninja did a total of 36 face damage. Gud akuracee.
10. Mage – 1st – 9-1 – I was repeatedly fighting for the board, and got a miracle Betrayal (again) to put my opponent in trouble with lethal. But then Pyroblast.
11. Paladin – Coin – 10-1 – A rather competitive game with lots of trading and fight for the board till the end. Card advantage thanks to Sprint helped me get back.
12. Rogue – 1st – 11-1 – Enter the Hall of Rogues with Good Removal. I was up 25-11 by Turn 9, but my opponent had a North Sea Kraken. Facing lethal with a 9-6 score at Turn 11, I had a topdeck Undercity Valiant for enough lethal, thanks to Cutpurse coins.
13. Rogue – 1st – 11-2 – The removals were endless. Backstab, SI:7, Eviscerate, Bomb Lobber, Goblin Auto-Barber, Fan of Knives… It came time when a Reversing Switch on a Evil Heckler (4/5) gave them enough protection to win. Man, this is the taunt advantage for Rogues.
14. Rogue – Coin – 11-3 – I only lasted 3 minutes and 7 turns. Thanks to Backstabs and Eviscerates, I never got on the board. I got throttled by a Drakonid Crusher.

Upshot

• You can have the best minions around, but good removal spells are key to the best arena runs. Against other Rogues with Backstabs and Eviscerates, I was never able to establish my board. If I had some consistent removal, I might have had enough for 12.
• I had enough RNG on my side in this run. Can’t complain about that.
• Though I didn’t have Rogue removals, this deck was right in my wheelhouse. Plays fast, uses minions for removal, board control.
• Betrayal came through a lot in this run, as the main card that flipped the board in my advantage. Keep your positioning skills intact!
• I got surprises from cards like Cutpurse and Salty Dog in this run. I like them a little more now!

That topdeck 1-damage reach.

Cha-ching!

Shoot em in the face! In the face!

Gud play.