Oil Rogue Deck List Guide – April 2016 (Season 25, Wild)

Class: Rogue - Format: wild - Type: combo - Style: meta-deck

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Deck Import

This deck is likely obsolete due to the Blade Flurry nerf. It is going to be kept here as a historical Hearthstone reference!

Oil Rogue is the deck that saved Rogue from a miserable existence. Not long after Goblins vs. Gnomes released it was thought that the class was dead, but a bit of deck ingenuity later and Oil Rogue was discovered. Unfortunately for Rogue, the deck is literally the only viable deck for the class. There is some fun to be had with Mill Rogue, but Oil Rogue stands alone as the solely true competitive deck for the class.

Oil Rogue gets its name from the card Tinker's Sharpsword Oil. The card paired with Blade Flurry can destroy an unsuspecting opponent from nearly all HP levels. Southsea Deckhand is added to the deck as a low cost combo enabler that also gives Rogue a place for Tinker's Sharpsword Oil to land from an empty board. Violet Teacher can now fill up boards because of the cheap spells. The deck does require some healing due to the need of Rogue to use its face to remove minions. Earthen Ring Farseer and sometimes Antique Healbot will commonly see roles in the deck.

Oil Rogue Deck List Update – April 2016 (Season 25)

There isn’t a whole lot of change going on in this deck in Season 25. It’s pretty standardized and can be tech’d in a few different ways.

Tomb Pillager is a card that does see play, it trades better into popular 5-drops like Sludge Belcher and Loatheb. You can swap out a Piloted Shredder and an Earthen Ring Farseer to make room for it!

Oil Rogue Mulligan Guide and Strategy

Backstab, SI:7 Agent, and Deadly Poison are high value when looking to mulligan for Oil Rogue. Fan of Knives can be kept against Paladin to defend against Muster for Battle. Violet Teacher is a strong keep against Midrange and Control decks.

Mryagut, one of the strongest Oil Rogue players, will actually keep Sprint against Control Warrior.

Oil Rogue Tech Cards

Assassin's Blade is added from time to time to the deck to push damage and generate massive Oil and Blade Flurry combos. Southsea Deckhand comes and goes in the deck, and double Healbot or Earthen Ring Farseer is regularly seen. Goblin Auto-Barber has also seen its fair share of additions to get more value out of your weapon. Tomb Pillager is a strong card, and be considered as a replacement for Piloted Shredder or Sludge Belcher.

Oil Rogue Card Substitutions (Replacements)

Keep in mind that replacements for cards are rarely ever going to be perfect. It’s usually easiest to try and come close to what the card accomplishes, or double up an already existing card in the deck.

Oil Rogue Combos and Synergies

There’s a lot of good combos in this deck, and most of them start with Preparation. Violet Teacher, Prep, into a Sap on a Piloted Shredder is a monster tempo play that can outright win you a game. Preparation into a turn 4 Sprint gives you a ton of card advantage. You can also get a turn-3 6/6 Edwin VanCleef just by playing Prep (Eviscerate or Deadly Poison for example) into another spell. You’ll generally want to stick with a 6/6 to avoid Big Game Hunter.

Tinker's Sharpsword Oil and Deadly Poison are great for finishing off your opponent, this is especially the case when you pair them with Blade Flurry. This is also one of the reasons you want to save the durability on your weapon. You can attack with the oiled/poisoned weapon, then use Blade Flurry to get double damage in. Also, keep in mind that Spell Damage DOES work with Blade Flurry, but because Blade Flurry doesn’t list the damage on the card this can be often overlooked.

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82 Comments

Discuss This Deck
  1. Kattavenos
    April 28, 2016 at 12:26 am

    Any replacement for 1 Preparation??

    • Evident - Author
      April 28, 2016 at 8:22 am

      That card is vital to this deck, but this deck might not be good enough to play anymore because of the nerf to Blade Flurry.

  2. Genieblood
    April 22, 2016 at 12:46 pm

    So this deck is dead now because of the nerf?

  3. samevas
    March 5, 2016 at 4:01 am

    I would like to add malygos to the deck, what could i take out ?

  4. JacoTheSlime
    March 4, 2016 at 5:49 am

    This deck is pretty awesome, keeps up with the current meta but sometimes you might get pretty rekt by aggro.

  5. angry
    January 30, 2016 at 5:46 pm

    This deck is getting me angry cuz there ar eno control options and the rouge is for me the badest char, dont play him

  6. Zyxy1919
    January 23, 2016 at 3:27 pm

    How can I replace Edwin?

  7. Hearthstone1254
    January 23, 2016 at 10:19 am

    Hello
    I want to play ranked with this deck. How high can I go with the oil rogue?

    • Evident - Author
      January 23, 2016 at 10:57 am

      You can get to legend for sure, but this deck is a bit more advanced in terms of skill level.

  8. Bolatelli
    January 7, 2016 at 3:10 pm

    Just came around again to say that Van Cleef is awesome. I crafted him and I don’t have any regrets. It’s a card that you most of the times want to have in your opening hand and gives this deck more threats and most important, makes it funnier to play. I must say I’ve crushed every meta deck but I also have problems with aggro.

    • Lowchamp
      January 11, 2016 at 7:44 pm

      The aggro deck that you have problems with I believe is aggro shaman? If you find youself stuck with aggro you could replace farseer with healbot or even farseer and belcher for two healbots

  9. Bolatelli
    January 5, 2016 at 9:50 pm

    Hi. I’ve always played Rogue since I started playing HS (not long ago tho). I saw that the OilRogue is a tier 2 deck in the current meta but I’ve found it difficult to play even more this season (S22). I was wondering if Van Cleef gives this decks another level and I’m missing a lot because is the only card of this list that I don’t have. Depending on the answer obviously, should I craft him then?, because I have the exact dust to do so; or should I craft another legendary? I already have Thalnos, Justicar, Sylvanas and Boom. I’m open to craft neutral or class legendaries or even top tier decks (secret paladin, aggro shaman). Help me please!
    Thank you.

    PD: sorry for my bad english, I’m Peruvian.

    • Anonymous
      January 6, 2016 at 8:54 am

      I’m also a rogue player. I have vancleef but after more than 100 games with rogue, I realized that it is not worth it to put him in the deck. You tend to make him big when you get the chance and it just gets BGH’d or silenced A LOT. Trust me, a big cleef RARELY works. Hope this helps. 🙂

      • Bolatelli
        January 6, 2016 at 10:01 am

        Thank you a lot. Now I’ll see what else to do then.

        • Lowchamp
          January 7, 2016 at 1:33 am

          I actually disagree with the person above. I am also a rogue player that has played rogue ever since I played hearthstone (also the first class I reached lvl 60 with) and I think van cleef is necessary in this deck. It’s the only minion besides boom that can create a big board presence. Your opponent is forced to deal with it or forced to silence it. The problem that you may face is when to play van cleef. If you get him early with the coin, don’t be afraid to get a 4/4 van cleef on turn 2. If you get it super late, try to save it for a big combo. If you get it in the middle, when your opponent has cards to deal with it, either play it so the opponent is forced to sacrifice a card or several minions to kill it or wait and just try to clear the board. Hope this helps 🙂

        • c0l0rs
          January 7, 2016 at 3:23 am

          well… what the guy above just wrote is “i don’t understand how to play around big threats.
          Watch a single pro-streamer who plays oil. He doesn’t even need to be good at him and you will see that they NEVER buff him above 6/6. They always aim for the 6/6, if necesairy even only 4/4. Put down a 6/6 for 2 mana is huuuge!
          Don’t get me wrong. I m just here cause I was thinking about building me an oilroguedeck myself. I haven’t played oilrogue yet, but i’ve faced quite some good oilrogues so far and I haven’t seen one oilrogue above rank 5 with an EVC 8/8 or higher. Unless ofc your Dr.7/oiledminion was BGHed allready, but that rarely happens as Boom is usually played 1-2-turns before you or your enemy finishes, it s a little late 4 EVC then most of the time.
          And silencing it? who has silences nowadays? Aggrodecks, who need their silence for your belcher (if they silence your EVC they re basically doing you good, as you can kill his small minions with our small EVC aswell and your belcher stays in their face) plus you re usually focusing on surviving, not on saving cards for a big EVC-combo.

          tldr: you aim with EVC for 6/6 or less in 95% of the games.

          • Lowchamp
            January 7, 2016 at 5:33 pm

            Partly what I said, yes your aim should be to aim for those 6/6 but as an avid oil rogue player I think you can aim for something big at later stages of the game

          • Kurama
            January 12, 2016 at 2:55 am

            Well, it depends. You don’t always have to go for 6/6 EVC. Against decks that you know that they don’t usually run BGH you can go for an 8/8 or more EVC.

            I haven’t played any Oil Rogue yet, but from what I saw I can say that EVC is a must here. Dr.Boom is too slow in this deck and most of the time you will aim for having a large hand and combos in order to finish your opponent, so EVC can become later your big fancy card if you need one. Also, EVC is good because it gives you more options. You can play Dr. Boom only on turn 7 while there are no constrains about when to play EVC.

            Btw, Thijs’ Oil Rogue is the best version in my opinion. Have a look at it. It seems like fun. 🙂

          • Anonymous
            January 12, 2016 at 9:24 pm

            Sorry. I am that anonymous guy. They’re right. Right after posting my reply, I reincluded EVC in my deck and I know how to use it now. You usually make it 4/4 against priest while 6/6 against everyone else. Make it 8/8 when your opponent has no hand or has exhausted all removals.

            I can’t believe it took me 200 ranked wins in rogue BEFORE I understood how it works.. And I’m still not confident I know enough. I’m becoming happy using it now though.

  10. Rumok
    January 1, 2016 at 1:14 pm

    I dont have preparations can i replace them with something because i have seen this card is verry important in 90%rogue decks

    • Evident - Author
      January 1, 2016 at 2:28 pm

      Too important of a card to replace, sorry!

    • Cristianooo
      January 6, 2016 at 2:29 am

      I think you scarcely can replace this card as it makes combo like Preparation+Sprint/Oil/Fan that is crucial to Rogue and helps triggering Combo 🙂

    • Michael
      January 12, 2016 at 11:45 pm

      In other words, preparation is the reason this deck exists.

  11. Puppytux
    December 29, 2015 at 10:41 am

    Is Southsea Deckhand a viable card in this deck to replace Earthen? I feel that with so many Reno decks on ladder now-a-days it could be valuable to have an OTK using South sea on an empty board.

    • Evident - Author
      December 29, 2015 at 10:45 am

      Yes, it’s very viable.

    • AC
      December 30, 2015 at 9:36 am

      Yeah, Don’t get me wrong. I like the Farseer, but everytime I lose with this deck that extra 3 life never mattered haha. I play around with 2 Oil and 1 Deckhand. I cut either a teacher or a shredder for 2nd Oil. Combo OTK chances go up slightly. Also with 2 oils, I’ll sub out Loathed for assassins blade from time to time.

  12. Hesno
    December 21, 2015 at 7:40 am

    Thinking of putting in tomb pillaged or a Asians blade for replacement on vancleef replacement? Any ideas for replacing him I feel like he just gets regulated to easy

    • Evident - Author
      December 21, 2015 at 9:30 am

      Tomb Pillager could be fine, I think Edwin is strong in this deck though.

      • AC
        December 21, 2015 at 10:06 am

        Usually people scoop to a huge Edwin around turn 4-5. I usually aim to make a 4/4 Ed, vs. Priests, or 8/8 vs. decks that I don’t suspect to have BGH, like other Oil Rogue.

    • Kurama
      January 12, 2016 at 2:59 am

      Tomb Pillager is a good replacement for Piloted Shredder.

  13. gxizhe
    December 12, 2015 at 1:04 am

    What can I use to replace Edwin?

  14. nuico
    December 11, 2015 at 8:18 am

    -1 edwin, -1 thalnos and +1 bgh, +1 southsea deckhand (is missing here wtf?)

  15. Murderface
    December 9, 2015 at 10:44 am

    I have never looked at this site and decided to play rouge. The deck I came up with is very similar in concept, but completely different cards. I have been having a crazy amount of success with it.

    Ill give you a rundown of the cards that I remember, hearthstones down… and I don’t wanna give away all my secrets do I?!

    Bloodsail raider x 2
    Minions-Auto Barber X2
    Bucanneer x 2
    Bandit x2 (The one that summons a 2/1 off a combo)
    Young Brewmaster x 2
    Mana Addict x 1
    Questing Adeventurer x 1
    Adept engineer x 2

    Blade flurry x 2
    Oil of course x 2
    Deadly posion x 2
    Cold Blooded x 2
    Backstab x 1
    Conceal x 1
    Shadowstep x 2
    Shiv x 2

    Some other stuff I can’t remember. I seem to be doing really well with this deck. Young brewmaster and Shadow step warp cards like bandit or engineer in and out for double effect, also works well with auto barber, as you can keep using battle cry to buff the hero weapon.

    Bandit getting warped in and out repeatedly can put a lot of minions on the board really cheap, cold blood and conceal can buff and wreck some early game high damage minions.

    I love this deck.

  16. FMisa
    December 9, 2015 at 5:37 am

    Hi, I have been testing this deck and I like it, but in my opinion you should keep two oils instead of one.
    For the other hand, I have done other modificatios beacuse I haven’t got thalnos and this modified deck is more aggresive than your deck and it give me better results.
    Inconclussion, I like your version of oil rogue.

  17. DatOpPlaya
    December 7, 2015 at 7:07 pm

    I switched Bloodmage Thalnos for an Assassin’s Blade, It saved me so many times.

  18. Jajabi
    December 3, 2015 at 8:12 am

    Can I replace loatheb for dr b?

    • Evident - Author
      December 3, 2015 at 9:35 am

      You could try it, Loatheb is really good for sealing out a game.

  19. misomiso
    November 19, 2015 at 6:33 am

    If we don’t have BloodMage thalnos can the deck still work?

    he seems very good as he draws a card and adds spell damage.

    What else could we put in? Another deckhand? Violet teacher?

    • Evident - Author
      November 19, 2015 at 9:46 am

      I would go with second Violet Teacher. It’s still a solid deck without Thalnos.

  20. SuperT
    November 18, 2015 at 1:49 pm

    Any swaps for thalnos? Or is he needed? Btw I don’t have cleef… :D!

    • Evident - Author
      November 18, 2015 at 2:22 pm

      Second Violet Teacher.

      • Roadkill
        December 26, 2015 at 11:36 pm

        You can put in a Kobold Geomancer. It costs the same, you don’t have to craft it, and it’s a bit sturdier than Thalnos(although not by much). Only downside is not being able to draw a card, but hey, that’s why Thalnos is legendary.

        If you need board control, Kobold+Fan is practically a Consecrate. Many other combos with Kobold to gain board control (also affects bflurry!). Rogue doesn’t have much trouble with board control due to backstabs, bflurry, sap, etc. So I don’t see much point in having a second Violet Teacher

        Never hurts to have extra Spell Damage up your sleeve 😉

    • Kurama
      January 12, 2016 at 3:05 am

      Yep, as Roadkill said, Kobold Geomancer is the best replacement for Thalnos.
      That spell damage makes this card quite good and the low cost allows you to easily deal more damage with your removals. For example, I run a Geomancer in my Mid Druid deck, just because I want a faster empowered Swipe.

  21. Faith on carry
    November 17, 2015 at 2:16 pm

    i dont have a violet teacher, with what can i replace that?

    • Evident - Author
      November 17, 2015 at 2:18 pm

      Second Earthen Ring Farseer or an Edwin VanCleef.

  22. Kappers
    November 15, 2015 at 9:39 am

    With what can i replace Loatheb?

  23. Nightelf
    November 12, 2015 at 1:56 pm

    Its the most fun and inteligent deck. I am using Van cleef and BGH and it’s working so far

  24. Samuel7l
    November 9, 2015 at 10:04 am

    what card can I remove to put Edwin?

  25. Colvin
    November 8, 2015 at 7:38 am

    I only got 1 prep what can I replace for the second one?

    • Evident - Author
      November 8, 2015 at 7:52 am

      Second Violet Teacher or Earthen Ring Farseer. It will be difficult to play this deck with one prep though.

      • Colvin
        November 8, 2015 at 8:02 am

        I will craft the second one as fast as I can thx

  26. The clock strikes thirteen
    November 6, 2015 at 4:12 am

    I saw some other alternatives and I think BGH actually fits this deck quite well, I kind of replaced thalnos for it even though I didn’t have that card in the first place. Especially in control heavy metas, BGH can save you a sap or maybe even an oil to provide a better chance for u to lethal your opponent. I find the spell damage for thalnos often neglect-able and the card draw in this deck is quite enough with the 2 azure drakes and 2 sprints.

    • Blood311
      November 22, 2015 at 10:56 am

      I think the problem is that Thalnos costs just 1 coin and it gives you spell damage which you need and sometimes just one spell damage can save your win. Azure drakes are really expensive and you almost can’t play anything else that turn which is problem. Thalnos also gives you a card and it is very good think, cuz this deck is built in this way that you need maybe 4 – 5 cards to make a combo.

      But on the otherside, BGH can save your sap, you are right, but i don’t know, in my opinion it has not so big value as Thalnos.

    • Kurama
      January 12, 2016 at 3:09 am

      Thalnos is way to good in this deck. As I wrote above, you can replace it with a Geomancer until you can craft him.

      The idea to replace a Sap with BGH is really tempting. I mean, BGH can be better in some cases than the Sap. For example, would you prefer to sap or to BGH a Dr. Boom? :D. Nice idea, man.

  27. Alias
    November 5, 2015 at 3:24 am

    Isn’t this deck supposed to be better with more Paladin? I wonder why it’s rated so low by TempoStorm :/. Shame, it looks like such an interesting deck to play.

    • Evident - Author
      November 5, 2015 at 7:06 am

      It was supposed to be! I think it’s not great against Druid which is why it’s less popular.

      • Alias
        November 5, 2015 at 5:36 pm

        Even if it’s less popular, Tier 3 (just managing to escape Thrall’s homeland, Tier 4) is pretty harsh, for a deck that is good against the most used class in constructed.

        • SoulStryfe
          December 21, 2015 at 10:04 pm

          This is a tier one deck if u know how to run it. Druid is a 50/50 gotta bust ur combo before they bust theirs, the deck isnt weak it is the player that makes the deck

  28. GunnersDream
    November 4, 2015 at 7:59 pm

    Replacement for Blade Flurry?

  29. Falcon lover
    October 26, 2015 at 5:16 pm

    Can i use an assasin blade instead of having to fan of knives ?

    • Evident - Author
      October 26, 2015 at 6:54 pm

      I wouldn’t do that. Paladin is one of the most popular decks, and Fan of Knives is a great counter to Muster for Battle.

      • Elessar51
        November 2, 2015 at 9:09 pm

        And Facehunter. And Zoo Warlock. Its solid all around really.

    • Kurama
      January 12, 2016 at 3:13 am

      Fan of Knives also gives you a bonus card.

      I don’t really like the Assassin’s Blade because you need to have a weapon with not that much durability in order to activate the attack – Blade Flurry combo. Also, Assassin’s Blade is kinda slow because you have to attack 2 times before you can combo and it’s also a nice target to Harrison Jones.

  30. Theodor
    October 25, 2015 at 2:05 pm

    With what can i replace Bloodmage Thalnos?
    thx

  31. Yannis
    October 25, 2015 at 1:12 am

    i use this deck for a long time . first i replaced thalnos for kobold geomercer.Then i replaced loatheb for emperor thaurissan , i took bucaneer instead of southsea deckhand , and i replaced the second sprint for assassins blade

  32. Thizza
    October 23, 2015 at 5:01 pm

    I teched out Loatheb for an Assassin’s Blade. It allows me to win more control matchups but I still struggle vs aggro decks. Has anyone else tried tinkering with other weapons such as perdition’s or poisoned?

  33. Mabobi
    October 12, 2015 at 11:30 pm

    Can this deck get legend?

    • Evident - Author
      October 13, 2015 at 6:18 am

      Yes.

    • Forlorn
      December 12, 2015 at 10:44 am

      Yes, but it would be quite difficult. It’s in a tough spot in the meta right now. If you’re not advanced in this game, I don’t recommend that you craft this deck.

    • karmaprey
      December 14, 2015 at 8:57 am

      All decks can get Legend with a high enough win-rate.

    • SoulStryfe
      December 15, 2015 at 5:25 am

      You cant replace blade flurry and geomancer is a very weak replacement for thalanos, thalanos is a tech card it can either strengthen a spell or help you draw down into your deck. Vancleef loatheb earthen ring those are the cards you could tech out safely although the deck will get slightly weaker

      • Kurama
        January 12, 2016 at 3:19 am

        Geomancer strengthens spell, too. Thalnos is only superior for his card draw, which is more essential to Oil Rogue than the bonus +1/+1 the Geomancer has.

        I wouldn’t consider Loatheb a card to be replaced because it gives you a little chance to win against aggro decks, which are the most difficult for Oil Rogue.