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Mulligans
General Mulligans
Generally, you're looking for Backstab, Swashburglar, or a dragon on the mulligan, but SI:7 Agent is fine on the coin, and Plague Scientist can be great in combination with Netherspite historian, Swashburglar, or Patches in combination with a 0 mana spell. I include Faerie Dragon in this list, because it can be one of the more nuanced choices on the mull. Often, you'll want to hold Faerie dragon for the cards that care about holding a dragon, but there are some exceptions to the rule. Mage and Priest have a hard time dealing with Faerie Dragon, and it can often account for double value trades with Mana Wurm and a two drop or Northshire Cleric and a two drop, or it can just go face for 6-12 points of damage if you have reasonable follow up plays that keep the way clear.
A viable tempo rogue list. The deck feels and operates like a fusion of tempo mage and dragon priest: you get the burst and reach of mage, but the dragon package and board presence of priest. The draw to this list, however, is its ability to stave off the early aggression of pirates and tokens by drawing out Patches the Pirate , SI:7 Agent, Backstab , Shadowblade , and Doomerang . Additionally, the late game removal allows you to hang with midrange and control decks. You are simply able to spend less mana removing their threats than they spend to play them. Shadowstep is almost never a dead draw between 12 great battlecry minions and 5 combo minions. Plague Scientist can be great with Patches, as he offers an extremely efficient means of killing a large minion. Scientist also combos well with Netherspite Historian by compensating for her inferior stats by granting her poisonous. If you’re able to get two poisonous swings with her, you are often far, far ahead.
Leeroy Jenkins grants you a lot of reach, especially in combination with Shadowstep . Between SI:7 Agent , Leeroy Jenkins ,Blackwing Corruptor , Shadowstep , Eviscerate , and Shadowblade , you often have far more reach than your opponent will calculate. It is not uncommon to be able to burst an opponent down from ~12-15 life, and you usually have the board to finish the job.
The single copy of Fan of Knives is a nod to Midrange Paladin, Token Shaman, and Token Druid lists that try to go too wide and too big for you to answer their threats card-for-card. Often, dealing one damage to their board is enough, as you usually have Backstab s and weapons to help take care of their bulkier threats, but you also have Azure Drake to grant you an extra point of damage when needed as well.
I really like this list because of what you said having this be a hybrid between Tempo Mage and Dragon Priest. What is your strategy with Brann? I can see you pulling off a combo with it then just shadow step it back into your hand. What kind of matchup would this be good for?
Brann is a great on-curve threat. At worst, he demands a turn from your opponent, often eating a premium removal spell. At best, he gives you 6 points of damage off Blackwing Corrupter, two cards off of Azure Drake, two dragons off of Netherspite Historian, and extra of any of those effects if you happen to have a Shadowstep in hand as well.
So far I’ve climbed to rank 8 with the list. Favorable matchups include any tempo mirror (Dragon Priest, Tempo Mage, Secret Paladin) and I have had an extremely good win percentage against Pirate Warrior as well. The worst matchups I’ve had are hard control lists that gain a lot of life (though Renolock is generally not bad) and Evolve Shaman. Token matchups in general seem to be the hardest, but Shaman has been the hardest by quite a margin.