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Excavate

Posted by: LarryLazardPublished: November 10, 2023Updated: October 16, 2026Dust: Dust8,000

Class: RogueFormat: StandardSeason: Season 116

Rogue Cards (21)

Neutral Cards (9)

4
0
11
1
9
2
1
3
5
4
5
6
7+

Mulligan Guide

General

Bloodrock Shovel and Kobold Miner are going to be your primary mulligan targets, as you want to start excavating as soon as possible. Deputy and Shadowstep/Breakdance are good keeps if you have Miner specifically. Everything else will be dependent upon the match-up.

Vs. Aggro

Prison Breaker is going to be greater in aggro match-ups (especially on the coin), but you'll want to try to go for Greedy Partner in order to get it online faster.

Vs. Control

You can go for Scourge Illusionist/Shattershambler versus slower decks, and wait until you can do a huge swing turn with Drilly+bounce cards. Control may end up being a tough match-up if we're not able to sufficiently bait out their removal using over-statted treasure minions, and we'll be at more of the mercy of the RNG with our Scorpions.

Deck Description

This is primarily a tempo deck - your main goal is to maximize tempo, but in order to do that you'll need to get Drilly ASAP. Ideally, your plan should be to start out doing stuff with the two drops, until you can pull of a Scourge/Shattershambler combo to get your Drilly, and then do a bunch of Rogue shenanigans until you can excavate 8 times, at which point you can play your two Azerite Scorpions to get 8 0 cost spells, and hopefully generate so much tempo that your opponent can't do enough to respond.

Gear Shift/Finley are included to return Drilly to the deck, as the main reason to include Scourge Illusionist is to get a 0 mana copy of Drilly. Dryscale Deputy and Greedy Partner are insane tempo-generating cards for Rogue, and Antique Flinger/Prison Breaker/Potion Belt serve as primary removal (in addition to what you might generate from treasures).

I chose to forgo the full concoction package, as I believe there's greater benefit in including Shattershambler/Deputy/Partner in order to either expedite treasure generation, or generate significant tempo.

Queen Azshara/Astalor and Saloon Brewmaster might be options to include, as another win con for Azshara/Astalor, or to help you excavate faster for Brewmaster. I would drop the Deputy/Partner for these cards, as they're not necessarily as integral to the deck, but the value of Brewmaster does decrease a bit without those two. In more aggro metas, you might want to drop a card for the second Bone Spike.