Horse Rogue

Title: Big Rogue / Horse Rogue / Trojan Rogue

Win Condition: Play Scourge Illusionist as early as possible to cheat out an early Thunderbringer, which in turn cheats out big minions such as Neptulon the Tidehunter and Crabatoa to kill the opponent.

The deck can be broken down into 4 packages, each of which plays a specific role in accomplishing this win condition . . .

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Most importantly, the Big Minion Package contains the core cards used to win the game: Neptulon the Tidehunter, Thunderbringer, Red Herring, Scourge Illusionist, and Crabatoa. Of note:

–  A Thunderbringer given from Illusionistis likely to tutor itself, as it is both a beast and an elemental. This also means that Neptulon, as the only other elemental, is also more likely to be tutored than Red Herring or Crabatoa. 

– Red Herring, while boasting more defensive stats than any other cheat minion, can be helpful for protecting Neptulon from unit target copy or destroy cards.

– It’s generally worth committing a 4-mana Thunderbringer to the board even with one or two of the big minions in hand.

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Next, the deck needs a way to ensure the big minions stay in the deck so Illusionist can copy Thunderbringer and so that Thunderbringer can tutor the other big minions. That’s where the Hand Shuffle Package comes in, which can either be used to shuffle minions in hand back into the deck, or to search for an Illusionist: Gaslight Gatekeeper, Sir Finley, Sea Guide, and Gear Shift. Of note:

– Only Finley can guarantee that a shuffled card stays at the bottom of the deck and will not be redrawn. However, upon reshuffling cards back into the deck with either Gear Shift or Gatekeeper, the ordering of the deck is reset.

– Gatekeeper can be played on turn 3 as a last resort to search for an Illusionist to play on turn 4. 

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The Card Draw Package aims to find an illusionist if possible by turn 4 in order to play a 4-mana Thunderbringer by turn 5, or otherwise play Queen Azshara by turn 5 to cheat out large minions: Serrated Bone Spike, Ghostly Strike, Gone Fishin', Shadow of Demise, Preparation, and Queen Azshara. Of note:

– Preparation followed by Bone Spike can cheat out an early Illusionist or Queen Azshara.

– Ghostly Strike and Bone Spike can be used to kill one’s own Thunderbringer (as can a damage concoction).

– Gone Fishin’ can be used after Finley to find a specific shuffled card.

– Shadow of Demise can be used on a Queen Azshara reward spell.

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With this game plan in motion, the deck needs to survive the early turns and not be overrun by aggro, while getting chip damage in and mildly pressuring control decks. The cheapest and most efficient Rogue package consists of the Potion Package, which also offers card draw to find Illusionist and a choice inclusion of Cult Neophyte to slow down the opponent’s gameplan: Concoctor, Ghoulish Alchemist, Potionmaster Putricide, Potion Belt, and Cult Neophyte. Of note:

– The best substitution I could think of for the deck would be 2x Greedy Partner in place of the 2x Cult Neophyte. The other worst card in the deck is probably Putricide, and then Shadow of Demise, and then probably the Ghostly Strikes. Every other card seems to be core for now.

– Putricide has nice synergy with Crabatoa specifically, and is generally a good play after big minions have been cheated out.

– Neophyte can be played the turn that big minions are cheated out to prevent spell-based responses to the board.

– The deck relies on killing the opponent relatively quickly. Any early chip damage can be important, and often the damage potion from potion belt can be the last push needed to end a game (generally Neptulon and Crabatoa are sufficient to push through large taunt minions, meaning the deadly shot potion has generally reduced value). 

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Pitfalls for the deck include:

1. Overwhelming early damage, although the deck performs pretty well against minion-based aggro decks as long as Thunderbringer is played by turn 5. 

2. Silence and bounce effects on Illusionist or Thunderbringer. Of note is Reno, although Reno cost 8 mana and is usually to slow of a play against this deck.

3. Decks that don’t kill Illusionist, or simply opponents who don’t play minions. In this case Illusionist must be killed manually.

4. Copy minion effects on Neptulon or Crabatoa, although Red Herring may sometimes prevent this.