Hearthpwn

Frostrage

Version 11 - ready for Whispers of the Old Gods

This deck is a new way to play the Rogue class, you will see some combos you have never seen before. The deck had a lot of evolution, I tried a ton of unusual cards to make this combo work and to speed up the gameplay.

The main game plan is to use a lot of hero powers to reduce the cost of the Frost Giants. Then you use Gang Up on the Frost Giants and fish for them with Ancient Harbinger or Y'Shaarj, Rage Unbound, hence the name for the deck "Frostrage". When playing a deck with Gang Up you have to make sure that you have enough card draw. Usually Rogues use Preparation + Sprint to refill your hand, but you will need the Preparations for other combos, just read on. Currently the meta is full of Shamans and Zoolocks, meaning a lot of small minions will be against you, so you want to stall the game until turn 10 when you start slamming your combo. The most played stall card these days is the Doomsayer, and because he is played in so much decks people found some counters to Doomsayer: Crazed Alchemist and Stampeding Kodo (not mentioning Shadow Word: Pain from Priests or any other removal spell). I tried Doomsayer + Conceal for a clean board wipe but the Stampeding Kodo just happend to often to let it work. So I had to go for another way to find AOE for the Rogue class which is not very easy.
Preparation + Vanish was nice, but sometimes to slow and most likely, even with the later explained Coldlight Oracle combo, you did not kill enough minions with it - your opponents are just curving out to well these days.

So one of the new and unseen board clear combo is

Wild Pyromancer + Preparation + Fan of Knives

Yes, it's a 3-card combo for the effect of a Excavated Evil, but it's only 2 Mana and 1 card cycles itself, so effectivly it's only a 2 card combo to clear most of the board. You can improve these combo with Bloodmage Thalnos and Shadowstep to get an even higher AOE damage but usually the 3 power should be enough. If you have more then 2 mana and are already midgame/lategame then you can save the Preparation and trigger the Wild Pyromancer with a Backstab or Eviscerate.

Another unseen board clear combo is:

Corrupted Seer + Shadowstep + Corrupted Seer

Well, it's not a combo you are focussed to use in this deck, but it is possible if you need that board clear to buy you another turn.

The card draw engine:

Playing 2x Gang Up can be very risky in this fast meta, because they are dead cards like Shadowstep when you don't have any other options/cards in your hand. This is why there is a massive card draw engine in this deck:
Bloodmage Thalnos, 2x Loot Hoarder, 2x Fan of Knives and 2x Coldlight Oracle combined with 2x Shadowstep is a possible card draw of 13 cards. Moreover, Ancient Harbinger and Y'Shaarj, Rage Unbound also can draw cards from your deck, so you will see that the cycle mechanic is huge and you should not run out of cards. It tried Brann Bronzebeard and Emperor Thaurissan to get more value out of the Coldlight Oracles, but the 2x Shadowsteps are 1 mana faster than Brann Bronzebeard and you have 2 of them in the deck, so it's more likely you will have this combo when you need it. And the Shadowsteps also can be used for Corrupted Seer for another board clear.

With so much cycle from the Coldlight Oracles and so much cards for AOE / board control you are very low on minions, so the best solution for this is Beneath the Grounds. With the Coldlight Oracles you "force" your opponent to dig for the Ambush! cards (and maybe sometimes mill a card from him) and you get 3x 4/4 minions, that's 12/12 stats for 3 mana.

Preparation is your friend!
You should always use your Preparations use for your Fan of Knives or Beneath the Grounds (it's the most mana-efficient way to play them in this deck). If you have chosen to play the Assassinate version over the Yogg-Saron, Hope's End version then you can also use a Preparation for Assassinate if it's needed.

Sir Finley Mrrgglton:
Your Rogue hero power is pretty useless in this deck and good weapon upgrade cards are rare these days. This is why we want to change your hero power into a better one and you should use Sir Finley Mrrgglton as a 3-drop or even better 5-drop.
Use hero power, play Sir Finley Mrrgglton, use new hero power. This will give you 2 reduction for all your Frost Giants later in the game and you have a better hero power.
Which hero power to take?
Against aggro/tempo decks like Shaman, Hunter, Mage you can play him on turn 1 because you might not have the time for the above mentioned play. Choose a hero power that counters your opponent's one. For example against Hunter you can pick the Priest/Warrior hero power, against Paladin/Shaman/Mage you pick the Mage hero power to have this 1 extra damage that is sometimes needed to finish of a minion without having to tank it (which you would have to do with the rogue hero power). Druid hero power is a nice pick up when your desired hero power is not available and Hunter hero power is good against Warriors/Warlocks/Priests/Druids.

Ancient Harbinger and Y'Shaarj, Rage Unbound:

Those cards dig to your deck for your Frost Giants or your Ancient Harbinger brings you Y'Shaarj, Rage Unbound so that he can dig for the Frost Giants. In most cases the Ancient Harbinger will be killed by minions, so he is also a pseudo-heal for 6 health even when there is nothing to dig left in the lategame (your opponent does not know the amount of 10 drops in your deck). Another note: by the time you play Y'Shaarj, Rage Unbound your deck should be at 10 or less cards (including the "Ganged Up" Frost Giants) so don't worry to pull out other small minions, it's very unlikely and even then still a good tempo play and you should be already in a winning position with a lot of Frost Giants on the board.

Corrupted Seer and Baron Geddon:

Those cards are the current tech cards because of the state of the current meta playing a lot of small minions. Please note that the Corrupted Seer will not damage your Sir Finley Mrrgglton and Coldlight Oracles, since they are Murlocs.

Assasinate / Yogg-Saron, Hope's End:
Currently I am playing the version with Assassinate, but a tech choice would be Yogg-Saron, Hope's End for more possible card draw, possible multikill/boardwipe and a possible synergy with Shadowstep. He is also a 10-drop which can be fished by Ancient Harbinger.

How to play this deck:

Early game: You mulligan for Backstab, Loot Hoarder and if you get a Preparation then keep a Fan of Knives or a Beneath the Grounds. A Coldlight Oracle against aggro/tempo can be a solution if there are no other options, but better than any high drop. An Eviscerate is only a keep when you are on The Coin.

Midgame: Try to hero power as often as possible, get Sir Finley Mrrgglton value for even more hero power usage and clear/stall the board with the tools you have.

Lategame: Time for Ancient Harbinger to shine or to give your opponent the surprise effect when he sees his minion dying from the Corrupted Seer or Baron Geddon.

Endgame: The combo should now be ready, slam your first Frost Giant and play Gang Up on him. You should ALWAYS Gang Up your Frost Giants. Have some of your card draw engine ready to pump out an army of Frost Giants raging your opponent!

Happy smashing! :-)

 VODs of the deck will be added here soon[tm].

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