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[s32 top10 legend] raptor rogue

  • Last updated Dec 3, 2016 (Gadgetzan)
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Wild

  • 21 Minions
  • 9 Spells
  • Deck Type: Ranked Deck
  • Deck Archetype: N'Zoth Rogue
  • Crafting Cost: 11980
  • Dust Needed: Loading Collection
  • Created: 11/8/2016 (Yogg Nerf)
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to legend in 2 days and 103 games (75-28: 73%wr)proved raptor rogueTHIS DECK HAS NO COMPETITION IN WILD!...and no other rogues around.

exuses in advance for my german English language

 

Testing right now! 

- 2 Haunted Creepers, - 2 Eviscerates, - Barnes, - Piloted Shredder, - Cairne Bloodhoof/ + 2 Jade Swarmers, + 2 Jade Shurikens, + 2 Jade Spirits, + Aya Blackpaw

Maybe even Brann Bronzebeard for Harvest Golem with all those batttlecries all over the place?

 

Click on the spoiler, if you want to read someting about the story of this Raptor Rogue.

I enjoy playing Rogue since the set League of Explorers has been released and deck builds around the Unearthed Raptor became a thing.

As my Tempo Warrior these ancient days just didn't want to work, it was THE time to give the Raptor Rogue a try...and I never looked back. Even more. I truely fell in love and claimed from the beginning: "That is the deck to beat!".

But not many thought this way and the early euphoria about this deck concept calmed down quickly and soon it only has been seen as a tier 3 or even tier 4 deck since.

 

Here is why.

The first builds have been very aggressive. You could find 2 Leper Gnomes as well as 2 Loot Hoarders and of course 2 Cold Bloods besides 2 Abusive Sergeants in these kinds of decks.

The only late game cards have been Sylvanas Windrunner and Dr. Boom. You slammed down Loatheb to protect your board and either finished your opponent in time (the next few rounds) or simply fizzled out.

The Raptor Rogue was played like the swarmy Zoo Warlock - but without the essential card draw potential which could have compensated for the lack of overall card quality (because you have to run "poor" cards like Cold Blood to break Nerubian Egg e.g.).

And with no space in the deck for Azure Drakes more often than not you just ran out of steam, lost the game and asked yourself why not to switch (back) to Zoolock.

 

Here is why.

Warlock just doesn't provide this tempo with cards like Backstab (0-mana-cards are insane) and Sap. It doesn't have Eviscerate (4 dmg for only 2 mana...even to face if you like to and without overload: compare to Stormcrack), AoEs with Fan of Knives/Dark Iron Skulker and of course the Unearthed Raptor which already as a 3-mana-3/4-vanilla-card would be very solid (OMG! This battlecry!).

And with Sir Finley Mrrgglton everyone can now tap his life anyway maybe.

So if only one could combine these early powerplays and board stickiness/clears with having enough value (power) respectivley card draw in the mid/late game.

 

Here is how.

First take out the bad cards, then replace them with great cards :P and finally you change your game style from strictly aggressive to tempo/board control/value game (with still being aggressive in some situations though). You play the control game vs aggressive decks and tempo vs mid-range and control decks.

 

Only changing 1 Loot Hoarder with 1 Azure Drake already has a big impact on the deck (I'm not a fan of these 1-health-minions which do nothing for the board and even die to a hero power occasionally). You can't expect Unearthed Raptor to hit Loot Hoarder round 3 (with these many early drops these days) and compare those 2 cards topdecking!

I'm not saying Loot Hoarder is THAT bad of a card and you surely can find some arguments for still running one in this deck, but I don't. Your early game is strong enough and dagger up turn 2 at least is the best hero power in the game (2 dmg for 2 mana over 2 turns).

 

Removing the Leper Gnomes (especially after their nerf) is an obvious decision and after hundreds of games at that time I already came up with almost the exact list you can see on the right.

(I played 2 Abusive Sergeants and only 1 Cold Blood, when it still was a 2-1 body, had 1 Big Game Hunter in the deck, when it still was 3 mana, and I ran Loatheb instead of N'Zoth, the Corruptor, because the expansion Whispers of the Old Gods hasn't been released yet.)

 

It was still a very long time until the Standard format would come into effect and although this deck had to compete with everything out there these days my Raptor Rogue brought me to legend every month I've putted my effort into doing so. The only probem have been Full Face Decks and sometimes I ran out of steam vs Heavy Control Decks (N'Zoth, the Corruptor helps A LOT here now).

 

Why do i think this deck is so powerful?

The Unearthed Raptor provides insane value. Imagine a turn 3 play on the Nerubian Egg. That's a 7-8 body for 3 mana! Ridiculous! If you now on top of that can break the Nerubian Egg with Cold Blood and kill an opponent's 4-health minion (Totem Golem, Dark Cultist, Frothing Berserker,...) while spawning a 4-4 body yourself, the game is pretty much over!

But how to achieve making this or a similar scenario happen (more) frequently, surviving against pure aggro, having enough card draw respectively card quality and overcoming bad draws over time?

The theme of this deck is "3 of a kind" to guarantee the indispensable consistency you need to get a good winrate. It has 3 buff cards (not counting Defender of Argus) for the activation of Nerubian Egg and Haunted Creeper (1 Abusive Sergeant, 2 Cold Bloods), 3 AoEs (2 Fan of Knives, 1 Dark Iron Skulker for Zoolock and Secret Paladin), 3 sticky "3-drops" (2 Unearthed Raptors, 1 Harvest Golem for playing on curve), 3 taunt cards (2 Defender of Argus, 1 Sludge Belcher) and 3 "big drops" (not counting N'Zoth, the Corruptor) (Cairne Bloodhoof, Sylvanas Windrunner, Dr. Boom).

So you regularly should get your sometimes desperately needed buff or taunt or AoE (maybe even with spell damage...Bloodmage Thalnos + Fan of Knives is great vs aggressive decks) and you should always be able to play a decent 5 or 6 drop in time.

 

Update!

-1 Abusive Sergeant/ +1 Dark Iron Dwarf, -1 Piloted Shredder/ + Barnes, -1 Azure Drake/ +1 Harvest Golem

I was never happy to draw Abusive Sergeant during the game and often threw him away in the mulligan. So I replaced him with Dark Iron Dwarf (to ensure the same buff). Because of the now higher card quality you need less card draw (compare "playing Abusive Sergeant + Unearthed Raptor" and "playing Dark Iron Dwarf" on turn 4: after the 2nd case you have one more card in hand while still accomplishing the buff AND the development of a strong minion) and as the 2nd Azure Drake already having been optional in this deck, he now had to leave for the 3rd sticky 3-drop Harvest Golem which lowers the curve (you still have to be able to combo your cards Cold Blood and Eviscerate in early turns like turn 4 or 5 and you should have in mind, that - with Abusive Sergeant being gone - there is no longer a "2 mana card + Abusive Sergeant turn 3 play") and synergises very well with Unearthed Raptor, Defender of Argus and Dark Iron Dwarf. Playing Barnes for one Piloted Shredder is a fun thing to do. Counting in the spell damage of Azure Drake there is a 55% chance (11 out of 20 minions), that Barnes does something good (not even talking about doing something real good like spawning a 1-1 Cairne Bloodhoof or Nerubian Egg). And even summoning a 1-1 token without deathrattle makes Barnes a 4-5 body for 4 mana, which is very ok, and the token always is friends with cards like Defender of Argus, Dark Iron Dwarf and maybe Cold Blood.

To be continued...