Rank Proof

Greetings, I am MatGagne, I am a long time miracle Rogue player and already finished in the top100 with the miracle Rogue archetype. I don't claim to have built anything new or special, I simply added the Pirates package and the coin to a standard miracle list. The deck feels super consistent though, I feel like the list I am running is pretty close from being fully optimal. The additions of the new MSoG cards resolve what I believe was the biggest issue miracle Rogue traditionally had.

The one simple thing you have to realize here is that historically miracle Rogue always been a strong competitive deck despite starting off practically every game from behind (you basically start playing cards on turn3). But now, they still have access to all their powerful late game combos, on top of having access to broken turn1 plays (a 3*/2 + 1/1 charge or 1/1(+card) + 1/1 charge). It now becomes a lot easier to hold off aggressive decks and can put pressure on control decks from turn1.

It is of vital importance for me to mention that I can now die in peace, since after being close to it multiple times; I also finally reached the ultimate rank for the first time yesterday Proof

 

MATCHUPS

My record of my last games from rank3 to legend (plus some extra games on legend) is 36-21 (63% winrate), sorry for small sample size, my track-o-bot had issues with the new expansion. To be honest, my winrate would be even higher if it had the games from the lower ranks.

Here you can see how it went vs the different matchups. Link

I have a favorable winrate and (I might be biased, but) the deck feel favored in every matchups except for pirate warrior. But agro matchups are very winnable, you have the same broken early pirate minions to fight off with, on top of having access to your tempo spell (backstab, prep, coin), depending on your hand you can also go for a big Edwin/Questing and just smack him in the face. That being said, it is very hard to win with a poor opening hand.

Vs control, the play for a the big minion early on can also work, decks like Jade Druid don't have hard removal and Renolock lock only have a copy of Siphon which they can only play on turn6. Otherwise, you can play a more patient game, deal with your opponent's minions, until you make Questings/Edwin conceal play and push out huge amount of damage on the following turns. Be careful to reach a certain threshold for the Questing health, 3 for Druid (spell power swipe), 4 for Renolock (Hellfire), 6 for Priest (DragonPotion). Otherwise there is also the Twisting Nether from Renolock which is hard to play around. Try to bait it out first or make reads on your opponent's hand if he is likely to have it or not, but sometimes you just have to go for it and roll the dice. Extra tip, go face a lot.

 

CARDS CHOICES

Patches - We all cherish and love this broken card. Most of the time, it is is not even a card. It is a 1/1 minion reward that gets on board for the simple reason that your deck also had some playable pirates in it; the free 1/1 with charge helps in the early game to fight for the board (which can heavily snowball into the late game) and push some damage. On top of that, it has the upside of thinning out the deck, making it more likely to get into your key cards (Auctioneer, Edwin, etc.)

2x Buccaneer / 2x Swashburglar - I tried cutting a Buccaneer and also tried a list with a 5th Pirate (Southsea Deckhand), the 4 pirates feel like just the right number to get the most out of Patches without having too many pirates for no good reason. On top of the Patches synergy, those 1 cost cards help to enable combos and make bigger Edwin/Questings.

Counterfeit Coin - I believe playing only one copy of it is correct. I tried playing two copies of it, but I found it too situational and low impact to be worth playing two copies of it. It is a support cards that helps you enable combos, but sometimes you don't have any proactive play to play along with the card. Just coining out a minion often time feel very underwhelming. The card is strong late game with the Auctioneer or early to cheese out a big Edwin in the early game.

Questing Adventurer - Very strong in the current meta since there isn't much hard removal on ladder. Double conceal can make this card feel very busted.

SI - I never thought I would cut an SI from a miracle list, but there isn't much room in the list and he is not as impactful as he used to be, since SI often times has no minion to target for on turn 3, because the pirates already dealt with the minions or slow down your opponent opening (went for removal/weapons instead of minions).

Shiv - Not a very powerful card, but add consistency to the deck. Without it, the deck can rapidly run out of cards with all the one drops, preps, coin, etc.

1x Sap / 1x Shadowtrike - I see a lot people playing two Sap and no Sadowstrike, it always depends on the meta, I feel like playing a Shadowstrike is correct since most minions have immediate effect and there are many aggressive decks like agro warrior where there is almost no minion worthy of being Sap. I like having one of each to have access to more flexible plays.

No Cold Blood? - No room, but I feel like they are unnecessary, you already are favored in control matchups and they are often times dead cards in agro matchups. If you execute the game planned correctly vs control you simply don't need the extra damage, the Questing gets very big very quick, along with the double conceal which help you push out the damage.

 

MULLIGAN

Alright, here we go the mulligan. I'll try my best to quickly explain what I go for but this is probably the hardest deck out there to mulligan, not only the card choices depend on the matchup, but you can make adjustments depending on which cards you get off the initial hand.

The 4 pirates are always a keep, mulligan aggressively for them vs agro. If you get more than one, you ditch out the others vs control matchups in order to get a higher value card like Pillager.

Backstab - Only keep vs Agro.

Prep - This one is more debatable. Prep is probably the best tempo card in the game, but when you don't have a spell to play along with it or you are stuck with only spells in hand and no minion to play proactively the card can hurt you. You are also susceptible to rapidly run out of cards when you keep that card in your opening hand. I used to keep it basically in every matchup, but now I mulligan more aggressively for the Pirates. I am only keeping it now vs agro when I have a relevant spell to play with it.

The Counterfeit Coin - I'm still experimenting with it. Not sure if it is a keep in any matchup, it helps for tempo vs agro, but sometime you rather have a card that does stuff instead. I would never keep if you don't have a Pirate.

Eviscerate - Keep on the coin vs agro if you have a Pirate.

Shadowstrike - Only vs Priest if you have a Pirate.

Fan - I sometime keep it vs agro if I already have Prep. It is good against pirate warrior, they can get a bunch of small minions on turn1, otherwise it can help cheese out a big Edwin/Questing,without going too all in and possibly run out of cards.

SI - Keep on the coin vs agro. Keep without the coin vs agressive deck if you have a Pirate.

Pillager - Keep only vs control (could keep on other occasions if you already have a strong curve).

Edwin - Keep on the coin with Prep/Backstab if you have balls, don't keep if you don't have balls.

Drake/Auctioneer - Only keep vs control if you already have a strong curve.

I never keep Questing, Shiv, Conceal or Sap.

 

Interesting in-game decision regarding Patches

After some testing, I realized that if you are stuck with Patches in your opening hand and have no turn1, you are better off to keep it in your hand unless you can make a relevant trade. The 1/1 doesn't really matter on board otherwise, it is usually easy for your opponent to value trade into it, you will get more value out of it later on with your combo cards and to help you make efficient trades.

 

Closure

Hope you enjoyed the guide! Don't hesitate if you have any question, I'll try to answer.

I'm an experienced coach, PM if you are interested for paid coaching.