Neoguli's Custom Rogue Core Set Changes

• Strengths
  • Burst and Face Damage - Rogues kill you without a sound.
  • Single Target Removal - The bigger they are, the easier it is to strike.
  • Weapons - So many daggers to poison…
  • Card Draw and Generation - Rogues are nimble and energetic, refilling their resources fast. They can pickpocket unaware bachelors.
• Limitations
  • Buffs - Rogues can amplify their weapons. Not minions, though…
  • Minions - Rogue's minions are more value oriented for the most part, or require a chain of effects to exceed their base uselessness. But that doesn't mean all of their mercenaries are made of sack.
• Weaknesses
  • Survivability - Once you catch a Rogue, they are done.
  • AoE Removal - Rogues prefer dealing with a single target.

Basic Set

Classic Set

WANTED! - a simple card that adds some removal and a Coin for future combos.

Bloodsail Flybooter - is not that great of an early drop, as her early board presence is limited to spamming 1/1s over two turns. However, she still provides with a lot of tokens to use.

Plague Scientist - somebody mentioned they were glad Blizzard added Plaguebringer. And so there he is… except it's his KotFT counterpart. Ultimately a little more balanced, because while cheaper, you need to play something to give Poisonous. It's Combo effect also synergises with the remaining cards.

Interrogate - added as part of my revisory to my Core Set, where I increase the Classic Set to 16 cards and add necessary changes. A simple early game tool that can easily deal with a larger threat for a decently cheap Cost, which should happen most of the time due to your Hero Power.

Hooked Scimitar - adds a strong weapon to pressure damage.

Ruthless Tracker - has an Edwin-esuqe effect, except it's much healthier, as the minion doesn't get big.

Burgle - showcases the thievery side of the class with a simple effect.

Town Plunderer - added as part of my revisory to my Core Set, where I increase the Classic Set to 16 cards and add necessary changes. A very aggressive minion for Pirate decks and a potential refill for Combo decks. A 5 Mana 6/6 is not bad, and the added flexibility from the Combo effect adds to its value as either a Cobra Shot-esque card or a Bladed Lady-esque one.

Whirlkick Master - a huge value generator and keeps Combos going.

Voracity - the highlight of these changes. Allows you to dig for a Combo card that you may need.

Sabotage - added as part of my revisory to my Core Set, where I increase the Classic Set to 16 cards and add necessary changes. I initially excluded this weapon due to it's awkardness with Voracity, but then that card can help you fish for Sabotage, thus give you a minion removal tool in a pinch. Also, due to the Combo effect, Whirlkick Master can give you more tools to fight for the board.

Xaril, Poisoned Mind - a simple and versatile minion.

Counterfeit Coin - was meant to be a Basic card, but thought it was hanging on the knife's edge.

Daring Escape - nah, it was bad and uninteresting.

Doomerang - not sure if it belongs to the Classic set. Could say the same about Shadow Poison though…

[Hearthstone Card (Necrium Apothecaryl) Not Found] - a bit too dangerous to be evergreen. Also not sure if Deathrattle synergy would feel right for the Classic set.

Poisoned Blade - was thinking of adding it to the set, as it feels just about right. The issue is that even if I left it in it's hillarous spot, it still has a threat of uninteractive gameplay, as Rogue players would sometimes stack the weapon. The process is slow, but possibly not optimal.

Sabotage - feels good to be added. Ultimately pulled it off, because it feels so wrong with Sonic Speed.

Shadow Strike - could find a place, but there's no space left.

Thistle Tea - was meant to be instead of Mimic Pod, but maybe copying one card two times is overkill and not as healthy for future sets.

Among many, many, MANY other cards…

I absolutely would have kept Assassin's Blade. Sure it's not competitive good, but it is much better at communicating to new players that rogues want to buff weapons than a 2-durability weapon ever is.

While here, rogue has never had weapon durability buffs. Thematically that is warrior's thing (they temper the metal to make it stronger) while rogues apply poisons, which have no business increasing durability. As a result I think Shadow Poison wants a tweak.

I would also keep Perdition's Blade. It is actually a solid card and, most importantly, it fits the rogue identity perfectly. Getting two small, precise hits in quick succession is exactly what rogue tempo tools are all about.

You rightly made a point of it being a strength, then proceeded to remove the poisonous cards without any sort of replacement. Even if you had added some single target removal, I would still object to taking out Plaguebringer and Patient Assassin. The latter captures the rogue fantasy so perfectly that it is worth keeping just for that. Perhaps you could give it 2 health though.

Meanwhile I truly believe Plaguebringer was something Blizzard thought a lot about when they added it 1 year ago. It even lines up perfectly with what you stated for the class identity, by providing single target removal and making use out of low-stat minions. It is also an effect that can have fancy interactions with set cards (e.g. something like Sergeant Sally), meaning it can in principle go in out of the meta with set rotations. Which is exactly what you want from evergreen cards.

I disagree that this a a rogue strength to begin with: the class has received almost none of it since classic. To me this is one of those quirks of the core sets like damage dealing spells in paladin or the now HoF'd burst damage cards in priest. That is not to say they should be stripped of all of it, but it I think it should be kept to a minimum and certainly shouldn't have a card like Bleeding Blade suggesting to new players that it is what the class is about. 

I personally would HoF Sinister Strike and make it obvious that rogue 'burst' comes from (buffed) weapons and stealth minions. That would be a unique route to it, helping distinguish classes mechanically while utilising the rogue fantasy.

I would avoid adding AoE in Hail of Blades, especially something so volatile against boards with more than 3 minions and where you need the random destroy effect to hit a specific target. There's just too much RNG on something that will often make one player feel bad. A few classes should lack strong AoE, and it is fine for rogue to be one of them.

Once upon a time Headcrack cost 2-mana, and it got nerfed for a reason. Now, HS has come a long way since those days of beta so it is possible it would be fine now, but the hunter hero power is still pretty good so I doubt it. I don't think the game actually wants 2 classes to have persistent 2 damage every turn in the late game, especially now demon hunter is already forcing an aggressive meta. Probably better just to send Headcrack to the HoF.

Preparation: I understand wanting to HoF it, but now it is a 2 mana discount I personally think it is worth keeping it since it helps establish that rogues do lots of things at once. That said, I do remember calling for it to move to HoF while it was a 3 mana discount so perhaps it should just go to be safe.

I couldn't agree more on replacing Edwin with Xaril, Poisoned Mind. In 1 card he embodies so much of the class while being a reasonable power level that it really was a beautifully designed card.

Swashburglar might actually be a bit much for the Classic set, but adding a pirate is definitely right. Rogue has quietly been given a pirate in most sets (way way more than warrior), so it probably should have something to permanently secure the tribe's place in the class.

I like the extra push for using combo cards. With the smaller pool in Standard it would definitely be interesting to see in which rotations Whirlkick Master pulls her weight.

Cold Blood: yep. Get rid of it. Rogue has so few minion buffs it has always felt out of place to me.