How to Complete the Forged in the Barrens Rogue XP Achievements

Welcome, fellow achievement hunter.

Here we will be taking a closer look at what Hearthstone has for us in store when it comes to Gameplay XP Achievements for the Rogue class in Forged in the Barrens expansion. Each one gets its own section below, so you could always scroll down if looking for tips and tricks for anything in particular. All other important info along with the links to other classes and categories can be found here.

Rogue Barrens Achievements - General

Rogue achievements as we saw them in the previous set were quite annoying - to put it mildly. Two of them included some pesky interactions with Secrets, yet another required a Legendary card... What we get here is so, so much simpler in comparison. It takes a bit of effort, but nothing too extraordinary. In the end it becomes more about modifying the existing Miracle and Weapon Rogue variants: 

It's still somewhat awkward trying to get everything done together - even if it's technically possible when playing against a slower deck. Yet focusing on one thing at a time gives you a much better chance to complete these within your first couple of tries. 

As always, we will be defaulting to Standard format lists with the assumption that many players may not have the necessary older cards, then adding relevant notes for Wild and Duels where applicable. Remember that this is just one example of a possible direction to take! Mix and match per your own needs. Tips, tricks, and recommended cards for each separate achievement as follows:

How to Complete the "Identity Theft Is Not a Joke" Barrens Achievement

Definitely not a joke, although you wouldn't know it with how often Rogues pretend to be Mages these days and with their history of borrowing cards from other classes. They certainly don't seem to care or mind, even if for a very long time evil Priests did it far better. What goes around... For this one you are supposed to play pretend with various basic Hero Powers:

• Mulligan for: Yoink!, Wandmaker; Shadowstep is fine with the latter. Efficient Octo-bot can be considered otherwise.
• This is fairly straightforward with just one little twist: you cannot discover your own Hero Power as easily as the rest of them. Dagger Mastery can only show up as available when you currently have a Hero Power from another class in your active slot. 
• The above largely means that using just one Yoink! per game won't do the trick - that works for all other 9 Hero Powers, but for your own you will have to go fishing with another cast of it, or even multiple. Mind that you don't need to have more than one Yoink! in your hand at the same time before you go off (which is actually handy due to how Secret Passage operates) - just don't use up the second charge of your free discovered Hero Power. 
• Wandmaker is your best bet to find extra Yoink! copies, with Shadowstep, Youthful Brewmaster, and Tenwu of the Red Smoke being able to return it to your hand and allow for more instant tries. Venomous Scorpid has a chance to outright discover it, while Wand Thief and Keywarden Ivory could offer you cards that discover more spells as well (Runed Orb, Guidance, Potion of Illusion to copy Wandmaker or other minions, etc.). There is also Steward of Scrolls and Onyx Magescribe if you really want to maximize those odds, even though they can feel somewhat unwieldy in Rogue. This way you could more or less consistently get there even if you don't normally own any of the Epic cards that is Yoink!.
• The achievement doesn't keep track for you which Hero Powers you have already discovered and which you haven't, so you might want to keep some mental or literal notes in order to avoid frustration of having to keep guessing what's still left to do. 
• Wild format note: Sir Finley Mrrgglton can make it easier to get your Dagger Mastery back without any multiple Yoink! shenanigans (Sideshow Spelleater has the same functionality). Grizzled Wizard offers similar assistance, but you would need to have your Yoink! ready to use in the same turn. Justicar Trueheart and Baku the Mooneater also affect your starting Hero Power, but people generally don't test with those. And since it's Wild, you have more options such as Vulpera Scoundrel and Lotus Agents to try to find your Yoink!. 
• Duels note: the starting Hero Powers are technically all different than the Rogue's basic one, along with a couple of useful Signature Treasures (Ace in the Hole, Acquired Allies). That said, I haven't been able to hit Dagger Mastery in about a dozen of Yoink! attempts. It did find all other basic Hero Powers to date. Of course my sample size remains relatively low and I could've just been unlucky, so it doesn't have to mean it's not possible. 

How to Complete the "Just Don't Touch the Blade" Barrens Achievement

'tis a precious blade, you see. And in general, it is a very good habit not to touch anything coated in various poisons. We just need to apply enough of them carefully: 

• Mulligan for: Swinetusk Shank primarily.
• There are exactly 4 poisons currently in Standard, so it will take one of each for the completion. Conveniently, they don't cost more than 1-2 mana. 
• With this amount of draw plus Cloak of Shadows for stalling, it's fairly easy to get there in one go. There is no way to discover the weapon if you don't have it, but almost all other cards can be found through workarounds. 
• Most decks don't really run Acidic Swamp Ooze these days, but if you are afraid of it ruining your precious plans, you can wait with equipping Swinetusk Shank until you have all necessary poisons in hand. If we count in Preparation, that only requires 7 mana to pull off. Just remember that Nitroboost Poison has to be corrupted first! 
• Wild format note: Leeching Poison becomes an extra option. Also weapon redundancy with Rummaging Kobold and Hoard Pillager, tutor with Cavern Shinyfinder, plus usual bonus card generation. 
• Duels note: starting with only 15 cards does make it even easier to draw into just what you want. Connections is the only helpful Hero Power for this. 

How to Complete the "Magnets, How Do They Work?" Barrens Achievement

Magnets here presumably being just like your low cost cards, being drawn to one another. Huh, huh? Or, you know, it's a reference to a certain meme and song. Miracle Rogue and all that. In any case, we better get to drawing and playing almost half of our deck in a single turn:

• Mulligan for: Field Contact, Efficient Octo-bot, Kazakus, Golem Shaper.
• The three steps include 6, 9, and 12 cards being played in a single turn as Rogue. That might seem like a lot, but with a little bit of setup shouldn't prove to be too difficult. You only don't really want to queue into an aggressive deck that leaves you with no time to collect enough cards in your hand.
• It's extremely helpful when you are starting the game with The Coin.
• If you can hit several cards with your Efficient Octo-bot's Frenzy effect - either through pairing it with Pen Flinger, Guardian Augmerchant, or simply by bumping into a small opposing minion - you are pretty much off to a great start. Especially if one of those discounts involves Field Contact.
• Kazakus, Golem Shaper is more of a bonus (to discover a 1-mana cost golem for later, their abilities are handy), can easily be replaced with anything cheap. You could also throw out one Pen Flinger and Field Contact to die if you found both and handspace is becoming a problem. Playing Wandmaker as soon as possible is usually a good call, unless you don't think you have enough triggers for a Field Contact turn.
• Just how much mana you are going to need to pull this off will very much depend on the number of discounted cards and the amount of 0-1 cost options in your hand (but it shouldn't always require getting up to 9 or 10 crystals). Could even get there without Efficient Octo-bot and Field Contact on the back of Pen Flinger interactions alone. Some quick math on the fly, remembering about Foxy Fraud discount and what you are likely to draw into should all result in an explosive Field Contact turn once you are ready. Alternatively just closing your eyes and hoping for the best, it works sometimes too! 
• Wild format note: Counterfeit Coin is nice to have, EVIL Miscreant provides minion fuel, Waxmancy is a bit of a gamble. You might consider Gadgetzan Ferryman or even Daring Escape combos. It's just as possible to go general route with landing Emperor Thaurissan, make Nerubian Prophet cost 0 mana, run a Mech discount deck with Galvanizer & Mechwarper, or pick Burgle route with Ethereal Peddler. Even use Galakrond, the Nightmare with Invokes such as Umbral Skulker. Finally, finding a way to go old school with Gadgetzan Auctioneer and 0-1 mana cost spells. But is any of that actually easier or faster than the Pen Flinger/Efficient Octo-bot/Field Contact trio? That's debatable. 
• Duels note: there are useful treasures between All Together Now, Rhonin's Scrying Orb/Khadgar's Scrying Orb, Sticky Fingers, or Emerald Goggles. Connections grants cheap minions and Nerubian Peddler could be used to bank mana. You do give up duplicates of your cards, however, and if loot buckets don't cooperate things might become too unwieldy. 

Other Resources

Our clever community members set up a forum thread just for such achievement progression, and we have added separate #achievements channel to our Discord server. Feel free to join in! Any comment in here will also not go unnoticed, if you'd like to share your own experiences or point out anything in particular. We try to keep an eye on things and reply swiftly. 

Good luck tackling any of these achievements for your experience boost or just for the sake of satisfying completion!