Lotus Bookie
A 2-mana 2/2 that provides an extremely valuable resource on its deathrattle. You could argue that a coin is more important for Rogue to have than an extra card, even more so with the upcoming set, which seems to further highlight the importance of coins.
Rather than think of the decks that may run Bookie, we struggle to think of a Rogue deck that will not want this minion. Every late-game-oriented Rogue deck. Every Miracle-style deck. Every Rogue deck will be playing Bookie for the foreseeable future. A simple, yet uncompromising choice for the class going forward.
Score: 4
Blackpaw’s Whip
A uniquely powerful weapon when the Rogue goes second, where it is a 2-mana Fiery War Axe that draws a card. It can work with coin generations, such as Lotus Bookie and Agent of the Old Ones. However, it is clearly less impactful and more difficult to discount when going first, as the most critical time to play it will be turn 2.
Since this weapon is already powerful enough with a single coin, we think most Rogue decks will strongly consider it. Rogue’s early game is usually about fending off the opponent’s pressure, so having a weapon that can clear two minions efficiently, while replacing itself, should be an asset. We suspect it will be ubiquitous, regardless of Aya.
Score: 4
Thief’s Tools
This spell theoretically gets us ahead, as the discount is worth 4 mana in total, eclipsing the initial cost. A turn 3 Thief’s Tools means we can play both spells on turn 4. Of course, the problem with this line is that the spell pool is highly varied and not of an amazing quality. We need a good reason to play this spell in our deck.
The reason seems to be a Rogue archetype being pushed that looks to ramp up Jade Guardians and Lotus Troublemaker by playing 2-cost cards. The original cost of the cards here does not matter, only the amount of mana spent on them, so Thief’s Tools generates us two cards that fuel this strategy at a negative net cost.
For this archetype, this is a good card, but we think other Rogue decks are unlikely to be interested. For that reason, Thief’s Tools’ competitive place is reliant on whether Guardians and Troublemaker are worth building an entire deck around.
Score: 2
Picklock
To properly evaluate this minion, we need to ask ourselves at which cost is it strong. Its best cost is likely 3, where it can kill most early-game minions while developing a decent body. This is where Picklock peaks in its impact.
However, at any other cost, Picklock is underwhelming. At 1 and 2 mana, it is objectively weak. At 4 mana, it is worse than Resplendent Dreamweaver. At higher costs, it is too slow and unrealistic to utilize as a Rogue card. Might be okay if we are running out of resources and are facing a big threat, but not something we should count on.
Picklock does get some points for flexibility and always getting reasonable value for its cost, but it is never a remarkable card. Therefore, we can only see it being used as a filler card for a Rogue deck that is looking for a serviceable removal option. A small additional upside is that it can be forced as a 2-mana card for Jade Guardians in the “2-Rogue” archetype.
Score: 2
Nab
A spell with a supposed upside that is in fact a downsize. We understand the designed purpose of Nab is to give us an additional 2-mana card in the “2-Rogue” archetype. However, Nab does not actually give us a resource, it shuffles it into the deck. We do not want to draw minions that we removed from the opponent’s board. We want to draw our own cards. Those are the ones meant to fuel our strategy.
We have seen these cards fail repeatedly, so we are a bit surprised that shuffle effects are still considered a bonus that we should seek in the year 2026. On top of it, the effect is even conditioned on landing a kill. Even in the archetype this was designed for, we have zero interest in running Nab.
This is not even believable bait.
Score: 1
Lotus Troublemaker
Troublemaker shoots 2-damage shots on random enemies (can go face) based on the number of times we have played a 2-mana card while it was in our hand. The important part is that Troublemaker needs to be in our hand to upgrade, which makes the process less consistent and reliable. An unconditional Troublemaker would probably be extremely broken, so the condition to be in hand is understandable. While there is no exponential growth, there is no upper limit on its growth. Its scaling is infinite.
This means that the card could be incredible in slow matchups, as the opponent may give us a lot of time to ramp it up and is slow to develop a board that could soak the shots and prevent the damage from going face.
We might consider it a comeback card in faster matchups, but the window in which it can swing the game for us is not too large. We need it to sit in our hand early while we play 2-mana cards up until turn 6 where we think it can make a big difference, which is just about fast enough to make an impact. But if we draw it too late, it will not save us.
We think Troublemaker is not as easy to utilize as we have seen during the Pre-Release Brawl, where it had access to Chef Neth’rek and quality 2-mana cards from every class to enable it (especially Widow’s Bite). With Rogue’s available tools, it should take more time to ramp up, and Rogue does not have an extraordinary draw engine that can turn it into a more consistent win condition.
But Troublemaker’s game-ending potential is undisputed. This is a powerful enough finisher to completely build a deck around. Cards that can scale forever but are not useless earlier in the game are a hot commodity in Hearthstone.
Score: 4
Jade Guardians
Jade Guardians does not need to be in our hand to upgrade, so it is easy to estimate the timing in which it comes online. If we spend our mana well in a dedicated “2 Rogue” deck, we can cast Jade Guardians on turn 6 and play an 8-drop, or both if we use Preparation or a coin.
The ability to drop a massive threat or two by turn 6 is appealing. This is the critical turn where scamming opponents is a realistic possibility and gets under most mass removal tools. Unlike Troublemaker, fueling Jade Guardians advances our win condition in both fast and slow matchups without being conditioned on our draw.
If the archetype proves to be successful, it will be because Jade Guardians has managed to carry its weight as the stable threat for the deck. If opponents can consistently deal with a turn 6 Jade Guardians, there is less of a chance that the archetype will be competitive.
Overall, the consistency in which Jade Guardians can demand answers by turn 6, complemented by the less reliable Troublemaker with the higher ceiling in slow matchups, forms a strong pairing to support a new Rogue archetype.
Score: 3
Defias Wannabe
Dollar store Edwin VanCleef. Wannabe can be Prepared to cost no mana for the turn we play it, but its stats modifier is +1/+1 rather than Edwin’s +2/+2, making it drastically weaker.
The strategy with Wannabe should resemble VanCleef, accumulating coins and discounted cards in preparation of a “Miracle” turn where we fling many cards and drop Wannabe at the end of it. The problem here is that even if we play 6 cards in a single turn, we develop the equivalent of a giant. When can that realistically happen? We suspect not before we can play Jade Guardians, for example.
A good comparison for Wannabe is Sinstone Graveyard, which was released at 2 mana and was later nerfed to 3. The location can be similarly “Prepared” to cost no mana for the same cost. Sinstone Graveyard starts at 1/1, but has two charges rather than one, which is a big difference when we want to beat slower decks with removal.
Furthermore, we suspect that the number of tools available to Rogue in this expansion to cheat mana and generate coins will not reach the level we have seen during the period spanning from Castle Nathria to Badlands.
Defias Wannabe is a weaker card to Sinstone Graveyard in slower matchups and is likely to be less explosive. We think Rogue should have better win conditions available to it.
Score: 1
Slice and Dice
This legendary spell repeats every card we have played on this turn, but ends the turn for us, which means we cannot take advantage of the cards it repeats with additional actions. This spell has a seemingly broad application, as it can both help double up on minions we have summoned, or spells we have cast, so it theoretically fits in different kinds of decks.
However, its cost means we cannot easily repeat expensive cards without some form of discount. In addition, repeating coins is a useless endeavour, as we cannot take advantage of the extra mana from them.
We suspect that many players will view this card’s potential as a surefire home run, but it is difficult to use in what players normally envision of Rogue. Miracle decks that summon stats usually require buffs to apply to the minions played, which are not repeated by Slice and Dice (so Defias Wannabe, for example, does not work well). Meanwhile, spell combo turns will likely cost too much mana to work with Slice and Dice. For them to be viable, they need to be independent of Slice and Dice anyway.
The deck where Slice and Dice might work best is in 2-Rogue, as it works well with Jade Guardians to both repeat the spell, providing us with more threats next turn, as well as summoning extra 8-drops that we have likely played for little to no mana cost on that turn. We suspect most Rogue decks will find this spell to be too difficult to leverage.
Score: 1
Aya, Lotus Kingpin
Aya makes it so the Rogue always goes second. Outside of Aya mirror matchups, this outcome is guaranteed. In compensation, Aya provides two upgraded coins with additional effects and replaces coins in hand with those as well. We can summon a couple of Jade Golems, get random Kazakus potions or deal random damage to enemy minions.
While these coins are big upgrades on the normal coin, going second is a significant disadvantage in Hearthstone. This has always been the case, but especially in times when minions are stronger than removal (like this year).
Just to give some perspective, current Herald Rogue’s win rate when going first is around 8% higher than its win rate with the coin. This difference is higher when queuing into aggressive decks that are far more powerful when going first. Making Herald Rogue permanently go second translates to a win rate decline of 4% during Cataclysm. That is the difference between a competitive deck and an unplayable one.
Are the upgraded Aya coins, which are only provided when we draw Aya and play her as a 6 mana 6/3, enough compensation for a 4% decline in overall win rate? No chance. This is, quite frankly, a hilariously bad tradeoff. Would Aya even be a good card if she gave us those two coins at the start of the game? We are not even sure.
There are other weak rulebreakers in this set, but Aya takes the cake for the most obviously terrible one. We were not even trying here, were we.
Score: 1
Final Thoughts
Violet Hold Set Rank: 4th
Overall Power Ranking: 1st
It is not difficult to understand why Rogue is in a strong position. It has multiple established paths to success. It is receiving a strong set that provides it with new win conditions as well as generically strong cards that can fit any Rogue deck. It has dominated the format since the introduction of Vanessa, but even if Vanessa gets nerfed in the future, it should be able to land on its feet.
Troublemaker and Jade Guardians will likely be heavily experimented with in a new, “Two-Bit” Rogue archetype. Even though Troublemaker has made big waves in the Tavern Brawl, it will not be as easy for Rogue to ramp it up in Standard format. It should still be a dangerous card in slower matchups, forming a complementary pairing with Jade Guardians, the more “stable” payoff.
Lotus Bookie and Blackpaw’s Whip are strong additions to the class. Herald, Imbue and the recently emerging Chrono Dagger/Morchie Rogue should appreciate them. We expect these shells to remain viable in the new format, though it is unclear whether one will prove to be superior to the others.
We are less confident about the return of a Miracle Rogue archetype. The new Prepare Auctioneer is too slow, while Defias Wannabe likely does not provide enough threat in slow matchups. Aya should prove to be a bottom-tier rulebreaker, right next to Azalina.
The assortment of options should keep Rogue in elite standing at the launch of Violet Hold and at the forefront of players’ minds.
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