The Comprehensive The Lost City of Un’Goro Preview

 

Data Reaper Report - Rogue

Merchant of Legend

A 1 mana 1/2 that discovers a card is supposed to be a good deal for the cost, yet Merchant seems hellbent on ripping us off. The legendary minion pool is not of the high quality you would expect. Many legendary minions are extremely expensive and not cards you want to find on turn 1. It has been consistent throughout Hearthstone’s history that these cards do not work as well as they were initially advertised.

What is worse is that Merchant of Legend shuffles the ones we did not want into our deck, which is a massive drawback. This reduces the quality of our future draws.

Yes, we realize that Merchant of Legend is meant to support Quest Rogue, as it is a 1 mana minion that shuffles, the cheapest way to progress the quest. However, the price of running this card is very high. If we are planning to bounce this card and play it multiple times to fill our deck with junk, just for the sake of quest progression, we will weaken Master Dusk’s hero power in future turns. Remember that filling our deck with junk also means our quest progression is indirectly hurt, because it hurts future draws.

If finishing the quest as quickly as possible proves to be the most important aspect of the quest, then Rogue players will resign to running Merchant. We are giving it a 1 out of spite.

Score: 1

Interrogation

This spell is significantly better than Beneath the Grounds, which is the nicest thing we can say about it. Cards that shuffle cards into the deck while doing nothing else are usually bad. It is worth a bunch of stats over the course of a drawn-out game, but this is not something we can count on for most games.

Interrogation does have some synergy with Master Dusk, since it summons Tortollan Ninjas. This makes it useful after the completion of the quest, turning it into theoretical ‘infinite’ value.

But make no mistake, there is no way we are playing this spell in anything besides Quest Rogue. If the archetype proves to be competitive, Interrogation will see play. If not, we will forget it exists.

Score: 2

Neferset Weaponsmith

A 4 mana 5/4 that generates a weapon and buffs it does not seem like the worst card in the world, but why would we ever consider Weaponsmith over Swarthy Swordshiner and Sharp Shipment? The Swordshiner/Shipment game plan is quicker, far more consistent, and efficient.

This is a 4-mana minion that requires combo activation. If we are playing it in our deck, our game plan should be going to town and hitting our opponent in the head with a big weapon, yet there is clearly a better way of doing that without being at the mercy of random generation. This minion does not fit any other game plan, so we do not expect it to see play.

Score: 1

Cultist Map

This is the one map that offers us a chance to dig into our deck, making it the Map with the highest quality of discoveries. If we play the card we discover, we discover again, so Cultist Map allows us to draw 2 cards from our deck for 2 mana. That is a strong rate of card draw that usually sees competitive play.

The one caveat is that for Cultist Map to be consistent in its ability to find us two draws, our deck likely needs to be relatively cheap. This spell may not be as good of a fit in a greedy list with a high curve, such as the one in Fyrakk Rogue. It would have been a great fit in Cycle Rogue, for example.

Rogue will always have archetypes with cheap curves, as it is the class’s inherent tendency.  Cultist Map should be a solid card in constructed.

Score: 3

Eyes in the Sky

By now, we have gone through many cards like Eyes in the Sky. “Draw control” is an effect that we are not even sure can be called overrated anymore, because most Hearthstone players should know at this point that it is weak.

A River Crocolisk with a soft form of draw control must be terrible. There is no draw denial here, we just get to possibly, slightly worsen a single draw of our opponent. We do not even get much information from the effect. There is no way this is playable. This minion is a waste of space in the collection.

Score: 1

Ambush Predators

Why would we ever want to play this spell? Rogue will always have strong single target removal. Poisonous minions have never proven to be effective single target removal, as they need to be on board before the opponent plays their target. A single AOE effect and the game plan is over.

What is more is that for us to enjoy the full effect of Ambush Predators, we need to play a Shadow spell the previous turn. So, we need to play a Shadow spell, then the next turn we play Ambush Predators, then the opponent plays their threats right into the Spitters. Then we report our opponent because it must be a bot.

Veteran Hearthstone players will remember Webweave. This is a modern, better, but still unplayable, Webweave.

Score: 1

Knockback

Single target minion removal which scales with shuffle effects. This is a supportive card for Quest Rogue, as no other deck will want to focus on shuffling that hard.

At what point is Knockback acceptable? We would say that a 1 mana spell that deals 5 damage to a minion becomes good, a recent example being Conflagrate. So, Knockback becomes an acceptable Hearthstone card by the time we have nearly completed the quest.

Our thinking is that quest support cards are supposed to help us survive to finish the quest, yet Knockback is only a good card when we are already in a very good position to complete the quest and turn the game around. It does not help us much when we are struggling in the early game with a card disadvantage and trying to survive.

Quest Rogue may still run it, as it scales well into the late game, but it is hardly a slam dunk payoff.

Score: 2

Underbrush Tracker

Another card with no chance of ever seeing play in any other Rogue archetype besides Quest Rogue, as no other deck will want to shuffle cards in the early game with such urgency that can discount Underbrush Tracker quickly enough.

But when does Tracker become an acceptable minion? Probably when it gets discounted to 2 mana. Ideally, we want to completely discount it before it becomes truly powerful as a swing card. This is when we have already completed the quest. It seems that Quest Rogue is meant to complete the quest before some of its payoffs truly come online.

Both Tracker and Knockback heavily promote a Quest Rogue deck solely focused on completing the quest as soon as possible. If Rogue does prioritize pace, it can make this minion work.

Score: 2

Opu the Unseen

Fan of Knives is a 2 mana spell. Opu can cast three of them when combo activated. Even if we disregarded its deathrattle effect, which should have less impact on the board, this legendary seems to represent a lot for the cost.

We have two copies of Fan of Knives on top of a 6/4. Opu is both a draw engine and an AOE effect, the latter is something that Rogue does not have in abundance. We can even bounce Opu and re-play it to repeatedly clear boards in faster matchups while gaining card advantage.

Opu’s cost does seem high, but Rogue has coin generators and discount effects that can improve Opu’s consistency and help us cheat it out. Spacerock Collector discounts it. A single Metal Detector can cheat it out as early as turn 4.

This is a versatile legendary that should find a spot in different Rogue decks, both fast and slow, because it does something unique that the class should highly value.

Score: 3

Lie in Wait

The Rogue quest can be considered highly restrictive in terms of support, as it requires a package of cards we would never run in another deck. The best shuffler for the archetype is likely Moonstone Mauler. Several quests in this set do not require us to run blatantly bad cards for quest progression. This one unfortunately does, especially if we are forced to run Merchant of Legend. The good news is that the shuffling package does not take up a massive portion of the deck.

Lie in Wait can be a very fast quest to complete. We can see it being done within the first few turns through shuffle minions being bounced by Shadowstep and Web of Deception. However, finding the initial shufflers could take a varied amount of time. We estimate that Lie in Wait can be completed by turn 5-6. Master Dusk may not be too relevant against aggressive decks but the window of opportunity in slow matchups is sizable.

Master Dusk’s pressure through the board can represent a source of inevitability. It makes Quest Rogue extremely resilient to removal, as it keeps summoning minions with stealth and those minions can be resummoned after they die through our hero power. In slow matchups, especially against decks that rely on removal to stall the game, that can represent an oppressive amount of pressure.

What is clear is that Rogue’s quest is quick to complete while its late game can be intimidating, which is a strong foundation on paper for a successful win condition. However, the deck should be extremely vulnerable to aggression, with its secondary payoffs only truly coming online post-quest completion.

This is not too different from the original Quest Rogue from Journey to Un’Goro. If the meta is slow, Quest Rogue could thrive. But if aggressive decks are successful and popular, it might get its face kicked in. We cannot underestimate its potential.

Score: 3

Final Thoughts

The Lost City of Un’Goro Set Rank: 7th

Overall Power Ranking: 4th

Rogue’s set is probably the most conflicting one in this expansion. It is treading on unfamiliar territory, one that makes it difficult to evaluate. At the center of it is Lie in Wait, a quest that requires a significant investment in both the deckbuilding phase and the game itself.

On the surface, the quest requires us to run bad cards and execute bad plays. Nobody wants to shuffle random legendaries into their deck, yet it might be necessary. Adaptive Amalgam has been one of the biggest bait cards since its release, with entire strategies looking to support it without success, yet we now want to play two copies of it, without any buff synergies? Revolting.

Quest Rogue forces us to perform unspeakable acts. But Journey to Un’Goro’s quest was not that different in forcing us to play cards we have never touched before. What is clear is that Rogue’s quest reward, Master Dusk, can come down fast and represent oppressive pressure in slow matchups.

Having an effective win condition that invalidates removal and can come down as early as turn 6 cannot be ignored. What could kill Quest Rogue’s competitive aspirations are its matchups against aggressive decks. Can it handle early game pressure, or will those unspeakable acts it is forced to perform, such as playing Merchant of Legend, come back to bite it?

Thankfully for the class, though the set is highly centered on Lie in Wait, it does get some important upgrades for its established strategies. The most promising angle will be to run Elise and Opu in Fyrakk/Ashamane Rogue. This archetype has come back alive from the nerf to its best card and may have more to say in Un’Goro with an empowered late game.

Quest Rogue should be very popular at launch and punish slower, reactive strategies. The test will be when it faces Menagerie Priest, Token Druid and Murloc Paladin.

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