It’s Rogue reveal day at vS, yet again! Thanks to Blizzard, we can give you a rundown on what you can expect from Valeera at Showdown at the Badlands. We might be getting typecast as Rogue mains…
Warshack has revealed four Rogue cards a couple of hours ago, which encompass the class’ Excavation package. Rogue’s ability to excavate is second to none, thanks to its unique bounce effects; so you can expect Valeera to do a lot of excavating starting on November 14th.
This is a basic 1-mana weapon that excavates once it breaks. Since this is a Rogue weapon, you can break it early if you really want to, thanks to your hero power’s override. If you equip it on turn 1 and attack with it every turn, you expend your charges on turn 3. That’s quite relevant for the next card in this set.
This 4-drop is a strong secondary payoff for excavation, which fits the Rogue class very well. A 4-mana 5/4 that destroys a minion can provide a very big swing to the board, both eliminating a big threat and developing a high attack body. A Rogue deck focused on excavation is very likely to use Shadowstep and Breakdance, and Flinger is a good target for those bouncers too.
Drilly the Kid has the highest ceiling out of all Excavate cards, capable of excavating numerous times in a single play, making Rogue’s Tier 4 treasure much easier to find compared to other classes. It has a baseline 2 Excavate count on its battlecry and deathrattle, but it can proc a third time on a Quickdraw. Remember that Quickdraw is active if Drilly is bounced back to your hand and replayed on the same turn. Drilly is also a mech, so it can be tutored by Pit Stop.
Rogue’s Tier 4 treasure is the only one that carries an additional bonus for excavating 8 times, accommodating Rogue’s inclination to excavate more frequently than other classes. The Azerite Scorpion generates four random spells from any class, giving it a strong Thief Rogue flavor, but if you’ve excavated 8 times, these spells cost no mana!
While The Azerite Scorpion is a strong value generator, it might be worth keeping in hand until you’ve excavated 8 times, then play two of them. The potential of bouncing the Scorpion is also there, generating so many spells that can be played for free, while blowing out the opponent in the process.
While Triple Sevens may seem disconnected from the rest of the Rogue set, it could have big implications on Rogue strategies going forward. It is an enormous card draw engine and may cause several Rogue decks to consider building around Swiftscale Trickster. An Excavate Thief Rogue is likely to run Swiftscale Trickster too, making Triple Sevens the best Rogue spell to combo with the 4-drop in theory. However, hand space issues could emerge in an archetype that tends to generate a lot of cards. Triple Sevens’ best fit is in a deck with minimal generation.
Alright, it’s time for our exclusive reveals!
Stick Up is a 1-mana discover spell with quite a narrow pool of choice, as there aren’t a lot of class quickdraw cards. Its main upside is that if you play the discovered card on the same turn, you get to activate its quickdraw effect. This means that you should be playing Stick Up when you have mana to spend. Stick Up is not a good turn 1 play.
Shell Game is another Thief-esque generator, but one that’s quite different from similar effects of the past, since it generates non-legendary cards of specific rarities. Generating three class cards for three mana is okay, but it is entirely random. They can be any type of card (spell/minion/weapon/location). Shell Game is likely to have a high variance of outcomes, higher than a card like Jackpot.
It seems that Rogue might be getting back to its coin generating ways. If you combo Bounty Wrangler, or play it while its quickdraw is active, you get a coin. Note that you cannot get two coins from a single Wrangler play. The combo and quickdraw do not stack.
Dart Throw deals 2 damage twice to random enemy minions, getting a bonus coin if both darts hit the same target. Ideally, the opponent has a single minion in play, so you can guarantee the desirable outcome. If not, you may want to make trades or utilize other removal in order to leave up a single enemy minion for Dart Throw.
With Dart Throw, Bounty Wrangler and the neutral Greedy Partner, Rogue is now capable of generating a lot of coins, which Miracle Rogue may appreciate for familiar win conditions such as Sinstone Graveyard or Necrolord Draka. But, Rogue may want to do something different with coins in the Badlands, which is throwing them into a Wishing Well!
This 5-mana minion is no threat by itself, as it is a 0/7 body, but if you play it on turn 5 and cast a coin, you generate a random legendary minion from another class, with its cost set to 1 mana. You can throw multiple coins into the Wishing Well and always have the mana to play these legendary minions on the same turn. Wishing Well is quite similar to The Countess. The generation is entirely random, so it’s less powerful than the discover effect in the Countess’ invitations. But, Wishing Well is cheaper, isn’t a legendary, doesn’t require a big deckbuilding restriction, and can make an impact earlier in the game.
Wishing Well is a very interesting and flavorful card for the Rogue class, as we can see it fit in both Miracle Rogue and Thief Rogue running Tess Greymane. Perhaps this set will blur the lines between the two archetypes. Both Wishing Well and The Azerite Scorpion are exciting buildarounds that encourage flexibility.
Those are all the Rogue reveals for today. You may have done some math and realized there’s a missing Rogue card. Only 9 Rogue cards have been revealed and none other than a Rogue legendary is missing! We can tell you it will be revealed in just a few days, at Blizzcon.
The final report for TITANS is coming this Thursday. Remember that we’ll be here after the reveal season ends with a Comprehensive Preview of Showdown in the Badlands. We will evaluate every card and try to guess how impactful it can be. There will also be a theorycrafting article, with all kinds of decks from every class for you to try, published just before the expansion’s launch.
Get ready with us for the Showdown coming November 14th.
The Vicious Syndicate team.