The Lich King Rogue Deck

Aim of the Deck

This deck aims to dominate the early board with efficient minions. As the game progresses it has multiple ways to re-use minions, which allows for the varied Battlecries of those minions to be used as a toolbox.

Strategy

Mulligan

This deck likes to occupy the board, which means that you will require cheap minions right from the start. Pit Snake and Youthful Brewmaster can be thrown away in favour of looking for Swashburglar and Undercity Huckster. As the Hero Power is a big part of Rogue's early game, it is not a disaster if you do not find these cards.

Mind Control Tech is incredibly powerful on Turn 8, and often beforehand. This card should be kept in your opening hand, but not used until you can get an activation from its Battlecry.

Early Game

It is worth noting that Swashburglar always creates The Coin when played. This means that if you play it on Turn 1, The Coin will be removed by The Lich King's The Price of Power. Coins generated are very powerful in this deck, and so playing Swashburglar should be delayed until Turn 2 or even Turn 3 depending on where it best fits the curve.

You should not be afraid to get some chip damage to face rather than trading in this stage of the game if the situation arises. Be aware that The Lich King may be forced to trade into you anyway if your board is menacing.

Turn Eight

The Lich King generates six 2/6 minions, and a 5 Attack weapon on Turn 7, which means that your Turn 8 will always be a messy one. The aim of this turn is to begin to remove The Lich King's board as efficiently as possible. He will not play any cards until the board is dealt with, and so you can plan ahead a little more than usual. One common play is to play Mind Control Tech on this turn, and then bounce, and re-play it, using Youthful Brewmaster. Bonemare is also a powerful card on this turn, but if you can avoid playing it then you should, because it is often better after the weapon has been dealt with.

If you are on a high Health total, or if you have Bonemare available for bouncing, it is worth remembering that The Lich King does not do anything until the last Soul is killed. If you do not feel you have quite the hand you would like going into the next phase, it can be fine to take an extra hit or two from Frostmourne while you search for the pieces you need.

Late Game

The rest of the game involves trying to get the most out of every card in your deck. The ticking time bomb of Remorseless Winter is usually too slow to be of concern, thanks to the Antique Healbots in the deck. If you can keep the opposing board clear during this phase of the game, then you should, as the opposing Bonemare and Anti-Magic Shell are the main weapons of The Lich King in this matchup. Generate as many The Coin as you can, as these are great fuel for your Edwin VanCleef and for bringing back Sherazin, Corpse Flower.

Individual Card Strategies

Plague Scientist

Plague Scientist is most powerful with the smaller minions in the deck. If you can get a decent kill out of Patches the Pirate by boosting it with Plague Scientist, then it is often correct to do so.

Shaku, the Collector

Be aware that Shaku, the Collector generates The Coin when it attacks

Vilespine Slayer

It is often tempting to play Vilespine Slayer early for a tempo gain, but if this can be avoided, then you should avoid doing so. This is because The Lich King generates some very large minions later in the game, and the early tempo is not as important as killing those, due to the fact that the game changes so dramatically on Turn 7.

The Toolbox

Be aware that your Youthful Brewmasters and Shadowcaster have an array of options available to them. Mind Control Tech, Bonemare. and Antique Healbot in particular will often be fantastic options to return to hand, and play again. If The Lich King has not used both of his Obliterate, you will sometimes need to pre-emptively bounce a required card back to your hand, to protect it from being destroyed.

Changelog