A Look at Top Tier: Miracle Rogue

                Miracle Rogue has been one of Hearthstone’s oldest and most powerful decks back before Gadgetzan Auctioneer was nerfed to cost 6 mana instead of 5. Now, however, with new cards in the Old Gods, we have seen a rise in the deck’s strength to the point of being considered top tier.

                For starters, Miracle Rogue is not a deck played like any other. Your win condition, unlike many other decks, is rarely through board control or pushes in tempo or aggro. The idea of this deck is to cycle through your deck as fast as possible, overwhelming your opponent with a mixture of low cost burst damage and ridiculous card draw. If played correctly, board control can be held with as few as one or two minions, and those by themselves are extremely dangerous to your opponent, especially if cloaked by Conceal.

                This deck’s weakness is certainly in the early game. Against certain strong decks in the meta like Zoo or Midrange Shaman, the amount of minions flooding onto the board can prove problematic, even with the spells to manage it. Against these decks, one should not hesitate to use potentially game winning spells to board clear, even if that means a 2 damage Eviscerate. Your win condition is in the cycle of cards, not necessarily in one or two spells.

                Speaking of win conditions, Edwin Vancleef makes an appearance in this deck. Through Preperations, Backstabs and other cost reduced spells, Edwin can become massive. This is a scenario where waiting until after you play him until you Conceal is not a bad idea, as his survival can often be more important than the extra +2/+2. Especially against Zoo, a Concealed Edwin can often simply win the game on its own. Because they will end up trading life total for board control in the long run through Flame Imps and Life Taps.

                Xarill, Poisoned Mind is a big new presence in this deck, and is one of the reasons Miracle Rogue is so strong again. It can provide two one mana spells with impressive effects to use for an Edwin Combo, with Preperation, or to cycle with the Auctioneer. All of these effects, as well, are virtually a better version of other Rogue spells that have better effects and (in most cases) cost less mana.

                An optional minion to include in this deck is Yogg Saron. This is my personal favotite variation of the deck as it gives you a second chance. If you are lucky enough, this can provide a sudden swing in board control, tempo, etc., and can even snowball into a win. You play him simply when you have no other choice. If a game looks as good as lost, play Yogg and hope for the best.

                Keep in mind that this is not an easy deck to play. It requires many games of practice and will, at first, appear to be a pretty bad deck. I would recommend playing at least 20 games with this in Unranked, because you will definitely not start winning with it right off the bat.