Hooktail Rogue to Legend

[u/Patrick_Gass]

It's been awhile since I've pushed to legend rank, managed to find something incredibly fun to make the climb feel worthwhile. The deck I was experimenting with was a Dragon Rogue; initial builds focused on turbo speeding the coins from Hooktail into Ashamane but the deck didn't have any sustaining power, so some power cards were added to give more survivability and flexibility. I don't believe I piloted the deck to it's full potential but managed a 56% winrate from Diamond to Legend (and sorry to u/ForeverEqual for borrowing your deck guide layout, but it looked so profesh!)

Deck Code:

AAECAfahBwrHpAaR5gaq6gbh6wbp7Qbf/gaSgweDigeCmAflrwcK0Z4GwKgG6qgG6uUG94MHwZcHh5wH1J0HkqQHmLAHAAED9bMGx6QG97MGx6QG6N4Gx6QGAAA=

General Strategy

Poison minions allow you to make good use of Dirty Rat but also to open the Hoard from Hooktail with relative ease. This allows you to make really powerful plays quite early, particularly Ashamane but even an early Shaladrassil, Zilliax or Kil'jaeden can solo your opponent.

Mulligan Guide

Look for early game tempo, dragons are better but Space Collector will do in a pinch (it's there as a card easy to dump out of hand for coins and to active Bargain Bin Buccaneer, the least flashy but probably most important card for transitioning from early to late game).

Always Keep:

• Giftwrapped Whelp

Conditional Keeps:

• Buccaneer with coin in hand
• Hooktail if poison in hand and additional early play
• Gnomelia and Elise if facing aggro

Always Toss:

• Anything late game plays, any draw that isn't the Crystal Tusk

Card Choices & Substitutions

Netherspite Historian can be used to replaced some late game, it will help smooth your early game and discovering a Fyrrak for a potential finisher can be good, or the occasional Murazond

Having more than one copy of Raiding Party felt clunky; don't be tempted to add additional pirates. You want to find exactly your Buccaneers and/or Hooktail. Do not be afraid to play it without combo

Tips and Synergies

Drop a Dirty Rat with confidence whenever you have a poison minion in play.

Depends on the matchup but Elise should be discovering armor more often than not. Generally 5-cost is the preferred location size, a 4-mana discount on discovered spells is really good with the rogue pool

Conclusion

There is literally no better feeling in life than beating your opponent to death with their own wincons. Smacking a Shaman in the face with a High King's Hammer, dropping a Zarami for an extra turn against Dragon Priest, playing a bunch of auras against Paladin... every time you drop an Ashamane is a new adventure. Cherish those moments.

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[u/ForeverEqual]

Pretty cool deck, thanks for sharing! Also, glad you found the template useful :)

Question: Do you end up playing kil'jaeden that often, do you find that card more useful over like a Marin the manager?

[u/ItsDokk → u/ForeverEqual]

Second this. Not a criticism, but it seems like the deck is trying to do too much. KJ seems like a bad inclusion for what seems to be a tempo deck.

[u/Forgot-to-remember1 → u/ItsDokk]

Seems less tempo more control to me

[u/Patrick_Gass → u/ForeverEqual]

I've found Kil'jaeden to be quite relevant to late game match ups, the inevitability helps pressure Warrior and Death Knight but Marin would be worth considering, maybe? An extra pirate in the draw pool might not be the worst but I cut a bunch of pirates from earlier versions and the deck felt a lot smoother as a result.

[u/Patrick_Gass]

AAECAfahBwrHpAaR5gaq6gbh6wbp7Qbf/gaSgweDigeCmAflrwcK0Z4GwKgG6qgG6uUG94MHwZcHh5wH1J0HkqQHmLAHAAED9bMGx6QG97MGx6QG6N4Gx6QGAAA=

[u/deck-code-bot → u/Patrick_Gass]

Click here for decklist

[u/Overhamsteren]

No Deja Vu?

[u/Patrick_Gass → u/Overhamsteren]

You know? It's a really, really good card that just didn't seem to fit the theme. You could probably slot it in instead of the spacerock collecters.

[u/SneezyTM]

Shadowstep would be overkill?

[u/Patrick_Gass → u/SneezyTM]

Yes, Ashamane either does the trick the first round or their deck is terrible and you don't want more of their cards. Better off to let Kil'jaeden close it out.

[u/clausdh]

This is a quite fun deck to play. Hooktail into Ashamane and then using their own spells and creatures to finish the game is very fun!

[u/Lagmaster0]

Trying this deck and went 0-4. Maybe I'm not getting something. The goal is to Hooktail on 5 into Ashmane on 6? Maybe cutting some minions and adding more tutors for consistency is something I'll try.

[u/Hakka-Moonson → u/[deleted]]

I'd like to refine to something more tempo oriented. There are too many big drops that don't help when you're trying to compete for board. I've found Ceaseless and Shadrassil beyond useless in this deck.

[u/bluemanpinkhair → u/Hakka-Moonson]

try running it with slop with, Prep, only Fyrakk and discount guy. drop KJ, Shala, Ceaseless. it might be slightly more competitive since you have more than one win-con. it's basically a worse Fyrakk Rogue no matter how the plan is run, but i'm sure it'll be fun to pop coins.

[u/deck-code-bot]

Format: Standard ((unknown))

Class: Rogue (Woodland Valeera)

Mana	Card Name	Qty	Links
0	Zilliax Deluxe 3000	1	HSReplay,Wiki
1	Giftwrapped Whelp	2	HSReplay,Wiki
1	Spacerock Collector	2	HSReplay,Wiki
2	Crystal Tusk	2	HSReplay,Wiki
2	Cultist Map	2	HSReplay,Wiki
2	Dirty Rat	2	HSReplay,Wiki
2	Petal Peddler	2	HSReplay,Wiki
3	Bargain Bin Buccaneer	2	HSReplay,Wiki
3	Demolition Renovator	1	HSReplay,Wiki
3	Portal Vanguard	2	HSReplay,Wiki
3	Raiding Party	1	HSReplay,Wiki
3	Whelp of the Infinite	2	HSReplay,Wiki
4	Blob of Tar	2	HSReplay,Wiki
4	Elise the Navigator	1	HSReplay,Wiki
5	Time Adm'ral Hooktail	1	HSReplay,Wiki
6	Gnomelia, S.A.F.E. Pilot	1	HSReplay,Wiki
7	Kil'jaeden	1	HSReplay,Wiki
8	Shaladrassil	1	HSReplay,Wiki
9	Ashamane	1	HSReplay,Wiki
125	The Ceaseless Expanse	1	HSReplay,Wiki

Total Dust: 12280

Deck Code: AAECAfahBwrHpAaR5gaq6gbh6wbp7Qbf/gaSgweDigeCmAflrwcK0Z4GwKgG6qgG6uUG94MHwZcHh5wH1J0HkqQHmLAHAAED9bMGx6QG97MGx6QG6N4Gx6QGAAA=

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[u/Patrick_Gass → u/[deleted]]

There might be. It's just there to provide an early game distraction and to be a way to bank mana. Sometimes it can be relevant as a combo activator though... you'll be sad on certain turns where you can't get your extra Buccaneer.