Jade Rogue Archetype Guide

Table of Contents

• 1. Aim of the Archetype
• 2. Strengths and Weaknesses
• 3. Key Cards and Crafting
• 4. ChangeLog

Jade Rogue became an archetype with the release of the Mean Streets of Gadgetzan expansion. The deck uses the natural tempo cards that Rogue has available, such as Backstab, and combines them with the increasing value of Jade Golem cards to create an overwhelming board advantage.

With the release of Journey to Un'Goro the focus on removing enemy minions strengthened, with Vilespine Slayer and Envenom Weapon making it hard for slower opponents to stabilise.

Below, you will find link to our deck lists for Jade Rogue, starting with our featured deck, which we consider the most common variant.

Jade Rogue Lurker Deck is a reasonably strong deck, but weak enough to be considered a Theme deck. With that in mind, several interesting cards have been added to make the deck simultaneously good enough to play, while containing unusual interactions. Moat Lurker has many great uses in this version of the deck. With the introduction of Knights of the Frozen Throne, this deck also gained Valeera the Hollow.

With the introduction of Knights of the Frozen Throne, many players tried to make the most of Bonemare in minion based decks. Akumaker's Rank 21 Legend Jade Rogue Deck uses Bonemare and Plague Scientist to give Jade Rogue additional tempo, while The Lich King adds some extra sustain to the deck. Akumaker took this deck to Rank 21 Legend.

1. Aim of the Archetype

This deck wins using sustained pressure throughout the game. It begins by trying to stop the opponent getting control of the board, and then uses a wide variety of synergies to start making an army of large, game winning, minions. It can also often get into a position where it is attacking with two medium sized minions, and is able to repeatedly remove enemy minions to gain tempo and push through enough damage to win.

2. Strengths and Weaknesses

The deck can be slow to get going, and very aggressive decks are able to take advantage of this. Due to the fact there is no healing, and little Taunt in the deck, a fast opponent can often overwhelm you before you have stabilised.

Against slower decks, the removal in Jade Rogue is enough to deal with most of the opposing threats. The Jade Golems in the deck are an ongoing, and increasing, threat which needs to be dealt with. There are also several minions in the deck which create more threats with their Deathrattles. This means that AoE spells are not particularly effective against our deck. All of this amounts to Control decks being good matchups for Jade Rogue.

3. Key Cards and Crafting

The most important Legendary in the deck is Aya Blackpaw. Not only does Aya increase the Jade count by 2 over time, but the 5/3 body has to be dealt with. Without Aya, you should strongly consider playing a different deck, although crafting Aya will allow you to play many other decks apart from this one. If you still want to play the deck, you can substitute in an additional of any of the 1-ofs in the decks, or add another powerful card that you do own, such as Sylvanas Windrunner or Sherazin, Corpse Flower.

Edwin VanCleef is the second most important Legendary in the deck, but the deck can most certainly function without out. Any of the suggestions for Aya Blackpaw above would be fine, or you could add in SI:7 Agent as a way to preserve the balance of the Mana costs. Bloodmage Thalnos and Cairne Bloodhoof are easily replaced in this deck using any of the suggestions above. If at all possible, it is better to try to replace with other Deathrattle cards, but this is not essential.

The Epics in the deck are Vilespine Slayer and Twilight Summoner. The Summoner is easily replaced with anything already mentioned, but the Vilespines are very powerful cards in the deck. SI:7 Agent is the best replacement for them, but it is not a very satisfactory one.

4. ChangeLog

• 03 Aug. 2017: Jade Rogue archetype added.

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